CBR125 Dirty Bars Project

Alright, so I figured I would make a new thread for this to start fresh.
This is a continuation of my "CBR125 Dual Sport" thread.
http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum/showthread.php?154586-CBR125-Dual-sport

You can view pictures of what my bike currently looks like here:
http://twistedtravster.tumblr.com/

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I want to put a set of motocross bars on my CBR125. To do this, I need to replace the stock bars as well as replacing the entire front headlight section. Then I need to move my gauges onto the forks and try my best to get the controls (throttle, clutch, brake, high-beam/signals, kill-switch) onto the new bars. I know it can definitely be done, because I've seen pictures and video of other people who did the same thing.

This is pretty much what the bars will look like when I'm done:


This is what they look like now:


Here is a video of a guy on a CBR125 with dirty bars doing wheelies:
[video=youtube;1g6P2A1aBwQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g6P2A1aBwQ[/video]

Here's another example of the bars on a CBR125:


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I've begun putting a parts list together for what I'm going to need...
This is what I've got so far:

Fly Racing Tapered Bars

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.co...-Aero-Tapered-1-1-8-Oversized-Handlebars.aspx
$60


Pro Taper Rubber Mount Bar Clamps

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.co...ar-Clamp-Kits-Pro-Taper-Rubber-Mount-Kit.aspx
$40


BikeMaster Handlebar Risers (maybe)

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.co...eMaster-Handlebar-Risers.aspx?WT.ac=SLIsearch
$34


Grips (doesn't matter, as long as they work)
$10-15


Moose Racing Road Warrior Headlight Kit

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/9/195/34353/ITEM/Moose-Racing-Road-Warrior-Headlight.aspx
$70

I may also need to order longer replacement cables, but I wont know until I find out.
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The first step is removing everything I don't need. Then I need to find a way to mount the bar clamp onto my triple clamp. This can be done by drilling directly into the flat part between the fork tubes. I'm not sure how well that will work with the embedded Honda symbol in the way though. It looks to me like the people who put the bars on their CBR125s drilled right into it, so I'm assuming it isn't a problem. If this becomes a problem, then I may need to find a way to make a custom pinch bolt, which would be attached to a flat piece of thick aluminum that would bridge the fork tubes together. Then I'm sure I could drill the bar clamps into that without a problem.

I decided on the tapered bars because I couldn't find a 7/8" bar clamp, and I just like the style of the standard sized bars. So I'm going to use the 1-1/8" over-sized bar clamp, but with tapered bars, so it will fit at the clamp, but will still have the standard 7/8" for grips and controls. I don't plan on using handlebar risers, unless the bars need to be higher to make it over the bolt on each of my fork tubes.

I also read that you should put rubber washers on each side of the bar clamps to help with vibrations. One thing I'm a little confused about is whether my brake, throttle, clutch, signal/high-beam switch, and kill switch will all fit on the mx bars. I'm not sure if there will be enough space to fit, and whether all of them will properly clamp on the 7/8" bar. I'm also not sure how to extend the wires and cables, but that should be the easiest.

Lastly, I may need to pick up parts to make a custom mount for my gauges. They are currently mounted onto the front headlight/cluster and the frame in front of the tank. Instead, I need them to be on the forks so that they pivot with the wheel, along with the new headlight. I still have no idea what I'm going to do for the custom mount, but once I'm able to see everything in front of me, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

That's all I've got for now. I'm looking for constructive criticism and any possible suggestions.

I always wanted to trim the stop tabs on the clip-on and rotate the bars so they are aligned straight across in hopes of saving my kneecaps and thumbs on these bikes. Maybe try that before the handlebar conversion? Might give you the same effective position and riser height?

I actually know a guy who did something similar. He used standard 1.25" bar risers. It looks cool, and I'm sure it works great, but I really want the motocross bars on mine.

This is what his bars look like, if you want to compare them to mine:


Anyway, your idea to cut off the stop tabs wouldn't work. The stock bars barely fit when you turn them all the way, and rotating them to be straight would be in the way of the front fairings. So you would need to replace the headlight section anyway. And, if I'm going to to that, I might as well just do what I want with the mx bars.

I may choose to just use cheap carbon steel over-sized 1-1/8" bars, because they are actually half the price of the aluminum tapered ones. But the only downfall is that they are heavier, and they don't have nearly as much flex capability, which can make it a lot less comfortable. But both of them are probably more comfortable than the bars I currently have. To me, the only thing that matters is price. I'm also not sure whether standard or over-sized bars would fit my throttle/clutch/brake/switch controls better.


Moose Racing Carbon Steel 1-1/8" Oversized Bars

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.co...-Carbon-Steel-1-1-8-Oversized-Handlebars.aspx
$30

Another question I have is about the bars. When I go to select them on Motorcycle Superstore, it gives me a huge drop down menu of different types. I have no idea which to choose from.

Enduro
Carmichael
CR High
CR Low
Windham
Henry/Reed
Suzuki RM/RMZ
Kawasaki KFX
McGrath/Short
RC/OE Honda
RC Mini
Yamaha YFZ 450
Yamaha YZ/YZF

All those options refer to how the bar is bent. Height, sweep, etc. it's personal preference. Your best bet is to head to a bike shop like Royal Distributing and hold a bunch to see what you like.

Alright. Thanks for the info. I was worried that some of them wouldn't work.

I did a mx bar conversion on my sled... It took more time and money than I expected.
If you go with aluminum bars, the inner diameter is smaller than steel bars. So when you go to put in bar ends or those mirrors, you will need to hone out the inside of the bars so your bar ends or mirrors will fit. The drill bit I bought for this was like a $12 bit, but it worked.

Wiring extension is easy, just go get some wire, should be 18 or 20 gauge, a solder gun, some flux and solder and heat shrink tubing and go to town. Doesn't take long once you get good at it.

I just received my new Moose Racing CR Low Handlebars, as well as my Rox Pivoting 7/8" Handlebar Risers.


All I need now is the actual bar clamps and I'm set to start drilling the top of the triple tree, mounting the bars, and seeing how much cable/wiring extension that I need.


I plan on replacing the Moose Racing Bar Pad cover with a custom made CBR cover to suit the bike better.

i have been kinda following your threads and Props to you Op for doing what you have done....... Sounds like you like playing off road more, would it not make more sense to sell your bike and pick up a enduro style Bike?

With 50,000km on it, and all the abuse I've given this bike, it probably wouldn't sell for much. Plus, there's always the "why not?" factor, because I love my CBR125. I even plan on buying another one when this bike stops running.

You can find them on Kijiji for $1500-2000 practically brand new. So, there's not much competition in terms of other bikes to make mine much of a selling point. In my opinion, it's worth more in the amount of fun I can have on it with a few mods than the money I'll get if I sell it. And even so, who would buy a CBR125 that's been abused and taken off-road, when they can buy a nearly new one for a couple $100 more?

This looks like a cool project! Keep us posted with the progress you make on it

I was looking through eBay and I found this:



It is the triple clamp of the European Honda XL125 Varadero (the 125cc version of the XL1000). It looks remarkably similar to the CBR125 triple clamp. I'm assuming it houses the same size forks, but the XL125 forks look slightly further apart, which some simple wheel spacers could fix.

This is the CBR125 triple clamp:



Does anyone think it could possibly work????

Interested to see how you'll handle the guage cluster. I want to mount mine to my forks as well but not finding any satisfying solution.

@fastar1

I actually plan on using bar risers so that the bars can turn without hitting the cluster.

So far, I measured everything and it should work fine.

UPDATE:

I decided to lift the front wheel off the ground by placing a few bricks underneath the frame (avoiding the header pipe). This is so that the weight of the bike isn't being put all on the bottom bridge of the triple clamp when I remove the top bridge



I then lifted up the gas tank and held it in place with some bungee cords. I removed each handlebar, as well as the controls. I set the clip-ons aside and let the clutch/brake/throttle/switches hang on the sides.



I was having a problem removing the top of the triple clamp, because the ignition key switch seemed to be giving me some trouble. I ended up removing the ignition plug underneath the tank to give me enough slack to lift the triple clamp high enough to remove the two anti-theft screws. Then it just came off like butter.






Now all that's left is to drill the triple clamp, put it all back together, find replacement cables, extend the wire, and mount the new handlebars.




My only problem is that the black anti-theft metal piece attached to the top bridge is going to provide me with a challenge when I try to drill. I was planning on drilling into the back, but it looks like that won't be possible.



All is not lost, though, because there's no reason why I can't drill into the front.

So I've made some decent progress and I'm about 85-90% where I want to be when I'm finished.

I filled the little rectangular gap with some JB weld and finally got the triple clamp drilled. Then I assembled the handlebars with the used TRX handlebar clamps from eBay and got them mounted properly. I think they look pretty freakin' awesome, if I do say so myself.

Next on the list is buying some new grips, and getting longer cables. I found this guy who works at Ignition Powersports in Keswick who is gonna rip apart my existing cables and give me an extension of 4-6 inches, and for a very reasonable price too. I still need to splice open my wires and add some extension to them as well.

I got the custom "CBR" bar pad printed through Staples Business Depot onto some vinyl and I'm gonna stitch it together with some velcro and maybe a clear plastic cover to protect it. I may consider getting different mirrors, because the stock ones are pretty far apart now, not that they weren't already far apart with the stock handlebars. I'm also planning on getting some white hand guards too.

I was/still am thinking about ditching the handlebar risers. Or at least getting the standard non-pivoting ones that have less than a 2 inch rise. The low crossbar on the handlebars make it nearly impossible to pivot the riser as it is, because you can't fit an allen key in there to tighten the clamps with it on any decent angle. It appears as if the handlebars have enough clearance with the levers to just sit flat on the handlebar clamps themselves without any riser. I don't know which I think looks/feels better. I almost wish I had gotten CR high bend bars more than the CR low, because it would have more of a pull back and would perform the same function that risers would.

Either way, risers and bar bends aside, the seating position for these new motocross bars is incredibly comfortable. I had a hard time getting off after first sitting on it!

I can't even put into words how excited I am to test ride it when I get those cables. Bethany 2013 here I come!

Great work and nice progress!! Can't wait to see it in action!!

Thanks BJ. I also meant to mention that I'm also definitely going to swap out my 15 tooth front sprocket for a 14 tooth one. That will help 2nd gear become a little more useful off-road, as well as making 6th gear useful for more than just cruising down steep hills.

I got a lot done today, but you'd never know it if you look at the bike. I spent around 5 or 6 hours tinkering around with all sorts of crap.

I managed to reroute the wires around without needing to make a single extension at all, which I'm very proud of by the way. I used a couple of zip ties to clean it up and make everything tight enough together, but with a reasonable amount of play for turning the handlebars fully. The cables should be finished by Monday or Tuesday, then maybe I can actually ride this frankenstein machine.

I made the decision to bite the bullet and pay to replace my entire front fairings (sides and front). It's gonna cost me around 200 bucks, which seems like a lot, but compared to most other bikes, it's dirt cheap. The reason behind this has to do with the fact that I noticed my front birds nest was bent (I believe that's what it's called; it's the part of the frame that holds the headlight, signals and gauges onto the steering column). I believe it must have happened one of the many times I dropped the bike. This made it so that the right fork kept on sliding against the side of the plastic piece that wraps around the gauges. I got a monkey wrench and a long pipe to bend it back into place. But the damage was already done because the fairings slowly warped to fit the shape of the bent birds nest, along with a nasty set of hidden cracks.

I also accidentally broke the plastic ring that holds the gauges on the left side of the bird nest when I was attempting to remove the fairings and bend the birds nest back. It's only gonna cost me $15 to replace the whole plastic part on the back that holds all the bulbs and stuff, so no big deal.

One question for anyone who is reading this: Does anyone know how a speedo cable works? I may have accidentally pulled it out too far when I pulled the gauges off to inspect the damage I had done. I wont know for sure until I reassemble the front cluster and go for a ride.

I bought a set of KOSO mirrors off eBay that will take 2-4 weeks to receive from Hong Kong. In the meantime, I pushed the bike onto the street and adjusted my stock mirrors properly. I was surprised how little of an effect the new handlebars have on my blind spots. After sitting on it for a while, I think the handlebar risers are starting to grow on me.. so I will probably keep them the way they are.


This is the breakdown so far for costs:
(Not including fairing replacements)


Moose Racing CR Low Handlebars:
$25

Used TRX Handlebar Clamps:
$20

Rox Pivoting 2" Risers (optional with CR High handlebars instead):
$80

Triple Clamp mounting holes (done by a machine shop):
$40

JB weld for filling rectangular hole:
$10

Locktite thread locker tube:
$5

Progrip Grey RVGS Grips:
16$

Genuine Honda Throttle Tube (optional if you reuse the stock one by taking the bar ends off the stock bars):
$6

Custom 4" clutch/throttle/brake extensions:
$60
(20 each)

Custom CBR vinyl bar pad cover (optional if you use the one that comes with the handlebars or choose not to use one at all):
$20

KOSO Mirrors (optional if you reuse the stock ones):
$20

Handguards (optional if you don't care to protect your investment):
$50

I think that's it... wow I never even realized how many optional stuff I chose to do.

Total estimate:
$175 (excluding optional items)
$345 (grand total)

HAHA Awesome. Honda should hire you as they're inventing new segment-busting bikes left right and center these days.

Love the detailed costing :thumbs up: