It's too cold here in Indiana to ride comfortably. So, yesterday spent the day in the shop with the plan to spend a few hours installing new Chubby 518's on RK. I have read the posts on the forum, researched Chubby site, corresponded with them, talked to the local dealership, I was confident.

First I do want to note I am a decent wrench. I have the service manual. Determined to proceed without a beer, cigar only.

Well I got things apart okay. Admittedly I struggled at first with the throttle cable and idle cable brass swedges. Dropped one of them, looked all over the floor for 20 minutes to no avail. Got out the quartz light to really highlight things. Crawled on the floor sweeping my palm back and forth, still no brass. A little bit of panic at this time, wondering if dealer has this little piece of crap in the bin. Cigar break to calm the nerves.

Tried to be wise guy and not remove the headlight nacelle for the install. That didn't work, not enough room for by big hands. So off came the passing lamps and nacelle. Those little nuts up under the nacelle are a PITA. Realize cigar went out long ago and will not relight because I have been chewing the end and it is spit soaked.

New cigar. Time to install the wires inside the handlebars. When you get here the service manual does no good. Control end is sealed unit. Nacelle end plug too big. Brainfart. Quick ride to dealer for wire harness extension. $69 for a two inch extension. Same problem with the extension, plugs are huge and this particular part doesn't even extend into handlebars. I was expecting new wires from controls to plug, wrong, just a double ended pigtail. Well I asked the ol' boy behind the counter how am I supposed to get the wires thru the bars? That apparently was the most amusing thing they had heard that early in the day. They showed me how to disasemble the plug. Well, at this point I really did not want the $69 extention but was too embarassed to tell them that with the info they just provided it would not be needed. Funny thing is, after I left the place the sting of $69 for a product I did not need was worth more than my pride. Back to the install..

Back in the barn, wires thru the bars no problem. Should have asked questions first instead of acting like I knew it all.Mounted the bars (I was smart enough to use one piece top clamp) and was starting to feel pretty superior again. I will admit here that I mounted the control clamps before I reinstalled the master cylinder clamp and clutch clamp. About this time it really dawned on me, one beer really couldn't hurt. After all, I was still working faster than I was thinking. No longer using the service manual, just working backwards from previous process.

Relight cigar, drink beer, pet dog. Corrected the control clamps orientation with brake & clutch. One more beer since I have smoke in my eyes and can't see until they stop watering anyway. About the time I finish beer 2 I realize I still don't have that brass swedge I lost earlier. I've had about enough, feeling like a dumba$$. Only way to shake that, sit on bike, feel new bars, awesome. Well only so much loafing,prepare for trip to dealer for brass. Good thing I have a cigar. Look up and the dog is chewing on my cigar, damn! Reach down to ****** it away and beneath his paw is my missing brass, Good Dog, let him keep cigar.

The remainder of the assembly wentas well as could be expected once throttle and idle cables were finished. Re-assembly of nacelle and all that crap was just tedious, I wanted it done.

Summary: Six hours (did I say I was a decent wrench?), good day with the dog

 

Great story, I hada simmilar incident yesterday, minus the dog, the beer, and the cigar. Mine did involve Jack Daniels after it was all over.

 

Sounds like you had fun. A day in the garage with your dog...smokes...and beer is always a good day.

Funny, but those little black wires running along the outside of the handle bars don't bother me at all.

 

You know they never bother me either. The whole reason I change the bars was for comfort. The cool look was a bonus. I figured since the bars are made for internal wiring I might as well try it. I'm glad I did.

It was a good day. I may have to get out for a short ride this afternoon to try them out. Only upper 40 degrees expected but a quick ride wouldn't be bad.