[bscrive]

I decided to experiment with handlebars again. I decided that I was going to bump it up to 2" bars. But, by doing so, the curving of the metal tube would not do well. The tube starts to flatten out a little as it is curved. I then decided that I was not going to have the bar curved. Good thing to because the guy I usually get to curve the bars had a major heart attack and has sold off all of his equipment. That solidified my decision to just cut them and shape them to my specs. Because I didn't curve the bars, I needed to include a riser in the bars so that they wouldn't hit the gas tank bezel at full ****. I put in a 2" riser.
I started by making a jig to lay out the metal. I then cut the angles to what was required, which is no easy thing to do. As the bars get bigger, the difficulty in the angles gets harder. The angles have to be more precise. I use a metal bandsaw and getting the angle cut at the proper spot is time consuming.
The first two cuts on each side at the bottom of the bars were not bad, but the top cut for the grips was the worst. Mainly because the cut had to be @110 degrees around the bar from the lower cut. This is so that the handles come down at a comfortable angle for my hands. The first one was hard enough, but the other side was a killer. It had to be the opposite of the other side. I had a difficult time setting up the saw to cut it. I eventually did and finally got the pieces tacked up with the mig welder.
For the 1" bar to fit into the 2" bar. I got heavy guage washers that would fit in the 2" pipe. I then took a step bit and drilled 1" holes in the centre. I welded the washers in the pipe and then welded the 1" bar to the washers. I did this for 1" bar needed for the grips and the handlebar clamps.
After everything was tacked up, I then welded the joints. After that I used the grinder and made the welds more presentable. When the welds were done, I used Bondo for the finishing touch. Sanded everything down and primed the bars. When the primer was dry, I sanded again and painted with VHT roll bar paint.


The bars were so fat that I had to cut in indents for the master cylinders on each side. I had to do the same with the bottom of the bars for the plastic on the upper part for the forks.

 

[Poncho]

b'man. that is some 'pressive work yor doing.. a mite bit on the HUGE side of life. but like they say, go BIG or go HOME.. butt 2" yikes! stock bars are 1".. custom Large bars are 1.25".. I had a TT bar on my v2k beastmaster 1.5". they called it the Punisher. it was. so , a buck fifty might make better change.

 

[topshelf]

Wow that's impressive... 2 inch doesn't even look that huge on our big bikes........... Nice work............

 

[bscrive]

b'man. that is some 'pressive work yor doing.. a mite bit on the HUGE side of life. but like they say, go BIG or go HOME.. butt 2" yikes! stock bars are 1".. custom Large bars are 1.25".. I had a TT bar on my v2k beastmaster 1.5". they called it the Punisher. it was. so , a buck fifty might make better change.

I already did 1.25". It was ok, but I wanted fatter. I then made bars that were 1.5" and again I wanted fatter. Our bikes are so big that the smaller bars didn't really fit the look. The 2" bars look great and surprisingly, don't look out of place. The bike handles the look great. Might be a different story if they were chromed, though.

 

[Poncho]

I wanted fatter. Might be a different story if they were chromed, though.

well black is the preferred attire color for the large ladies who want to look more trim w/o pushing away from the feeding trough.. flat black, I call it invisible paint. chrome whores just want all the attention.

 

[Hot Rod]

WOW ......Just wow.....Those look GREAT ! I'll bet they are comfortable too !

 

[Crabballs]

They look great! You might want to name them Fat [email protected]@rd! Did you get them powder coated?

 

[Sleepngbear]

That’s some damm nice work. I was wondering how the angle cuts would look compared to bends — they look great. How’s the grip position compared to your previous bars?

 

[KUGO]

I really thought that when you said you were going to go to 2", that they would look cartoon-ish or too industrial. I was really wrong. Surprising how "to scale" they look on this bike, and probably few others. Very nice workmanship, too. You well-described just how complicated the angles were to not only cut, but re-assemble in the way that you did. Make the jig, file for a patent, and you could probably make and sell as many as the aftermarket exhaust companies do for new Valkyries. (I'm still honked at the lack of aftermarket support, but fully understand the reasons why.) Frankly, you might sell more than you'd think, especially if your "kit" included everything needed to attach the handlebar hardware, etc. Again, nice job!

 

[bscrive]

The bars are a bit more comfortable since they are a little bit wider than the old bars. I also fixed the angle of the grips. The other ones seemed off by just a little bit for my grip. Nothing bad by no means, but I had a little bit of pressure on the bottom of my palm. The new ones have a little bit more angle. This was more by luck than skill.

The bars were painted. Powder coating stuff has gone through the roof lately. My last bars were painted as well because when I called the powder coater for a price, they said $250. I said to heck with that and painted them. I used the VHT Roll Bar paint and it is very durable after it has hardened and cured in 7 days.