Any tips for making grip ends last longer? My bike loves to smack the bars into the ground and punch the ends out of the grips. I've thought of stuffing a coin into the end of each grip to give the rubber some support. Has anyone tried that? Any success?
Thanks for the responses on the clutch... when riding this weekend I found that if the clutch seemed to be dragging - I pulled it in, revved thrice it went away immediately. I also tested further - it doesn't just happen when cold... anytime I shut the motor off it seemed to reappear about 30% of the time. Weird. Anyway, the 3 revs while pulling the clutch fixed it each time. Regarding the oil suggestions... there may be a correlation. The symptoms did get more noticeable after an oil change (my first on this bike since I bought it). I used Castrol Motorcycle 10W-40. I also had to look up the transmission oil capacity since I don't have a manual. I pulled it from a '96 model instructions that I found online... I think it was 500ml. A. Any oil suggestions? Someone told me ELF recently... B. Can anyone confirm the oil capacity of a 97 Beta Techno 250? Thanks guys!
I always hated bar ends. I would just cut the throttle tube and grip and move in down the bar enough it would not matter. Left hand grip just securely mounted. Paint and wire. (Reality is I would bend my bars enough, I did not need the aggravation of having to remove bar ends in a hurry.)
I agree with you about the bar ends, I also would rather not use them. I have some I'll throw on once the grips get the holes punched in the ends, just to try to limit the dirt that goes into the throttle tube. For now, I've thrown 30 cents at the problem. I've stuffed a quarter in the throttle side grip, and a nickel in the clutch side. I'll see if that helps keep the grip ends intact a little longer.
I learned my lesson from not using a bar end on the throttle. When you crash, the bike can move and hold the throttle wide open leading to all kinds of exciting consequences and lots of extra damage to the bike. If you don't have a lanyard kill device then I would strongly recommend a bar end.
Oh line-no-way, Changing the bar end takes what, 4 Mississippi's? What a drag. I usually hunt for the tool I just had in my hand, longer than that... sheesh.
Oh, Stingee, my dear sweet bruddah. Line could have had 3 beers by then! Total waste of time! C'mon, THINK!!!
If you ever crashed, (Like more than 3`) bent the bars severely. And then the damn bar end will not come off, and you are wasting time for a bling piece off shit that should never be on a bike. Actually my son got my wrath, a couple years ago at Roswell. Well out on the loop, drops it in like a foot in sand. Throttle is so full of grit and the bar end does not pop off. The bike was unrideable. Tell me what the bar end does besides scratch your truck when the bike falls over? Has a bar end ever saved your bars? ( By the way my record is six bars in one month. Would bar ends save me?) Please tell me you by bar ends to save your grips! I`ll keep buying grips! Kinda like the all day dab.
This actually makes sense and I may mend my ways. When I got my used competition bike the bar ends looked like they had been drug down the hiway at 55. They came out ok but the new S3's had a problem on the throttle side and I 'just tapped it in'. I will have to remove the screw and drill the plug to remove it when needed. Thanks for this prospective Lineaway. The ends look nice but can be detrimental. Barkbusters are in a different league, except for the truck bit.
Some bars used to come with a plastic cap on the end. All you had to do was cut the grips and cut the end off the throttle tube, Glue(I prefer paint) and wire securely. No money spent and they came apart in a hurry. My deal with time is a proper event has a cut off time. (DNF is not for me)
Line, when you wrecked the bars, did you not carry a set, setup with the left side grip already on (saving precious time)? Bar end be damned, if about to be timed out, no doubt. But the crazy comment that dicking with the bar end was some kind of "job stopping waste of time," bs, and seemed over the top for even twinshocker, or even you! Plastic bar ends, again I put on left side just after I manage to tear a grip end, usually... And about bending bars, you are special circumstances for sure, unlike the rest of us "plonkers" on this forum, you at least rode near the top, broke more than bars and bikes, seems some body parts included from stories you shared at sipapau... I never rode "pro nor master" line in modern or back when. I haven't bent bars on a bike since I got off my then 2 year old ty80... 99.8% of the riders/actively posting men/women here (imho), probably won't bend their bars except falling when unloading from pickup...
Who told you?/? I always had a complete set including throttle and grips until the fat bars came around. Now that was a great bling item for an old bike!
http://advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=11 Hardware and bling section. (And most unwanted bikes and parts.)
The last pair of bars that I bent was on a CZ 400 (and few on some 250s). The OEMs had welded on lever braxkets so there was never any saving em. Sacrificial bar ends are the first thing to go on my trialers.......ya see......I drop the bike a lot and the grips will instantly tear without them. The throttle side gets jammed with dirt when that happens---guaranteed. With ends, it will slide on the rocks, if you dump it in sand they still get gummed up no matter what you do.
