Major Issue With The2Wheels Levers

[ebster1085]

So I got a set of 2wheels levers about 2 months ago and love them. The fit, finish, feel, and look is great and when set side by side with a set of uber expensive Pazzo levers, the price of $35 I paid becomes even more amazing. To be perfectly honest, the levers are nearly identical.

My bike is always covered. It is either outside my apt covered, in my parents garage, or at the garage at work. It almost never sees extended periods of time uncovered outside, and since I got the levers it hasn't seen any.

I rode home to my parents house on Thursday morning of this past week and parked the bike in the driveway. It sat there uncovered from around 11am until 5pm when I hopped on and rode home.

The below pic shows how my levers look now after a mere 6hrs of sun exposure. They used to be all black like the base of the lever, but now have a faded bronze appearance. Of course I would expect anodized aluminum to sun fade over time, but after only 6 hours this is egregious and definitely bothers me.

I plan to write a letter to The2Wheels and alert them to this issue and see what they offer me. As annoyed as I am, I still cant hate on a company that offers a really nice set of levers for $35 which is FAR less than any of the competitors. Not to mention, the new color is...interesting.

 

[Erci]

Yeah, unfortunately this is a known issue. It's not just the The2Wheels.. it's all the cheapo levers.. they're almost certainly all made in the same factory and sold by different companies.

I knew mine would lose their color (had a set on FZ6 which lost original color) and I still chose to get another set for FZ1.. for $35, I'm willing to deal with discoloration for that price.

 

[mave2911]

I got the 2wheels shorty levers (as in sig) over 4 months ago, and after reports by some that the anodising on the lever itself 'wore off' I got the silver, unanodised levers and black handlebar bar mounts (with blue adjusters)

I try and keep my bike out of the sun, but over the last few months, my bike would have spent several hours in the sun and the mounts and adjusters look exactly like they did when I received them.

This leads me to wonder if perhaps the pigment on your levers wasn't UV stable, or maybe the presence of salt (from sweat) hasn't contributed to them fading.

Either way, except for them changing colour, I take it they perfom as well as they did when new?

Cheers,
Rick

Edit: Thanks Erci, for the confirmation it is a known issue.

 

[ebster1085]

Either way, except for them changing colour, I take it they perfom as well as they did when new?

Totally. I am still a huge fan of the levers and they perform and feel the same way they did on day one, and I ride my bike at least 70 miles to and from work every day.

As you can see in my pic, where they mount to the handlebar the color did not fade at all. It has only faded on the actual lever itself. I assume it is because they are either made of different materials or anodized in a different manner or with a different chemical composition. I think it is more likely that the type of metal differs between the two parts. Oh, and I ride with gloves always so I highly doubt salt has anything to do with it, but who knows.

Yeah, unfortunately this is a known issue. It's not just the The2Wheels.. it's all the cheapo levers.. they're almost certainly all made in the same factory and sold by different companies.

I knew mine would lose their color (had a set on FZ6 which lost original color) and I still chose to get another set for FZ1.. for $35, I'm willing to deal with discoloration for that price.

While I did expect them to fade over time, this amount of fading in only 6 hrs of exposure seems a little ridiculous, no?

 

[philz]

I've had these levers on 2 previous bikes with zero problems but I fitted a set to my FZ about 6 weeks ago and they faded just like yours.
I emailed the2wheels and they sent me a brand new pair for free, didn't even have to return the old ones.

Great service, especially as the levers aren't exactly expensive in the first place.

 

[ebster1085]

I've had these levers on 2 previous bikes with zero problems but I fitted a set to my FZ about 6 weeks ago and they faded just like yours.
I emailed the2wheels and they sent me a brand new pair for free, didn't even have to return the old ones.

Great service, especially as the levers aren't exactly expensive in the first place.

Good to know, thanks! I actually already sent them an email and am anxious to see if they will respond to me in the same manner.

 

[phranK2k11]

I've had these levers on 2 previous bikes with zero problems but I fitted a set to my FZ about 6 weeks ago and they faded just like yours.
I emailed the2wheels and they sent me a brand new pair for free, didn't even have to return the old ones.

Great service, especially as the levers aren't exactly expensive in the first place.

Any chance you still have the faded set and wanna send em my way?

 

[monteitis]

mine basically look gold by now, but with a gold adjusters, ittt doesn't look bad with the blue bike.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

IMHO, I'd buff the finish off them (if they let you keep them) and keep them bare silver aluminum (like the stockers) and you'll never have to worry about them fading...

 

[ebster1085]

Still waiting to hear back from the company, will keep you guys posted. I will probably just let them continued to fade. As I said in the original post, my bike is rarely uncovered outdoors so the amount of sun they see is limited.

If they send me a new set I may just bolt them up and make sure they never see sun for more than a few mins. If not, I guess I will just deal with what I got.

I just don't understand how the base piece where it connects to the handlebar does not fade. Does anyone know if its a different type of metal or something?

 

[Erci]

IMHO, I'd buff the finish off them (if they let you keep them) and keep them bare silver aluminum (like the stockers) and you'll never have to worry about them fading...

Great idea and there's a way to deanodize alu parts: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfLE4vyanQ]RC ADVENTURES - DIY - HOW TO DE-ANODIZE ALUMINUM RC PARTS - MODIFY / REMOVE COLOR - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ebster1085]

Wow! That is pretty cool and certainly an easy way to do it. Depending on how these things continue to look with additional sun fading and time, I may just have to do that. Thanks bro!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Still waiting to hear back from the company, will keep you guys posted. I will probably just let them continued to fade. As I said in the original post, my bike is rarely uncovered outdoors so the amount of sun they see is limited.

If they send me a new set I may just bolt them up and make sure they never see sun for more than a few mins. If not, I guess I will just deal with what I got.

I just don't understand how the base piece where it connects to the handlebar does not fade. Does anyone know if its a different type of metal or something?

I'm thinking it isn't fading, just wear and tear as that's where your hand (gloved or not) is putting the wear and tear. Their casting that lever as one unit and anodizing it at once as well. The ONLY difference, is your left hand is working that part of the lever...

If it wasn't, the whole lever, at least the top would be faded...

 

[ebster1085]

I'm thinking it isn't fading, just wear and tear as that's where your hand (gloved or not) is putting the wear and tear. Their casting that lever as one unit and anodizing it at once as well. The ONLY difference, is your left hand is working that part of the lever...

If it wasn't, the whole lever, at least the top would be faded...

I would agree with you if this was happening slowly over time since I got the levers, but they were literally perfectly black until I left the bike out in the sun that day for 6hrs. After that short period of time with direct exposure, they went from black to looking like that, yet there was no fading to the base of the lever.

I feel like the two pieces either have to be made of a slightly different aluminum composition or were treated in a different manner.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Just a shot in the dark but perhaps, as noted above, body chemicals along with the sun for 6 hours did the fading (which shouldn't have happened).

Even wearing gloves, oils, crap, etc get on them as well. Seems the anodizing wasn't very thick, put on correctly, made on a Friday, ??

 

[ebster1085]

Just a shot in the dark but perhaps, as noted above, body chemicals along with the sun for 6 hours did the fading (which shouldn't have happened).

Even wearing gloves, oils, crap, etc get on them as well. Seems the anodizing wasn't very thick, put on correctly, made on a Friday, ??

Haha! Yea, maybe these levers were anodized late on a Friday afternoon and the dude cut some corners to be out by 5pm.

 

[AthensGA37]

I'm so glad you posted this. I literally had the exact same problem (i think we've chatted in my post about wondering the quality on these previously). I had planned on posting a thread just like this until I saw this one. I use that honda spray cleaner and wax and was thinking it was my fault because I sprayed them and then noticed it started fading. I wasnt going to email them, mainly because they were so cheap and like you, I almost like like the bronze color they are going to. But at the same time, I wouldnt mind a backup pair so I may try emailing them also. They should be made aware of this issue for future problems.

 

[ebster1085]

I'm so glad you posted this. I literally had the exact same problem (i think we've chatted in my post about wondering the quality on these previously). I had planned on posting a thread just like this until I saw this one. I use that honda spray cleaner and wax and was thinking it was my fault because I sprayed them and then noticed it started fading. I wasnt going to email them, mainly because they were so cheap and like you, I almost like like the bronze color they are going to. But at the same time, I wouldnt mind a backup pair so I may try emailing them also. They should be made aware of this issue for future problems.

Yea, I totally agree. As annoying as the fading is, I cant be too ticked off due to the price of these levers which is undeniabky unbeatable.

Looking at the lever more I am 100% certain that it has nothing to do with my hand sweat, chemicals, or anything other than good old fashioned sun fading. The entire lever, even the part up near where it mounts to the handlebar is faded. My hands dont touch that top section while riding or otherwise. Also, the bottom of the lever is still black as it was not exposed to direct sunlight.

Since the handlbar mount section of the lever is still perfectly black I have to believe it is different metal or treated differently. Cant see any other reasoning to make sense of this.

The2Wheels wrote back and asked me to send them pictures which I did. Waiting for a follow up response now. Will report back.

 

[philz]

Looking at the lever more I am 100% certain that it has nothing to do with my hand sweat, chemicals, or anything other than good old fashioned sun fading.

I'd say it's definitely nothing to do with hand sweat or anything as I had 2 sets of these levers previously with zero problems but my latest set faded. Nothing has changed for me, I still ride with the same gloves now as I did previously so it's just that I got a bad batch that's all.

Very happy that the2wheels replaced them for free though, excellent customer service in my opinion.

 

[Poot]

You guys are talking about $35 per level correct? I have been in the market for a new set of levels and the2wheel has them for 60+ for the set.