[the1]

Thinking about drilling two holes in my renthal flat bars to add rivnuts to mount my brake/clutch reservoirs.Do you think that would effect the structural integrity of the bars?I was going to mount them off of the bar clamps but this would look cleaner IMO.Thoughts?

 

[shinyribs]

What size hole will you need? Probably about 6-8mm? I don't see why that should hurt anything. :twocents:

 

[megawatt]

I have only drilled 1/8" holes in mine. Not sure I'd drill a 9mm hole to fit a M6 Rivnut.

 

[the1]

I have only drilled 1/8" holes in mine. Not sure I'd drill a 9mm hole to fit a M6 Rivnut.

Good point,maybe I'll just drill and tap it.

 

[blensen]

Good point,maybe I'll just drill and tap it.

:thumbsup:

 

[Jrod]

probably not thick enough to tap. Could always use regular pop rivets. Not much weight to hold and the holes would be small.

 

[blensen]

probably not thick enough to tap. Could always use regular pop rivets. Not much weight to hold and the holes would be small.

Ah yes. I see now that he said FLAT bars not FAT bars. All of the aluminum fat bars I've used have fairly thick walls by the grips.


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[shinyribs]

Oops. I read FAT bars too. My bad. :doh:

 

[DrJellyFingers]

i think it can be drilled and tapped, if its just holding up the resi's it doesnt need to be the big of a bolt or extra torqued or anything. i say go for it and good idea.

 

[CraZKenE13]

I've drilled holes in mine for control locator tabs.
If not thick enough to tap weld a nut over the hole?

 

[Guest]

With steel bars i wouldn't have aproblem with it but i'm not so sure on alloy bars, i think theres a chance of it cracking out from the holes over time

I dont even drill all the way through for switchgear locating pins for this reason

 

[shinyribs]

Alot of factory handlebars are drilled with pretty big slots (not tiny holes) to run switchgear wiring through them. Alloy bars have really thick walls (you already know that).

If a 6mm rivet nut requires a 9mm hole I wouldn't be afraid to drill that hole in a steel bar at all. And I'd say aluminum bars have enough wall thickness that you could tap them and it would hold the fastener just fine.

You could probably drill 20 holes in any set of bars and they'd never break. They're just handle bars,not a stressed suspension component. There's really not a whole lot of load on them. :twocents:

 

[RatFighter]

They're just handle bars,not a stressed suspension component. There's really not a whole lot of load on them. :twocents:

You ever ride with a bunch of sportbike riders that have clipons? Most of those squids lean on the bars lock arm like their life depends on the strength of those tubes of metal... and then complain of wrist pain. :nuts:





I personally wouldn't drill holes in any set of bars myself as a little strip of super fine skateboard grip tape keeps my controls from moving about, never liked even a shallow hole in my bars, if they are bent, toss 'em in the bin for the dirtbikes! Can't stand the thought of a handlebar failure. Had one of those a few years back and can't bear the thought of it again.

The left bar on those cunts decided to go parallel with wheel direction during a standup wheelie and I found myself landing one of the oddest wheelies you have ever seen in your entire existence, at 50+mph. The mere hint of a chance for bars to turn sideways while the forks are strait, although it took really reefing on the damn things to make it do it, I had done at least 50 wheelies the exact same way before the failure, it made me cautious of how much I modify equipment even if it doesn't seem like much, if OEM stuff can fail like that, I don't to see what garage modified bits will do when they come apart all wrong... then again I have a pretty extensive list of those experiences too.





Never mind me, drill all the holes you want.

 

[shinyribs]

I think I understand what you're saying,Rat. But I think you meant you bar twisted inside the mount?

My Pops had a set of z-bars on a tiger cub once and one of the welds broke loose on him. Throttle side. Supposedly it wasn't fun . One piece bars are the way to go, for me, but they way I think you're describing your bar twisted wouldn't really have anything to do if you had drilled a hole in them or not.

I just can't see any handle bar wanting to fold or snap off due to a 9mm hole. But yeah, solid is obviously still stronger.

Mod at your own discretion, I guess.

 

[RatFighter]

The left bar spun in the clamp (they are vintage Honda 3 piece bars specifically found on the CB1100F) and I imagine the wall of a handlebar collapsing would result in the bar itself twisting the same way, I've never had it happen, but I've never actually run a set of bars that are modified like that either.

The old Honda CB360T's had the wiring run on the inside of the bars and once they started to bend at the hole they were toast, no saving them compared to a standard set of bars. I would think that is why Honda stopped doing that particular setup as it just wasn't as structurally sound as a solid wall handlebar.



Modified handlebars to me is on the level with modified steering wheels in cars, unless you are making them more rigid I'm not a huge help or much for encouragement.