Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner Forward control relocation parts?

Has anyone moved the controls forward on their BA? I know they are already considered to be forward, but I'd like mine another 3 to 4 inches forward. Their position now has me pressed all the back in the seat stretching for the handlebars and my legs still feel a little cramped.


By the way, I have an '03 if that makes any difference.
Thanks.

no bolt on kits, has to be custom done

Frank

Actually there is a bolt on kit that someone in the accessories page made. They were a dealer item. I thought about buying one, but their price was a bit much. Do a search and see what comes up. Good luck! I'll also see if I can find that link for ya.

A real cool guy from this site, Wildmike from down under, cut his forward control bracket and did an awesome job of moving his controls out in front of his pipes. I have his pix in my PM files. I cut a bracket to move mine but have been inundated with other projects and have yet to finish that one. PM me and I'll send his pix along with his text.

yep. wildmike basically flipped the geometry with some cuts and welds. i even bought a spare control bar to do the same thing but couldn't pull the trigger.

First off I want to thank everyone for their help so far.

wildmike, could you give me some information and possible some pictures kind of up close of the modifications you made to the control mounting bracket. I think my original plan was more or less what you had done, but after looking closer it looked to be a little difficult.

I'm very interested is attempting this since the control location is making it difficult to put any real miles on my bike at a given riding session.

Again, thanks everyone.

I am also looking at doing this mod, as i am 6'3, and feel that i need a little longer in the leg.
Any pics and advice would be appreciated
martin

The original thread on this subject isn't much good as photopost is still down so here's a few pics for you to get an idea of what I did...
Cut out the middle bracket and replace with pipe, I added 20mm for clearance of gear change rod.



I had a block of 4x2 and tied it in position with the new control bar and made cardboard brackets. All welded up.



Lengthened the gear rod by cutting rod and sliding the ends into a piece of stainless pipe, this was the most expensive part of the whole operation, tube and SS welding.



My new riding position.





Used the original brake line, bent to fit and not that pretty, but it works...
Hope this gives ya some ideas for your own project, at 6'2" I just needed to stretch out, ya gotta be comfortable on ya steed...

How much further did this stretch out your leg reach Mike? I would like to move my controls forward too but not necessary. 3-4" is probably too much for me (only 5'10"), but I could use another 1 1/2-2". Wait. Did I really say that?

wildmike, I have to say excellent job. I never thought of doing it that way. I was thinking of hacking off the mounting brackets from the bars, rotating the bars 180 degrees so they wrapped around the front of the pipes. I think I like your idea better though.

Definitely going to get on this mod very soon. Thanks again.

I didn't measure how much further forward they are but guessing 4 - 5" and when riding legs almost fully extended, so not much good for you, I did see on here recently someone who moved them a couple of inches with small plates mounted onto the original brackets...

Any troublw with the exhaust heat on your legs?

I had thought about making longer brackets and using the original control bar, so that the pedals would come around the pipes. but from your photo this wont work

any chance of a shot from above?so i can see the clearance

thanks
martin

No trouble with heat, sorry about the dirty bike but they are made to be ridden, hope this pic helps...

Great. . That has sealed the deal, come winter ill be chopping and welding.
May need to ask some more questions when i get started
Martin

Just how tall are you guys anyway..Jezze, I can barely reach the controls now..

u can always make original bar wider and reverse it

Just fitted my bar, and the position is great, just one issue.. the brake pedal is slightly too far away, from your photo it looks as if you rotated the whole assembley to get the pedal at that angle? is that right.

Wildmike were did you get the spoked front wheel with dual disc?

The spoked front wheel with the dual disc is a Thunderbird Sport wheel.

Thanks how hard are they to find.

Very hard to find from what I hear, and when you do it won't be cheap.

I brought it brand new so it had to be imported from England to NZ... Most people who manage to find one second hand have them respoked with an origional 18" America rim or go 21" rim... I kept mine 17" cause I wanted a big, fat front tire which is a 140x80x17" Metz ME880 front... Good luck with finding one...

Mike, I think it looks great with that fat front tire. I would like to see a pic of the whole bike the way it's set up now.

can you send me some pixs of the forward control movements
thanks DAN

can you send me some more pictures of your forward controls mod. thanks DAN