Forum

[Mr Black]

Just wanting a whinge!!

I've changed the bars on my Classic C5 to ones with a slightly lower profile. Putting all the controls back on and one of the threads completely goes in the RH switch housing. I was barely using any force but still one thread in the housing has stripped and I now need to get a replacement. You'd think they'd have the sense to use a slightly tougher plastic or at least use an embedded nut if the plastic wasn't up to the job!!!

Not a huge amount of money, but a pain in the arse nevertheless.

Grrrrrr

And relax

[Bullet Whisperer]

Seeing as the switch body is plastic, could you not just use a self tapping screw of a suitable length and over size diameter to clamp the area with the stripped thread? Regards, Paul.

[Mr Black]

Short term that'd probably do the job. Good idea Sir.

Seeing as it's f*cked anyway, I can't do any more harm.

[jefrs]

Mine did that. I cleaned the screw thread and put some Loctite on it, just enough grip left to hold it until the cement set, the unit is pegged to the bar and tight on the other good screw. Next-time round tuit solution is to be using the next size up metric tap and re-thread it. No not a self-tap please don't do that, horrible, nasty. I've checked there's enough meat there to do that. It is plastic so no need to pilot drill. I've got HSS taps but even cheap bendy-metal pound-stall ones will do the job on plastic (I had one of those transmogrify into a corkscrew). Proper solution would be to plug, drill and tap the same size, but to plug with what? Or buy a new one, nah!

[Dennis C]

A stainless self tapper of the correct size would probably give better grip in plastic.

[Mr Black]

Just realised that there's a metal nobble that's supposed to locate in a hole on the bars (that isn't on this set) so it was never going to tighten up. Hence the stripped threads.

D'oh.

Option 1- drill hole in bars,

option 2, fettle the switch housing

Option 3, stop being vain and just put the old bars back on.


Things are NEVER easy huh??

[jefrs]

That metal peg is supposed to be there. I tried to remove one on mine with parallel-action pliers (better than Molegrip) and I've got a grip like a gorilla but it would not budge. Others have reported pulling them out to fit undrilled bars. Self-tap or self-threading screw, there is a difference; self-taps are for sheet metal and I've found they can split plastic, self-threading looks like a proper machine screw with a vee slot cut into the end, sometimes seen on household electrical stuff. A stainless screw of the next size up should be able to cut its own thread in plastic; me I'd run a tap into because I've got taps. They should have fitted a brass nut insert to the switch.



Cheap taps is cheap taps. I don't trust them but the ought to cut plastic. If you can afford a set of proper HSS taps they will last a lifetime. Me, I'm part engineer, many folks will never find a use for them nevermind know how to use them.



Watch out for lower profile bars hitting the tank on the C5, it is a big tank. Been there, switched back ... because with them set to not hit the tank with switches and cables, they weren't any lower.

[jefrs]

Just a thought - H do have some pre-drilled lower profile Bullet bars with bar-end nuts welded in place, which I got and ran with for a few months. But they had to be pushed forwards so the bar's 'ears' were up to clear the tank. I had issues getting comfortable with that grip (arthritis) so I switched back to the stock bars last week. With those bars (about an inch narrower) canted forwards they were at roughly the same height and distance as the C5 stock bars but at a different angle, and roughly the same place swan-neck clip-ons would be.



Drill the bars, about 4mm. Mark and centre-pop accurately. Be very sure where you want the switch, it is difficult to tell until you have fitted and tightened the bars, sit on it /off/ the stand. Measure twice, cut once.

[Dennis C]

Copied and pasted from the makers web site.

"What is a self tapping screw? Self-tapping screws are fasteners that are designed to drill their own hole as they are screwed into wood, plastic or metal. By using a screw driver and self-tapping screws, precisely fitted threads are created. Self-tapping screws are ideal for items that require regular maintenance and work well when working with two different kinds of material being fastened together."

[Reg]

Surely that describes a self-drilling screw. A self-tapper cuts it's own thread into an existing hole. By the way, when I typed self-drilling, predictive text wrote self-deluding! Rather apt I thought.