Scooterotica

With all the talk of levers and disc brakes I had a look at mine. I bought mine from a reputable English shop. I am from Ireland. I asked them before buying about quality and was told by the chap on the phone that same disc was fitted on his bike for ages and no problems. So you can only take a person at their word.

Now I know it's a Sterling hub. These I think are sand cast (please correct me if I'm wrong), and now I am worried about my safety. From whatI've read here these are frowned upon.

The point I'm making is, British, European, Far East....you can't be sure, or can you. Especially when a lot of shops source from Far East anyway.

Is my Sterling disc brake a piece of crap??

Dunno about yours but mine is fine. Mine has Nissin caliper and master cylinder, Black lever (which I believe are the same as the polished ones). It pays to keep regular checks and maintainance on all the crucial parts such as brakes, steering, wheels, tyres, hubs, etc. but if you become paranoid about everything that can go wrong then you'll never ride a scooter again.
I'm told that the Sterling hubs are sand cast as opposed to pressure cast but I've not heard of any braking. I've heard of lots of early front drum hubs breaking though but as they were made in Italy and not Vietnam it didn't cause mass hysteria.

Thanks for the reply corrado. I think I am just a bit paranoid at the moment. Mine is probably the exact same as yours. Nissin caliper and master cylinder with black lever. I just need a few thoughts from other folk.

Cheers once again.

When the sand cast original type disc brakes came out(think it was a Tino one) I was asked to fit one by a customer.
I was so worried about it due to the rough look of the casting that I got a mate who does aero welding to x ray it for me.
I was relieved to find out that it was fine.
There are lots of componenets that are sand cast and it doesn't neccesarily mean that they are prone to fault. As with anything pressure casting included a lot depends on who is doing it and the quality of their tools and inspection.
My advice is to check it regularly for signs of failure but ride with confidence.

My lever snapped a couple of months ago, luckily it was when I was putting my scooter on its stand, I hold the front brake when doing this. The gubbins etc... is grimeca and was engineered to a Lambretta hub by Mbd in the late 90's and has done thousands of miles, the same set up is on Mark Broadhursts Allwyn Pushpak liquid cooled god knows what but looks like it can go some scooter. I phoned Mb when mine broke to find out what it was off so as to get a replacement and was told it was off a Vespa. I managed to get one from a local scooter shop that matches the profile of the original and all is fine. My point is ANY lever can fail, not just Asian ones. Best thing is to check what you have for obvious flaws and replace with quality products if need be. Safe riding.

Diablo wrote:There are lots of componenets that are sand cast and it doesn't neccesarily mean that they are prone to fault. As with anything pressure casting included a lot depends on who is doing it and the quality of their tools and inspection.

spot on there

There are hundreds of different types of levers out there and any one of them could fail at any time, but up until now i have only heard of a handful of problems i think if you check it for wear and tear every now and then you will be more than safe , i think people tend to panick a bit when they hear a problem on a forum when with a little common sense you should be just as safe as ever. If you wanted to be 100% safe and sound you could buy a brand new scooter and only ride on bright sunny days and at the speed limit !!

sponge bob wrote:There are hundreds of different types of levers out there and any one of them could fail at any time,

I'm more concerned about the hub end than I am about the lever. But I take your point.