Ducati Monster Forum

Since I've always wanted to make a set of bars, and off the shelf ones won't fit my setup, I've ordered material.

7/8" .120 wall (either that or .053...too thin) was bought for the outers, and 1.125 .083 I found for the inner section.  Plan is to make a bar similar to the suburban machinery one, but route it a bit further and then back, to clear the forks that are longer/protruding above the triple.  If all goes to plan, it ought to be more comfortable.  Eventually I'd like to hide some pushbutton switches or switchlets (come on Mark!) on there and run the wires inside the bars.

The oberion bar end signal wires will be routed inside the bar, down through the bar clamps, and out under the triple.  I've yet to decide if I want to keep the stock bar clamps, or make up some stands out of tube as well.  Might look to chopperish?

Material is here, pics to follow!

Sounds like a good plan. I wouldn't really worry about the risers looking chopperish if they were short enough. Could stock risers be drilled out to accommodate wiring?

How far do the forks protrude above the triple?  I was going to go the custom bars route to clear the 900SS forks I installed, but after doing some dowel rod mock-ups of a couple of bar designs, it became clear that they would indeed look chopperish if they cleared the fork tubes with enough room to adjust the forks.  Went with clip-ons above the triple and am very happy with the setup.

I can drill the stock risers and use those....and may end up doing just that :)

The forks arn't up enough to fit triples above, and the upper triple is too beefy to fit a triple with a rise.  And driving around in a SBK position is out for my daily bike (thats why they make SBK's).

The suburban bar just doesn't go forward at a sharp enough angle to clear.  I have 2 choices...but higher risers and a suburban bar, or make something that will work with what I've got.


Oh....and the place I ordered the tube from sent me 1 and 1/4", which isn't going to work.  So this is postponed until I get the correct material.  Anyone have any 1.125 in .083 wall or thicker?

Got back from my biz trip, wife took kids and left for the weekend for reunion etc...= fun time for me :)

It's a start:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0440.jpg)

Stock bars, dirty table
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0441.jpg)

Nothin' fancy, just a saw
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0442.jpg)

Use this to stick it together
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0443.jpg)

Precision angle finder:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0444.jpg)

Pretty close
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0445.jpg)

Halfway check
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0446.jpg)

Another:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0447.jpg)

Now you see why I needed to make them:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0448.jpg)

I call it "el toro"
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0449.jpg)

The bull
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0450.jpg)

Horns
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0451.jpg)


Mockups:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0453.jpg)


Going to get the hole saw tomorrow.  I'll saw through the end/cope it, and tack the bars in.  Hopefully this wasn't all for a waste.  Then (obviously) finish welding them, and send them away for powdercoat (black?) along with a few other things.  About 2 hours work to this point, should have them done in under 4.  I need to make the 7/8" part longer to accomidate the bar end mirrors that I have.  Currently (with the oberion signals) the bars are the same width as the stockers :)

As usual, great job Theo!   [bow_down]

They'll end up looking like the Suburban Machinery bars (which I like). 

 [beer]

Looks like the left bar needs to be angled slightly more to the left.

No, I think the headlight is off center to the left a hair

i think he's looking at the bars as compared to the forks. it does look off, but it could be the angle of the photo as well.

It's all made by hand, so it might be a smidge off here and there.   [thumbsup]  The angle doesn't look right in the photo, but the angle is the same on either side....I think it's the length (which doesn't matter) on the bar at the moment....gets trimmed when I fishmouth the ends.

badass!  i like what you have going here.  like someone else said they will be similar to suburbans, but better coz they will be DIY! 

The pic is pretty much bang on centered over and square with the triple, and I get it being about 1.4 degrees out. Don't know if you care about 1.4 degrees (sorry, I'm a surveyor!).

very, very cool. I love creative ideas like this.

Went and bought the correct size hole saw....got home and realized I didn't have the correct adaptor thing to use it with.  It's hot, I'm unmotivated, so I didn't go back out.

I'll get it on the way home from work tomorrow, and hopefully I can light a fire under my ass so I can finish this fab work and go ride the thing.....

Theo,

I was thinking about what you said about having the ability to install buttons or switches. A while back I sent out some emails to those who make the dog bone handlebar clamp. I'm thinking that if you weld on a piece of stock to the center of the dog bone, it could hold more than enough micro switches. I think I will try this and see what it looks like. Pardon my photoshop :)

(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs617.snc3/32481_1143672729780_1766358834_257523_7955457_n.jpg)

I like! [thumbsup]

Great place to mount up a Juice box or similar power programmer setup...



Also liking the DIY bars...keep us updated!

This took a while to finish, mainly because of a biz trip, and 4 days off that I spent with the fam instead of inside the garage.

Anyway.... pics tomorrow....I'm tired  [laugh]

It's tomorrow.   [popcorn]

I need to post pics...cept I've got a problem.  I need to somehow heat treat the aluminum bars.  I can use my leverage and 240 lbs to slightly tweek the bars....which is unacceptable.

I've never made a set of bars before, spent a good amount of time on them, and I'm happy with them.....but unless I can figure out how to heat treat them, they need to go in the garbage... :(

I'm bummed, even though at worst it was a good learning exercise.

i dunno. heat the shit out of them and then throw them in a bucket... that should work, right?

http://www.suppliersonline.com/propertypages/6061.asp (http://www.suppliersonline.com/propertypages/6061.asp)

might help... :-\

What I don't understand is which part I need to do.

The "solution" heat treat requires 990 deg (which I'd have to make an oven for), followed by quench (easy)

The precipitate hardening is 18 hours of 320, which is do-able in a home oven.

I'm assuming it ALL needs to be done :(.

I didn't read it that way.

  Aging     The aging precipitation heat treatment is done at 350 F for 8 hours followed by air cooling. This produces the T6 temper.

I'd try the precipitate hardening, and see if that helps.

Otherwise, I'd be looking for some stainless tube, and I'd use the ones you've made as a pattern.

I'm such a monkey [bang] [bang]

I'm leaving that one alone... :-* [laugh]

Here are the pics.

The bars are currently in my oven, baking at 400 deg for an hour.  Going to let them cool off, and check how they feel in the AM.

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0459.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0458.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0457.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0456.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/DUcati%20S4Rt/Handlebar%20fab/DSC_0455.jpg)

Very cool! Now the tall man can ride with comfort!

They ended up the same width as the stockers, about an inch forward, and an inch lower.  Feels pretty good sitting on the bike....as long as they don't bend like pretzels while riding in anger.

Thanks Bill!

It would take a lot of anger to bend those! Your welds and the bar diameter increases as you move to the mounting points. I see no weak link. Were you going to weld a curved cap on the inboard portion of the clip on to clean up the nub? Those will look sweet after PC!

I think they'd look great capped, as Bill suggests, and polished/clear anodize.

6061 = fail, at least at my home-brew heat treat in the oven.  If I REALLY lean down on the left hand side bar, I can compress the suspension all the way down, and then I can feel the bar begin to want to bend.  I have a sneaking suspicion that "that ain't good"

I'm going to order some 4130 to build a new set, same design.  

.065" on the 7/8's and .059" on the 1.125" stuff.....ought that be good enough to work?

Given that the bicycle frames I made are a similar alloy to 4130 (Columbus Zona), and are 0.02" wall, I think 0.06" wall will be plenty good.

Got any 7005 al tube stashed somewhere :)

Thanks for the tip btw, didn't know it was that thin on a cycle  [thumbsup]

thread jack... those masters look sick theo, good choice [thumbsup]