Collets. Real World Utility

Re: Collets: Real World Utility? (hubert)

I wish I could tell you

I have been trying to get my hands on a set and no one has any

I talked with Ducati seattle an hour ago and the set they had was only enough to do seven valves

They seem to be the real deal though

Great question cant wait to hear the feedback sorry for the thread jack

Re: (bcmducati)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bcmducati »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Once set properly, most 2V streetbikes do not need adjustments. We routinely send our customers off and say "see you in another 10000 miles!". And, the 2V adjustment service isn't very costly anyway. $240 labor here at our shop. Highly modified bikes are a different story and the MBP collets in our 95 hp 750SS racebike has helped us make it through full race seasons with only one adjustment (instead of every other race weekend previously).</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thank you for the reply.

One question though, is how should we (or do you) qualitate and quantify "properly setup"; as in, how do I know my bike's been properly set-up, or how would go about checking? I'm not inclined to do the valve adjustments myself at the moment and even then, I'm not sure I'd know what to look for. (Though I do them on my car myself all the same). I looked over the receipts for my previous 750SS and it needed valves adjusted and a few shims at both the 6k and 12k service.

What I'm getting at is, if the collets equalize the valve train in everyone bike, making it more user friendly, wouldn't the initial investment be worth the added expense?




Modified by hubert at 2:27 PM 3/3/2005

Re: (bcmducati)

Go ahead and purchase the http://www.mbpducati.ca collets they are the ones produced by the Guy who will be doing the valve train seminar at Daytona.

Re: (smakbiam)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by smakbiam »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Exactly what BCM said, and make sure they are purchased from http://www.mbpducati.com and NOT the .ca site. There are parties out there selling couterfit collets that do not work or fit like the real ones.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hey Mike, Guy asked you to call him so that you two could talk about it. Last I heard, you haven't. What gives? You won't talk to him but you'll keep up the negativity?


You can e-mail him your phone number and a time and he'll call you. That's his normal customer service. Guy Martin of Martin Brickwood Ducati: [email protected]
(Brickwood is his wife's last name)

Best,
Chris


BTW, Guy is working on the THIRD generation of valve retainers. This will be the second improvement upon the original design. All of the retainers of the first improvement over the initial design have sold out. Each improvement of the design is geared to ease installation without sacrificing longevity of the valve's adjustment.

And I agreed with Bruce about street riders not really needing the longevity of the valve retainers. Zina rides her M900 well but rarely bangs off the rev limiter and gets up to 20k miles between needing a valve adjustment. But ... when I "street rode" my 900SS, I caned that bike and it needed the OE valves/retainers adjusted frequently. My use and that bike were a good candidate for the MBP retainers. Also ... once stainless or Ti valves are installed, the MBP retainers are considered mandatory! The valve gets beat up from the OE style keeper.

No. Not the same company.

I've been involved with Guy for over 8 years as a friend, customer and business associate and short of the man himself, I'm probably the best authority on the relationships between the two websites (and companies).

Guy Martin's company is Martin Brickwood Performance and his site is http://www.mbpducati.ca. The other site (.com) is operated by John Parker (a Harley oriented cylinder head man) and a Montreal lawyer. Both of these gentlemen were, until a year ago, in partnership with Guy Martin. Guy split with them and short of an expensive court injunction, they'll continue to use the MBP brand, the old website and his name to promote their business interests. They are selling 2-valve collets only and primarily old stock from the older design. They'll continue to do this until they run out of stock or interest.

As Bob and Chris stated, if you want to deal with the source, go to Guy at the .ca site.

BTW, I used Guy's collets in my Ducati bevel drive vintage racer for eight hard seasons and we adjusted the valves once.

Re: (chris_k)

Chris and Guy, maybe you guys can explain to everyone why your retainers required 3 different "generations" to get things right? The real collets from .com do not have fitment or install problems. We constantly get your customers collets returned to us, complaining that they don't fit. We have to explain the reason why they don't fit, and usually end up selling the real collets to them.. which fit, problem solved. 3rd generation... I hope you got it right this time. What about all the other customers that got the 1st and 2nd gens?

Really though, if you had fitment problems with these collets and you purchased them from ca-cycleworks, you made your own bed. I don't have anything bad to say regarding the other products on your site, just the collet and head crap.. but you know the story.

Guy's not getting a call from me, tell him not to hold his breath. It wreaks of bad BS regarding the collet issue as is.