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Be Careful with LightSpeed carbon !

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:20 am
I love crabon fiber stuff,and Light Speed makes some very nice looking accesories.
I installed the left side cover,and it requires you remove two of the bolts holding the cover, and securing the guard with those two bolts.
I noticed an oil leak (!), and those two bolts were loose to the point of being able to turn by hand, of course with an oil leak.
The bolts were thoroughly cleaned with contacy cleaner, torqued to the 9ft.lbs specified in the manual, yet still came loose.The covers boly holes got pretty screwed up from the coming loose and vibration,so is essentially unuseable.
The carbon seemed to 'crush; as I tightened it . They don't give you any instructions or ecommendations. Ken thinks washers may be a good idea, and I just wanted to see if anybody had any suggestions.
What I'm worried about is the frame guards, they use the two of the subframe mounting bolts which of course are very important, critical really.
I have an e-mail into Light Speed, haven't heard back yet but will be calling, and will post whatever their response is. Doug

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:37 pm
by paul turner
Doug

If the cover is semi crushable, then LocTite nor washers can keep the proper torque.
Dis-satisfied customer.

paul

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:35 pm
I agree with that Paul.
So,no e-mail response , so I called.Sigh.
Well now, it seems that if it 'cracks' and 'pops'while being torqued to an amazing 12ft./lbs. it needs to be returned,that where the bolts go there are only two layers of carbon ! A re-design was "probably" going to happen. This is disappointing big time and makes me nervous about the frame guards.
Also suggested was "fully torquing" (???), then getting the bike warmed up ,then re-torquing "might" help.
Too much BS for me. I told them I'll just send them back to swap them out ,and they can send me fork guards.From my impressions I'll bet that doesn't go smoothly.
A bummer but I think I'm done with them.The combination of no directions, a poorly thought out design, no return of e-mails all put them there, I didn't.
Doug

Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 5:32 am
by 124
Wow Doug. Sounds like your having some trouble. I have frame guards and the glide plate and have no trouble with either. Except the stupid allen screws that hold the skid plate on are stripping out..

Actually I did make some modifications to the glide plate, although none that may help you. I had to cut out a section around the oil filter so that I could change the oil without having to remove the plate. But other than that obvious design flaw, no troubles.

HEY! btw...we are a go for this weekend at our private track. Your are ofcourse welcome to join us. We switched the direction of the track and it's shaping up nicely. C'mon, you'll like it...