anyone fabricate a set of highway bars yet?

[kiawrench]

    If anyone has idea to fabricate highway bars , or non standard crash bars, let me know,,,, long rides on vision needs something more than just the pegs,, even with my short legs . cramped up every 100 miles ,
 was thinking , maybe can come off of lower case "mount pivot"(where engine is bolted when in shipping case) then out around leading edge of cases , then up to the down tubes with a wrap around clamp to secure the top ,set a pair of kicker pegs in about 8 inches up from bottom and then ride.
 would have to paint them,, chroming is way to high of expense for me right now. factory case guards just dont seem to be right for adding pegs  , or am i mistaken on that ,,, someone has to let me know , please .    

[GA_Wolf]

If that is the set up we were discussing, that should work great for you!

[Lucky]

I had a full case saver set on my bike when it was still a naked red 82. I simply bolted on a set of those cheapie yamaha pegs on the front, then I could throw my legs up front anytime I wanted...

--Lucky

[kiawrench]

GA Wolfie type dude--- ,
   Is the same set up,, but with the "new, updated three times larger vetter fairing on,, those two bolt holes at the top of the frame are nowholding the fairing brace,, so i have to figure in a top mounting position.
    Am going to hit the plumbing supply section of home depot, grab some soft copper 3/4 or 1 inch pipe ,,, a few flat plates and some duct tape,,, see what i can rig up ,, then with some tweaking, i may be able to make case guards,highway bars and forward foot rest all in one . Maybe even add snap on wind panels for the colder months ,
    Once i get this all figured out in the soft copper- can drop it off at a machine shop, have it copied in steel and powder coated in black .  foot pegs are done deal,, have a set of knurled pegs from the kz1000 - can use those, they dont clash with the bike , much.

[Blake]

kia.. if anything please dont use copper pipe... it may be cheap..but it DEFINATELY isnt meant for stress.. and will more than likely bend/break on your first test..  if anything you can invest in some steel pipe (little more expensive..but not much..the bends are what get you..although it is heavy)..or go check out the electrical conduit section. (basically looks like exhaust pipe.)  i used it for my "custom" exhaust..and it held up pretty well..my shoddy "first time welding" job on it was the reason for its demise..but all in all that might be a better thing to try and work with.. i think home depot here has the hard conduit pipe down to 1"..



Blake

[kiawrench]

the copper is only going to be used for the mock up/ fitting of the set up,,, wont be on if bike moves,,, have to be sure is right,,, that way, all the tweaking is done prior to investing in having the set up built by someone that knows his steel.
    i may just do like lucky mentioned, buy a factory case saver set, add some fold away pegs,,, just wanted to see if which was better for my lil short legs ,,

[Lucky]

I don't know about the vetter fairing, but you can't mount any type of case savers on a stock '83' fairing, unless you want to do some major cutting up of the lowers...

[kiawrench]

the vetter is sort of like a windjammer ,,, all on top, no lowers,,,, but they did make them, just none around to buy.
  guy in ohio has a upper/lower set, says that with the frame/brackets,, the vetter lower already has "highway bar" effect. just dont think any were ever made for visions,, just the uppers . am still wide open from fuel tank down .   guess i need to keep on with the design process,, see what i can come up with,,, maybe take a trip over to one of the race shops,,, (read that as "borrow some machines to bend tubes and weld brackets")

[h2olawyer]

Hi Kiawrench -

Don't think lowers were ever available for the Quicksilver.  Haven't seen them in any old Vetter literature, in any photos or for sale.

Sounds like an interesting fabrication plan.  Good luck with it!

[kiawrench]

did some second questions game with guy and his vetter,, his lowers are set off of 82 honda silver wing 550 cc or around there, small version of gold wing,, seems they were vetter designed windjammer set for honda line  products back then,,,
   ok,, so not specific for quicksilver,, but then ,, good match.. hmmm,, maybe hunt silver wing fairing set,, see if that work?
   if no one has seen this bike lately,, the silver wing was the baby brother of the gold wing,,, just for po'fokes.... lol -
was , like the vision, ahead of buying public by a few years, so never was a real big seller, or so mickey says,,,, wonder about him sometimes,,

[h2olawyer]

Remember the Silver Wing well.  Almost bought one instead of my Vision.  Glad I didn't!  ;D  Silver Wing was a full dress version of the CX 500 V-twin.  V ran out either side of bike ala Moto Guzzi.  I don't remember what that engine turned but I'm sure it wasn't a 10K ripper!

The Hondaline Vetter stuff was interchangable with all other Vetter parts.  They made the fairings for Kawasaki and Yamaha for a few years too.  A friend used to have a 1980 XS11 Special.  Fun bike on the highway, and not too bad in the tight stuff for a heavy tourer.  Tons of power.  I'd catch up in the corners but He'd pull away on straights.  The fairing and lowers were Yamaha badged but any Windjammer parts of the right vintage would fit.

Might have to do some fiberglass work to get lowers to fit on a Quicksilver right but it could be worth a try.  If you look at a Windjammer, there are mounting holes at the bottom of the fairing where the lowers attach.  Those holes are not present on the Quicksilver.

[kiawrench]

H2O-- am glad to have found all of that out ,, even happier to have been prompted to ask the guy about his lowers again,,,,, already tried the modify this and that phase of ownership,,, prefer to just stick with the good stuff-- sable has a set of higway bars that fit,, am trying to work out reasonable deal there,, if not , price is still good!,,
   will need a bit of tweaking , replace a strut, but still it does fit the bike , and will provide the case safety and highway bar effect i was looking for .
   already checked my inventory in garage , have enough seat cover stock to make the rain sleeves for which ever set of bars i get,, just lace on/off, (also gets the effect of lowers in cold weather,, blocks wind to legs ). am thinking sable's set is the way to go .   Wonder if sable still looking for the sport fairing ,, got one ,, may try a trade ,,,

[Lucky]

Ahem, your welcome  :)

[Rick G]

the CX500 has a 9500 or 10000 rpm red line , pretty good for a pushrod engine. the are very top heavy though.

[h2olawyer]

I didn't remember the CX having that high RPM.  Thanks, Rick.  I do remember taking one for a short ride and not liking it as well as the Vision.  Was new to street bikes then so couldn't really say why.  Probably the top heavy feeling and the styling was still fairly generic Honda.

Also have been a Yamaha fan since I rode a friend's TT500 when I had my KDX 175.  That thumper really had some low end grunt.  I was about 70 pounds lighter then and the first time I tried kicking it over, it almost launched me over the bars.  He had removed the compression release and didn't warn me about getting it to the right part of the stroke before kicking it.  He got a good laugh out of it!  ::)

[jasonm.]

The CX500 did have a high redline. A guy near me has one. Think it was over 9000rpm...maybe 9750? Not 10k. But the CX was a slow machine. No low end power and heavy. It has 4 valve heads ...so yes it can rev...they did have the turbo version too.

[h2olawyer]

The turbo CX500 was interesting but I thought the XJ650 turbo was awesome.  When I bought my soft luggage, the owner of the Yamaha dealership in Breckenridge had the bags I  bought mounted on his 650 turbo.  The turbos didn't seem to live up to expectations.  They promised litre performance out of lower displacements.  I hear the turbo lag made them difficult to drive.  Had to learn to keep 'em in boost all the time.  Wonder how well they could make them work today with all the electronic engine controls?