This article came about out of necessity. You see, I had a great wiring tech planned out, one that will be terrific for guys who are attempting to build bikes in garages all across the country. That was the plan…
So, we’re hangin at the Limp Nickie Lot in New Orleans a few days ago, wondering if the last night’s buzz was wearing down, or the new one was just kicking in, when Wildman says, “I gotta get back to PA, deadlines this week.”
What? Seriously? I thought I had two weeks! I wasn’t about to cancel my ride home, my ride that carried a good friend and me through the Smokies and the very woods about to host Big Mountain Run. I ultimately made the right choice, had a killer time, and you guys get to check out how Bare Knuckles staff make our forwards, one of our all-time best sellers. We'll hit wiring another time. Besides, Tim Remus at Wolfgang publishing produced a killer book on wiring.
Five years ago, when we first designed these controls, we wanted a clean, uncluttered control. To achieve this, we utilized a remote master cylinder and threaded stems that pass through the control arms, and then we mounted the pegs on the threaded stems. This design eventually led to a larger shaft as the control arm pivot and a peg that slides onto the shaft and is fastened by a 5/16-18 Allen bolt. This design is very strong and still uncluttered, not to mention very “unbillet.” I dig 'em. Maybe you guys do too. Check it out as Rad, Gotta Go Joe, and Big James knockout a few sets.
Here you see all the components that we start with, save the pegs. We waterjet the mounts from 3/8-inch mild steel, and turn the round stock in the CNC turning center (lathe), also from mild steel. The tubing for the control arms is 1-inch and 7/8-inch DOM.
Rad starts the project by bending a length of tubing in our bender. He will do a bunch of long bends and then section them to a certain length, for multiple sets.
James takes the peg shafts and tacks them to the mounting plates. After tacking, he uses a small machinists square to check that they are true, then he will fully TIG weld them.
Gotta Go Joe is a badass folks. Do NOT attempt to achieve this level of baddassedness at home. It will hurt.
You can see how Joe is notching the ends with a barrel sander. Normally we do this with a fixture in the Bridgeport, but it was tied up at the time. Either one works, this way is a slower.
Here you can see how the bent and notched parts go into the two fixtures. Each piece is almost fully welded prior to being pulled from the fixture. (pic 6)
On the brake side there are three .125-inch holes drilled that a rollpin will be driven into. The pin that is welded on the control arm will contact the rollpin and prevent the brake pushrod from backing out of the master cylinder and leaving you brakeless.
This particular set is going to powder coat after we are done with them, but we double-check the fitment prior to coating. Here you can see the SAE 841 Oilite flange bushing used. There are two per side.
So that’s it, now ya have it. A simple design that is strong as hell, clean and clutter-free. Of course, we offer them in cable jockey and four speed jockey configurations for you traditionalists. Check back next month for some more Throttle Junkie Tech; we have some great stuff coming up that will be really cool reading and helpful too.
–Paul, JFL
