Has anyone tryed aftermarket "factory style" chrome hand controls? I see sets on ebay (I know but i have had good luck so far) for $140-150 for everthing, Levers,brackets, Master cylinder, and switch housings. They look just like Harley parts, but way less money. Any input would be great.

 

who are they made by?

 

That i dont know the answer to. The ones i remember seeing always said "Made FOR xxxxxx" not "Made by xxxxx"

 

I can tell you they are imports, most likely from China. Not that the HD stuff is anything special, but the ones your talking about are junk. Pot metal. Very pourous and easy to break. Levers squeak horrible. HD stuff is no doubt made overseas too, but a better quality. You get what you pay for!

 

i put a set of Drag Speicaities on my RK. After one year and 10,000 miles absolutely no issues. The thing that sold me on them is the use OEM comppatible internals in the master cylinder. So if I ever have trouble on the road, I can use factory parts to get me on my way. They aren't as cheap as ebay, but still alot less than HD

 

I put Custom Chrome on mine with no issues. They do not squeak or anything else. I just could not see paying what HD wanted for their's. Mine look just as good as the HD sets and have worked fine for a couple of years now.

 

I have the Drag set on my Vrod and no problems at all!! And they were about $200-300 cheaper then HD

 

i put a set of these on over the winter . i am very happy with them ,

 

I have had aftermarket controls on my RKC for 8 years with no problems. I have put on several sets for others and never had any issues. I got them from Cycle Supply for about 130 bucks a set.

www.cyclesupplywv.com

 

Just bought a set of chrome levers (Rocky/Tucker) for $25. I needed to do some work with the bushing to get the slop out of it though. Nice chrome but questionable metallurgy and finish work?

I'm thinking there's a few scenerios on these parts (not referring to Quality aftermarket stuff like Performance Machine, etc.:

A) (Best) Harley - made in China(?) for Harley, with a high degree of Quality Control and using Harley proprietary molds, materials, and practices.

B) (Questionable) Harley rejects - not meeting Harley standards but made in the same factories and re-badged.

C) (Downright scary) Direct knock-offs, Re-cast Harley parts - made in some tucked away foreign factory using original Harley parts as the pattern, but not using the original molds or materials.

It's buyer beware - as usual.