Re: Clutch and Front Brake Cable Routing
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 10:32 am
The conversation has now moved on a bit regarding whether or not a barrel nipple fitted to a cable will pass through a yoke hole - it will, to the subject of the 'quality' of replacement parts.
Brand names like Lucas now have their manufacturing facilities in the far east, presumably to keep the costs down and unfortunately with cheap inevitably comes low quality. What surprises me is that the generic products that Lucas, Wipac and others produce are now used only on classic and vintage vehicles. With our interest in maintaining the bikes and cars of yore, gone are the days when we had no money and were looking for the cheapest product. We accept that restoring an old bike is not cheap and that a restored bike, or car, is unlikely to sell for the cost of the restoration, yet we happily pay the price of doing the job 'properly' and try to correct the abuse which the hapless vehicle has suffered over the years. Why then do the generic manufacturers think that we would prefer cheap to quality?
I would much prefer that a stop-switch, headlamp holder, coil or dipswitch, for example, was made of superior materials and to a tight tolerance even if it meant paying twice the price; after all on some occasions I've had to buy the same thing a second time as the first has either not worked or failed quickly. Given the ridiculously low cost of these replacement parts its not surprising that they are not up to the job. Its not as if we could pay more for a superior product if we wanted to. In the generic parts market (high) quality manufacturers don't exist. If I wanted to buy machine turned stainless steel parts, or a decent piston or con-rod for a particular model there are companies who have stepped up to the challenge and produced them, yet for those common parts which were generally fitted by all the major bike and car makers, the choice of paying for the quality you want does not appear to exist.
Perhaps the market is small and doesn't warrant retooling however I would have thought that tightening up on quality control would be a good thing and that those with their pride and joy currently sat in a heated shed for the winter would be prepared to pay more.
Brand names like Lucas now have their manufacturing facilities in the far east, presumably to keep the costs down and unfortunately with cheap inevitably comes low quality. What surprises me is that the generic products that Lucas, Wipac and others produce are now used only on classic and vintage vehicles. With our interest in maintaining the bikes and cars of yore, gone are the days when we had no money and were looking for the cheapest product. We accept that restoring an old bike is not cheap and that a restored bike, or car, is unlikely to sell for the cost of the restoration, yet we happily pay the price of doing the job 'properly' and try to correct the abuse which the hapless vehicle has suffered over the years. Why then do the generic manufacturers think that we would prefer cheap to quality?
I would much prefer that a stop-switch, headlamp holder, coil or dipswitch, for example, was made of superior materials and to a tight tolerance even if it meant paying twice the price; after all on some occasions I've had to buy the same thing a second time as the first has either not worked or failed quickly. Given the ridiculously low cost of these replacement parts its not surprising that they are not up to the job. Its not as if we could pay more for a superior product if we wanted to. In the generic parts market (high) quality manufacturers don't exist. If I wanted to buy machine turned stainless steel parts, or a decent piston or con-rod for a particular model there are companies who have stepped up to the challenge and produced them, yet for those common parts which were generally fitted by all the major bike and car makers, the choice of paying for the quality you want does not appear to exist.
Perhaps the market is small and doesn't warrant retooling however I would have thought that tightening up on quality control would be a good thing and that those with their pride and joy currently sat in a heated shed for the winter would be prepared to pay more.