Got me extended cables sorted.. a lot cheaper than i thought.

Sorted me cables out now, thanx for all the suggestions of where to go to
get some.


Fitted some even taller bars than i intended, after buying some off ebay
sold supposedly with an 8 inch rise... they are half an inch lower than the
6 inch rise bars i bought from a shop last year!!

As i was slightly disalousioned with ebay, i went to custom cycles in
Lincoln to get some bars, so i could see and measure them properly, and
while i was there i spotted they do the bits to make controll cables up...
quite cheap too.

4 foot of throttle cable inner and outer, 5 foot of clutch cable inner and
outer, 4 brass ends, 4 end bells for the outer cables, and an adjuster (that
i never used) total cost around £14.

5 minutes taking the old cables appart to get the fittings off (like the
throttle cable's 90 degree bend and adjuster, and the clutch cables
adjuster)

Then soldered the ends to the cables.. a much easier job than i thought
(used a camping stove for heat, and plumbers solder and flux)

Sorted, cables the length i wanted them to be, able to be routed the way i
wanted them, and a hell of a lot less than pre-made extended cables would
have cost me.

Got a stainless brake line made up 7 inches longer than stock for £18 as
well... got that from blandies motorcycles in sleaford.. custom cycles did
all the bits, but wanted £8 a meter of hose (blandie's £6 a meter) and £9
per stainless banjo, (blandie asked £4.50 a banjo)
And he made the thing up for me there and then, rather than me having to do
it.

Now thinking of getting some 4 inch over length fork tubes for it now, so
it'll be a speedo cable i need extending next ... anyone got some 4 inch
over tubes that'll fit a virago?

Looking for things to keep me occupied for the next month or so, as i now
have plenty of time to faff about with the bike, because the motorhome's in
for repairs,
crashed the fucker last weekend, heading for a 1000 mile tour round
scotland, and managed to get 3 miles from home, got distracted by some twat
doing a U turn to avoid being stuck in the queues due to the other accident
on the southbound caridgeway of the A1, (he had his daughter standing on the
front seats hanging out the sunroof waving to all the cars doing 70 that he
was about to pull out on)

Looked back to the road and all the cars in front had stopped.. had about 40
yards to stop in... not a chance with a 3 ton van,

Bike was on tow of course, and got layed over after snapping part of the
towing caddy i use when i swerved hard to try and avoid crushing the car,
caught the fecker with a glancing blow, punted it about 10 feet down the
road.. luckily to the side and it missed most of the cars in front,

Amazingly the bike had minor damage... fucked the left hand saddle bag i
bought off petel a few weeks ago tho
but that saved the rest of the bike... not a single scratch on the painwork,
not a broken light, the saddle bag folded round the indicators, and stopped
them being broken,

Scraped half an inch off a footpeg.. but due to them being of the non
folding variety, they kept the tank off the tarmac, bent the handlebars, and
i lost a live to ride cap off the hand grip end <gutted>

But i was able to ride the bike home.

i guess if i changed the poped front tyre i could have driven the van home,
took out the n/s wing, bumper, bonet etc, but missed the chassis, and the
radiator and intercooler,
burst the brake master cylinder tho... never hit the pedal so hard in my
life, think i turned the seals inside out.

Fixed the bike, just need to fix the bike caddy, or i'll use the trailer
when i get the van back.. tho i am trying to sell me bike trailer, wanted
the money to spend round scotland.. suppose i need it to pay the insurance
excess now.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, CampinGazz

Thereby fucking up the heat treatment on the cable inners. Do let us
know how long they last, eh?

So the bloke doing the U-turn (who apparently didn't have a crash) is a
twat.

What does that make the bloke who was so busy rubber-necking that he
drove into the back of stationary traffic?

Just out of interest, like.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

How else do i solder brass barrels onto cables then?

used a camping stove because it was more stable than balancing a pencil
torch burner on the workbench, held the brass barel and a mm of cable over
the flame untill hot enough to melt the flux and take the solder, applied
solder, and wiped the excess off with a wet rag... just like the
instructions said.

Ok i could have used a solder pot, but i don't have one, and that'd have
heated the cables up just as much.

Even if i have to replace them 5 times, they'll still have cost me less than
ready made extended cables would have.

 

You _did_ flare the ends of the cable strand in the ferrule _before_
soldering, didn't you?

(if I had a pound note for everyone who didn't, and then lost brake /
clutch / throttle at an inopportune moment when their piss poor
soldering job gave up the ghost)

see http://www.dansmc.com/solder_cable.pdf for a how to

 

No pound note from me then
mushed up/flared the strands of the cables before soldering them... that's
something i knew about doing before i ever thought of making me own cables,

I don't consider my self bad at soldering, tho more used to the electronic's
variety, using seperate flux and a solid core solder was new to me, but the
cables have lasted 2 days so far