Yesterday and today I upgraded my brake and clutch levers. It turned into a small adventure, honestly.

First, the goods:

ASV Inventions makes some of the best aftermarket levers available. I believe the most popular street model is the C5 Series Sport, but I opted for the F3 Series Sport instead. And while most people I know choose the shorty variant for more aggressive looks, I wanted the standard length for comfort.

From what I could tell, these are the differences:

• C5 levers are CNC machined, F3 are forged
• C5s have a 5 year warranty, F3 have 3 years
• they have slightly different finishes
• C5s are available in more colors
• C5s are $150 each, F3s are $110

Everything I care about was covered by both:

• fantastic quality
• adjustment range
• availability of black lever with gold dial
• sex appeal

I decided to save myself $80 + tax and I’m pretty content with that.

Now let’s take a look at the outgoing grossness:

Pretty gross, right? The other one was just as crusty, believe me.

After a bit of futzing around, the results were pretty spectacular: