So I started my Chubby bar swap today along with a bunch of other items. On the list is V&H long shot duals, chubby bars, chrome hand controls and master, chrome braided lines and cruise control addition.

I must say, I was amazed at how smooth things are going, I know I just cursed myself. One thing though on the bar swap, I've read how everyone recommends taking the bars off with the clamps still attached. I was able to remove the radio quite easily with a ball allen head wrench. Once that was out of the way, getting at the front bar bolts was very easy. The 2 closest to the tank looked impossible to get, but it's not as bad as it seems. I wrapped my allen head wrench with electrical tape so it would scratch my painted inner fairing and you CAN get at them bolts...the piece of the inner fairing that is in the way has quite a bit of give to it and you don't need much.

So today in about 2 hours I got my stock exhaust off, the bike all undressed and the new Chubby's on. Tomorrow I will begin to wire up my new controls and snake the wires thru the bars.

I don't yet have my cruise control in, it will be here Monday so I can't button up the right side of the controls cause I will need that first. I should be able to do my clutch cable though and get the new exhaust put back on.

I'll update more tomorrow.

 

Please post some pics of the bars when you are done.

 

Sounds like you are on your way. Wish I had the skills to do my own bars. Had them done last week andI love them. Figure the parts alone might have run my $500. I paid $800 total, so about $300 more I could have spent on something else. But it is done, so no need to fret about it now. I am happy. Would love to see pics when you get done. Heard that the internal wiring is the worst part of it, so good luck.

 

Yea, I think the wiring will be a little tricky. I've got heated grips also so there's another wire to route inside making things tighter.

I think the worst part will be the cables. For some reason those scare me the most!

 

Worked on it a bit more last night. It took me as long to get the snap ring out that holds the clutch ramp in place than it did to put my exhaust on. My snap ring pliers kept slipping out. Piece of junk. Time to get a good pair. Only the 2nd time in like 2 yrs I've used them but they made the job tough.

No problems...other than the bike FALLING off my lift! Went to roll it fwd to clean up the oil spill from the trans cover and crash, came falling down. No damage, I caught it, but was half up on the lift and half down. I couldn't get at the release to let the lift down and couldnt pick the *** end up myself..so I pushed the bike to the workbench to get my cell and call my neighbor. If he wasn't there I was f'd.

So, got the clutch cable done, man it came apart a LOT easier! There was no give to the cable cause it was new and I couldn't get the lever on. Had to take the trans cover off again to gain some slack, then put the lever on, then put the cover back on. Verified that it's operational and no binding. Think I'm good to go there.

Word of advice...the clear shield on the braided cables will chafe and tear. Didn't think of this as I was pulling the cable thru the fairing and around the frame. Luckily for me, the tear I put in the shield is inside my fairing. I would have really been pissed if I ruined the cable where you can see it.

V&H big shot dual...NICE pipe. The quality is great! Directions..well, those SUCK. The photocopied instructions are so dark you can't even see what they are referring to. I got one side on and will do the other side tonight.

Added onto the length of my wires. Some say you don't need to but I'd rather be a bit longer than tight. I added 5" to the wires. Did the switch caps too...those little buggers are a pain in the butt man. That's it for now. Tonight I should be able to finsh up the exhaust and get my brake lines done as well as my master. I really wish I could finish up but my cruise control mod isn't here until Monday.