Bar-end woes

[Mark_h]

I have just taken the controversial decision to fit hand guards to my naked SV to help stop my hands freezing when I go out in the winter. However when I unbolted the bar-ends I found that the previous owner had at some time completely messed up the expansion rubber inside the bars that the bar-ends tighten down onto.

Looks like what ever nut should be on the in-board side of the rubber expansion bit has fallen off.

Anyone got any ideas how to resolve this?

I have tried pulling the rubber bits out, but they seen to be retained by a ridge about an inch inside the bars.

Guess I can go in and drill all the bits out and recover all the bits that are now rattling about, but wanted to know if anyone has any bright ideas how to go about getting new retention bits. Guess it's some kind of a rubber bung with a nut of some kind fitted to one end.

If all else fails I'll have to use some expanding foam or other entirely unsuitable glue based technology to "fix" a nut in the bars so I can tighten down the bar ends again.

Or if anyone has a set of naked bars knocking about with good innards I'll gladly rehouse them.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

[Sid Squid]

The nut isn't fitted to the inner end of the rubber bung, it's just that the whole thing - screw, weight, bung, nut - is assembled first and then pushed into the 'bar. To remove the weight properly unscrew a few turns and then wiggle the whole thing out.
If the bung is still in the bar but the nut is no longer there, find a woodscrew or similar that will screw into the bung neatly, (but not too firmly or you'll expand the bung and make it harder to move), and carefully wiggle it out. The inside of the handlebar isn't ridged.

[Mark_h]

Thanks for that.

I'll give it another go. I did try a big wood screw, but perhaps it was too big and like you said expanded the expansion bung. I'll give it another bash in the morning with a slightly smaller screw. Just need to hope the ridge I thought was there is not some "ingenious" ridge added by the previous owner. I'm a bit concerned as there were 3 nuts being used as spaces between the bar end weight and the expansion thingy so it looks like some creative engineering has occured in the past.

Oh and if anyone is thinking of fitting the DL650 guards to a naked SV, they fit a treat and seem to keep the weather off your hands, but I had to move the clutch perch a few mm to the right as the choke lever was fouling on the guard and future clutch cable adjustments are going to be entertaining unless I can develop two dimensional fingers.

Even with the outside edges flopping about, they still stayed put.

On a slightly different note, what exactly do the bar ends weights do? I would have thought a few ounces of steel would not make a significant difference to the overall weight distribution of the front end, but given most bikes have them I suppose they must do something other than fill in the hole in the end of your bars.

Originally Posted by Mark_h

On a slightly different note, what exactly do the bar ends weights do? I would have thought a few ounces of steel would not make a significant difference to the overall weight distribution of the front end, but given most bikes have them I suppose they must do something other than fill in the hole in the end of your bars.

Different weights can tune out vibes to your hands and it's a bit of crash protection (about the only nod towards crash protection your likely to get from the factories).

Originally Posted by Mark_h

Thanks for that.

....future clutch cable adjustments are going to be entertaining unless I can develop two dimensional fingers.

Hope you've got three dimensional fingers otherwise riding any bike is going to be tricky...

[Mark_h]

Thanks Sid.

Some extensive wiggling eventually did the job. At some point holes had been drilled in the bars where the grips fit and these burs stopped the bungs coming out.

Eventually came up with an ingenious (even if I do say so myself) method of getting them out. Push the square locking end of a cable tie through the hole in the bung, then wedge a pair of pointed pliers into the hole. You can then pull the bung out by pulling on the cable tie without having to fight the expansion that a wood screw causes.

Then used a thin drain rod to push the nits out that had by then made their way into the dip in the centre of the bars.

All done and dusted now. Thanks again Sid.

Cheers,
Mark