Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner machining new triple clamp

With the strange 'too warm to hunt' weather here in December between the holidays. I finally got going on the long put off top triple clamp for the speedmaster that would fit isolators like the thunderbird uses. No longer having balancing shafts in the motor makes handlebar isolators seem like maybe a worthwhile thing to have.

I started out with a 12x5x1.25 inch bar of 6061 aluminum (that I bought 3 years ago). After whitling away most of it, I was about 85% finished when the cold weather returned and stopped work for a while.
I have to order a 1/8 inch slitting saw to cut the clamps and a little more light weighting left to do. Then wait for it to warm up again.

I have a set of new t-bird isolator rubbers and will use a t-bird riser spacer to adapt my HD duece risers to the isolators. It needs to be loosely assembled and then I can calculate the optimum length for the inside steel isolator tube based on the motor turning at 4000 rpm.

Not sure of the finish that the clamp will have. Could polish, or could tumble and hard anodize to look like the OEM, could anodize a bright color, even chrome!

Sounds like you know what you are doing. Hoping it works out for you.

I finally got the top triple done and assembled. It looks like it belongs on there. As I had the deuce risers on the bike and wanted to keep them, I had to get a new pair of risers that still have the bosses on the lower ends and make caps to fit the isolators. The new riser is an inch up and some back and is a little tight on the brake line and the clutch cable. Working with Fast Eddy to source some new ones.

I have taken pictures as the project progresses and will post them when all done.

Wow, I thought Fast Eddy retired. I would have suggested him in the caliper thread if I knew he was still plugging away.

so far as I know Eddy is still going. His web site is up and he answers the phone.

I finally got this bike back together and, on the road, (thanks eddy). Did some fine tuning on the spacer lengths. I ended up 2.5mm shorter than my original design indicated. Actual compression of the isolators is somewhat variable.

I think that the new triple has taken a good part of the buzz out of the handlebar. The rise and pull back is a little more, which is good for my riding position (and back).

It was a lot of work for a feature that many bikes come with from the factory. But this is a hobby, so....