Anyone installed Martin Brickwood collets?

Was wondering if any of you have installed these and actually had your need for valve adjustments/checks extended as claimed?

Hey Bill,

I attempted to, but I found the tolerances to be so damned tight, that I had to talk to Guy Martin in Montreal, who instructed me that you had to kind of rap them down in place.

Since their installation does change valve clearances, I would end up having to do the whole process twice. I said f'k it. Opportunity cost was too high.

Last year I got over 12K miles w/o a valve adjustment (or check). The Desmodues are pretty resilient. LP Snyder (I think) said you can go 10K easy, I think Chris Kelley opined elsewhere similarly. Now, if you're revving that engine higher, YMMV

I don't let mine go too much over 8K. I'm good for 12K again, I figure. (Definitely get LP Snyder's 2V maintenance manual though).

Cool thanks. My Aprilia calls for them to be checked every 6.5K but out of the 15+ guys I have talked to with Aprilia V60 motors, none have needed an actual adjustment up to 20K miles. That shim over bucket design is pretty durable. Mine has 8K on it and it as tight as day one and it has seen some track days with quite a few rev limiter bounces!

I had heard the 2 Valve design was much less maint intensive, part of the attraction to me. Air cooled, simple head and durable for the long haul. Kinda like my R1100S, only not such a pig! Not that I don't like to do maint, but just appreciate a good design that is not so delicate.....

Thanks again....I'll shoot ya an email when I get back from Kali and maybe we can head out 55 for a spin mid week.

I don't have the collets, but I can comment on the stability of the 2V valve gear. I replaced every shim at 12K. I could have buttoned it up with out changing anything. All valves were within spec. Since I had just received my EMS shim kit (very highly recommended), I had the stuff I needed to get things to a tighter tolerance. I completed my 18K valve check early this month, and again, I could have left everything as is, but I ended up changing out two closers and one opener. I set my valves to .004" on all openers, and less than .002" (most are less than .001") on all closers. I ride the bike easy during the week for my daily commute, but it does get a lot of time in the 6 to 8K range on my weekend "sport rides".

Opinion time.... I would say if you do your own maintenance, skip the collets, and buy a shim kit from EMS. If you're paying for service, probably worth going to the collets and doubling your maintenance interval. The valves are pretty stable once things settle in.

Cool....You hear the usual "Duc's are major maint animals", "you'll spend so much keeping it up" but of course this is from guys that haven't ever owned one. I got this bike to be my main cruiser. I love the Aprilia, but want to keep it set up for serious sport riding with a little tighter gearing. The Buell is the main commuter. But between the Buell and the Aprilia, no room for the girlie friend, so I put some bar risers on the Duc and it will be the all around bike. Looking forward to logging many miles on it.

I talked to Zieg today, I told him the story about our conversation...He laughed and said the same thing I did, small world! Congrats on picking up 9!

Change the colletts when you check valves and often that will bring the closers back into spec. I've seen several threads that said the MBPs are not needed unless you race.
Joe

I had the same problem as MR_VFR. I was told it was the VEETWO shimm kit,I have, causing the problems....As easy as it is to change shimms on 2valves. IT was not worth the problems or cost, of trying to install the MBP collects on my 2 valve. I am running them.But would not install them again,knowing how fun it was the first time.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the feedback. Looks like I'll do a Nancy Regan and "just say no!"

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bill900 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I talked to Zieg today, I told him the story about our conversation...He laughed and said the same thing I did, small world! Congrats on picking up 9!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks, it certainly has me rethinking my retirement plans! Also thanks for mentioning this to Mike. I just sent him a email. Hopefully he'll be around on my next trip to PHD...

Too funny Bill..

Look, I don't wanna criticize MPB here too much. I think it's an ingenious product, just not real useful if I'm not racing.

I just rechecked my data; I went 14K miles last year, not 12K w/o a valve check. Our Desmodues, you guys (the 99+ FI ones that is) are awesome little machines if not abused.

Some of you already know that MPB and Chris Kelley collaborated to set up a 100+ HP 900 machine. Can you believe it?? That kinda power on my bike would be simply awesome.

Not just the 99 + FI ones either. The pre-1999 ones are pretty tough too (not much difference in the motors)!
Joe

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">100+ HP 900 machine. Can you believe it?? That kinda power on my bike would be simply awesome.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Mr_VFR. you need to ride my Aprilia Falco, 120 RWHP and it rocks......Okay this is a Duc board, but that bike is so dialed in.........It will make you wanna slap your momma!

Bill, I asked a similar question regarding the utility of the collets and was told much the same you've been told here; on the 2v bikes, the valve stay in spec anywhere from 12 to 18000 miles if you're not racing, bouncing the bike off the rev-limiter and riding sensibly. On a street bike , especially on a 2v, the collets don't offer a reasonable gain.
Regards.

PS: Here's my thread if you'd like to read it click me.

Hubert, Thanks much. Sounds like it is very similar to my Aprilia, I like that.......

20,000miles still no valve adjust todo.I found that with the stock half rings power was dropping after 400miles.The mbp collets are the best investment I have made so far.95900 SS-SP,95hp,68fps torque

I wanted to say 4000miles.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Joe B &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Change the colletts when you check valves and often that will bring the closers back into spec. I've seen several threads that said the MBPs are not needed unless you race.

Mr_VFR. you need to ride my Aprilia Falco, 120 RWHP and it rocks

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Never tried checking valves on an 851 then eh Joe? Its abit more than a bugger. Collets for me please.

Easy to compare an Aircooled 2v to a 4v Waterpumper.


Modified by Ducman851 at 9:32 AM 6/12/2005