Parts made for ○○ should bolt right on as-is—or so I thought too.
I’m sure anyone who’s done this kind of work before has run into it.
The mounting position is awkward and you have to lift or pull to get the bolts through, removal takes a trick, there are way too many fasteners, you need four hands, something is definitely touching somewhere—you name it.
A part should be removable and installable by anyone, just like OEM stock, and it should function as a part—I think that’s the baseline.
Because it’s aftermarket… is that really it?
Same goes for aftermarket fairings.
Personally, I’m basically against drilling holes.
Tolerances on the bracket side, fairing warping, hole drilling tolerances,
and even crash history—when you factor all that in, there’s no way it fits properly.
For hole positions, you either have to use oversized holes or slotted holes, or resort to brute force.
But if you did all that, obviously nothing would sell. Fitting and drilling work would cost an arm and a leg. It all works because of a delicate balance.
Don’t assume that everything born in a nice facility is high quality.
Some makers are like that, and some aren’t.
When that’s the case, quality control tends to be similar.
Keeping this in mind, you start to see a lot of things.
Why does something that looks basically the same cost so much less?
They’re making it similar to the pricier version, so you’ll have to make up the difference yourself.
It’s cheap, so of course it won’t last long! Use at your own risk.
—I feel like that’s the hidden message.
From experience, I’d say that’s pretty much how it is… what do you think?
I’ve come across plenty of parts that just can’t be installed properly no matter what.
If all you care about is getting it on, then sure, you can make it work.
Twist it, pull it, thread the bolts, tighten them down—installation is possible.
But even the person installing the part
thinks, “Man, I really don’t want to take this off next time…”
If it’s a one-time relationship, I’ll be honest—I’d be tempted to do it too.
The work efficiency and profit margin are great.
Customers who never touch their own bikes have no idea this is happening, so in a sense it doesn’t matter to them. They have no basis for comparison anyway.
Even OEM parts can be a nightmare to service sometimes.
From those experiences, I want to make sure that anything I work on or create has a simple, thoughtful design.
Judging something just by whether a part is on or off is pure self-satisfaction with no real meaning… it’s a real puzzle.
