The hand controls on most motorcycles older than five years are screwed together using a variety of screws and bolts, usually finished in an MOD black finish, sometimes zinc passivated or black painted. Hand controls for the purpose of this article would be the clutch and brake lever clamps, the throttle tube pulley housing, left and right hand switch gear assemblies, hydraulic reservoir mounts and tops and, perhaps for aesthetic value, the rear view mirror mounts on faired machines.

Screws are often of the pozi pan or Phillips head type and are prone to deforming when being unscrewed after corrosion has seized the threads insitu. Another problem with these screws is that they are often quite long (up to 50mm) for a typical M5 screw in a switchgear assembly and these are not the sort of length screw most people will have a spare of lying around in their toolbox or garage. With time and change of owners the fixings on the hand controls are often damaged, corroded, seized or missing.

There are two main benefits of replacing these bolts with new ones. Firstly, replacement fasteners will give you new, undeformed threads which will clean the female threads of the accessories they fasten. It will also give you the chance to use a proprietary anti seize compound such as copperslip to future proof your hand controls against corrosion and guarantee ease of disassembly later on. Secondly, you can address the aesthetics of your machine in this area by considering the use of stainless screws, bolts, washers and nuts, which will not corrode, and will retain their finish for longer than your motorbike is likely to last.

You can also consider the use of a socket type head in lieu of the Phillips or hex heads that may be on your OEM arrangement. Socket heads receive allen keys rather than screw drivers, are less prone to deformation under higher torque and look nicer. Where you have a Phillips head, replace this with a socket button head screw. A hex bolt can be replaced with a socket cap head of the same length and thread size and countersink Phillips screws can be substituted with socket countersink screws.

Here is an example of a hand control kit for a Suzuki 1200 Bandit in stainless socket type screws and bolts.