Making closed end grips work on the CB

[Skypilot_imp]

So one of the more frustrating things that I’ve found so far with the CB 1100 is a lack of good looking grips out there. Most of what I have found wasn’t impressing me style wise. So I decided to give it a shot with a pair of good looking Renegades from Biltwell. Of course we have the bar and weights to deal with and the majority of the grips that are out there are closed end as opposed to our open and grips. But for $20 I figured I’d have a shot at making them work. I’m not a slave to style but I like my bikes to ride AND look a certain way. I have the steps show below with some pics to go along. Very easy project with a couple of tricks. Disclaimer here is that you will be boring a hole in these grips rendering them useless if you mess them up.


1. Take your choice of grips and bore a 3/4 hole in the closed end. I used a 3/4 hole saw and worked great. DONT use a regular drill bit and make sure it’s centered (obviously).


Here is the hole bored through the closed end



Take the bar end weight and push it through the hole you just made to make sure it fits

Take out the weight and install the grip on the bar. Here is the view from the end


The rest is easy just install the weight with the factory screw and seat the grip until it looks right.


The only issue with most grips is that they are a little short on the throttle side and there will be a gap between the grip and the control pod. I painted mine with black auto touch up paint from Autozone. DO THIS BEFORE YOU INSTALL THE GRIPS to avoid getting paint on your grips. It sticks out pretty badly if you leave it unpainted.
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*****FYI the throttle sleeve extends about 1/4 inch beyond the end of the bar making the grip seem even shorter when installed. I don’t have a pic of this part and I don’t normally condone messing with throttles in any way but I took a dremel and sliced off about an 1/8 inch from the overhang in order to allow the grip to fully cover the throttle sleeve.



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[peterbaron]

Look good

[Retsel_imp]

I really like the look of those grips. But, not a fan of the gap between grip and end weight. Seems a simple spacer, to fill that gap, could be easily made from black plastics?

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[Stichill_imp]

Is there really a dearth of good-looking open-ended grips out there? So many street bikes have bar-end weights; seems like there'd be a ready market.

I put the Bikemaster heated grips on my CBR250R. I think they look like OEM, only mo' betta.

[GoldOxide_imp]

The new grips match the RLETs.

Some folks will be pleased.

[Skypilot_imp]

The gap at the end doesn’t really bother me since the whole area is black. It was the one I painted that was bugging me. I fully agree about the open ended grips there should be more options out there. I also prefer a little more beef on my grips. either that or I’m still adapting to 7/8 bars! These Biltwells are similar to a pair I had on my Dyna. They are a great texture with very positive grip. And yesss they match the RLETS. It was my master plan all along!

[the Ferret]

Good plan!