PackardV8
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2006
- Location
- Spokane, WA
Our son bought a Swedish Cake electric motorcycle and it's pretty cool. However, on the first off-road ride, the rear license/turn signal bracket snapped in half with a much less severe impact than Japanese off-road bikes routinely survive. At first glance, at 2 mm thick, the bracket should have been strong enough, so I thought it must be cast aluminum, as it broke so easily. Turned out to be steel; the problem is a design flaw which has two narrow sections on either side of the long rectangular slot at the top and the material is much too hard and brittle.
I used the orignal as a pattern to make a stronger part out of 18-gauge stainless sheet, tapering it to the bottom, so as to eliminate the original weak points.
Being a fan of the belt-and-suspenders design school, I decided to bolt the original, now two pieces, behind the stainless as reinforcement. I used the original holes as a guide to drill the stainless, but decided it would be stronger with one new hole and bolt at the top of the original bottom half, up near the break.
When I centerpunched and started drilling, the OEM piece smoked a new titanium coated 17/64" bit; that bracket is harder than the hubs-of-hell. I finally got a hole through it, but cannot understand how they got all the original holes, a ninety-degree and a thirty-degree bend in such a hard, brittle piece of steel. It obviously won't bend in its current state and who'd heat treat and harden a license plate bracket?
They say *The product photo might not reflect the actual kit." and it doesn't but ours is similar but longer on the bottom. and BTW, the replacement part is $83. No one in his right mind would see the original break that easily and spend $83 to do it again next ride.
I used the orignal as a pattern to make a stronger part out of 18-gauge stainless sheet, tapering it to the bottom, so as to eliminate the original weak points.
Being a fan of the belt-and-suspenders design school, I decided to bolt the original, now two pieces, behind the stainless as reinforcement. I used the original holes as a guide to drill the stainless, but decided it would be stronger with one new hole and bolt at the top of the original bottom half, up near the break.
When I centerpunched and started drilling, the OEM piece smoked a new titanium coated 17/64" bit; that bracket is harder than the hubs-of-hell. I finally got a hole through it, but cannot understand how they got all the original holes, a ninety-degree and a thirty-degree bend in such a hard, brittle piece of steel. It obviously won't bend in its current state and who'd heat treat and harden a license plate bracket?
They say *The product photo might not reflect the actual kit." and it doesn't but ours is similar but longer on the bottom. and BTW, the replacement part is $83. No one in his right mind would see the original break that easily and spend $83 to do it again next ride.
jack vines
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