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Bar End Weights - Ren Style
Blog Date - 24 November 2015
I've been considering the attachment of some hand guards on the CBF 125 for a while. Now winter is rapidly approaching my motivation has reached the level of actually getting off my ass for once.
The problem is most off the shelf hand guards are fitted to the handlebars "inboard" from the levers and switchgear. The CBF has bars with quite some rise on them and is configured such that there's very little horizontal bar to attach hand guards.Also due to the fairing the bars at full lock run very close to the screen. It seems the cheap and cheerful motocross bolt on hand guards would be a non starter.
There's little room on the 125 to bolt on the common style hand guards.
Then I saw ones that attach to the end of the handlebars. Ooooh! They look like a much more likely candidate. With this in mind I recalled that the bar ends on a Honda do not simply unscrew. After watching a YouTube video that showed me how to remove them I soon had the grips off and was doing battle with pliers, screwdrivers and grips. The old bar end weights came out. That was the end of phase 1
This kind of hand guard seems to be a much more likely candidate.
Later that day I rode the bike. Bar end weights - PFFFT! What a silly idea, who needs them? It seems even on a 125 with the same power output as a snake's fart needs them. The bars, while not as vibey as a Royal Enfield at full chat, were unpleasantly tingly. I knew that on a long run this would lead to white finger and general discomfort. Oh dear, what have I done.
I could of course re-fit the weights. Except that I'd messed them up ripping them out, subtlety was never my strong point. I could of course go and buy some new ones. Except that I am far too tight. I was also looking for something that would allow me to fit my own DIY hand guards - again because I am too tight to buy some. So I needed bar end weights that will also provide me with a method of bodging some kind of self concocted and equally naff protection system. Hmmmmm.
I recall bicycle handlebar stems back in the good old days used to have an "expander bolt" that would, as you tightened the bolt, cause the big angled wedge at the bottom to grip the inside of the fork stem. I needed a smaller version of this. After hacking away at the now defunct bar end weights my engineering skills proved useless once more and all I was left with was a collection of angled bits of round metal. Useless, worse than blooming useless.
Then I had a flash of inspiration. I hopped on to the shimmering handlebarred 125 and took myself down to B&Q (other DIY retail outlets are available) and I made a purchase...
Oh yes...yes...YES!
Yes indeed folks, for the princely sum of about £5.50 I am now the owner of not just 2 but 4 most excellent bar end weights! You and many others will see these advertised as "Anchor Bolts" and you'd expect them to be used to secure aerial brackets to walls and work benches to concrete floors but you are wrong, you are so wrong. These are bar end weights with the added advantage of a 10mm threaded bolt that will allow a 2 tonne weight to be secured to your handlebars if the need arose.
I rushed home and with the aid of a 17mm spanner they were fitted in no time at all. A ride to work the next day revealed their success as normal and manageable vibration levels returned. I figured if I needed more weight I could add some extra nuts or other suitable lumps of metal but none were needed. Success! Result! I am a genius, a bodging god and a man of many talents, none of which I will ever get paid for. This marks the end of phase 2.
Phase 3 now involves creating some kind of fitment to mount my DIY hand guards on to. This, as you can see below, is well in hand and you can also see the B&Q bar end weights in situ. I now expect you all to worship my genius in the comments section below...
Genius I tell ya...you could hang the bike from these.
Reader's Comments
Ian Soady said :-
Been using rawlbolts for years for bar-end mirrors.
If you look closely you may see one.....
23/12/2015 15:47:34 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
DAMN YOU IAN!! And here's me thinking I'm all clever and wise and ingenious. Oh I wish you'd told me before.
Thanks fer that. Pffft
23/12/2015 21:27:52 UTC
Ian Soady said :-
You are of course all those things. Unfortunately my mind reading skills are limited and you're too far away from me to detect that you were looking for a solution to that problem.......
Anything else you're stuck on - always ready to help.............
24/12/2015 10:33:03 UTC
NC John (was john de ville) said :-
Just wait until he shows you the handgaurds for his 250
24/12/2015 10:50:11 UTC
Henrik said :-
I see the point with handguards for endure, and got some acerbic on my KLE500
However the don't protect much frm the wind, if any,..
Therefor for strictly on-road winter-touring they only interest my as a way to build a frame for something like these oxford Handle Bar Mitts Muffs,.
Insteadt of hanging down casual, and be almost impossible to stick the gloves
into,. they should be framed, stiff in deault shape, ready to put the gloves in without struggle, and without pushing them to much forward when entering
Last something elastic to tighten the opening around the gloves so it performs a closed "champer" when your hands are on the handles
Then it would make sense to heat this "chamber" up electrical, unlike the heated grips were your fingers are covered with ice on the outside while getting toasted on the inside
I saw fancy heated gloves in the latest "Touring News" magazine, but its at least 200£ for a good pair
24/12/2015 23:20:06 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Ian. My next issue is that of Exchange Web Services. I can connect to the server and download the default calendar using the EWS managed DLL in asp.net. I'm struggling to access a calendar further down the folder tree...
25/12/2015 22:07:02 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Henrik. I'm going to have to disagree with you a a little. While the hand guards are not a guarantee of cosy warmth I am finding them of some benefit. During the extremely wet weather we have been enduring I have found they keep the worst of the rain from my gloves. It hasn't been cold enough to test the warmth yet.
I agree however the heated gloves create warm palms and chilly fingers.
Ideally a spacious, warm and sealed cavern for our hands would be ideal. I daresay most folks would call this a "car" though.
Is it getting cold in Denmark yet?
25/12/2015 22:14:35 UTC
Henrik said :-
Not real cold yet, driving around 2 x 1 hour last week, around zero Celsius, using normal roleff security gloves and then a rain-proff glove like on the
pic attached, that accurately keept me warm enough,..
Heated grips is not a rosegarden in my experience, like said, to warm inside the hand, and in the same time freezing cold on the outside, been experimenting with oxford Velcro-on type latest, but also normal types,..
Ideal to me would be a little "cavern" as you call it, something relatively slim like oxfords on the link, but insulated, and modified to perfection also for rain-proffing, and shape, etc
Then a small heater for the cave, and a old fashioned heat-grip on reduced level, so the heat would come from both inside and outside the handle 50/50
To find a comfortable balance I am sure that both inside and outside heaters
should be 100 pct variable and sufficient,...
I will only going on with this in case winter-driving becomes something permanent, I extended my ensurance this year, due to the mild weather, and being busy preparing and testing the bike before next sesson, but don't know if it will be permenant, guess an accident will likely take place on unexpected ice, so one should perhaps just drop it, don't know,..
Yes its very mild winter in DK, and I hope to be able to work on with the
bike and the to high consumption before summer, next up new plugs, but I want to test compression at the same time, got a compression-tester from ebay now, and plugs, but to much work, and bad weather with rain, (work must be done outside)
The handguards that I am using is slim line acerbic, I am aware that larger ones are available that covers better, and possible blow the rain over the hands when up in speed, cant comment
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Oxford-Bone-Dry-Rain-Seal-Waterproof-Thermal-Motorcycle-Handl...
25/12/2015 23:13:38 UTC
Ian Soady said :-
"My next issue is that of Exchange Web Services. I can connect to the server and download the default calendar using the EWS managed DLL in asp.net. I'm struggling to access a calendar further down the folder tree..."
No idea mate, I leave that sort of thing up to the apprentices when they're not making tea.
If you were doing proper stuff with RDBMSs and wanted to know about optimising index structures I might be able to help - or even better OO modelling using UML.......
Although TBH that's all too much of a faff these days and I prefer to lurk in the garage creating huge piles of swarf with the lathe.
26/12/2015 12:54:32 UTC
Ian Soady said :-
re rain gloves - I got a pair of these http://www.andystrapz.com/products-details.php?productId=49&productCategoryId=23&Level=1 which work very well although are a bit fiddly to get on & off. I prefer them to the mitts as they come with either a separated index finger or a bit like a Vulcan salute with 2 pairs of fingers.
26/12/2015 12:58:56 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Ian - I normally work on Databases but I turn my hand to many things. I'm with you though, I'd rather be in a shed making swarf.
Henrik and Ian. I think the overgloves are a great idea and I'm on the lookout for some. I have been looking out for motorcycle mitts - ie ALL the fingers together. This way each pinkie keeps the other warm and there's less surface area for heat to escape. Remarkably they are very hard to find these days. The best option I can see are in fact snowmobile gloves but I wonder how much protection they offer against road rash.
26/12/2015 19:18:35 UTC
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