Hey Guys

I have removed the 14 inch apes and have a set of bars that are about 4 inches shorter. These new have no holes, or dimples. The old, and new bars are 1 inch OD by the way.

Looking at the old bars, they were dimpled, and drilled. Now I guess I will have to deal with drilling these new bars because the switch housings have no place to pass the harness through.

Now looking at these new bars,and comparing with the old dimpled bars, it appears that I will need to slot the holes for the switch housings. Not a good thought concidering the slot between the old risers developed cracks.

To run the wires externally, I would need to carve slot in all the switch housings , clutch and brake controls as well. Man, whats the worst of the two evils ?

So, for a few questions?
On bikes with external wiring, are the bars dimpled to let the harness pass under the switch housings?

Or, do the housings and controls have a relief cut into them to let the harness pass through?

Open to hear any and all comments on this.

Thanks guys

 

Dimpled. I forget, John jzjz will know if anybody will, what year they all went to dimpled. '82?????
Tom

 

So if I understand this right you have smooth bars with no dimples or holes correct?
If so you would be better off getting the right bars for your bike as what you have is for a shovel head.

 

Yes Texas, No dimple or drilled holes.

The bars are new, never been used, I was over at a buddys place, and noticed them under the bench. He said you want them, take them with you when you leave, free.

Question for you though.
Did the Shovel head switch housings/ levers have clearance for the wires to pass through?

Thanks

 

I would assume so because I have never messed with one.
I just ordered some Kustom Chrome bars for a little over $60 through Drag Specialties. Knurled and Dimpled.

 

The bars were free, slot them JUST enough to pass the wires. I wouldnt go notching on the controls, jmo.
You should chamfer the slots really good for two reasons: it will eliminate chaffing the wires, and will help prevent stress cracking.
Make sure to put a little paint on the openings also, to minimize rusting. FYI, you can pick up a set of mini apes off a '13-up street bob off the classifieds from time to time for about $40-50 bucks. They are already drilled and stainless. Thats what I'm running.

 

If you really want to change the bars, get the correct ones. Cutting or drilling bars not made that way will be weakened.

 

 

Hey Guys

I had a good look at the bars and controls today, and cutting a relief slot on the controls was out of the question. So, I figured that I would put the wiring back inside the bars as they were. I took some scrap 1 inch tubing and some testing. I tried to make the slots as small as possible and found that a 3/4 inch long X 3/8 wide slot worked the best.

The slots were machined into the bars using a 3/8 end mill on my Bridgeport
clone milling machine. This produced perfectly clean/machined slots that took very little time to deburr. Milling the slots didn,t even damage the chrome. The milling machine made quick work for this job. If I didn't have it, there is no way I would bother chain drilling holes and trying to dermal out a slot that way.If it come down to that, then yes I would by another set of bars.

I called my buddy that gave me the bars to ask why he never put them on his bike? He said he tried once before and he made such a mess of it, he threw the bars in the trash.A hand drill, and the dermal tool just wasn,t workin for him. He ordered new bars for his bike, and they sent him the set he gave me, smooth no dimples or slots. The place he purchased
them from sent him another set and told him not to bother shipping the other bars back.So all in all, it worked out fine for me.

Either way, thanks to all that replyed to this thread