Flat Drag Bars

I'd always wanted flat drag bars - I like the more hunched forward style they give you.  Blue Collar Bobbers do a kit which includes the bars, spacers & a DVD, but by the time you've paid shipping & import duties, you're looking at the thick end of £200 +.  Had a chat with Custom Cruisers who sourced a pair of flat drags with the same dimensions as the BCB ones (little bit wider, but they can be cut if necessary) for under £40.00.  My local friendly engineering company will knock me up a pair of spacers for about twenty quid.  Located a pair of switchgear which I'll strip & spray black to match the bars & I'll complete the flat look with bar-end mirrors, either Halcyon or Oberon.

Thought I'd have a go at a dry fit to give me an idea how they'll look / feel.  Raised them 3" using a bit of threaded rod - they feel spot-on.  I reckon that they're going to be more or less in the same position as the other bars, so all the cables should (!!!!) go straight back on.  

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This is where I'm aiming for

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Although it's going to be a winter project (along with the pipes, wheels, seat etc.

It's a "Yes" from me! It'll suit your bike    I kinda like that riding position too.

Hi Dave,

Yes - I also like that look & stretched forward riding position

Lookin good Dave... Ive got flat bar style and like the stretch forward 

I love the look of that style of bars, looks great.

vex918 wrote:

Lookin good Dave... Ive got flat bar style and like the stretch forward 

Yeh - I've seen yours Graeme - looks the dogs.  I love the full chop style, but never rode one - often wondered how the long forks affect the handling?  Well done on yours !!

I think they look well cool, me likey 

katsd wrote:

Yeh - I've seen yours Graeme - looks the dogs.  I love the full chop style, but never rode one - often wondered how the long forks affect the handling?  Well done on yours !!

:cmate: Its not as bad as you think Dave...well once you used to the 30 point turns. no feel from the front when going around corners and interesting (read slow) braking there is no going back

Yeh - don't think it'd work for me just yet - my riding is still "progressive" - 30 years of riding sports bikes is hard to break !!

Finally got all the pieces together to fit the flat drag bars.  Must admit, didn’t expect it to take quite so long to get to this stage – however, I should have realised that things are never as straight forward as you expect.

Once I had the bars in my possession, I then had to have a couple of spacers milled to fit below the bar clamps – which meant removing the existing clamps so the engineers could match them up.  Christ, they’re a pig to undo !!  Took a couple of weeks (to have the spacers milled, not remove the bars), but was well chuffed with the results – good solid piece of stainless  

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Whilst they were away, I kept looking the photos of the bars & thinking they’d look so much better keeping a low profile by fitting bar-end mirrors rather than the standard high-rise jobbies.  So I started looking round - & quickly realised that the majority of bar-end mirrors are designed for 7/8, not 1” bars.  The first pair that I fancied (which would fit 1” bars) were these by Halcyon – seemed ideal – folded back to allow access to narrow spaces & heavy enough to act as bar end weights as well.  

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Ordered & arrived in a couple of days – however – when I fitted them, I found that there was not enough adjustment to see behind you.  Not quite true – the right-hand one gave a beautifully clear view of everything behind my left shoulder.  I imagine that the left-hand side would have shown me the right side view – so I would have had full rear vision, but from the opposite side – which would have just confused the hell out of me.  Spoke to Halcyon, who said that, due to the style of my bars, they wouldn’t work.


Back to the drawing board (well, the internet) & decided that I’d look for a pair designed for 7/8 bars & fit an adapter.  I then thought that as I was losing the external bar-end weights, I’d have some internal ones made that could somehow double up as mirror adapters.  Initially not sure about how to secure them inside the bars, then thought that as the existing weights worked so well with the compressed rubber idea, I do the same.  Which was a good idea – until you try & find some circular rubber that compresses !!!  Eventually, after many hours searching, I decided on rubber furniture feet (that’s rubber feet for furniture, not feet for rubber furniture).


The supplier sent the wrong size first time round – when they sent the correct ones, I was back down at the engineers with a scrappy piece of paper with my idea of how it would work.  Fortunately, Dave, the owner, is an ex-biker & very sympathetic to ideas.  Two weeks later, I collected these 

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Gorgeous piece of work – shame they’re not going to be seen.  Weight wise – 30 gm lighter than the standard bar-end weights, with the mirrors on, a bit heavier.  Nice touch is that if I ever go back to standard mirrors or go to 1” bar mirrors, I just slide the weight all the way into the bars & the piece that these mirrors fit onto is hidden.
The mirrors were located in China.  You can buy identical (but I assume better quality) in the UK – but I was loath to shell out almost £50 a side, until I found out if they’d work.  The cheapo China imports cost me less than £8.50 a pair – including delivery.  At that price, they can fail in a month & I won’t be bothered.  The small curved piece inbetween the spacers (on the top pic) is so that when the standard mirrors are removed from the brake lever side, I can replace the existing clamp with this one instead of having an exposed hole.  The other side will have a dome nut fitted onto a piece of threaded rod screwed into it.



I’ve stripped the existing bars down this evening & the wifes' out all day tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll be posting a “completed” picture before long !!

Well thought out and executed Dave   They should look pretty cool!

Great job being done, well done on your thinking there.

I like the look you are going for, I am very impressed Sir.

Doing a good job there Dave, clever idea to use rubber under compression to lock the mirror mounts, also the mirrors look very smart, could you put up a link for them please. 

Well thought out and executed Dave.

Doc Cox wrote:

Doing a good job there Dave, clever idea to use rubber under compression to lock the mirror mounts, also the mirrors look very smart, could you put up a link for them please. 

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pair-Motorcycle-CNC-Aluminum-Rearview-Mirror-Handle-bar-End-Black-Side-Mirror/2019215305.html

These have come from a site called AliExpress which is an absolute goldmine.  It looks like the sort of site where ebay sellers buy from & you are offered buyer protection.  Main downside is that the stuff is dispatched from China, although these mirrors only took about ten days to arrive.

As for the mirrors, they are cheap (£8.50) for a pair.  Quality wise, they feel fine, but not up to the quality of say, Oberon or CRG.  First problem is that the supplied fitting will not work on 1" bars (despite being told they will by the seller).  For me, this wasn't going to be an issue as I was using my own fittings (I had a whinge to the seller & received a full refund - bit cheeky, but he offered), but bear in mind that you'll need an adapter to make them fit into 1" bars.

Due to the ball/socket arrangement, they give you full adjustment in all positions & can be located so they sit either above or below the bars.  The reason I went for this style is that they will fold back in to reduce the width - useful for squeezing through narrow spaces.  It has a ball bearing/spring detent which holds the mirror either open or closed.

Fitted easily & as the glass is convex, give a good field of view for the size.  I'm hoping that just the one on the off-side will be enough.  However - so far I've only tested them at low speed, in the dark & have yet to give them a high speed blast.  That will be when I'll find whether they're a bargain or a waste of money.

I'll update when I've tried out properly - does the site have a dedicated product review section ?

very cheap good find if they don't suffer from vibration and you can see out of them look forward to hearing what there like but once again great find. Got to say Oberon are the nuts but the pair I have cost about £100 maybe a little more (cant remember had em a long time) can we see some pics of them on ya bike

Photobucket was down earlier, but on it now

As usual, I managed to completely underestimate the amount of time that it was going to take.  I'd started the day off by just having the old bars on & needing to be removed (I had remembered to take the attachments off the bars first !!) 

First issue was actually managing to torque the clamp bolts up - it's not the easiest place to squeeze a torque wrench into. 

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Did the throttle side first, fairly simple (I'd also taken the opportunity to run the reservoir cap through the polishing wheels & given it a clear coat)

When I put the throttle cables on, I realised that the throttle tube wasn't as free moving as it should be.  Off it came, out came the Dremel & 80 grit flapwheel, off came the powder coating.  

I'd thought about drilling the locating holes in the bars but eventually decided to remove the locating pins on the switchgear housing.  I took a bit of a flyer that the powder coating would add enough bulk that the housings would sufficiently grip the bars.  As it turned out, I had to file some of the housing down to actually be able to close them enough so there was no gap showing.  

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Second attempt


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Bar-end weight & mirror fitting

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Left side next.  Clutch bracket was a bit tight, so I ran the flap wheel through it to take a gnats nadger off the inside.  Removed the mirror & fitted a dome nut on a bolt with the head cut off to fill the hole.  Sprayed a bit of hairspray on the bar to fit the grip (slippy enough to allow it to slide on, but dries sticky - it was a tight fit on the powder coating anyway).  

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Locked it into place with the bar-end weights I'd had made

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Bit dark, getting late

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By the time I'd finished, it was after 5 & as I had to be up at 04.30 this morning & still had to get all my kit ready for work, I had a quick spin to see how it felt.

First impressions are that handling is sharper, it seems to turn quicker & is more responsive - I wasn't expecting that - it's an added bonus.  I prefer the more upright riding position, but that is always going to be a matter of personal opinion.  I need to do a bit of riding to adjust switches & levers to where they feel best. 

Cost wise, just under two hundred quid for the whole lot.  Which, when you consider that if I'd imported just the bars & spacers from The States, I'd have paid out more than that.  If I'd just done the bars & spacers, I reckon it would have been about a hundred.  The bits I've had made are excellent - small engineering company's are worth their weight in gold. 

Well pleased with way it's turned out, it looks exactly the way I wanted it to - the handling change is the cherry on the icing !!

Nice job and write up Dave    The bars look Great!! 

looks really nice how much has the rise/pull back changed from stock? quite interested as I will be fitting new risers to my bike soon. plus it's just nice to know what sort of difference fitting new risers and or bars make

Looking great, job very well done.

Great job Dave, looking good, a nice clean set up, thanks for the mirror link 

Well done Dave,good write up and photos.As for the price, jobs you do you self are priceless.

Wat a amazing job!! 
Q. How big where the spacers in the end and secondly could they make them again.  
They are a smashing bit of kit.

Thanks for the positive comments - it's very encouraging.

The spacers are 3", which lifts the bars enough to clear the tank.  The bars are 36" wide with a 6 1/2" pullback.  I had them cut down to 34" as I need to keep the width to the same as before, but I reckon I could have stayed on 36".  This put them into almost the same position as stock bars, so you don't have to change cables or wiring.  As far as difference from stock - the bars are slightly straighter than stock, so your wrists are not quite so bent - but it's only marginal.  You sit slightly more upright - if you've seen the photo of DaNgEr on his VZ, it's more that style.  I prefer it as opposed to the "relaxed" style that the stock bars give you - after about an hour on stock bars, I get a pain in my lower back.  I reckon that will be lessened, as this set-up forces me to adopt a more ergonomic posture.  The other advantage, as I said earlier, is how much it's sharpened up the steering.  It's not going to suit everyone's riding style, but I like it.

I've not asked, but I'm assuming that as the spacers & end-weights have already been machined up once, it'd fairly easy to run another set through.

 

Great job, and good find on the cool looking mirror.

I'd say yeh long as they still have the sizes that they made yours to

 pal and a great write up !

fat intruder wrote:

I'd say yeh long as they still have the sizes that they made yours to

Looking forward to seeing a pic of yours !!!

Looks a good job's been made Dave! Certainly suits your riding style/looks!

Cheers mate - I'll have to pop over so you can see it in the flesh !

Just drop me a text or such to make sure I'm in Dave or give me your address offline & I'll pop over ok?

Managed to grab a few hours sun yesterday & gave the bike a few miles to try out the bars & mirrors.

Love the riding position - not wanting to sound like a stuck record (anyone under the age of twenty five will have no idea what I'm talking about), but I can't believe how much these bars have changed the handling.  Not quite sports bike, but certainly a lot sharper.

The mirror - up to fifty, no blurring at all.  Wasn't until I hit about seventy five that there was a small amount of fuzz, but not enough to be concerned about - certainly no worse than my stock pair.  Fantastic amount of adjustment & amount of rear view available.  On the dual carriageway, I can see an area all the way from my nearside to my off-side.  OK, they're small (about 70mm), so you're not going to get the amount of vision as you do on stock mirrors, but they're as good as the £60 a side Oberons that I had on the Katana.  I'm going to run with just the one on the off-side for the time being - I've got a spare if I need it.  At £8.50 the pair they are, to quote Lock, Stock  "It's a deal, it's a steal, it's the sale of the f***ing century" 


Managed to get some better snaps so you can get more of a perspective how the bars work with the rest of the look - I'm just putting a couple on here, but I'll update my gallery with more from Start To Finish (Almost)

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katsd wrote:

fat intruder wrote:

I'd say yeh long as they still have the sizes that they made yours to

Looking forward to seeing a pic of yours !!!

no probs mate will get it sorted and put a pic up gunna do a dummy run at the weekend once i'm back home to see how much i need to extend the cables then as soon as i get the cash to get bits i'll do it , getting tattoo started /done friday then crimbo so might be a while till its done lol

An absolute credit to you and very inspiring write up for others wanting to do the same.

What an ace looking bike, ace