Dirt-bike handlebars on and FXR150?

[Damien_Toman]

I bent my right handlebar on may FXR150 (crashing). I was thinking of removing the FXR handlebars and fitting dirt-bike bars (I have a spare set with mountings from my motocross bike - CRF250R). Has anyone done this? Would I need to drill my FXR150 top triple clamp (I have a drill press). The bar mountings would be closer than normal but could work. I want to do this. Maybe start tomorrow over the long weekend. Any issues? I would really appreciate your advice. I have been practicing at bucket racing (mostly crashing) but not raced in 25 years . I need advice and opinions on this. I like the high bars on some of the CB125T's

[Henk]

The only thing I can think of is that you might want to make sure your throttle cable and brake line are going to be long enough to reach the new bars before you start drilling holes. Other than that I can't see any issues.

[Damien_Toman]

The only thing I can think of is that you might want to make sure your throttle cable and brake line are going to be long enough to reach the new bars before you start drilling holes. Other than that I can't see any issues.

Thanks Henk. Yes, I was wondering about that. The top tripple clamp is also quite thin for handlebar support. I'd still like to do it. It will be hard to check cable lengths without going for it! Anyone done it?

[Damien_Toman]

Been out to the garage and had a closer look. See photo below. I discovered that the CRF250R mounts screw into the FXR bar fasteners! That was a very pleasant surprise. If I thread the CRF mounting bolts further, this will work well without drilling the FXR triple clamp. The nuts from the original bar fasteners will still work. As Henk said, I still need to check cable lengths. This is looking good! The dirt-bike bars will give great flexibility on bar position to suit riding preference and style: high, low, forward and back in-close to the body. I think I need any advantage I can create

[Henk]

Damien

If you don't want to keep switching bars across from bike to bike and want to play with handlebar heights a combination of these might be the way to go.

http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...clamp_kit.aspx

http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...bar_clamp.aspx


There are other clamps available for a bit less dosh.

http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...ar_mounts.aspx

[Voltaire]

I recently made up new clutch cable for my FXR150 ( Dellorto's former one).
Just the ones you get from the bike shop ( Cycletreads) and cut and solder the nipple on.

[Damien_Toman]

Damien

If you don't want to keep switching bars across from bike to bike and want to play with handlebar heights a combination of these might be the way to go.

http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...clamp_kit.aspx

http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...bar_clamp.aspx


There are other clamps available for a bit less dosh.

http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...ar_mounts.aspx

I bought fat bars and a raised mounting kit for the CRF250R so I could install a Scotts steering damper under the bars. So, the bars and mounts in the photo are currently ready for use on the FXR. Yes, there are good kit options if I make the change to dirt-bike bars - thanks for the links.

[Damien_Toman]

I recently made up new clutch cable for my FXR150 ( Dellorto's former one).
Just the ones you get from the bike shop ( Cycletreads) and cut and solder the nipple on.

Good. Hope I don't need to make new cables.

[Henk]

Not sure what the bend and sweep on your bars will be. If they are CR lows you should be OK. If you get stuck I found a set of low rise dirt bike bars in the garage the other day, never been used and not sure what I bought them for.
Give me a yell if you want to try them. was going to cut them up for the steel until I found some other crap I could use.

[Damien_Toman]

Thanks for the offer. Mine are the standard CRF250R bars and I'm prepared to cut them if I need to.

The thread on the CRF bar mounts seems to be M10x1.25 - tested at Supercheap. My 10x1.25 die does not screw on to the thread - stops about half-way through the die. Should I be worried? I don't want to damage the existing threads and this die looks like it will affect the existing thread.

I'm a total newbie on taps & dies and just have a cheap kit.

[Henk]

Could be a weird thread size. I've got a pitch gauge here if you want to borrow it. With taps I just bought the sizes I needed but got good ones, the cheap sets looked like they were made out of cheese. M5, 6 and eight will do mosth things on jap bikes. I've only bothered with intermediate taps since all I ever do is clean up threads. M6 helicoil kit can come in handy as well.

[avgas]

I recently made up new clutch cable for my FXR150 ( Dellorto's former one).
Just the ones you get from the bike shop ( Cycletreads) and cut and solder the nipple on.

Would be interested to know how long it lasts - I used to do this for the RG.....they only last 2 weeks max, gave up in the end and bought one. They must do something special with it when they do the nipple, Mine kept getting gutted

[bucketracer]

You have to splay the wire out. The solder is only there to stop the wire straightening back up and pulling back through the nipple.

Some handy hints on making cables:- http://www.dansmc.com/solder_cable.htm

.

[Damien_Toman]

Good cable tips.

Here is the CRF250R handlebar mount. To extend the threading will be hard as the diameter above the thread is slightly larger than the threaded area and the metal seems very hard. Might need to find similar already threaded all the way. I'll have a look through Henks previous links.

[Voltaire]

Would be interested to know how long it lasts - I used to do this for the RG.....they only last 2 weeks max, gave up in the end and bought one. They must do something special with it when they do the nipple, Mine kept getting gutted

me too....
The brass nipple that came with it was too small, so I made another on the lathe.
And yes I bent the strands back on themselves to make a 'cone' shape and soldered them into the tapered hole, filed it all up.
You get good at this stuff when you have 30 year old bikes...