Chinese slide diaphragms for CV carbs?

Suppose I'll chime in...I'd give the cheap diaphragms a shot if you're patient, but spring for whatever is reputable if you're in a hurry. I don't have experience with the particular item in question, but I do have experience with parts made in China. I'm inclined to say that no matter the country of origin, parts can be hit or miss. 

Spending a little more may improve your odds of getting something satisfactory, but I've been let down by US-made, German, Japanese, you name it. I'm not patient at all, so I wouldn't be willing to take the risk of the cheapest option, but I don't think of it in terms of "Chinese", just "cheap". It usually is for a reason. 

Sorry if this offends you, just my two cents, my girlfriend says I'm a jerk, et cetera. Good luck on your repair. 

wrote:

I avoid Chinese made stuff whenever possible.  Quality is always suspect.

I'll straight up disagree with this, Quality is not "always suspect". I have some excellent stuff made in China, Top quality. I suppose you have to actually buy some to really know. Your country has huge manufacturing plants in China, So has Japan and most other Western nations, you'd be surprised what you have or use that's made in China. 
 

I'll disagree with your disagreement.  My country (Canada) manufactures very little in China.  I don't know about where you live but anything manufactured here has a "Made in Canada" label on it.  If it's made in China for a Canadian company it has wording to that effect.  Canada, USA and Mexico have a free trade agreement so I'm fine buying anything from any of the three countries, which means most things that I use in daily life.

I admit to having a hate on for China because they have kidnapped two Canadians, including a diplomat, and that helps fuel my desire to avoid their stufff.  I also agree that some stuff is good quality but when you buy things that aren't, to me that makes all their stuff suspect, and believe me, I've bought my share of crap from China.  They are the source of phoney NGK plugs, among other nasty tricks.  They make most of the crappy petcock replicas for vintage Kaws.  Secondly, much of their stuff is made with slave labour, which I have no desire to support.  Lastly, many products that come from China were manufactured with stolen technology.  That's how they managed to grow their GDP so quickly over the last 20 years.

Your experience appears to be different and that's good for you.  But just remember what they've done to your coal exports when you buy their stuff.

OK, I'm done with my rant.





 

I don't mean to get anyone upset at all, my experiences have been all good, but I know what i'm buying which obviously helps.  I'd love to know why a 40 year old, or older patient means someone can charge 10 times the price it takes to make parts for our bikes, I'm not rich, I'll do my homework and buy whats best for me.
Funny about the coal, I couldn't give a stuff about coal here, our stupid government treats Australia like a huge quarry with no back up policies for anything, and then mouths off at the people who buy the stuff, killing their own market, idiots, all the while paying the miners billions in subsidies to keep them competitive, And collecting virtually NO TAX, and the companies aren't even Australian..!!!   They are old white pig headed conservatives fools that have tried their best to shut down renewables in the very country that was a world leader in these technologies, and at the same time, killed manufacturing here. Are you aware we had , up until recently,  the most expensive electricity on the planet , thanks to renewables here prices have dropped dramatically?  We have more sunlight per square metre than any other country in the world and we have A huge majority of the population living on a windy coast line and these idiots want to build more CFP stations and gas fired power plants..  Luckily the States {Australian states} , are going it alone building huge renewable energy plants which are bringing down power prices.. .....

Sorry for the off topic rant ..

Yes, I know a bit about renewables in Oz.  I was involved in a project near Mt Isa a few years ago.  Power was very expensive and is the primary input to grind rocks down to dust.  I recommended a large solar array to generate a big chunk of power, along with large battery storage.  There is at least one mine in WA that does this.  The point to remember on policy is that if you piss the Chinese government off for whatever reason there will be trade repercussions that ignore WTO rules.  They will find an excuse to do whatever they want.

so not one person that has replied has any experience with Chinese slide diaphragms
but everyone has an opinion about Chinese parts

A quote from a Clint Eastwood movie:
opinions are like a@&h#@*%#, everyone has one

you cannot buy the OEM part Wilbur, they stopped making them and ran out decades ago
so kudos to the Chinese and anyone else who make the parts
Oh, and I didn't ask about carb repair kits, I asked about slide diaphragms, maybe try reading twice?

and this is a *spare* set of carbs, so if the Chinese parts turned out to be no good I'd only be out the $10 to $15 bucks
I still have my good set of carbs that are 100% Japanese
I don't want to spend more money for the diaphragms than I did for an entire set of carbs with good diaphragms

we've heard enough opinions on buying Chinese parts, if you don't have experience with slide diaphragms , save yourself and everybody else time by not posting please

Well, I was reluctant to respond, because I have no long term experience. I did buy one for an 82 750 Magna I fixed up recently. The bike now has 3 original diaphragms and 1 cheap China diaphragm. The new diaphragm was a little stiffer than the original, but with a shop vac test, raised and lowered the slide the same amount as ton he other 3 carbs. The bike is running fine.
I have less than 100 miles on it since I installed the China diaphragm. 

I suppose I should have read this before ordering new diaphragms. I found a huge gash in one of mine this morning and ordered 2 from the UK for 60 bucks. Could be they come from China, I dunno, it was the best price I could find there were only 2 sets left and I didn't think it was worth spending more money just for the "peace of mind" of 40 year old OEM.

I bought Chinese diaphragms for some BS34 carbs I was restoring at the time.  They were dirt cheap and when they arrived they looked quite nice.  They were pure rubber (not sure what formula but suspect some version of nitrile,) unlike the stock diaphragms which are fabric covered with rubber.  Keihin CV carbs use pure rubber diaphragms too so that part didn't bother me.  Anyway, getting your hands on diaphragms is one thing but installing is something completely different.  I wound up using my lathe and modifying the slide, then machining an insert piece that will capture the diaphragm to the slide. Last step was bonding the insert to the slide.  It was a fun project but at the end of the day the diaphragms were the wrong size.  Apparently Kawasaki/Mikuni BS34 slides come in different diaphragms diameters and I had the wrong size.  I'm not blaming the seller, they mentioned the later police bikes in the ad and I was working on some 1100 shaft drive carbs.  Anyway, I wouldn't hesitate to buy "chinese diaphragms" but installing them is not a trivial task.

Great! Something else for me to mess up or spend more money getting installed.

I've attached a pic of what the diaphragm is supposed to look like. As far as I can tell the US supplier does not include the locating tab (nor do the Chinese), which as best I can tell is why the one guy on this forum who actually has experience replacing the diaphragms on an 82/83 GPz550 went with the UK supplier. He seems happy, but then he really did not have any other choice, unlike me, I have a set of good carbs, I'm just trying to get a spare set in working condition. I can afford to experiment or wait and hope I eventually find something.

So it come down to do you want to:
spend $176 plus shipping for a correct part from the UK
spend $70 for an incorrect US part that may or may not work
or spend $10 to $15 for a Chinese part that may or may not work

BTW, on the original part, the diaphragm is a coated fabric, as far as I can tell none of the replacement parts are

I know this is mostly about the 550 but just thought I'd mention for the 250/305 folks that my original 305 diaphragms appear to be all rubber. I looked at the torn edge under a microscope and it looks uniformly rubbery. I got the bike with 5000 miles on it so they are surely original.