Handlebar Simplification

[flanman]

This will be a cool project  why wouldn't you move the starter as well? or is the idea of the thing that turns it on and the thing that shows how fast its going type of relation idea (if you know what im saying) that your going for.

[toaster]

it wouldnt be hard at all to move the starter button to somewhere other than the bars.  there is enough room and length on the wire to move it practically anywhere on the bike if you really wanted to, but if i did that i would have a hard time holding in the clutch and hitting the start button and keeping ready on the gas to make sure it doesnt die right away.  especially since i dont have a choke anymore since i changed the left side switches.

one thing is for sure though, i would not want to move the horn button away from the bars at all.  i enjoy being able to use the horn when the need arises.  raulduke may have other plans for his bike but i personally dont mind a few things on the bars. 

another thing to think about is that if you do a track day, most places (at least the groups that do local track days) require that you have a kill switch on the bars within reach.

[FortyTwo]

Good to see you putting the bike back together, good luck with the project!

[El Matador]

Hey dude! I think I have a quasi solution for ya.

Hidden buttons inside the grip.

Like little nipples.

The grip would go over the buttons, hiding them, and since they're in the bottom, they wont interfere with your riding. The cables themselves would go inside the clip on and whole thing could be very, very clean if done right.

I'm attaching some drawings of some pics. Dorry for the quality of the drawings, I did it in like 5 mins...

[toaster]

the only problem with doing that is that the buttons usually dont have to be pressed very hard and with the grip over them like that they may just stay on once the grip is on there.  i really like that youre thinking outside the box.  you could do that and instead of the grip being over the top of the button, have a small hole cut in the grip for the button, but that is still not hidden anymore. 

depending on the length of the button, it may be possible to just have it inside the clipon but not bolted to it like in your pic/drawing and just have the back of the button resting on the inside of the clipon.



in that pic, the blue is the horn button itself, and the red at the bottom is the part of the button you actually push.  doing it like that and just having a little bit of pressure from the grip will keep it from going off unintentionally.  nothing will be bolted in and it will fit just fine (in theory) and hopefully work like planned.  there is really only one way to find out.  ive got some old bars laying around that i can try that on... just for fun... and research.

[toaster]

so i started doing some thinking today about this idea El Matador had and i think i have found someone that could possibly help us.  i remember looking at one of the "featured monster" section of TOB and i remembered this bike (link to bike)  they used pingel slimline switches and relays.  you COULD do that (button under the grip and a relay) to turn control the lights high/low. and still do the idea for the horn and that way you could completely get rid of any buttons or switches that can be seen.

ive done alot of thinking about how i could make this happen and i figure you could make your own switch by making a threaded hole into the bar and have it setup kinda like a kill switch for a dirt bike.

its hard to tell from the pic (crappy cam with no macro function) but the green wire (1) is a ground and when its bolted down to the bars, it and the top silver piece (2) are grounded with each other.  when you push on the button, thats on the other side of 2 that we cant see, it completes the circuit by making it come into contact with the black wire (3).  the black wire is held off the bar itself by the black piece of plastic (4).  the big piece of rubber to the left of (3) is a cover that goes over the whole assembly.



the biggest problem with doing this is that you dont have a whole lot of room inside the bars to work with.  im not saying its impossible, but definitely not the easiest.  then again, if it was easy everyone would do it and it wouldnt be cool anymore.

edit:  link to a page that info about relays.  the relay that you would need to do the headlight switching is a single pole double throw (spdt) relay.

[El Matador]

Damn dude that looks good...

I'll try to wire up a circuit for that. To be honest, you dont need to put that much stuff inside the actual clip on, all you need is the buttons and wires and you could have the actual circuits behind the headlight.

Hmmm... That sounds interesting.. Tinkering and pics to follow...

[toaster]

i wouldnt be trying to put all that stuff inside the bars.  just the wires and the button or contacts or whatever you decided to use.  if we can figure out something pretty easy and good looking, i may be up to doing this myself.  if i did the headlights, i would use a relay somewhere hidden that will work on a dual throw.  that way you just press the button and it clicks back and forth between the two connections in the relay, once each time you press the button.  it may even reset itself back to the original position (that would be wired for the low beams) every time you turn the bike off.

one thing i did think about while describing it to a buddy is that to make it work by putting the button under the grip is that you would have to use really thin grips.  something more along the lines of mx style grips, and i have proof that mx grips suck.  i wore out a set in less than 1k miles, they were the 909 brand dual compound and the soft part is almost all the way gone and i can see the black on the back side through the gray soft part.

there has to be a way to make it happen.  i have the creative juices flowing thanks to vicodin, so we may have a conclusion as early as tomorrow.

[El Matador]

What can maybe be done is just to put a a normal grip and cut holes where the buttons would protrude.

Then, with a same colored Latex or other thin rubber, cover the whole from the inside, like a patch.

Et voila! you now have buttons covered by a grip that won't activate them due to too much pressure and wont kill your hands.

i wouldnt be trying to put all that stuff inside the bars.  just the wires and the button or contacts or whatever you decided to use.  if we can figure out something pretty easy and good looking, i may be up to doing this myself.  if i did the headlights, i would use a relay somewhere hidden that will work on a dual throw.  that way you just press the button and it clicks back and forth between the two connections in the relay, once each time you press the button.  it may even reset itself back to the original position (that would be wired for the low beams) every time you turn the bike off.

one thing i did think about while describing it to a buddy is that to make it work by putting the button under the grip is that you would have to use really thin grips.  something more along the lines of mx style grips, and i have proof that mx grips suck.  i wore out a set in less than 1k miles, they were the 909 brand dual compound and the soft part is almost all the way gone and i can see the black on the back side through the gray soft part.

there has to be a way to make it happen.  i have the creative juices flowing thanks to vicodin, so we may have a conclusion as early as tomorrow.

I was thinking among the same lines with the double throw...

[MurDuc]

From the TOB.

If your interest is not a total handlebar controls system swap out, but just loosing the ugly and bulky electronics control modules I found this a little while back and was greatly intrigued.

Grip Ace
$299 for the basic slip on. $399+ for billet and custom options.

Forgive the poor website and it's very squidlicious leanings, watch the vids. I really like the idea. They seem to cover all the bases including all pieces and parts for the install. Unfortunately, I don't have cash for gas these days much less mods, or I'd guinea pig this thing in a heartbeat.

Also catching my eye, was the option to send them specs on a grip for a custom job. I'd love to see if/how they could integrate with a sweet set of Rizoma billet grips.

[El Matador]

From the TOB.

Well make the beast with two backs me with a french fry, Somebody stole our idea!  Dang it!

[roy-nexus-6]

  <-- google master!

www.brcustomcycles.com/HAND_CONTROLS.php


www.steelthundercc.com/handlebarcontrols.html


www.customcyclecontrols.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/category_id=82/home_id=70/mode=cat/cat82.htm

[toaster]

Well make the beast with two backs me with a french fry, Somebody stole our idea!  Dang it!

thats not necessarily what i was thinking about.  the way i would wanna do it will look just like a normal grip.  those all have a different look to them, plus they are all metal and rubber, not just rubber. 

the idea you had about cutting the hole then covering that with latex will look like a regular grip and not give away the fact that there is stuff on the inside.  that was the point of this whole thread.  plus i dont see spending 300 bucks on a set of grips if i can do it myself for less than 20-30.

[El Matador]

thats not necessarily what i was thinking about.  the way i would wanna do it will look just like a normal grip.  those all have a different look to them, plus they are all metal and rubber, not just rubber. 

the idea you had about cutting the hole then covering that with latex will look like a regular grip and not give away the fact that there is stuff on the inside.  that was the point of this whole thread.  plus i dont see spending 300 bucks on a set of grips if i can do it myself for less than 20-30.

+1 I wouldn't spend 300 bucks in something I can do in a couple of hours for 40... Hmmm maybe I see a business opportunity in this... 

[toaster]

dont you go getting any crazy ideas just yet.  im going to look into finding buttons similar to the ones used on the grips in the link dude posted.  i could make those happen pretty easy and they are rubber so they shouldnt look too bad.