Showe Performance Blog

  1. 931 Gaskets Now Live - Week 40

    Weekly Update

    After a massive week designing, produing and photo graphing we are having a list-a-thon! Over the weekend we are pushing forward listing all the new gaskets we have been producing over the last few weeks

    Currently we are sitting on 931 individual gasket which are live on our website, we currently have a backlog of another 102 in the system which are waiting to be photo graphed and a further 75 waiting to be machined. 

    We are steadly listing Yamaha TZ 125 250 350 and Honda RS 125 and 250. We still have a few gaps in our product line up which we will fill over the coming weeks.

    Finally, this week we have had 4 different production enquiries for copper head gaskets.

    One of the more interesting situations that we came across are Kawasaki KR1 head gaskets. We have spoken to 2 different customers this week with exactly the same issue on Kawasaki KR1 / KR1S pattern head gaskets supplied from the far east. These pattern head gaskets are extermely prone to failure at high revs causing either the water jacket to be pressurized or water leaking into the cylinder causing poor running. As Kawasaki have discontinued the original head gasket which was a single ply viton cover gasket this has begun to cause issues for KR1 owners. In a future post I will go through a few of the issues and solutions we have seen and found over the years. Our current solution is a copper head gasket we are currrently producing. We are awaiting long term feedback from our customers but do expect that with correct fitting and application of permatex copper spray-a-gasket that our solution is far more reliable than the poor after market ones which are currently on offer.

    Another customer has contacted us for a small production run of YZ 250 1980 - 1981 copper head gaskets, while these are still available from the guys at CMSNL the price is starting to get a little too rich for most people. We have produced a small batch of 50 gaskets in 0.5mm /0.7mm and 0.9mm which are available on the website. Over the next few weeks we are pretty much covering all 1970 and early 1980's motorcross copper head gasket. As per usual, we are using premium C101 copper sourced from germany and perfectly machined by us!!!

    Read more »
  2. 900th Design Gasket goes into production - 1000 here we come!

    Update - 25-9-2019

    We are steadly marching torwards having one of the largest catalogues of motorcycle gaskets. Every week we design and produce around 20 different gaskets which are new to our catalogue. With continued investment into are design and production service we expect to reach 1000 gaskets within the next 5 weeks.

    Up and Coming

    Over the next few weeks we are focusing on 125 and 250 2 stroke race bikes. Yamaha TZ 125 250 and 350 along with RS 125 and 250. We are aiming to have a complete catalogue covering every gasket from 1970 to present... To support the 2 stroke race bikes we highly recommend contacting ourselves directly.  We are offering gasket support packages to racers world wide along with cusom solutions.

    Read more »
  3. Bespoke and Short Run Gasket Production

    Showe are the UK's and Europe’s only specialist motorcycle gasket manufacturer.

    While we can produce any gasket, our strength is the motorcycle industry. Our immense knowledge gained over the last 20 years in the industry allow us to provide solutions to suit your needs. We have a large catalogue of CAD drawing which enable us to produce most motorcycle gaskets in minutes. We are highly active in the industry suppling many of the specialist motorcycle restorers, distributors, shops, race teams and customers direct. 

    CAD/CAM

    Our onsite draughtsmen are available to design your gasket to your requirements. From a simple change in thickness to a ground up design, our friendly experienced team will provide a timely and accurate solution.

    Production and CNC

    Showe have the capability to manufacture gaskets using the very latest software and CNC machinery. We have invested heavily on the latest CNC machinery to allow us to go from drawing to full scale production in under 15 minutes. Our unique abilities and ultra-fast turnaround times often stun our customers who are used to 2-12-week lead times. Our accurate (to 50 micron) automated cutting tables and 60000 RPM machining centres (accurate to 2-5 micron) can cut and machine the following:

    • Paper
    • Aramid Fibre
    • Viton
    • Silicon
    • Nitrile
    • Copper
    • Aluminium
    • Graphite
    • Composite Materials - Foiled, tanged, reinforced etc
    • Carbon Fibre
    • Cork

    Size not an issue

    Ultra small or large gasket production can cause many manufacturing issues. We can produce gaskets from just a few mm in size up to 1600mm x 5000mm.

    We only stock and machine premium materials, we have an extensive range of Copper, Aluminium, Novus 30 and 45, Klinger, Interface Materials (2331 - N-8092 - N-8094 - S207), Flexoid, Oakenstrong and Phoenix sealing gasket materials, thickness range from thin foils and papers 0.05mm to greater than 20mm.  All our materials are sourced direct from the manufacturer. 

    Seals & O-Rings

    Our massive range of stocked O-rings and seals cover a huge range of motorcycle needs, from special crank seals to a simple O-ring we have sourced from the worlds OEM’s. We carry a large range of TTO, NAK, NOK, ARCS, SKF, KOYO and Corteco seals and O-rings specific to the motorcycle industry.

    Bearings

    We are a tier one distributor for NTN (OEM for Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, KTM, MV Augusta, BMW, Aprilia, Piaggio, Peugeot) and authorised distributor for Koyo (Yamaha, Kawasaki), SKF (BMW, KTM) and Timken. Our massive range of bearings cover motorcycles from the late 1960 to present. Our factory direct relationship with the major bearing manufacturers allow us to source the most unusual bearings which are unique to the motorcycle industry.

    Drop Shipping Service

    Our drop shipping service offers the ability for our trade customers to offer a huge range of products and components while using our JITM, warehousing, packaging and dispatch services. We offer a range of packing and delivery solutions to give your brand the edge.

    Your Project -  No job too small or too large

    We can manufacture bespoke ‘one off’ gaskets through to 100,000 complete kits.

    If you have any questions or would like a quote on your next project, please contact us.

    We can provide a free no obligation quote from drawings or samples. Please use the contact us section on the website.

    Read more »
  4. Calling all Trade Customers.

    Quite a few of our trade guys have been with us now for over 5 years. However it is still surprising that alot of our customers still dont know about our gasket making service.

    We have invested heavily in CNC machinery over the last 18 months to give us the ability to produce gaskets in virtually any material. Our industry knowledge combined with our manufacturing ability allow us to give our customers the competitive edge.

    Our abilities include:

    Vintage Motorcycle gaskets, in cork, copper and felt.

    Modern performance gasket in aramide, aluminum, carbon fibre, nitile or viton.

    Specialist design, from custom thickness's to complete re-design.

    Ultrad rapid production - from design to on the bike in under 24 hours.

    We are the UK's only dedicated motorcycle gasket manufacturer. We specialise in our in house produced gaskets and reeds.

    We are also distributors for Koyo, NTN, SKF, TTO and NAK. Again we specialise in motorcycle bearings and seals. We have a full range of bearings more the 3 main manufacturers and probably the UK largest stock of motorcycle seals. From the common to the very rare.

    Read more »
  5. Custom Reed Valve Petals

    For the 3rd time today I have been asked to quote on custom reed petals. One for a Kart, an old out board motor and also custom stiffness/shape RD 350 YPVS. I thought that if people are asking, it must be worth talking about.

    Firstly, I must get this off my chest. Reed thickness has absolutely nothing to do with stiffness, over the years I have probably wasted over 100 hours explaining this. It is all about stiffness, generally the more flexible the reed the better the throttle response and a small increase in performance. However go to far the reed will fail quickly. On the over side thicker reeds will open more slowly and to an extent, not as much. However they will certainly last longer.

    The middle ground is generally where the manufactures fix there petals. However as a rule older bikes use spring steel or fiber glass types. Carbon fiber offers something a little stiffer than either of these materials dependant on weave, number of ply’s and machining orientation.

    I will go over carbon fibre reed manufacturer in another post, but I did have to get the thickness thing off my chest!

    So, here how we quoted:

    The Kart customer is able to send us a sample of the reed they require. This make life a lot easier for us. We will draw the reed in CAD, match the stiffness as close as possible to our carbon fibre stock and produce 8 blade/petals. Total cost £95.

    The outboard motor customer has got a worn set of reed for us to copy from, again saving us time. He requires 4 small blades. Total cost £65.

    Finally the Yamaha RD 350 YPVS LCII customer has a custom design which he wanted maching, we will be able to use his drawing (however as the drawing is owned by the customer we will not produce this design for anyone else). He requested a total of 80 petals, with a sample set to confirm suitability. We have quoted £365.

    All these cases will be completely in under 5 working days.

    As you can see, custom reeds for either for out of production or a performance solution can be had for a lot less than you might first think!

    Any queries, please contact either Brett or Ian @ Showe

    Read more »
  6. New Water Pump Kits coming ONLINE!

    Well, we have been busy over the last few months researching and creating our range of water pump kits for Motocross and popular 2 strokes. We are by no means complete, but you can now view our current range. We have pretty much got the complete series of kits required for Motocross bikes from around 1982 to present for Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and KTM (KTM is still being fleshed out).

    You may ask what is different about our kits, well for one, we have sourced the correct (OEM in most cases) specification seal, not some cheap third rate seal as a basis for the kit, we then have produced in house the water pump gasket in either Novus 30 or 45 (which is totally over specified for this task), and to complete the kits where applicable we have match either a premium bearing by NTN, SKF,  Koyo or our own brand if you are cost concerned. We can supply the kit with or without a clutch gasket made from Interface Materials N-8094 (again over specified for the task)!

    We are really proud of these kits, we have priced them ultra competivitly, however as far as we are concerned these do exceed the orginal manufacturers components and generally at 1/3 of the cost!

    https://showe-performance.co.uk/bearing-seal-wheel-steering-fork-kits-sets/gasket-kits/water-pump-repair-kits.html

    Read more »
  7. We are on Instagram!

    Powered by MAGENEST

    Find US on Instagram

    Read more »
  8. New Summac Digital Press - Taken Delivery

    We have taken delivery of our new Summa F1612 Digital press. This new digital press will allow us to produce our gaskets even faster than before. It will join our existing Flashcut and CNC Mill and will increase our production capacity by 40%!

    Showe are committed to providing the best available motorcycle gaskets available. Using our wealth of knowledge gained from decades in the motorcycle and manufacturing industries we aim to give our customers access to high quality yet affordable gaskets for even the rarest of motorcycles.

    Read more »
  9. Showe Performance first blog post.

    Well, i never thought i would be doing this, but here it is. My first blog post for Showe Performance Parts.

    Over the next few months we are going to be getting this site fully up and running with all the bells and whistles. However in the mean time, everything on the site should be working and most importantly the site is live.

    We have still got a long way to go, over 25,000 listing need to be loaded (which will take some time). Also the gaskets section is pretty much imcomplete at present. If you do require gaskets please call and i am sure we can help out, i will let you know in a future post exactly what we can do but it is pretty much anything with reagrds to gasket production(apart from MLS at present).

    I wont go on for to long as i really wanted to get a post up and check that this is working, but Andy, Ian and myself will be popping a few posts up every few days and the aim is to generally use this as a place to keep relavant info and let everyone know what we are doing.

    Cheers

    Brett

    Read more »