Internal Handle Bar Wiring Who's Done It?

Jimbos883 · #1 20th July 2008

Ok guy's I'm ready to take the plunge. Saw a bunch of bikes at a local bike show without all those ugly wires hanging off their bars.

I want internal handle bar wiring.......BAD. Who's got it? Who's done it? How hard is it to do?

Did you splice the wires or remove the pins from the connectors? Did you drill your bars yourself?

Tell us all the little things that I we to know. I really want to do this the right way myself, and not to or three times.

Vegas1200C · #2 20th July 2008

Not difficult but it can be time consuming. I spliced wires just off the plug but staggered so they wouldn't be a big wad of shrink wrap and solder. The best way would be to rewire the entire thing and crimp on new ends but I don't know where you would get the ends and that project would take even longer.

I drilled mine with a stepped bit then filed the hole smooth. One trick is to tape off the rest of the holes and feed a string through first with a blow dryer. Then pull the wires through with the string.

scott494 · #3 20th July 2008

ugh , you make me want to do mine! i was ina hurry and just ran mine outside, i keep telling ymself im gonna wait and do it when it gets cold, but being that i can ride almost year round who knows when that will be....not to mention its slow and time consuming and takes patience, which i do not have any at ALL lol

Deimus · #4 20th July 2008

Here's the thread I created from back when I changed my bars and ran the wires internally.

http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/s...ad.php?t=20820

Jimbos883 · #5 22nd July 2008

Deimus thanks for the link cleared up most if not all of my questions. I'm thinking that I'll attempt this over my winter break, doesn't seen that hard.

darth · #6 22nd July 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vegas1200C

Not difficult but it can be time consuming. I spliced wires just off the plug but staggered so they wouldn't be a big wad of shrink wrap and solder. The best way would be to rewire the entire thing and crimp on new ends but I don't know where you would get the ends and that project would take even longer.

I drilled mine with a stepped bit then filed the hole smooth. One trick is to tape off the rest of the holes and feed a string through first with a blow dryer. Then pull the wires through with the string.

Vegas has it right... make sure to stagger the connections so they all fit inside the bars. In most cases you will need to add length to the wires anyways, so splicing makes sense. It does clean up the look! My only problem is I'm considering changing bars again, so I will have to rip them all apart and start over again...

Jimbos883 · #7 22nd July 2008

All of you guys seemed to have taken the splicing of the wires route.

Has anyone out there taken the connector plugs apart and reassembled them after running the wires?

Vegas1200C · #8 22nd July 2008

I'm in the same boat darth. I want pull back drags now so I'm gonna have to start over.

I think most people run their wires internally when they do a bar swap and a lot of times they are going with taller bars. I'm not sure if there is enough wire to run internal with stock bars or not. You can't cheat corners inside the bars like you can outside. It would be easier to pull them at the connector since you will probably be doing it anyway to make soldering easier but I would make sure you don't come up short. Even if they only get tight on corners you risk rubbing away the coating and shorting out.

Deimus · #9 22nd July 2008

For me, it wasn't an "either/or" situation. I took the wires loose from the connectors, cut the sheathing off the wires, then extended the length, installed a new sheathing of heat shrink tubing to protect the wires, fed the wires through the bars, re-installed the wires back into the connectors.

...or, did I miss your point? Of course, in my case the wires were 8 inches too short. If the only thing I needed to do was to insert the wires into the bars without extending them, then you're right that the only thing you need to do is remove the wires from the connectors.

darth · #10 22nd July 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbos883

All of you guys seemed to have taken the splicing of the wires route.

Has anyone out there taken the connector plugs apart and reassembled them after running the wires?

Yep... I measured my splices so they are all inside the bars, which meant I had to take the connectors apart, route the wires thru the bars, then reassemble the plugs again. Oh yeah, you more than likely will have to either remove the tank, or at least remove the front tank bolt to raise the tank in order to reach the connectors.