Hello again fellow Grommers.
I hadn't seen a post on this, and wanted to provide some clarity on the current two commonly available oil pumps for our bikes.
The first one to hit the market was the Takegawa Super Oil Pump. It is a complete replacement part, and includes longer dowels to keep it secure.
Not too long ago, Koso started selling their version of an increased flow oil pump. Their version has identical flow characteristics to the Takegawa and sells between $5 and $10 less than the Takegawa. Sounds like a 100% win-win, right? Well, not exactly.
Unlike the Takegawa unit, the Koso unit is not 'plug-n-play'. It is basically a rebuild kit for your stock pump. It only includes four parts. The remaining parts come from your original unit (see included picture).
If you've already had a chance to see the stock and Takegawa pumps side by side, you can see that the Takegawa unit is superior in every respect; the driven gear is sturdier, the aforementioned dowels are deeper/stronger, and the overall fitment is top-notch. If you watch HardRacing's (whom I bought my oil pump from) installation video, at one point both are held side-by-side.
After its removal, I noticed my stock unit had a slight 'wobble' to its driven gear, and while that didn't affect its performance, it certainly speaks of its quality (like other Grom parts not worth mentioning). Its driven gear was also just a hair thinner than the one on the Takegawa, and the material seemed less sturdy. Needless to say, it was something I was happy to replace.
The Koso unit may be a few bucks cheaper, but you don't really get what you pay for; instead you get four superior parts mated to, IMO, parts that are of minimum/lowest-bidder quality.
I'm not bashing Koso, as they do make decent products, were an early supporter of the Grom, and the parts in their kit are 'on par' with their counterparts in the Takegawa unit; it's the reuse of inferior stock parts that causes me concern.
I hope this post helps anyone that may have thought they were getting an identical unit for less, as they just aren't. Just my 2¢.
~Tommy
I hadn't seen a post on this, and wanted to provide some clarity on the current two commonly available oil pumps for our bikes.
The first one to hit the market was the Takegawa Super Oil Pump. It is a complete replacement part, and includes longer dowels to keep it secure.
Not too long ago, Koso started selling their version of an increased flow oil pump. Their version has identical flow characteristics to the Takegawa and sells between $5 and $10 less than the Takegawa. Sounds like a 100% win-win, right? Well, not exactly.
Unlike the Takegawa unit, the Koso unit is not 'plug-n-play'. It is basically a rebuild kit for your stock pump. It only includes four parts. The remaining parts come from your original unit (see included picture).
If you've already had a chance to see the stock and Takegawa pumps side by side, you can see that the Takegawa unit is superior in every respect; the driven gear is sturdier, the aforementioned dowels are deeper/stronger, and the overall fitment is top-notch. If you watch HardRacing's (whom I bought my oil pump from) installation video, at one point both are held side-by-side.
After its removal, I noticed my stock unit had a slight 'wobble' to its driven gear, and while that didn't affect its performance, it certainly speaks of its quality (like other Grom parts not worth mentioning). Its driven gear was also just a hair thinner than the one on the Takegawa, and the material seemed less sturdy. Needless to say, it was something I was happy to replace.
The Koso unit may be a few bucks cheaper, but you don't really get what you pay for; instead you get four superior parts mated to, IMO, parts that are of minimum/lowest-bidder quality.
I'm not bashing Koso, as they do make decent products, were an early supporter of the Grom, and the parts in their kit are 'on par' with their counterparts in the Takegawa unit; it's the reuse of inferior stock parts that causes me concern.
I hope this post helps anyone that may have thought they were getting an identical unit for less, as they just aren't. Just my 2¢.
~Tommy
