The following is a work of fiction,
all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this thread are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
OK here's a status update on my wiring woes , turn signal torment and general handlebar havoc. As some of you know my bike was someone else's project that actually did a pretty damn good job so I decided to go with it and use the components that he chose one being the Cycletronic control module, similar to a Moto Gadget. Cycletronic made a wiring diagram specifically for my project and the components I will use. Pretty cool if you ask me because I didn't actually purchase the unit from them.
View attachment 338459
Pretty simple but the the version I got is controlled by two micro switches that are run internally in the handle bars. I'm not really a fan of running wire in the bars only because I change my mind a lot and like to switch things out without undoing and redoing wiring and such. But I had done it before on a sportster I had with 12" high bars so I thought this would be easier. I went with bar end signals since i was running wire inside anyway. So I start with the holes between the risers where the wires will exit the bars since I don't need to be too precise there. Nothing that I am using to do this is a precision instrument. I have no drill press or decent vise so I use those rubber insulated pipe hangers that I see some of you guys use to attach stuff to your frames (and I thought that I was the only one who did that) and wood screws to secure the bars to my little work bench. I layout the holes and mark them with a sharpened nail and free hand them with a cordless drill. It's going pretty good but taking a really long time to punch through and I realize that these bars are really thick walled like 3/16" and they are aluminum. I am concerned because the wires will have to make a sharp turn over that edge so I'll have to taper where the wire exits so it doesn't get cut. I attempted to use a dremmel tool to deburr and taper the openings. Unbeknownst to me the dremmel that I have is two speeds, fast and REALLY FUCKING FAST and a scale by the switch that gradually increases implying that the RPMs will do the same. Not so, when you go from fast to ludicrous speed in an 21/64" hole this dremmel will unleashes bloody havoc and pandemonium! I got away unscathed but decided to use a slow 12V drill and sandpaper to finish the job which took a lot longer. I tap the holes for the connectors and move on.
Next I decide to fish the control buttons harness through being that they are the bulkiest however I have to unpin the 4 wire micro connector box because although it is micro, it won't fit through the hole. That takes a bit because the wires are tiny and pins are difficult to see how they are locked in. I end up using a cable from a DIY control cable kit included in the bunch o boxes of parts that i got with bike to fish the wires through. Works like a charm, probably the only thing that did. I left the buttons loose until i fish the bar end signals wires so they don't get hung up trying to pass. I pull both side through relatively easy and then I notice it! The nuts on the ends of the plugs will not fit in the bars. With the gauge of the metal being so thick the inside diameter is much smaller
View attachment 338467 well, OK maybe I can find a smaller bolt that will fit the blinker either way I have to pull the wires back out to get the nut off. I search to no avail, there are no nuts that will fit that threaded end and I can't leave it off or the whole mess will fall apart. Maybe if I file the corners off the nut I can make it fit, sure why not? this takes some time but eventually the nut is round and fits snugly in the end of the bar
View attachment 338468Now! Surely I can shove this flexible rubber bushing into the bars. Not even close! The wires come back out, I take the nut off and remove the bushing. Maybe I have something smaller lying around like from a shock kit? Short answer is no. Scratchin my head? I can wait until morning and go to the hardware store and maybe find something that will work or improvise....adapt.....overcome. Tried cutting it with a razor knife but his stuff is pretty resilient and if I keep at it I will definitely end up cutting myself. Maybe if I heat it up like with a soldering torch? Big mistake now the whole room smells like Baghdad during the elections. What next, how do you resize a rubber bushing?
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Once again it takes a while but it works. So I resize the other bushing and nut, install them on the signals, and run the wires through the bars again. I tighten the nuts just tight enough to make the bushings bulge so I have to give it some force to get them into the bars then give the signals a little twist to tighten everything up right proper. I'm standing back admiring my ungenuity and think "OK, now all I have to do is install the hand gri...... AW! FUUUUUU!!!"
So I loosen the signals, pry the bushings back out, pull out the wires, Install the hand grips, step back and think "is there anything else that I have forgotten? All my levers bolt on and don't have to slide on from the ends, I think you're good. Don't tell anyone about this!" I reinstall the wires and signals, re-pin the micro connectors on the control switches, take the whole mess outside and install it on the bike, and finally route the control wires back to the module and plug them into their respective terminals. I go pass out right before the sun comes up feeling something similar to accomplishment.
That was a few days ago. Last night I decided that I would get back at it and try to get this wiring completed when I noticed something that I had put in the back of my mind and neglected to to put back in the front of it. But there it was staring at me, two green wires hanging out the right hand side of the bars with the control switch, the wires for the front brake switch. I was pretty sure that I couldn't just run it over to the brake and then bolt the control button housing over the top of it. Nothing in the instructions for the bars had mentioned it but it made sense that another hole should have been drilled on the other side of the control button for those wires. How do I do that with the bar full of wires and not f#ck any of them up?
View attachment 338473 I really didn't want to pull the end plugs and wires out again and there wasn't enough room in the existing hole to drill it from the inside out without damaging those wires. I figured if I could just punch through the metal and go no deeper then I had a good chance of missing the wires that were already in there. I came up with a way that I thought could prevent the drill bit from over penetrating
View attachment 338474I picked up a spring loaded punch the other day so I could get a better start than using a nail and then I took a piece of this fuel line we had in the shop with a ridiculously small hole in the center of it and it fit perfectly over the bit with just about 1/8" sticking out, just the tip. The line was hardy enough to stop the bit since I wasn't going to be putting a lot of pressure on it, I hoped. The punch works pretty good and got the bit started, slowly
View attachment 338475View attachment 338476 slowly. Drill then check, drill then check. drill,,,,,check,,,,,drill,,check,,drill,check,drill,check,drillcheckdriillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillFUCK!!!! It punched through a little bit more than I wanted it to but I think everything might be OK, I mean what are the odds? Did Ghetto fab technique and hillbilly ungineering come through?
View attachment 338477 IT WORKED!
View attachment 338478 I think it worked.
View attachment 338479....it almost worked. Hang my head, drown my fears, until you all just......................
Zoom in you'll see it. It's just a little nick in the insulation but what I remember from community college electrical theory class is that electrons are really fucking small. Any way I got most of the rest of the wires run and connected save for a few grounds and the speedo, neutral switch. I thought about a few different ways to fix that little nick but I think I'm just going to pull the plug and wires again as a form of penance. I guess that if there are lessons to be learned from this debacle it's measure twice, have a better plan, be patient,,,,buy some damn tools.