Cheap Indian Discs

Hi
I needed a new front disc for my 1972 Norton, so did a search and came up with a disc from India for $79 AU, thought I may give it a go.
It looked real good by eye, I fitted this week, but it started to lock up when I offered up the axle, the disc was binding on the side of the caliper :shock:
I removed it and got the measuring gear out and found a couple of things, the inner flange (with the bolt holes) was .024" too thick and the disc was 0.033" too thick.
So into the lathe, made up a mandrel and turned the mating face down to the same as my original disc, this moved the disc away from the caliper, I then machined the outer face of the disc to bring it on size and away from the caliper, what I found was the disc was tapered thick on the outer and thin towards the centre, also the disc had high spots, probably should have binned it at this stage, once I got it machined flat and true I then faced the inner side of the disc it was much the same as the back face, in the end it all worked, with disc central in the caliper and brakes are good again.
The lesson here is I should have not been such a tight "A" and spent a bit extra from a known supplier, where I could have at least sent it back for replacement one.

It is a shame but the appearance/finish of the disc looked very good, cannot work out why it was machined so far out of tolerance, only thing I could think of was it must have been moving while it was being machined? :shock:

Burgs

Yikes!!!, I wonder how many dealers are selling these discs? makes me wonder the quality of the cast iron.

My sediments also regards the material but I feel it will be OK as I am not racing this thing and have been machining cast iron for quite a while now.
No porosity and no hard spots, no discolouration across the material, turns ok and with my experience with cast iron I can now spot a lot these issues just by looking at the machined item and the result when machining them.
The problem I believe is purely in the machining, that is without having it analysed I have seen a host of cast iron rubbish I can tell you. One of the reasons I thought I would give it ago was when I looked at the photos it looked exactly like the ones suppliers are selling.
Maybe they were the ones that didn't pass the tolerances and therefore sold out the back door??

PS forgot to say the OD was 2mm oversize as well.

Burgs

Burgs said:

The lesson here is I should have not been such a tight "A" and spent a bit extra from a known supplier, where I could have at least sent it back for replacement one.

It is a shame but the appearance/finish of the disc looked very good, cannot work out why it was machined so far out of tolerance, only thing I could think of was it must have been moving while it was being machined? :shock:

Burgs

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Sadly, the way of the world now. Quality is an old story people tell. Or, it's priced at a stratospheric level, like fine jewelry.
On rare occasion, I come across a well made part/accessory that's functionally sound & priced right.

I recently swapped out my old swiss-cheesed rotors for some old originals and had them ground and drilled by H&R machine. Not cheap, but well worth the peace of mind and performance improvement over the old examples, which were drilled a bit too much for proper pad friction.

After the debacle with the India-made sidecovers, it'll be a loooooonnnnnnnggg time before I buy anything else from India. You're better off to have an old rotor reground than to risk buying something from there.

A couple of years ago a local guy set up a Royal Enfield (India) dealership near here. At the grand opening there was a cutaway engine on display. If any first year engineering apprentice had produced such a poor quality product he would have been shown the door. I suppose not many buyers ever see the inside of their engines. Hopefully things are better now.

Thats what happens when your a cheap arse as in your own words, buy from suppliers that have been selling Norton parts for a long time like RGM etc, yes you pay a lot more but will have no problems and if you do they are very good to deal with, in my opinion my life is more important than buying parts that are crap just to save a few $$$$, good brakes saves lives, lesson learned I hope.

Ashley

What do expect from donkey powered lathes?

The big problem is going to be when enough of these kind of parts, inc tanks and tinware, have flooded the market and are on eBay etc as second hand parts.

As already said, the safest and best option has to be to always buy from a trusted retailer. In general, the quality of parts on offer has never been better IMHO.

But some of us still seem to insist on hunting out the crap, to save a buck, and then paying dearly for it...!!!

Fast Eddie said:

The big problem is going to be when enough of these kind of parts, inc tanks and tinware, have flooded the market and are on eBay etc as second hand parts.

As already said, the safest and best option has to be to always buy from a trusted retailer. In general, the quality of parts on offer has never been better IMHO.

But some of us still seem to insist on hunting out the crap, to save a buck, and then paying dearly for it...!!!

Click to expand...

All true. My side covers cost as much as NOS by the time I haggled 50 bucks refund out of the bastard (which he cancelled and disappeared with) and still had to cut them apart and have them TIG-welded back together to get the proper shape. Lesson learned.

Danno said:

Fast Eddie said:

The big problem is going to be when enough of these kind of parts, inc tanks and tinware, have flooded the market and are on eBay etc as second hand parts.

As already said, the safest and best option has to be to always buy from a trusted retailer. In general, the quality of parts on offer has never been better IMHO.

But some of us still seem to insist on hunting out the crap, to save a buck, and then paying dearly for it...!!!

Click to expand...

All true. My side covers cost as much as NOS by the time I haggled 50 bucks refund out of the bastard (which he cancelled and disappeared with) and still had to cut them apart and have them TIG-welded back together to get the proper shape. Lesson learned.

Click to expand...

50 bucks is a weeks wages out there...

Considering how long an original cast iron disc will last the cost soon becomes irrelevant, some steel rotors out there don't even last as long as the pads working on them. Some peeved of owners of upgrade kits out there I can tell you, when they realise the prices being quoted for a new set of pads, rotors, carriers and bobbins. 13mm MC, Standard caliper, braided hose, AP pads and the stock disc is more than enough for the majority of riders.