Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Member's Rides 2009 Speedmaster.

They are just not wide enough. The tank is too wide. Thoughts that loomed into the front of my grey matter. Every time I looked at the MICRO BEND-A-LICIOUS APES I had fitted. Drove me mad. Not the fault of the bars. Not the fault of Steffan who made the bars. They just didn't look right.

Before


Fitting a narrower tank. No. Too much trouble. Lots of fabricating. Don't have all the tools.

Widen the bars! I have tools to do this. I have mate, Big Dog, who has TIG welder. One very large bolt was bought to be turned into a slug. 4" was cut out of another set of bars. Holes drilled.

Rode to Big Dogs place. He welded the extension in. Grinder over welds. I get home. File and emery paper to smooth out the grinding. Coat of Satin Black.

After


Now have a set of MICRO BEND-A-LICIOUS EXTENDED APES! They are 31" wide. The eye now tells me that they suit the width of the tank.

This recent pic with the bars made wider looks great. Excellent work!

Wholly armorall turtle wax batman!! LOL looking good bud.

I liked the ones taken on the train tracks, but now that I have seen your extendalicious ones, I really like those!!!

6 bar changes.

I am planning something with the tank. Will it happen. Depends on money.

Been riding the last two days. Due for an oil change. Time for some oil and beer.

Yep that's right. Handle bar change No.7.

All that great welding that Big Dog did on my MICRO BEND-A-LICIOUS APES No.6 handles bars did has come to naught. Rode on local freeway during the week. First longish ride with the bars. At highway speeds both hands are numb from vibration. Pulling in the clutch with a numb left hand is interesting. Below 110kmh there is very little vibration. Get to that and above and the vibration is insane. I thought the slug that was fitted into the bars to give them strength when we made them wider would have killed this. It didn't.

So got a set of Venture Tracker Bars. Got them real cheap as the shop had the wrong price tag on them. Like 60% cheaper.







Wide with pullback. So need some risers. Ones that will still let me use the Biltwell Slim Line riser. So what to use? How about a 36mm socket. How about 2 of them. That's what I used.



Vibration. Some but not enough to numb my hands as quickly bar 6 did.

Will I change the Trackers in a few days time? Stuffed if I know.

man try speed-master risers and America bars you will have to swap the cables but its a decent set up, i think you will like it by looking at all of your swaps. It looks a wee bit off when you first do it but it actually works and you start to dig the look. IMO

http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...e=1&fpart=7

If you don't like your last change of course.

I have America clutch cable and brake hose fitted. Did that several bar changes ago.

I have both Speedy and America risers. They are chunky looking. Plus I have drilled the top tree to take 1/2" bolts fof the Slimline risers.

I am liking change No.7 alot.

Something else I worked on over Easter was a bobbed front guard.
Take one old Honda front guard. Made in 1971.
Cut and bash it.
Fit to the Triumph fork brace.
One old looking bobbed guard.
This is just a rough go at it. I would like to get one in a better condition and re-do.

Was out and about late this afternoon with my camera.

Change No.8 There must be a name for this thing I have for handlebars?!

Is there a cure? I hope that this set is not a placebo. I bought a set of Astro-Glide Riserless bars from Steff at Zombie Performance. http://zombieperformance.bigcartel.com/products Have bought from him twice now and his customer service is second to none. His workmanship is beautiful. He is a true craftsman of the handlebar.

Rode nearly 200km today to and from work with these bars and they are great. 26 inches wide. Makes lane splitting easy. Not that I would know this till 1st July this year when it becomes legal here in New South Wale Australia. I like the position they put me into on the bike. Especially at highway speeds. Tucked in more than the wider tracker bars from change No.7.

You want a set of custom handmade bars then this is the guy to go to.

Very

LOVE. THIS. PICTURE. !

Keith, In photography circles, that is called "Bokeh". Look it up (google?) for a better explanation.

Cheers guys. That photo was taken on the side of the freeway. It was bloody cold and high winds.

20k km service, removal of AI fully and new back tyre this coming week. To save money saddle bags are off. Less labour for the shop then means less money I pay.

First time in many years that I am having a bike shop work on my bike. I don't want to do the tappets and shims.

20k klm not likely going to need any adjustments, maybe on the intakes but not likely the exhaust. Make sure you ask them to give you the before and after numbers if they adjust so you can track the movement.

Mine seemed a little noisy.Paranoia.Anyway I had them checked at 13,000ks one needed a small [5 thou.?]shim.I had them checked again at 30,000ks and they were all still in spec.so I would guess 20,000 would/should be ok.

Noise in the top end with our engines does not worry me. Thought I would get someone else to do the work for once. Needs fuel filter replaced etc so let them do all of that.

Having seen a video on how to check and replace the shims I thought not this little black duck. I am used to tappets that you adjust with a screw and lock nut.

Bike shop rung me today. Bike will be ready tomorrow. AI removed. Tappets well within spec. i am used to screw and lock nut tappets that need adjustment.

2 days without my bike and I am missing it so badly.

My Speedmaster had its 20k service done with Trooper Lu's Garage. Outstanding customer service. There are many in the motorcycle/automotive industry that could learn what real customer service is from Trooper Lu's. The Speedmaster was well looked after. Top stuff guys. Thank you.

I had the AI removed from my bike last week when it had its 20k service. The air injector nozzles into the head have a thread that is not that common. The shop did not have any bolts to fit but found spark plugs work.





I am in the process of buying a plug kit but have thought of running spark plug caps and leads to no where and see who I fool.

I believe they are a pipe/hydraulic type thread. Take a sparkplug to the hardware store and see if you can match up a pipe plug to fit.

I read somewhere about car engine sump plugs fitting from a Nissan or something similar?

I have ordered a set of stainless bolts that are made for this application. In black.

I put subaru sump plug bolts in the bonnie, from the old push rod engines

hahaha now you all tell me this after I order a set made for our engines.

Actually after a bit of a re-think they're not sump plug bolts but blanking plugs from either the heads or intake manifold. They were in a box of bits from my old Trike engines and just assumed they were sump plug bolts but inspection shows them to be too small for that. Definitely Subaru though. Sorry for any confusion.

My spine has been being turned into sausage meat. Its the fault of the roads. I have good rear suspenders. Yet when I use the Maverick Customs solo seat I feel every single pump. Don't get this seat wrong. It is great for cruising around on normal roads.

So I bought a new not used second hand Trumpy solo seat today. Nearly half price of a new one. Score. My spine bonces on this now when I ride the goat tracks of New South Wales.

Back to front. Gone back to the stainless fork shrouds. Mainly cause I had to drop the front end to put the throttle cables back to the original way they routed. Also put the original levers back on. The short ones I had fitted did not fit the width of my hands.

The standard shrouds look better I think.

i kinda of agree with you Cloudy. I still would like an all black front end. Plastidip may get thrown at the front end.

I had previously raised the fork legs in the triple clamps. This had made the steering quicker. I have returned the forks to their orginal height. The first thing I noticed was the ride was smoother. Less vibration through the bars. Smoother ride all round.

Also not much difference with the quickness in the steering. Must have all been in my mind?