Clubmans and brake levers

[vw]

Tried fitting my narrower bars. They sit alot better but i'd have to fit the brake lever on the inside of the bars like this.


With a little messing with the lines i think i can get everything to clear and not rub, so would this be ok? Would the MOT man aprove?

Means the lever isnt in front of the grip but i can brake with 2/3 fingers easily and can still get all my fingers on the lever if i want. It feels comfortable but there is also nothing stopping the lever sliding off the bars except the clamp bolts.
I think its perfectly OK, but i can sort of see why the MOT might not like it.

Thanks.

[vw]

If not, ill have to weld another inch to the ends of the bars

[wrighty]

Just thinking if you need to grab a fist full of brakes in an emergency. Might not cleanly reach it, slight possibility of slippage.

[vw]

personaly, that doesnt feel like a problem. It looks like it, but in reality it feels just fine.

[TerraRoot]

I always move the master cylinder as far in along the bar as i can, it gives the best leverage which is really important when you have ancient brakes.
one point, make sure the lever come back to the bar grip and is not stopped by the switchgear housing.

[vw]

good point, ill check that. There is no fluid in it at the moment as i had to re-route the brake cables.
Its been fitted here before, you can tell as a little of the weld has been filed to help fittment.

Looking at the instructions for the fairing/bars i think the lever is suposed to go here.

[twoblackcats]

Can't see an issue with it TBH. If your worried then junking/moving the switch gear could be an option. Of course you'd nee a new throttle, one which is just that. Benefits include cleaner lines and less bits to break ;D

[vw]

Lever was hitting the switch quite bad.

I tweeked the holes in the bars and clearanced the welds a bit and its much better now. Still just hits the switch but only with the lever 5mm or so away from the grip.

If the lever can come back that far i'd have serious brake problems! MOT man shouldnt be able to tell if it would catch so all should be fine.

[TerraRoot]

bet your happy you caught that now, rather then finding out at the first emergency brake. if the MOT man ain't happy on the positive side you could end up upgrading to a quicker action throttle which should wake up the whole bike.

[vw]

Yeah, wouldnt have found the split hose if the brake had bled up nice first time. Glad i found that!

Could do with a caliper piston but there not available. There are options for universal ones, or i may see if the engineers in work could turn one up. Should be OK for now though.

[deegee99]

No way in the world would I pass that for MOT purposes, sorry but that is not right at all, just looking at the picture of that bodge sends shivers through me. The lever is not in the right place, its too far up the bars, sorry mate, maybe your MOT tester might let you get away with it but I wouldn't

[vw]

What dont you like about it deegee99?

Its changed a little since the pic.

Its been clearanced so the lever and the switch are closer together, ill take a new pic and show you.

You can get your whole hand on the brake lever easily without having to make sure you do. As it was in the pic you could get your hand on, but had to adjust your hand a bit to do it. It falls naturaly now.

The lever comes back almost to the bar. It wont reach the bar with pressure in the system though.
With no pressure in the system (bleeding for instance) the lever hits the switch gear with maybe 5-6mm gap to spare.
My uncles bog standard VFR750 is the same though.

Or, is it because there is no physical barrier to stop the lever sliding off if the bolts loosened?
There is about 15mm of extra bar extending past the brake lever mount.

As i say, ill take another pic as it has changed a bit.

It feels prefectly fine to me, but even if it does pass, if its unsafe ill change it.

Im new to this though, hence why i started the thread, so an explination of why its unsafe would be very helpful to me

Thanks.

[vw]

I did think about clearancing the lever clamp , this would get the lever alot closer.

Like this...


Not 100% sure i like the idea though. Any thoughts?

These are the origional rickman bars, sold with this fairing, via honda, to fit this bike. I can only assume the brake was ment to go here as there is no other place for it.
The bars have not been cut down.

[vw]

Angle of the pics is a bit odd, fairings in the way.

So, this is how it sits now



With my hand on the grip


And reaching for the brakes


As i say, if i clearance the bracket i could get them a bit closer.

[TerraRoot]

looks about right, how wide is the clamp the holds on the master cylinder? mine is about 21mm you could shorten it to that width.
there is not a lot of pressure put on the centre of the clamp, and if it breaks it will only fracture, the two bolts are the important bits.