Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Changing Up the Bars Again

I decided to change out the bars...again. The reason why I am subjecting myself to undoing and then basically redoing all that painful work of running the wiring/drilling those Z-bars is because I want to change out the jumbo-sized stock HD switch housings for something smaller, more discreet, and just better. I opted to keep my turn signals for safetys sake, and maintain a mostly stock switch configuration for familiaritys sake. I settled on some bad ass switches made in Japan. They are available from Posh Factory (http://www.posh-factory.com/index.htm). Instead of ordering from their website with their crazy-style English and confusing payment instructions, I opted to just buy them off eBay. Of course, this is being written before I have received them, so hopefully they show up...

The new brass switch boxes will operate the left/right turn signals along with the horn on the left side switch, and the start/kill switch and a start button on the right side. The headlamp hi/lo beam toggle will be relocated to the headlamp bucket. Nothing too fancy there, just a weather-proof switch.

Nice little brass switches. This is the on-off-on switch for the L/R signal
switch and a horn button.

A flat type, on-off toggle switch for the kill with a starter button.

Since I am ditching the stock switch housings, I get the added bonus of being able to run a bar without the indents needed to accommodate stock wiring. One nice thing about not having indents is I can trim the bar as narrow as I want - and I want a narrow bar for my narrow bike. I could have chosen the same Z-bar from Licks without indents and trimmed off a few inches on either end but, 1. Licks doesnt have them in stock anymore, 2. Licks shipping is painfully slow and Ive been waiting for a refund on a helmet I returned 4 weeks ago, and 3. I think these other bars will look pretty gnar kill. They will arrive 24" end-to-end, so I will only trim off maybe 1-1.5" off each end, if any at all. The Z-bars I currently run are 29" end-to-end.

The new attack bars. 8" rise, 4 3/4" pull back, 5 3/4" center width, 24" end-to-end


EDIT 9/13/2011: The bars wont work. I didnt notice before, but these are 24" drag bars with pieces welded onto it. So, because of the way they are constructed, there is no way to pass the wiring internally such that the wires come out through the bottom. They are a pretty sweet set of bars though if one doesnt plan on internally wiring, or doesnt care about external wires. I am contemplating keeping them for a future project, but most likely they will end up on eBay.

In light of this new discovery, I have decided to go with some Biltwell Generation II Frisco bars (http://www.biltwellinc.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=44)...

The new, new bars...

No switch housing means new throttle assembly. I figured why not shell out the dough for the suwheet looking Biltwell Whiskey Throttle (http://www.biltwellinc.com/throttles.php)! Top-notch quality, no question. I figured Id get some new grips too so I ordered the Biltwell Kung Fu guys in "natural" color.

A top-notch throttle assembly.

I dont understand whats "Kung Fu" about these grips
but whatever; they look pretty sweet.


I will also lose my front brake light switch since its part of the stock switch housing. Instead of taunting rearward traffic to smash me from behind, I will be replacing the lost switch with an inline banjo bolt brake light switch. I spent hours on various forums trying to find the unequivocal answer as to what the correct size banjo bolt is for a 2011 XL with a single front brake setup. Finally I settled on the 10 mm x 1.25 pitch (http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/4/70/12340/ITEM/Vortex-Brake-Light-Switch.aspx). I hope it fits. Otherwise Ill be sad.

Its 10 mm x 1.25 pitch. Please fit...

And thats it for now. As those parts start making their way home, hopefully Ill be able to start putting it all together in the next few weeks or so...
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