Hiding cables in handle bars...?

[SavageI]

Hey All,

I searched the board but I am unable to find if anyone has hidden their cables and wiring in their handle bars. If anyone has, can you tell me how difficult it was, if you have any pics, etc.?

Thank you in advance,
Justin

[PharmBoy]

I had a Vulcan 1500 F.I. that I put all the wiring in the bars (twice).  The second time was after my youngest son's wreck and thankfully he was not hurt.  Anyway, it was not easy, nor was it any fun lengthening all those wires and keeping up with which color combo went where.  After the job was complete, everything worked as it should and the bars looked nice and slick.  Just judging from the size of the wire bundles on the Valk, I would say that it would be much harder to hide the wires unless you went to a 1.25" bar...JTL 

[6ntune]

done it to my custom drag bars on the valk,alot of work,

[John Schmidt]

I didn't run the throttle cables inside, only the wiring. I did it on both the stock handlebars and the aftermarket replacements which are 1 1/4". The larger bars are much easier...obviously. In any case, if you want to do it on the stock bars, first remove the bars and drill 2 or 3 holes in the center underneath between the risers. Then either grind or cut the excess away so it's a smooth oblong opening. Next, you have to remove the 9 pin square connector on the end of each set of wires. You can do it one of two ways; either cut them off and solder back together after you've run the wires, OR...if you have the tool to do it, removes all the pins from the connectors after you have made up a diagram of which ones go where. Then remove the stock plastic covering on the wiring harness and tape it quite snug. It makes a smaller diameter bundle to pull through. I used some plain old rubbing alcohol to lube the bundle to make it easier to pull through. The alky will evaporate and not leave a film, but makes moving rubber or plastic against metal run a lot smoother and easier. You also have to drill a hole underneath each switch housing but be sure to mark it before removing everything. It's not the easiest change I made to the bike, but worked out OK and looked much better when done.

On the larger aftermarket bars, the connectors weren't an issue because I converted to Harley controls which didn't come with the 9-pin connectors. I simply installed them as needed after running the wires.