As I mentioned in the previous post, changing my handlebars on my Harley Softail Deluxe was on the agenda. I had purchased the few parts I needed and had set aside Saturday to git-r-dun. My new bars are 1 1/4” in diameter so I could run the wiring through them; this proved to be the most time consuming part of the install. But let me back up for a moment and walk through the process. I first clipped the wiring between the gas tank and the front fork gooseneck. I then removed the grips and and hand controls. After removing the old bars from the handlebar risers at the top of the forks, I ran a couple of “snake” wires through the new bars to enable guidance of the hand control wire bundles before installing the new bars loosely in place, letting them hang in the downward position. This gave me access to the wiring holes in the bottom of the bars. I then taped the wire bundles to the end of the snake wires and pulled them through the bars before loosely reattaching the hand controls. This first part of the process took about an hour, and since I was learning as I went, the first side I did took about 20 minutes and the second side about five. Hey, that just proves that I may not be too smart but I’m getting more better.
Before spinning the bars up into there proper position, I found it easiest to strip the ends of the wires while they were exposed on the front of the bike. Then I spun the bars upright and tucked the wiring down through the risers and into position. Since my new bars were similar in size and dimension to the old bars, I only had to extend the wires by a couple inches. There are extension kits available that match the OEM coloring that run about $30 to $45 plus tax or shipping if you buy online, however for me, $3 worth of 16 gauge wire from my local hardware store was sufficient. I also chose to solder each wire connection and wrap each with heat shrink tubing and then covering each wire bundle with 1/2” heat shrink tubing. In my opinion, this method took a lot of time but you’d be hard pressed to notice that any changes to the wiring had been made.
Next, I sat on the bike and set the bars and hand controls in the positions that felt most comfortable and tightened everything down. I cut on the ignition switch and SHAZAM! the beast fired up and all of the lights worked! I not only saved myself $450 to $600 by installing them myself, but that feeling when I achieved success was priceless!
Lastly, I had to install a new front brake line because the old one was too short. As mentioned in my previous post, I measured the estimated length and bought a stainless steel line. I attached the new banjo ends and to the new line and then attached the new line to the bike. I bled the brake line and that was it, job complete. A word to the wise, cover your bike with sheets or blankets to protect the paint and chrome, and know that brake fluid can each through your paint job in seconds so be careful. Always use new fluid from an unopened can.
I figure that the whole job took me about 5 hours of actual hands-on work, which isn’t bad for a novice. Any experienced bike mechanic should be able to accomplish the same task in no more than three hours. At $80 an hour that’s $240; a far cry from the $600 I was quoted by the Harley dealership.
In the end I fired ’er up and took her down the road and the experience was awesome! The bars felt just right and I may have increased the value of my bike, but to me the feeling of accomplishment and the satisfaction of knowing that I did it is of value that words cannot describe. Ride on!
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