Pieces of brass in the gear oil is pretty scary. It's hard to predict when rivets will blow out, hence the name, "grenade". I never understood why Harley has this in the clutch pack. When I bought my Sportster - my first Harley - I thought the clutch took an unusually long time to engage. When I researched the spring plate and finally replaced it, the clutch lever felt like all the other motorcycles I had ridden. I think Harley tried to fix something that wasn't broken and underestimated our ability to use a clutch lever. I have the 3 stock plates that should have been in there along with my stock clutch spring because I don't "power-shift". Add that to my *** 7200B throw out bearing and I have - for me - the perfect combination for more miles of smiles.
Maybe 3 or 4 very small slivers is what I saw. There has to be a logical reason Harley made the decision to put a spring plate in the clutch, ease of engagement, no chance of squeal? It's one thing for an owner to replace it and possibly deal with the squealing issue, quite another for the bike to do it right off the showroom floor.
I'm sure 2 steels and a fiber are much cheaper to produce/source, let alone not having another part in production inventory to worry about, or have to stock. Like I said, there has to be a logical reason HD went with the spring plate. Now if you want to talk HOW it's manufactured and what materials are used (brass rivets) that's another story.
The "blacked out" or "murdered" look on the new bikes looks like the painter got mad and walked off the job. There is no contrast anywhere on these bikes. It's like a vandal attacked them with a rattle can and covered everything from handlebars to motor. I like genuine patina. It reminds me of brand new blue jeans that already look worn out with rips and tears and holes. I just don't get it. Actually, the older I get, the more things confuse me in the world of fashion.
I'm not a fan of the murdered look either. The SuperLow I bought was the lowest priced Harley at the time other than the Street line of bikes, so there was ALOT of black parts on it which I have slowly replaced with chrome.
I've got a pair of chrome fork sliders that will be put on this winter. Other than that, I think I'm about done...
HDs & chrome like are Motley Crue & tattoos. They should give the option of Blacked-Out OR Chromed. Black is greatl....AT NIGHT but during a bright sunshiny day nothing and I mean NOTHING is cooler on the road/street than a HD w/ chrome so shiny you have to wear welding goggles to look directly at it.
We use *** bearings in a few applications where I work and IMO they are a high quality bearing. That said, we use SKF and NSK bearings in the majority of our equipment. They are a different type and size of bearing as we use double row spherical bearings in the 8" to 10" diameter range, but we've never had an issue with either of the three.
My only concern with the *** 7200 bearing was the fact it uses a plastic cage in it where the NSK uses a steel cage. Might not be an issue but, I was concerned about the heat/cool cycles possibly making the cage brittle and failing. That is the main reason I went with the NSK, and the fact I could buy it thru work cheaper than what Amazon wants for it.
FWIW, the *** does carry a slightly higher dynamic load capacity than the NSK (1120# vs 1050#) but either of them is rated way above the clutch spring pressure.
I'm not a fan of the murdered look either. The SuperLow I bought was the lowest priced Harley at the time other than the Street line of bikes, so there was ALOT of black parts on it which I have slowly replaced with chrome.
I've got a pair of chrome fork sliders that will be put on this winter. Other than that, I think I'm about done...
Funny, my Superlow 1200 T had waaay too much chrome, I have been replacing various items with black.
My Sportster is the bottom of the line Standard model with a flat gray engine, some chrome in a few places like the handlebars, forks, exhaust and ham can air filter cover. The fenders are shiny "Brilliant Silver Pearl" and although shiny and sparkly, need some contrast so I'm going to add some thin black dual pinstripes to the front fender only, to match the gloss black frame, oil tank cover and battery cover. The engine "crash" bar is flat black and seems invisible -- you have to look for it to see it. For me, it's the perfect balance of everything. Maybe I should call it, "Goldilocks" because it isn't too much or too little.
09-10-2020, 08:38 PM
that's another story.
