twist clutch, throttle, and integrated brakes

[Clerek]

I am just looking for a little advise about twist clutch and integrated brakes systems. I know what the integrated brakes do, and how they work, but would there be a way to integrate this into our bikes? I know that a larger brake fluid reservoir would be needed, but what else, if anything would be needed? The front brakes are already, in their own way, integrated, but what if I took off one of the rotors, and brake assembly and routed the brake line to the rear brake as well, and then made the rear brake control pedal work for both brakes? Can anyone forsee any problems with this? This is purely in development mode right now, but I am seriously looking into doing something like this.

With the twist clutch...Does anyone have any experience with this? I have ridden a bike with the twist clutch, and though it is a little awkward at first, it really is quite fun. I am trying to keep the handlebars minimized, and would like to use an aftermarket throttle metal grip, with has the cable catch integrated into it, and then route the cables to the inside of the handlebars, and eliminate all levers, and switches(minus the light switches which will be hidden on the handlebar. Totally minimalistic...I was thinking about taking a hacksaw to the metal grip throttle catch, and turning it around and welding it back together...

Throttle assembly:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/7-8-S...=p4506.c0.m245

What do you think? Is the brakes something that could be done? What experience do you have with twist clutches? with the reverse throttle setup work for the twist clutch?

Let me know what you think, like, prefer, don't like, hate, love...(Now i'm overdooing it...)

Thanks
-Rick

[The Lorax]

The XJ's have an integrated braking system, it's only one of the fronts though, the other is controlled by the front lever. I'm no expert, but I think splitting the front lines to run the back will require more than just removing the caliper and re routing the line, I think you'll need the proper proportioning valve to control the rear brakes properly. you might get an XJ rear braking system with all the bits and try to add a larger resevior, then run the appropriate lines to both front brakes. I don't know, you might have to talk to someone more knowlegeable than me for that mod. have a nice day and ride safe

[The Lorax]

oops I forgot the other question, some "chopper" builder makes twist grip clutch actuators, probably for 1" bars, but you might be able to make them work, kinda slick really. I think the place was called "exile cycles" or something like that, dude hates chrome, likes satin paint as opposed to gloss, interesting fellow really, very anti shiny, his stuff looks ok to me, so what the hey, to each his own right

[fredintoon]

Minimizing the bars

Hi Clerek,
admittedly it was a Harley but I did see a bike with no controls on the bars at all except the horn & starter buttons and the turn-signal, killswitch & dimmer switches. Strictly car-style engine & transmission controls: foot throttle and linked foot brake on the right; foot clutch and hand shifter on the left. Rider claimed he'd had it rigged that way so he didn't have to re-learn where his controls were. You'd have to throw some research into correctly balancing the front/rear braking effort, the rest of the gear can be catalog-shopped.

[DGXSER]

Russell Mitchel of Exile Cycles does make the twist clutch piece. He has a way to hide about every control making the bike look VERY minimal. Yeah Matt, he loves flat black and even wrapping pipes in tape and painting it either flat white or flat black. He also loves the front tires being as fat as the rear tire which I do not like. But I have liked the look of his bikes since I saw him on one fo the Biker Buildoff competitions.

I would love to get a beat up old XS11 that needs work and new parts anyway and mod it to look very similar to his "Mad Max" bike. I could never bring myself to tear into Thunderstruck like that it is in to good of condition.

[CatatonicBug]

The '81 MNS has the linked brakes too, but uses a rear MC that is slightly smaller than the XJ. The rebuild kits for the MNS' MC are made of unobtainium, so I have swapped mine out for the XJ MC. They both have the proportioning valve built into them. Like Lorax said, it only runs the rear and ONE of the front calipers, so to make it run both fronts, you'd have to bump it up to a different (larger) MC, and join it with the proportioning valve from the XJ (or some other make/model).