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going for the minimalist look

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by koolaid5, Jun 25, 2010.

  1. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    Ok, so I put the apes on my bike and it's been sitting in the garage with no controls on it or anything. I got to thinking about it and what do you guys think about me just taking all of the front brake crap off and only running with a rear? This bike is just going to be my putt around town and back and forth to work bike. I'm not going to be racing through corners or doing anything nutty.

    I was conisdering doing away with the front brakes all together, going with a suicide shifter, and no turn signals. Then I can remote all of the controls on the bars somewhere else to COMPLETELY clean everything up. I might just run it all to a ammo can mounted on the one side or something.

    Let me know what you guys think or if you have any other options I could maybe go with. If I DON'T take all of this stuff out, relocate it, or whatever.....how do I hide all of the crap that was in the original SECA headlight bucket? I was amazed how much stuff was crammed in there and now I don't know what to do with it all.

    Thanks
     
  2. RickCoMatic

    RickCoMatic Well-Known Member

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    If all you have is Rear Brakes ...
    And something unexpectedly signals your brain to apply your Brakes on, ... HARD!

    You won't have time to say damn before you are out of control.
     
  3. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    Yeah...I'm aware of that :( Rear wheel would be locked up quicker than shit and my arse would be sliding down the hwy.
     
  4. day7a1

    day7a1 Member

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    I've known people that don't have a front brake. They ride Harleys. They don't go back and forth to work. They hardly ride their garage queen. They are far more concerned with how they look than ANYTHING else.

    And they are dumb as sh......t, and the sadness of a loss of life is the only thing that will keep me from laughing when they die. Would you like to win a Darwin Award?

    I'm glad I have my front brake at least once per day. Today it was 4 times some jack....didn't "see" me. Sometimes on a bike, "nutty" is just getting out of the line of danger. Like when you have a car beside you, one behind you, one trying to move into your lane, and the only way out puts you speeding up on a car going 15 mph BELOW the speed limit on the California freeway.

    Do you want 30% of your braking power then?
     
  5. lopezfr2

    lopezfr2 Member

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    jesus your 60-0 time would be like.. a week. you'd have to start braking for the next light when the one you're at turns green
     
  6. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    I'm already pretty good at that. I have plenty of practice with my Cherokee :D That brake work is on the "to-do" list.

    Ok, ok, ok.....maybe I won't go with no front brakes. It was just a thought. I'm actually used to using only front brakes on my gsxr. The only time I even touch the rear is when to stablize the bike from time to time when coming up to a light going real slow. No front brakes would feel weird as shit, but I thought that a lot of guys did it on non sport bikes for some reason. shows what I know.
     
  7. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    ok, so how about some ideas on how to hide all the crap up around the headlight? The new round one I'm putting on there doesn't have any space in the bucket to put any of the electricals that were in the stock one.
     
  8. day7a1

    day7a1 Member

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    I've heard of people putting a outdoors electrical box from the hardware store on the bike to cover the wires.
     
  9. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    hhhhmmmmmm.....how about some pics of that?
     
  10. cutlass79500

    cutlass79500 Well-Known Member

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    DONT DO IT YOU WILL BE SORRY first time you ride after it rained a little and the road is oily your goin down. measure how long you need your hose to be take your old hose with you so they can see the ends to a shop and have 1 made. dont want to see anyone get hurt or killed because of a hose
     
  11. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    ok....ok.....ok......I'm sold. I just need to get longer cables, so that I can get them hooked up to my apes and I'll leave the front brakes be...


    now......how about a foot clutch and suicide shifter :D
     
  12. RickCoMatic

    RickCoMatic Well-Known Member

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  13. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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  14. RickCoMatic

    RickCoMatic Well-Known Member

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    Sure.

    You don't have to undo any wires if you make "0-----0" cut.

    Be sure to make some holes along he Bottom for drains.
     
  15. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    I might be able to relocate everything and hide it with the gas tank. I just went out and messed with everything a bit.

    Now I just need clutch, front brake, throttle, and choke cables that are 10" longer than stock. I was able to stretch the throttle and choke to get them hooked up to the controls on the 15" apes for now, but that is only temporary.
     
  16. lopezfr2

    lopezfr2 Member

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    if you get a sexy new cross drilled brake disc and stainless steel lines you'll want to show off your front brake setup instead of ditch it. i do agree with you though, i really like a minimalist look to a bike but not at the sacrifice of function or safety
     
  17. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    Yeah...that was only an idea that lasted a few minutes :D I got over it rather quickly. Now I just need to find all the cables that are 10" longer than stock. Not sure where to get them.
     
  18. bigfitz52

    bigfitz52 Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Have you ever RIDDEN a bike with 15" ape hangers?

    Just asking...
     
  19. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    not yet, but I hope I will be soon :D I'm looking for longer cables right now.

    I have a '90 gsxr 1100, I'm building the XJ as a bobber, and then the '81 cb900f sitting in boxes in the shed is the next project and that is going to be more of a tough cafe racer-ish build. That will give me 3 COMPLETELY different bikes and riding styles/positions to chose from when going out to the garage.
     
  20. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    and if I end up not liking one of them too much you'll see them on CL
     
  21. schooter

    schooter Active Member

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    I'm going with the minimal look, as well.. I'll explain what i've done

    suicide shift, and then somewhere I'm putting two switches for low beam and high beam, no blinkers, for horn, I drilled a hole in my handle bar and the horn button is actually on the end of the grip, it's pretty slick, I have a yz400f twist throttle on the way (a whopping 99 cents) and then i need my front brak attached somehow....

    I'm breaking the law by not having a high beam light... but if i get pulled over for that... well, I'll freak
     
  22. pauluminous

    pauluminous Member

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    As others stated getting rid of the front brakes all together might not be all that wise.
    Maybe hook it up to the rear brake pedal? Have the pedal activate both rear and front break. Make sure every single time you go out that the balance between the 2 is correct though.
     
  23. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    na....I don't like the idea of hooking the front brakes and rear together. That sounds like trouble to me. I'm just abandoning the "minimalist" idea and throwing everything back up on the bars with some longer cables. I just measured everything and chacal has everything I need except for the brake cable. I'm leaving the front brakes in place, but they just won't be hooked up until I eventually get around to picking up the longer cable. I'll have it on there before the bike is registered and insured. It will just be this way while I'm sorting everything out and taking a few short test runs to get it tuned.

    schooter - is all of that in a build thread or something? I'll probably be tearing the bike back down this winter or maybe not until next winter, but when I do I'll be rethinking going with a hardtail and might revisit clearing everything off of the bars. Post some pics up on here or send them to me at matthew.smith5@gmail.com with some details about it all if you don't mind. I'm really interested.

    Thanks
     
  24. schooter

    schooter Active Member

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    well, no, my sister has been roaming the country with my moms camera, so i cant take pics.. she will be back sunday...
     
  25. koolaid5

    koolaid5 Member

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    don't even have a camera phone :D That's cool man. I just ordered the cables I need from chacal, so the controls are all staying on the bars. The forwards are going on too, so no need for the suicide shift either.
     

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