nervous
Well-known member
I know there are many of these installation experiences already chronicled but I found in my searching that there are bits spread throughout and still some pics I would have liked to see and questions that I couldn't easily find answers to. And, sometimes another perspective or method can be (hopefully)useful. I often like pictures to help tell the story so I have taken a few along the way to help someone in the future.
While these are generally three individual projects I considered them as one large, interdependent challenge to be tackled at the same time. I ultimately wanted to accomplish five things (BMW Sport Grips, Vista Cruise, V-Strom hand guards, heavier bar ends and a Powerlet Outlet) and they would all fall perfectly into place once I removed the OEM heated grip system. So I did the research, ordered up everything I thought I would need and dug in. Getting the heated grips and associated wiring and hardware was bit more involved than initially expected. In this case there were lots of small zip-ties securing the snaking wires and the two individual grip connections were pretty buried in a pretty tight space and already I was rethinking my decision. That was compounded in getting a very stubborn, glued on clutch side grip. That took a lot of patience and a couple different approaches to finally get off and at one point was frustrated enough to consider simply cutting it off and sending it to the trash bin. But I eventually had a breakthrough and all the bits were removed. Not sure what to proceed with next I spent some time dry fitting things to see if I was clear in how it all needed to go. There was much to consider, not the least in what needed to be moved or have new locating holes drilled in the bars. I did find on the throttle side that there was a new spot drilled for the heated grip throttle housing where the switch housing was moved left. That made coming back to the stock location easy. I had read that the shorter BMW grips played well with the standard length throttle tube when a Vista Cruise was installed and found that to very much be the case. I ended my night by using my tried-and-true hairspray method of securing the new grips to the bar on the clutch side and to the throttle tube. By the following morning they should be rock solid.
The next morning I had the full day to commit but didn't everything to actually take that long. I check the grips and.... not so secure after all. So much for tried-and-true. I didn't want this minor setback hold up the rest of the project so I removed them cleaned them and mulled my options. Alcohol was next. Within a couple hours that was not going to work either. In the end it was the simplest method of all that I had read continually: compressed. The secret for me was having the correct nozzle. Once I had that technique I couldn't believe hoe easy and effective it was. As long as all surfaces were clean and dry it was perfect. This method actually paid a dividend later on with the Vista Cruise adjustment. So with a plan of attack and in no particular order here's how it all went.
Powerlet PKT-076 left front panel kit:
Not much to say here. Drill the correct sized hole in the removable panel, one end to the positive terminal and the other to a chassis ground. Not 100% sure where the fuse holder was intended to be mounted because for a model specific kit the install instructions were a bit less specific that I liked. I just ended up stuffing it into the wiring mass in front of the battery. Should be fine but the holder looks like it wants a more secure home. But it looks good where it is and gives me the two things I wanted: a super easy access point to plug in the Battery Tender and the Widder vest.
V-Strom Handguards
I ordered these up from FJR Goodies because the were supposed to come with the necessary FJR specific hardware. And they did. This was it:
I was impressed immediately with how well these fit something they were not intended to fit. Clutch side required no modification other than enlarging the end opening to accommodate the bar end. The pivot bolt seated perfectly and was the correct length. Perfect.
It didn't take a lot more effort to get those two pieces to mate perfectly. This superior fit paid a dividend on the throttle side (which I'll explain in a bit):
I did drill a new hole for the switch box locator pin which moved the whole unit outward enough to close up any gaps and create a very nice tight union of grip end/handguard and bar end. It also facilitated the perfect alignment of of everything with no need to tweak or bend anything.
On to the throttle side. As I said earlier there was much more to consider on this side. Throttle tube length, unhindered throttle operation with the end of the hand guard and proper functioning of the Vista Cruise. The first challenge was the pivot bolt. As you can see in the earlier picture the two pivot bolts provided are exactly the same while the two OEM pivot bolts are not. This leaves the top hex head portion about a 1/4" too high. I have seen this in other posts and handles in different ways. If there is a correct sized pivot bolt available I have not found it noted anywhere. I really did not like the way that looked so I went to work with the Dremel tool and a cut off wheel. I took teh measurements off of the OEM bolt and made the marks.
Here is the provided pivot bolt before I started:
After painstakingly removing metal with the Dremel I was able to take it down far, and close, enough to attempt to thread this section. If this failed I was screwed.
Here's the finished product:
And then shortened to the correct length and re-blued:
I was shocked and thrilled when this all worked! Now both sides look factory fresh
The Vista Cruise was next. While the new throttle cable housing was off I thought that was the best time to decide how to secure the Vista Cruise ring. I saw one post where a fellow forum member drilled and used a small sheet metal style screw to do this. I thought I would use the same idea but see if I could drill and tap a #4 hex head screw for the job. there seemed to be enough material available and would provide a stronger long term solution. Here are the pieces I was working with:
and assembled
One thing I found when actually installing it on the bike was that a spacer of some sort was required to keep the VC from 'cocking' or maintaining proper vertical orientation. A couple washers brought everything into perfect alignment:
And you can see how nice everything now lines up.
One thing evident here as well though is that the VC is only contacting about half of the grip ring
I have never used one of these before but it slipped a bit more than what I assume it should so here is where the compressed air technique came back into play. Here is where the grip was on the throttle tube initially
And, with a simple, little shot of air I was able to painlessly move the grip a fraction inward enough to solve the problem. Here's what it looks like now from the same end:
And now the grip contact off:
And on:
Had I glued or hair sprayed them on I couldn't have made that small but necessary tweak. One other thing that I could not find specific mention of is what throttle washers were used and where. As you can see I left the stock black one between the throttle cable housing and the VC and the clear VC washer between the VC and throttle grip. I have to assume that's OK. It works fine as it is. The last thing is that I still think this would work even better with the throttle spring tension relief trick but that's for another day.
The last welcome thing in carefully opening and fitting the hand guard to the bar end came when I did the throttle side.Because there was enough of a gap the naturally springing outward pressure of the hand guard end wants to push away from the throttle and makes no contact at all with the throttle tube. The bar end is fully tightened with no additional washers needed. Very nice fit.
So, after a couple challenges that thankfully went my way I am very pleased with how well it all fits and functions. I might actually be done farkling for a while...
While these are generally three individual projects I considered them as one large, interdependent challenge to be tackled at the same time. I ultimately wanted to accomplish five things (BMW Sport Grips, Vista Cruise, V-Strom hand guards, heavier bar ends and a Powerlet Outlet) and they would all fall perfectly into place once I removed the OEM heated grip system. So I did the research, ordered up everything I thought I would need and dug in. Getting the heated grips and associated wiring and hardware was bit more involved than initially expected. In this case there were lots of small zip-ties securing the snaking wires and the two individual grip connections were pretty buried in a pretty tight space and already I was rethinking my decision. That was compounded in getting a very stubborn, glued on clutch side grip. That took a lot of patience and a couple different approaches to finally get off and at one point was frustrated enough to consider simply cutting it off and sending it to the trash bin. But I eventually had a breakthrough and all the bits were removed. Not sure what to proceed with next I spent some time dry fitting things to see if I was clear in how it all needed to go. There was much to consider, not the least in what needed to be moved or have new locating holes drilled in the bars. I did find on the throttle side that there was a new spot drilled for the heated grip throttle housing where the switch housing was moved left. That made coming back to the stock location easy. I had read that the shorter BMW grips played well with the standard length throttle tube when a Vista Cruise was installed and found that to very much be the case. I ended my night by using my tried-and-true hairspray method of securing the new grips to the bar on the clutch side and to the throttle tube. By the following morning they should be rock solid.
The next morning I had the full day to commit but didn't everything to actually take that long. I check the grips and.... not so secure after all. So much for tried-and-true. I didn't want this minor setback hold up the rest of the project so I removed them cleaned them and mulled my options. Alcohol was next. Within a couple hours that was not going to work either. In the end it was the simplest method of all that I had read continually: compressed. The secret for me was having the correct nozzle. Once I had that technique I couldn't believe hoe easy and effective it was. As long as all surfaces were clean and dry it was perfect. This method actually paid a dividend later on with the Vista Cruise adjustment. So with a plan of attack and in no particular order here's how it all went.
Powerlet PKT-076 left front panel kit:
Not much to say here. Drill the correct sized hole in the removable panel, one end to the positive terminal and the other to a chassis ground. Not 100% sure where the fuse holder was intended to be mounted because for a model specific kit the install instructions were a bit less specific that I liked. I just ended up stuffing it into the wiring mass in front of the battery. Should be fine but the holder looks like it wants a more secure home. But it looks good where it is and gives me the two things I wanted: a super easy access point to plug in the Battery Tender and the Widder vest.
V-Strom Handguards
I ordered these up from FJR Goodies because the were supposed to come with the necessary FJR specific hardware. And they did. This was it:
I was impressed immediately with how well these fit something they were not intended to fit. Clutch side required no modification other than enlarging the end opening to accommodate the bar end. The pivot bolt seated perfectly and was the correct length. Perfect.
It didn't take a lot more effort to get those two pieces to mate perfectly. This superior fit paid a dividend on the throttle side (which I'll explain in a bit):
I did drill a new hole for the switch box locator pin which moved the whole unit outward enough to close up any gaps and create a very nice tight union of grip end/handguard and bar end. It also facilitated the perfect alignment of of everything with no need to tweak or bend anything.
On to the throttle side. As I said earlier there was much more to consider on this side. Throttle tube length, unhindered throttle operation with the end of the hand guard and proper functioning of the Vista Cruise. The first challenge was the pivot bolt. As you can see in the earlier picture the two pivot bolts provided are exactly the same while the two OEM pivot bolts are not. This leaves the top hex head portion about a 1/4" too high. I have seen this in other posts and handles in different ways. If there is a correct sized pivot bolt available I have not found it noted anywhere. I really did not like the way that looked so I went to work with the Dremel tool and a cut off wheel. I took teh measurements off of the OEM bolt and made the marks.
Here is the provided pivot bolt before I started:
After painstakingly removing metal with the Dremel I was able to take it down far, and close, enough to attempt to thread this section. If this failed I was screwed.
Here's the finished product:
And then shortened to the correct length and re-blued:
I was shocked and thrilled when this all worked! Now both sides look factory fresh
The Vista Cruise was next. While the new throttle cable housing was off I thought that was the best time to decide how to secure the Vista Cruise ring. I saw one post where a fellow forum member drilled and used a small sheet metal style screw to do this. I thought I would use the same idea but see if I could drill and tap a #4 hex head screw for the job. there seemed to be enough material available and would provide a stronger long term solution. Here are the pieces I was working with:
and assembled
One thing I found when actually installing it on the bike was that a spacer of some sort was required to keep the VC from 'cocking' or maintaining proper vertical orientation. A couple washers brought everything into perfect alignment:
And you can see how nice everything now lines up.
One thing evident here as well though is that the VC is only contacting about half of the grip ring
I have never used one of these before but it slipped a bit more than what I assume it should so here is where the compressed air technique came back into play. Here is where the grip was on the throttle tube initially
And, with a simple, little shot of air I was able to painlessly move the grip a fraction inward enough to solve the problem. Here's what it looks like now from the same end:
And now the grip contact off:
And on:
Had I glued or hair sprayed them on I couldn't have made that small but necessary tweak. One other thing that I could not find specific mention of is what throttle washers were used and where. As you can see I left the stock black one between the throttle cable housing and the VC and the clear VC washer between the VC and throttle grip. I have to assume that's OK. It works fine as it is. The last thing is that I still think this would work even better with the throttle spring tension relief trick but that's for another day.
The last welcome thing in carefully opening and fitting the hand guard to the bar end came when I did the throttle side.Because there was enough of a gap the naturally springing outward pressure of the hand guard end wants to push away from the throttle and makes no contact at all with the throttle tube. The bar end is fully tightened with no additional washers needed. Very nice fit.
So, after a couple challenges that thankfully went my way I am very pleased with how well it all fits and functions. I might actually be done farkling for a while...
