Handlebar (backsweep?) angle...

[CA180]

I was wanting to make my own set of bars for my bike. I was going to do a V style drag bar (welded in the center), with about a 1 or 2 inch riser. I was curious as to what the most common, and comfortable, angle was used. Also want to verify that they are 7/8" diameter bars. I havent checked mine, I've just been brainstorming my project. Any help is appreciated. Thanks! I hope to post some new progress on my bike tomorrow or tonight... I've currently got it striped down to nothing but a frame and a motor!


EDIT: These are kinda what I'm going to do

[t3rmin]

They are 7/8".

New bars are like $15, so you might consider just buying something tried-and-true.

I had Euro bars on my 750 which put me fairly far forward (Superbike bars are more forward still). If I had to do it over, I'd go with a Daytona touring bend.

http://store.azmusa.com/knclubhanbla.html

[CA180]

Good point, but I've been bored lately and want to make something "custom" I've got a plan as to what I'm going to do with the bike, but if all else fails (i.e. they dont turn out worth a crap) I'll probably break down and buy a set. $15 is pretty cheap.

[Vegerito]

what i would do, usualy when i make a custom set of handle bars, is where it clamps on, i cut off right where it starts to angle up, from there on you tack on whatever you wanna do, riser, lower, clip-on look, very lightly tack it so you can get the feel right and even, then tack it again so it stays in place, take the handle bars off and weld them up all 3 of my bikes are running custom handle bars

[CA180]

Good advice... I was only hoping to get a little pre-advice before cuting the bars smaller and smaller. Since I will be welding them in the center, I want to make the angle cut right the first, or atleast the second time.

[Vegerito]

keep track of the measurements you take and mock it up with some wood or pvc or something you can mess with and not care about

[CA180]

full of wisdom you are... yoda.... yoda man. lol

Good advice... Do they make 7/8th pvc?

[txironhead]

They make 3/4", which is close enough to get a feel for it and measure angles. You have a tubing notcher, right?

[CA180]

a who? Dont know that I've heard of that

[txironhead]

It's basically a machine that cuts notches in tubing for various degrees of angles. The cheaper ones basically hold the tubing and you clamp your drill with a metal "hole cutter" attachment onto it, set the angle, and cut the tubing, while others are more inclusive and elaborate (and much more expensive). Do a Google for tubing notchers. Very, very handy machines, they make creating bike frames, roll cages and dune buggies much simpler.

If you want to see a really nice machine, put on a bib to catch all of the drool and look up Tube Shark. Extreme 4X4 on SpikeTV uses one for all of their roll cages and tubular jobs. Wonder how much I could sell a kidney for......

[drhach]

What's your plan for attaching them to the triple trees? The bars that you showed are Harley style where you have risers that bolt on to the tree. Suzuki doesen't use those. Just wondering. I've seen some people use dog bones with an extra tube attached at the base. I'm not sure that would work so good with what you're doing though.

[txironhead]

I've seen people grind down the triple tree and drill them for risers. Not sure how structurally sound that would be. Plus you gotta weld threaded slugs inside the bars to mount them, not too hard.

[CA180]

I'm just going to weld another bar to the bottom of the risers to mount them up.

and tx, i wish i had one of those... i usually just use a drill press and a hole saw

[Vegerito]

like this, the grey part is where the handle bars bolt on, the black is the handle bars, and the red is like on off switch or whatever, you get the point, sorry for extremely crappy picture

[txironhead]

Basically, that's the "dogbone" mentioned previously. You want crappy pictures? Take a look at my idea sketchbook. Technical drawings I can do pretty well, but the initial idea looks like a third grader's rendition of Aliens.....

With a drill press and hole saw, you basically created your own notcher. There are attachments you can buy to mount to your base that holds the tubing at the specified angle, creating your own tubing notcher.

At least you have a welder, I'm scraping together the money to buy one and start learning. My goal is to build a universal frame jig and be able to weld up a frame for whatever engine I happen to have handy at the time.