Handlebars - Back to Stock

[ishouldbuyatacotruck_imp]

Howdy y'all. As I mentioned in my intro post, I wanted to swap out the previous owner's handlebars to go back to the stock bars. The ones on there before were too low, wide, and straight for me and I had to sit in an uncomfortable "twerk" position. It also never felt like I could move the motorcycle around easily.

My friend (and moto mentor) helped guide me through the installation, so enjoy the pictures of the process!







This is my CB1100 with the old bars. Black. Straight. Annoying.
You can see my friend's old (1972?) Honda CB750 in the background.





I ordered everything from [url=https://www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/hon/511a8de3f870022e4ccd3285/handlebar-top-bridge]Babbitt's, and their diagram actually came in handy when we were putting all the pieces together.



Here you can see all the pieces needed to fit inside the handlebar ends to essentially hold the weight in place. 6 little pieces on each end. Refer to that Babbitt's diagram I mentioned to see the illustrated version. It was VERY hard to get all these pieces inside the bars, and we had to apply a lot of force to make it work. But everything eventually snapped into place nicely, including those handle weight snap rings.





Throttle cable fun! We eventually figured out a little trick in pulling those cables out of the channels, but it took some elbow grease. We did not end up having to remove the tank to loosen the cable, though we did think about it.



This is the motorcycle without the bars. I saw a trick online from a guy using a yard stick to rest the levers and housing units while doing this project and it was actually pretty handy.







SIDE PROJECT! Some of y'all may have seen the world's smallest pillion backrest in my original post - that thing was bolted on so as we removed the seat to consider loosening the throttle cable we went ahead and took this piece off. No idea what to do with it. Excuse the selfie - I was trying to see what kind of nut was holding it in place.





Naturally I didn't get any good photos of us putting the new bars in place as we were moving pretty quickly at that point (except for jamming all those little bits in the ends) but here's the final product! Stock bars!

My seating position now is WAY more comfortable and I feel really confident in moving the motorcycle around, whereas before I felt really unbalanced.

I hope any of this can be helpful for y'all. Please feel free to ask questions. As I mentioned, bar end mirrors are my next project. I really don't like the lollypop look so bar end is the plan. If ANYONE has found good ones that work for our CB1100s, let me know.

 

[the Ferret]

Congrats and good job. Selfie is kinda cool. I see you have brown eyes. Looks different to me, everyone in my family has blue eyes. Looks like the PO put dirt bike bars on it. Should be way more comfortable now. You may not like the look of the stock mirrors, but they work extremely well. Big, clear, vibration free.

 

[Lord Popgun]

Nice job!

I can almost guarantee that someone on the board will want that backrest setup. Get 25 posts and put it in the for sale section. (Secret tip that Ferret can’t know about: Just welcome a bunch of new members...)

 

[ishouldbuyatacotruck_imp]

Nice job!

I can almost guarantee that someone on the board will want that backrest setup. Get 25 posts and put it in the for sale section. (Secret tip that Ferret can’t know about: Just welcome a bunch of new members...)

Haha, thanks for the tip!

Congrats and good job. Selfie is kinda cool. I see you have brown eyes. Looks different to me, everyone in my family has blue eyes. Looks like the PO put dirt bike bars on it. Should be way more comfortable now. You may not like the look of the stock mirrors, but they work extremely well. Big, clear, vibration free.

I hear that. I might just go ahead and install the stock for now. Better than no mirrors, especially where I ride. Thanks!

 

[Obleo]

If you don’t care for the original lollipop mirrors , I would suggest taking a look at the cb 500 mirrors. Several forum members myself included have them ,I personally like mine better than the lollipops .

 

[2017EX_imp]

Howdy y'all. As I mentioned in my intro post, I wanted to swap out the previous owner's handlebars to go back to the stock bars. The ones on there before were too low, wide, and straight for me and I had to sit in an uncomfortable "twerk" position. It also never felt like I could move the motorcycle around easily.

My friend (and moto mentor) helped guide me through the installation, so enjoy the pictures of the process!







This is my CB1100 with the old bars. Black. Straight. Annoying.
You can see my friend's old (1972?) Honda CB750 in the background.





I ordered everything from [url=https://www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/hon/511a8de3f870022e4ccd3285/handlebar-top-bridge]Babbitt's, and their diagram actually came in handy when we were putting all the pieces together.



Here you can see all the pieces needed to fit inside the handlebar ends to essentially hold the weight in place. 6 little pieces on each end. Refer to that Babbitt's diagram I mentioned to see the illustrated version. It was VERY hard to get all these pieces inside the bars, and we had to apply a lot of force to make it work. But everything eventually snapped into place nicely, including those handle weight snap rings.





Throttle cable fun! We eventually figured out a little trick in pulling those cables out of the channels, but it took some elbow grease. We did not end up having to remove the tank to loosen the cable, though we did think about it.



This is the motorcycle without the bars. I saw a trick online from a guy using a yard stick to rest the levers and housing units while doing this project and it was actually pretty handy.







SIDE PROJECT! Some of y'all may have seen the world's smallest pillion backrest in my original post - that thing was bolted on so as we removed the seat to consider loosening the throttle cable we went ahead and took this piece off. No idea what to do with it. Excuse the selfie - I was trying to see what kind of nut was holding it in place.





Naturally I didn't get any good photos of us putting the new bars in place as we were moving pretty quickly at that point (except for jamming all those little bits in the ends) but here's the final product! Stock bars!

My seating position now is WAY more comfortable and I feel really confident in moving the motorcycle around, whereas before I felt really unbalanced.

I hope any of this can be helpful for y'all. Please feel free to ask questions. As I mentioned, bar end mirrors are my next project. I really don't like the lollypop look so bar end is the plan. If ANYONE has found good ones that work for our CB1100s, let me know.

Check out this thread, my post #13, and see if you like these rectangles. They are OEM Honda, and unused as I decided to stay with the lollipops. They have been just sitting here in the boxes not doing anyone any good, so PM if interested. [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=10974&pid=181596#pid181596]http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=10974&pid=181596#pid181596

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Nice show there TacoTruck!

 

[Cormanus]

Nice job!

I can almost guarantee that someone on the board will want that backrest setup. Get 25 posts and put it in the for sale section. (Secret tip that Ferret can’t know about: Just welcome a bunch of new members...)

You probably shouldn’t mention it anywhere near that Cormanus bloke either. However, don’t worry if you do: popgun’s used the Form Secret Decoder Ring to muck around with his memory.

Nice job on the bars. I reckon the CB500 mirrors look pretty cool, but someone is likely to be able to help with bar end ones. Aussieflyer, maybe? http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1974

 

[Lord Popgun]

Nice job!

I can almost guarantee that someone on the board will want that backrest setup. Get 25 posts and put it in the for sale section. (Secret tip that Ferret can’t know about: Just welcome a bunch of new members...)

You probably shouldn’t mention it anywhere near that Cormanus bloke either. However, don’t worry if you do: popgun’s used the Form Secret Decoder Ring to muck around with his memory.

Nice job on the bars. I reckon the CB500 mirrors look pretty cool, but someone is likely to be able to help with bar end ones. Aussieflyer, maybe? http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1974

You probably shouldn’t mention it anywhere near that Cormanus bloke either. However, don’t worry if you do: popgun’s used the Form Secret Decoder Ring to muck around with his memory.
:rofl:

I knew you already knew the secret... :excited:

 

[KiowaEagle_imp]

Thanks for the pictorial TacoTruck! What grips are those? They're not stock, are they?

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

I too have non-OEM clutch/brake lever mounts that the PO put on. They have no mirror perch, so he put some tiny little bare-end mirrors on there, which I don't like AT ALL! I bought some OEM mirrors from a member of this forum, but mounting them is proving to be a hassle. Back in another lifetime, I was a fabricator and had access to all kinds of metals, welders, tools, etc, and could come up with ways to do pretty much anything. Now I have no access, but in speaking with a CAD guy at work, he said the welder in the shop could do it. I spoke with Alberto, and he said, yes, it could be easily done, so now we have a plan to get back to at least semi-stock. I'll post up some pics of the process.

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

Update: In trying to mount the mirrors, I discovered that the hydraulic reservoir mount is in fact the mirror perch. I screwed the mirrors in and they work OK, but not the best. Ialso discovered that the stock bar weights were not in the bars, and in taking the bar end mirrors off leaves a hole in the end that I filled on the right by cobbling a weight to the old mirror attachment, which was not wholly satisfactory. After a few attempts to make it right, I finally bought the OEM Honda weight kit. Installed it, turned out OK, but I can't feel a difference. The left side has no weight, the right side has, but I can't tell a difference. I think I spent about 40 bucks on that weight, and don't really need it. There is no vibration that I can feel.

 

[ishouldbuyatacotruck_imp]

Thanks for the update, Charlie Bravo!

And here's an update for everyone else:

I finally got the bar end mirrors installed like I wanted. I bought them before the attempted theft (see my other thread) and after I got all that taken care of I took the CB and the mirrors to a good shop here in Austin - Cycle Refinery. Jesse (the owner) did a great job, but he did have to machine them down to get them to work.

 

[Cormanus]

Bike is looking good ishouldbuy. Glad you’re still around. There are way too few women around here.

 

[Lord Popgun]

They came out nice! Another member, whose name I can’t remember, put them on his bike too. Not mounted like yours, but he had to do some machining too.

 

[ishouldbuyatacotruck_imp]

Thanks y’all. Yeah, I love the look of these mirrors and they are beveled nicely so I can, you know, actually see what’s around.

Things have been crazy hectic at work, so not a ton of time for riding these days. Also, it’s over 100 degrees every day down here. Dog days. Cannot wait for fall!

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Thanks y’all. Yeah, I love the look of these mirrors and they are beveled nicely so I can, you know, actually see what’s around.

Things have been crazy hectic at work, so not a ton of time for riding these days. Also, it’s over 100 degrees every day down here. Dog days. Cannot wait for fall!

Just curious: Vibration of the new mirrors is a non-issue? (that is, no vibration?)

Thx

 

[ishouldbuyatacotruck_imp]

No issue with vibration. It’s great!