Handlebar Swap

[El Skitzo]

The next project on my to-do list is a handlebar swap (again). This time I'm heading upwards, and already have the new risers (which look like bath taps), and a photoshop design for the new handlebars but I still need to work out the dimensions to suit what feels right to me and will hopefully fit the bike without having to change all the cables.

So first up I'm using some taller bars for mock-up (top), which I believe are off a Harley Dyna Wide Glide and are about 10 inches tall, to test measurements and cables lengths etc. Shown with them are the original bars (below) and as you can see the Harley bars are about twice as high as the stock bars, but they don't pull back anywhere near as far so this should work out...

[El Skitzo]

Well I'm getting ready to swap on the mock-up bars on, so been doing little jobs like getting rid of the mirrors, headlight, risers etc. So tonight I should be able to concentrate on just the swap over and rerouting cables, the brake line and wiring if need be.

But in the interim out of curiosity I left the Triumph flat tracker bars on and tried them with the original 2" risers instead of the tall 6" risers I usually run. It actually looks pretty good and feels very comfortable. Not my thing, but this lower look seems quite popular these days.

[El Skitzo]

...

[Weapon_X]

those pictures are with the flat track bars and the 2" risers?
what is ti like with the 6" risers?

are you going for an ape hanger look? or just higher with less pull back?

[El Skitzo]

Yes those pictures are the flat tracker bars with 2" risers. This is what it looks like with the 6" tall Six Gun risers.

I'm going for a bit of an ape hanger look, but the bars I have in mind are pretty wild and not your regular ape hangers.

I want to give this bike some attitude now, so a lot of the modifications now will be to add parts that look deadly and like you could gut someone with them

[Weapon_X]

i'm liking the 6" risers. but maybe use a 4" riser and have the bars higher so it looks fatter not spindly, if you know what i mean?

[El Skitzo]

I thought about 4" risers, but then I couldn't get the bars looking as tall as I wanted. Don't worry my new 2" risers are even fatter than those 6" tall ones (see below). The ones I have on in these pics above are the original 2" risers from the bike, which again I'm just using for mock-up.



This is a photoshop mock-up of the design for my next set of bars. I kind of need some height in them for the curved in sides to look effective. I'm also going to mount these running directly vertical or with very minimal lean back, so they will clear the wild custom gas tank I have planned for next years project.

[Spuddy]

theyre sexy! i love the angular look on them

[Weapon_X]

they look fantastic man!awesome looking bars!

[El Skitzo]

We haven't made the bars yet, that's just my mockup design. The whole point of the mock-up with the Harley bars tonight is to determine the final dimensions to build these new bars. Glad it's not just me that likes them

Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow...

[El Skitzo]

Ok now that I'm ready to start swapping things over the first thing I need to do is re-route these cables. As you can see there is plenty of slack in them but the height we're going too we need every inch possible, so rather than have them run over the top of the triple trees and through the front end to head back to where they need to go, we want them to run behind the triple trees right from the start.

So what we need to do is remove all the controls and thread them back through the front end to free them out. The only one that is a problem is the right side. As you might be able to see the two throttle cables and the grey wiring loom are currently on either side of the fork leg, but both route back to the same hand control, which means we can't thread this one through as is...

This leaves two options. 1) Remove the top triple tree and then pull the cables out, which is a bit of work, or 2) try pulling the hand control apart and see if the cables and wiring can be separated. I thought I'd try option (2) first and it turned out to be the easiest. Once I pulled the switch block apart I was able to remove one of the throttle cables and then treat the wiring and cables as two separate items and thread them through.




And after it was done you can see that all the cables and wires are now sitting behind the triple trees.

[El Skitzo]

I threw the mock-up bars on and adjusted them until they felt the most comfortable. I wanted them to be directly vertical and as it turns out this was the best positioning for them, so that worked out great!

They pull back a lot further than the other bars I used, but because they are standing so far forward, as opposed to being pulled back by tall risers, it works out about the same, just higher.

Man I'm loving this look already!!!

[El Skitzo]

Now to the business end of things, seeing if all the wires and cables can be made to reach, and the end results is:

* Throttle cables: Yes, with room to go a little higher.
* Right side wiring: Yes, with room to go a little higher.
* Brake line: Yes, after some re-routing and can safely lift the front wheel off the ground without it going tight like a guitar string.
* Right side wiring: Yes
* Clutch cable: No, not even close...

[El Skitzo]

The brake line was already behind the trees, but was initially a little tight but some clever re-routing free'd it up nicely.

As you can see here I removed the support bracket from the lower triple tree which normally forces it out a few inches wide of the leg, and then tucked it close to the triple tree and tucked it behind the left side indicator wire to hold it in place. I then routed this one up through the front end and behind the headlight as it was the most direct route to the master cyclinder which is at the front of the bars.

[El Skitzo]

Here's some pictures of the only problem child in this deal, the clutch cable. I knew this one was going to be tight before I started, but I didn't expect it not to even come close to making it.

As you can see in these pictures it's taking the most direct route it can (even rubbing against the paint on the tank), but ideally needs to be longer. I'm simply going to have to swap this one out for a longer one, probably with an extra 6 inches of length, as I'll want to run this one back through the trees again like stock to keep it from rubbing against my paint.

[El Skitzo]

All in all this was a successful test fit, only having to change one cable when going from stock to 10 inches up is not a bad effort. I absolutely love the look of it and it feels awesome sitting on the bike!!

So I'll push ahead and get my new bars made up with the height and pullback dimensions matching these bars, and simply replace the clutch cable to solve that one small issue.

[Weapon_X]

awesome man, it looks tops!

[Desmogod]

Originally Posted by El Skitzo

Ouch! Please don't think I'm trying to shit in your thread, but I never understood the cruiser mentality of putting spiky things on the first place you are going to land when you crash.

[Weapon_X]

Originally Posted by Desmogod

Ouch! Please don't think I'm trying to shit in your thread, but I never understood the cruiser mentality of putting spiky things on the first place you are going to land when you crash.

same goes for bar end spikes on sports bikes and fighters really dude...

[El Skitzo]

Originally Posted by Desmogod

but I never understood the cruiser mentality of putting spiky things on the first place you are going to land when you crash.

There's probably 4 or 5 other stock parts on the bike that would do just as much damage so it doesn't concern me. They won't end up as sharp as they look, and those edges will be pointing upwards not at me.

Mind you, having seen these bars on the bike I'd almost be happy just to stick with this set.