These bikes do benefit from a slight gearing change. Notice I said "slight". With an 18" rear wheel, dropping the rear sprocket just one tooth from the stock 34 to a 33 is ideal. That's the gearing the European models came with and I feel it's ideal for this motor's power output. You won't lose much of the lower gear "lunge" but it will knock a few hundred RPMs off the engine speed at highway cruising speeds.
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Hi All. I'm new to the forum
- Thread starter thuban
- Start date
Quite a happy co incidence you finding Cliff. I love his videos and his voice is easy on the ear ....well that is until you mention Brexit and then the air gets a bit blue lol.
He'll be chuffed to bits to know that you were sufficiently inspired by his vids to get your bike out and start restoring it.
Poor old Cliff rides a lot in built up areas which have speed cameras everywhere so he is restricted to 30-40mph which I would find very frustrating. I can only charge around like a hooligan because there are no Police out where I live and very few cameras .
Interestingly enough my bike has almost no vibration !.... I can't feel any through either the pegs or the bars. I feel sure that a lot of this is due to having the engine running efficiently with regards timing and fuel mixture but the high rise bars with rubber bushes must help a lot as well as not having my weight on the bars. Saying that I have never ridden further than 30 miles in one go so thats no real test I guess.
I am looking at replacing my rubber handlebar bushes with a set of Hugh's Handbuilt Solid Riser bushings. Are they superior to the originals in terms of vibration transmission or would I be better with a new rubber set, probably from Mikes?
Hi Dave,
Solid bushings will transmit vibration a lot more than rubber bushings.
Solid bushings reduce vague steering feel but increase 'bar vibration.
Will buying HH Solids and new rubber bushings break your bank?
Try each of them and do a comparison.
Hmmmm....... straight steering and feel like a martini or comfy feel as I drive off the road. God, decisions, decisions. Could buy both but the comparison will have to wait until I can ride her - never thought of that Fred. I'll need a hammer for the china piggy.
"Yes, these things are awful... and do indeed point straight back. I can't imagine anyone actually using these, which is why I "repurposed" them for my torch rig."
Ohhhh, Man, Jim...Those are off my tricycle when I was snot-nosed! (Missing the red grips and streamers)
Heres a pix ( I hope) of my bars. And a pix of my "New-er" gages.
Quite a happy co incidence you finding Cliff. I love his videos and his voice is easy on the ear ....well that is until you mention Brexit and then the air gets a bit blue lol.
He'll be chuffed to bits to know that you were sufficiently inspired by his vids to get your bike out and start restoring it.
Poor old Cliff rides a lot in built up areas which have speed cameras everywhere so he is restricted to 30-40mph which I would find very frustrating. I can only charge around like a hooligan because there are no Police out where I live and very few cameras .
Interestingly enough my bike has almost no vibration !.... I can't feel any through either the pegs or the bars. I feel sure that a lot of this is due to having the engine running efficiently with regards timing and fuel mixture but the high rise bars with rubber bushes must help a lot as well as not having my weight on the bars. Saying that I have never ridden further than 30 miles in one go so thats no real test I guess.
Peanut, I told Cliff he was responsible this. I also copied and built his engine lift. It is so cool as long as your on a hard smooth surface. He is sometimes hard to understand cause he is talking so low. Later,
Thu
I wonder why I have double pix here? I swear, dumber that a hammer!
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David, I sure hope your not asking me. I'm still wet behind the ears around here but I got a new set from mikes. I like them. Then again, Hugh makes good stuff! I'm sure somebody here has tried them.
Thu
5Twins, I replaced the chain and both sprockets during the build, naturally. I read a lot about guys using different sprockets but without really knowing I just went back stock. If I decide to make the change to a 33 I better not wait too long. I like everything to wear together. The middle of this coming week I hope to have it out on the hi-way. That should answer a lot of my questions. Thanks much,
Thu
Solid bushes would definitely improve steering directness I should have thought but I'm just as sure that sol
id bar bushes would considerably increase the vibration transmitted to the grips. I imagine Yamaha specified them for exactly that purpose.Keep in mind that those higher pullback bars are exerting more leverage on those bushings. They'll wear them quicker and show the wear more. Even slightly worn bushings would probably show much less bar "wiggle" with lower, more normal type bars installed.
The wear on the bushes can be aggravated by moving the bike around the garage etc especially if you haven't got a sissybar fitted ....ask me how I know
Yeah, Peanut. But I found then pretty cheap and not to bad to change out. Were really easy to install during the build and nothing on the bars yet.
Nope. Force at the bushings is "as required." Lets say it takes 10lbs of torque at the bushings to rotate the tire from stop to stop. That doesn't change just because we changed the length or position of our lever (handlebars). Think of a torque wrench. 10 ftlbs on a 6" long wrench is gonna take a hefty pull.. whereas 10 ftlbs on a 3 ft long wrench is a 1 finger affair. In both cases the force applied to the socket (or bushing) is the same.... 10 lbs.
Go for a cheap compromise??? Take a 4mm thick plastic chopping board and cut out 2 large washers. Fit 1 washer between each pair of old bushings. When you tighten the bolts you will have something in between new rubbers and HH solid bushings.
Jim, look at your example or explanation in reverse, because I think that's what happens here. A "hefty pull" (or push) on those longer pullback bars is going to exert much more pressure on the rubber bushings than the same "hefty pull" on normal lower bars would. It's a leverage thing, plain and simple, with the way those buckhorns stick back 8 or 10 inches. I was going to mention using a breaker bar on a ratchet. More turning force at the socket from less turning force on the handle. I think the buckhorns act the same way on the rubber bushings.
Absolutely. The bigger the bars, the longer the lever.... more force is exerted. Simple physics. My point is... we don't do it like that. If it takes 10 lbs to move the forks... we exert 10 lbs. No more, no less. I'm not aware of anyone... at least I don't... who cranks a "hefty pull" of 50 lbs in there... just because they can.. maybe? Force inputted is "as required" in real world. Anything past that is excessive, and yes the buckhorns would allow you to greatly increase your ability ruin your bushings, should you choose to do so. Why would you?
One explanation or example of the rubber bushing being overly squished by force is when the bike owner is either moving the bike about or improperly leveraging his bike with say, a “hefty pull”
I’ve witnessed some very poor center stand use techniques
I’ve witnessed some very poor center stand use techniques
Hi Jim,
it ain't the use, it's the abuse.
Horsing the bike around the garage or up onto a trailer.
Hauling yourself up to stand on the pegs to see WTF that clown up ahead is doing.
Pushing the bike from where you ran out of gas to the next filling station.
All manner of things can exert more force onto the bars than plain ol' guiding it down the road.
And like Machine sez, pulling a 440lb bike up onto it's centrestand can overtorque the bars quite well.
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Yes, you can't help but exert more force with those pullback bars. You don't do it on purpose, it just happens. Another perfect example is during hard braking. You will end up pushing forward on the bars quite hard, there's no way to avoid it.
Well, there ya go Thu. Yet another reason to ditch the buckhorns... excessive bushing wear. If I'm gonna have to fork out 20 bucks for bushing every 5 ys instead of 6... I may have to rethink my use of 'em also.... 
I think I read somewhere the other day that they cause cancer too. Yeah.... not gonna chance it. Off I go right now to replace 'em.
I think I read somewhere the other day that they cause cancer too. Yeah.... not gonna chance it. Off I go right now to replace 'em.
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