[ST] FW: Electrical Bits, Part 2

["Kevin Dicks" <rawsonboy@xxxxxxxxx>]

I didn't get a lot of response from my posting of Part 1 (and I know it's a
Speed Triple), but what the hell,  I figured I would at least finish the
'story'.

After I had installed my new horn and Blue Sea distribution block, the next
thing I had to install (and hopefully the last for a while) is in-bar
heaters.  I have heated clothing, including gloves,  but I still fancied
having heated bars for those times I get caught out in the cold - I
particularly hate cold hands.  

I had originally bought some 'standard' heated grips but then found this
excellent site, www.canyonchasers.net and they gave me the idea for in-bar
heaters.  I liked the idea of not having to worry about wires routing
correctly etc. especially on the throttle side.  I was hoping I would be
able to hide the wires as they did on the excellent write-up on the Canyon
Chasers site  http://tinyurl.com/p78dd

I bought mine from here  http://tinyurl.com/fyn9z

To begin with I had to remove the handlebars.  The first problem I
encountered was the bar end.  I undid the Allen bolt and nothing happened.
After a bit of toing and froing I was able to get the bar end off.  As soon
as I did I figured out what I had been doing wrong.  The trick is to undo
the bolt until it sits proud of the weight itself and then tap the Allen
bolt - not hard.  This then separates the 2 parts of the bar end and it just
pops off.  

The next thing I had to do was remove the clutch-side grip - the throttle
side just comes of with the slide.  To get the grip off I sprayed WD-40
in-between the grip and bar and worked a small screwdriver round in there to
make more room to spray some WD-40.  The grip soon popped off.

Once I had the handlebar off, I then attempted to dry fit the heaters.
Turns out the internal bar diameter is reduced about 2 or so inches inside
the bar.  The bar heaters wouldn't fit :(  I figured at this stage I had
nothing to lose.  I figured if I removed the tab on the heater which (I
assume) is there to provide a snug fit for bigger bars it might fit.  It
still didn't fit but it was closer.  The heaters had 2 bulges in them - the
heaters themselves seem to be some sort of ceramic core with a brass sleeve.
I thought I could maybe get them to fit if I filed down the bulges in the
brass sleeve.  

Once I did this it did indeed fit - but it was a very snug fit.

This is a before and after picture.

 http://tinyurl.com/eo78d

You can just make out the bulges at each end of the un-treated heater on the
right.

Once I confirmed I could make this work I did the other one.

 http://tinyurl.com/g999n 

Here they both are with attached wires.

 http://tinyurl.com/zg7g9 

At this point I found out that I wouldn't be able to hide the wires as they
had done with the bike on Canyon Chasers.  So, I had to drill the handlebar.
I mounted it in a vice and drilled the holes as per the instructions.  I
started with a small drill bit and worked up to the 3/8".  Not perfect - the
first drill bit was wandering all over the place - I should have used tape
or something :)

 http://tinyurl.com/hkyk8 

I then installed the heaters.  I screwed up here since in the kit are a
couple pieces of fiber glass you are meant to install before you put the
heaters in.  I forgot and since the heaters were a snug fit, once they were
in, it was pretty much impossible to get them out.  I thought this might be
an issue but it hasn't appeared to affect the performance too much.  Getting
the wires through the holes was a little tricky but I managed in the end.
The rubber cable plugs that came with the kit were pretty rubbish so I
fitted some I had lying around.  I then re-fitted the handlebar.

 http://tinyurl.com/hph52 

 http://tinyurl.com/f3wgw 

I then moved onto wiring the heaters.  The kit came with a big-ass switch
which I didn't fancy using so as per the Canyon site I bought the Radio
Shack switch mentioned there.

 http://tinyurl.com/emd2f 

I wired the switch up and fitted heat sink on the connectors.

 http://tinyurl.com/ef3bn

I had figured the only place I could really put the switch was in the
instrument console.  After a lot of messing about I figured this was about
the only place I could install it.

 http://tinyurl.com/klbgu 

I installed the switch.

 http://tinyurl.com/l2uve 

 http://tinyurl.com/jlh9x

 http://tinyurl.com/zaovf

Here is a picture with the warning light cluster installed.

 http://tinyurl.com/hej2e

I routed the cables from the handlebar.

 http://tinyurl.com/je7z8

There wasn't a lot of room underneath the cluster but I made it as neat and
tidy as I could and all the wires are pretty much hidden away.  I routed a
positive and negative wire from my distribution block (and put spiral wrap
on all the wires coming from the rear of the bike to the front - power
cables, V1 cables, audio cables etc.) and re-fitted the instrument cluster.

I fired the baby up and at first nothing seemed to happen (I had tried them
before I put everything back together and they warmed up pretty quickly) and
I was thinking what a PIA it's going to be to pull everything apart - but
they eventually warmed up  - result :)

So far I have only used the heaters a couple times but they seem to work
very well.  I dint have anything to compare them to but on high they
certainly get warm enough to keep the old hands warm - the lack of fiber
glass padding I forgot to put in doesn't seem to have hindered it in any
way.  The switch is pretty much hidden but is still accessible while riding.

Cheers...
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