I noticed that there haven't been many posts in the motorcycle section lately so I thought I would take care of that.
Having been an avid motorcyclist for many years now, I find that being able to do your own metal fabrication is a valuable asset. I recently opted for a smaller machine than my former Harley-Davidon Ultra-Classic. I replaced it with a 2011 Dyna Street Bob (FXDB) which is more of a minimilist motorcycle.
The only features that it didn't have that I missed were the cruise control and floorboards. I decided to do something about that by adding floorboards and a throttle lock. Strictly speaking a throttle lock is not a cruise control. As we all know a cruise control will keep the speed of the machine constant under varying conditons. A throttle lock sets the throttle in one chosen position and won't compensate for hills and so forth.
I noticed that the only time I used the real cruise control on my former bike was on long, flat sections where holding the throttle open against the return spring would otherwise make your hand ache after a while. So, a throttle lock seemed to be the logical choice for those times.
Throttle locks are available commercially but they are expensive and nowadays are made of plastic, something I don't care for. That being the case, I turned a round brass ring to form the brake drum for the throttle grip. The throttle rubber is 1.5" in diameter and the ring is about .002 undersize so that it makes a nice "acetone fit". (acetone lubricates the rubber while the ring slips on and then evaporates).
The rest of the unit is patterned after other ones I've owned. The remainder of the unit is made of stainless steel, variety unknown since it came from my scrap bin. I decided to use the rear view mirror rod to anchor the unit. There are two 10-32 button head screws holding the clamp to the shaft of the mirror.
The brake portion is made from stainless steel strips heated and bent around a mandrel. There are springs holding the unit open. When the lever on top is pulled back with the thumb, the unit locks due to a cam shape on the thumb control. It's easily opened again by lifting the lever. I've used it for about 200 miles now and it works perfectly and has eased my hand tremendously. Pictures hereinbelow.
The other issue was the lack of floorboards on the Street Bob. It came with footpegs that were too high and too far back for my trick left leg. I added forward controls but that only moved the footpegs forward. Did I say I don't like footpegs?
I left the rear peg mounts in place and mounted the floorboard mounts across the forward and rear peg mounts on each side with 1/4" steel straps. The floorboards are early Harley retro copies by V-Twin Mfg. Co. They are the exact same size and shape as the early Harley 45" V-Twins.
The boards are designed to fold vertically in the event that the machine should fall over (that hasn't happened yet, LOL) and are in the exact position I like after four tries.
The board mounts are made from mild steel and were TIG welded together. They will be powdercoated black in the near future. I also intend to show you all my large powercoat oven that I built over the past few years. (6' long, 3' high and 2' wide inside).
Thanks for looking.
Throttle lock.
Floorboards.
Having been an avid motorcyclist for many years now, I find that being able to do your own metal fabrication is a valuable asset. I recently opted for a smaller machine than my former Harley-Davidon Ultra-Classic. I replaced it with a 2011 Dyna Street Bob (FXDB) which is more of a minimilist motorcycle.
The only features that it didn't have that I missed were the cruise control and floorboards. I decided to do something about that by adding floorboards and a throttle lock. Strictly speaking a throttle lock is not a cruise control. As we all know a cruise control will keep the speed of the machine constant under varying conditons. A throttle lock sets the throttle in one chosen position and won't compensate for hills and so forth.
I noticed that the only time I used the real cruise control on my former bike was on long, flat sections where holding the throttle open against the return spring would otherwise make your hand ache after a while. So, a throttle lock seemed to be the logical choice for those times.
Throttle locks are available commercially but they are expensive and nowadays are made of plastic, something I don't care for. That being the case, I turned a round brass ring to form the brake drum for the throttle grip. The throttle rubber is 1.5" in diameter and the ring is about .002 undersize so that it makes a nice "acetone fit". (acetone lubricates the rubber while the ring slips on and then evaporates).
The rest of the unit is patterned after other ones I've owned. The remainder of the unit is made of stainless steel, variety unknown since it came from my scrap bin. I decided to use the rear view mirror rod to anchor the unit. There are two 10-32 button head screws holding the clamp to the shaft of the mirror.
The brake portion is made from stainless steel strips heated and bent around a mandrel. There are springs holding the unit open. When the lever on top is pulled back with the thumb, the unit locks due to a cam shape on the thumb control. It's easily opened again by lifting the lever. I've used it for about 200 miles now and it works perfectly and has eased my hand tremendously. Pictures hereinbelow.
The other issue was the lack of floorboards on the Street Bob. It came with footpegs that were too high and too far back for my trick left leg. I added forward controls but that only moved the footpegs forward. Did I say I don't like footpegs?
I left the rear peg mounts in place and mounted the floorboard mounts across the forward and rear peg mounts on each side with 1/4" steel straps. The floorboards are early Harley retro copies by V-Twin Mfg. Co. They are the exact same size and shape as the early Harley 45" V-Twins.
The boards are designed to fold vertically in the event that the machine should fall over (that hasn't happened yet, LOL) and are in the exact position I like after four tries.
The board mounts are made from mild steel and were TIG welded together. They will be powdercoated black in the near future. I also intend to show you all my large powercoat oven that I built over the past few years. (6' long, 3' high and 2' wide inside).
Thanks for looking.
Throttle lock.
Floorboards.
