Comet gear lever

[nkt267]

My Brothers post war Meteor has a steel gear lever all nicely chromed..It came with the bike when he bought it in 1969.
I recently modified a 350 Ariel lever for one of our local members ( bought for a very expensive £3.50 at a jumble) and used a spare selector spline to broach it to size after boring out the splines in the lever..John

 

[RedRyder]

I like the original Comet shift levers and I'll join in on the hype to encourage any repops. It's understood that commissioning parts needs to take in the consideration for profit, so
demand is an issue. I submit a very high percentage of Comet owners would buy one of those levers just to have a spare. And, there's no telling how many out there are wanting
one to replace their non-stock or knackered item.

 

[John Smith-Daye]

Put me down for one!

 

[Hugo Myatt]

I like the original Comet shift levers and I'll join in on the hype to encourage any repops. It's understood that commissioning parts needs to take in the consideration for profit, so
demand is an issue. I submit a very high percentage of Comet owners would buy one of those levers just to have a spare. And, there's no telling how many out there are wanting
one to replace their non-stock or knackered item.

That's three of us to start with.

 

[Bill Thomas]

I would like to be added to the list, But am worried about the cost !! Having seen the price of a Twin Kickstart from the Club Shop. Cheers Bill.

 

[RedRyder]

I would like to be added to the list, But am worried about the cost !! Having seen the price of a Twin Kickstart from the Club Shop. Cheers Bill.

Bill,

Yes, some of the items are getting a bit "rich." But, I reckon there are enough folks that will pony up for one or two items, occasionally, and splurge on something .... like these shift levers. What seems to me a way to go about this is for someone connected to The Spares Co. to post on our web site a list of 5 or 10 parts that are candidates for supply.
Give The Club Membership 90 days to throw their name in the hat, then, when/if enough people have joined in the list, send out a request for advanced payment and a note to
the effect that money will be returned in full should the part's development/manufacture fail within 6 months' time. Sell these "promised" items at a 15% discount and then after the first batch goes out, sell remaining stock at full amount to all late-comers.

 

[davidd]

The twin kick start levers from Sam Manganaro are $400 but I do not know if they are chromed. These are from Mike Breeding and the B, C and left hand KS levers are available. I think he has sold out the last batch, but he has another is coming. There is only a slight difference in the B and C levers. They work on both.

Someone can ask Sam about making Comet shift levers. I think Mike prefers to make steel parts, but that does not seem to be a bad thing.

http://www.mikesvincentparts.com/VINCENT%20PARTS.htm

David

 

[Ken Tidswell]

The American made levers are i believe investment cast. The Burman gear lever is a forging, the cast ones were made by Ron Kemp but were very brittle to say the least. But he did get some made which helped people who needed one. It may be that the Spares Company by now has a drawing of a gear lever, forging dies are expensive. They have problems with batch sizes which are small,
i don't know if Ian reads the blogs , a phone call on Monday may be a good idea. I know that a recent batch of Bottom links were made,
Mr Holder supplies these unmachined , some were too distorted to process, other forged products may suffer from the same defect.
It is rather a different matter to economically broach a batch with a proper broach, than a gifted amateur to produce a one off. Ken

 

[Bill Thomas]

I have an A ?? straight gear lever, Made in alloy, Have used it myself in anger !! And also lent it to the late Big Bill Telfer !!, It's been OK. Cheers Bill.

 

[bmetcalf]

Mike Breeding does seem to investment cast the parts, but I would think that in 4130 Chrome moly steel, they would be plenty strong.