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Howdy All - Recently lost a "perch wedge" - anyone know who stocks/sells these items - or has anyone come up with an alternate for the wedge ? Had two spares, now I'm down to one, I'll check Bob's BMW next time I'm up that way - figured by now somebody here has fabricated a replacement. Any ideas ? Thanks, Norm

Just a thought Norm....maybe a flattened or banged up nail.

I copied one by using a scrap of steel and some files and my vise. Also used was a vise my dad gave me that has a handle so you can hold stuff in it and hold it in one hand. I've only found it useful for holding really small pieces I'm working on. I clamp the hand held small vise in my bench vise. Funny thing is, when I want to move the piece or release the vise jaws, I almost always undo the handle on the main vise out of reflex.

I didn't heat treat the part so I wonder if it works very well. Probably better than nothing.

This shouldn't have ended up as an ode to vises but it did.

Chuey

IIRC, Vech and possibly BMW Hucky carried them.

Kurt in S.A.

Chuey wrote:. . . I didn't heat treat the part so I wonder if it works very well. Probably better than nothing. . . .

How hard is chrome? I wonder if a hardened perch wedge would be likely to dig into it very well. I can imagine that a soft perch wedge might comply with the handlebar better and thus work better.

Ken

Ken in Oklahoma wrote:

Chuey wrote:. . . I didn't heat treat the part so I wonder if it works very well. Probably better than nothing. . . .

How hard is chrome? I wonder if a hardened perch wedge would be likely to dig into it very well. I can imagine that a soft perch wedge might comply with the handlebar better and thus work better.

Ken

The perch wedge "bites" into the chrome by actually biting into the soft steel under the chrome.

You could certainly grind one of these out of a piece of tool steel on a wet grinder designed for sharpening lathe cutting bits. It wouldn't be a practical way for producing lots of them, but it would work fine for a one-off of something if you couldn't get it any other way.

If you can make it with a file, then it's a lot softer than the originals.

On Ken's point, that's a possibility too, as many other systems for clamping something on a tube use a bolt pushing on a small piece of brass. BUT, I don't know if the perch-wedge system is designed to put enough pressure on the wedge to work with a soft wedge. Since a brass wedge would be REALLY easy to make, someone should try it out.

Mild steel works fine if you fit them carefully.

For anyone interested, I purchased two perch wedges today at Bob's BMW, Maryland - for $20 plus tax - part # 32 72 1 232 929R - you need the "R"at the end to indicate "Reproduction" according to the parts counter guy ... Happy Trails, Norm
http://bobsbmw.com/

BMW Hucky lists them on his site using #32 72 2 072 223 which doesn't seem to work out in the fiche...$13. Vech shows wedges on his website using this same number but it's listed for /2 machines...$7. I can't see where there would be much difference between a wedge for a 1969 bike and a 1980 bike?? Hucky and Vech specify for Magura perches.

Kurt in S.A.

A few years ago we had a long thread about this.
I used some "found" wheel weights (lead) to make one. Used my spare for a sample.
The originals are some sort of soft metal; not steel as far as I can tell.