Handlebar
and Control lever modifications  |
          |
 |
 |
 |
The original handle bars on my Strada I found to be a bit narrow,
so after experimenting with 
different bars including a set of adjustable
Jota bars, I settled upon two sets of bars which I alternate between.
They are a set of Norton straights (also
called drag bars) which have no rise but pull back to give a comfortable
position for the wrists, these I use in the summer for a sportier position
when the going gets quicker. In the winter I fit a set of superbike bars
which have a moderate rise and pull back but are wider than the others,
which helps with the extra layers required to stay warm on winter runs,
and allow a more upright riding position. But as the bike lives in my
hall they are a bugger to get through the door frame!
The original switch gear on my Strada was the same CEV chrome
boxes that bolted to the original bars, these are usually called snuff
boxes. There was only one unit on the left hand side of the bars, these
are some of the worst electrical designs to have been fitted to a motorcycle,
even Joe Lucas the lord of Darkness could not sink this low( if you don't
understand ask your dad, Lucas supplied electrics for a great deal of
the British motorcycle industry, they did not have the greatest of reputations—Oh
dear I can hear the hoards of fanatical British bike riders beating down
my front door to lynch me, but if they use a piece of Lucas wiring I'll
be O.K.!).
So to improve on things I bought a 2nd hand Honda unit from a breakers,
this included all the necessary switches—Dim/High beam, H/Lamp flash, Indicators 
and
Horn. There was no provision for sidelight but as I never use them it wasn't
a problem. This unit also included the clutch lever and a tapped drilling to
take a mirror. All in all a sound buy, the unit is from a Honda 125 of late80s/early
90s vintage. The wiring was easily modified on the switches loom to match up
with the Stradas wiring and since fitting has caused no problems.
The
controls have been altered for a couple of reasons, firstly the clutch
was altered as mentioned due to fitting the Honda switch gear, this left
me with levers that didn't match also there was no 
facility to fit mirrors
to the original lever mountings. Also although fairly strong (one of
the side effects of drum brakes!) I only have small hands and have always
had to modify levers either by fitting dog-leg ones or bending the originals.
With the arrival of modern Jap set levers which are usually multi adjustable
via some form of cam device altered by a wheel on the mounting end of
the lever I decided this was a good idea. So I set out to change the
front brake lever and mounting, which of course produced the first problem
there are no modern bikes with drum brakes (small commuters excepted)
as of course there all disc-braked with hydraulic operating brake levers.
So I had to use a clutch side lever assembly turned upside down (amazing
how many modern bikes also have hydraulic clutches!), I used a 750
Kawasaki one again acquired from a local breakers, it was a good fit
and actually improved the cable alignment over the original. Lever
cable fittings were the right size, the only problem was the mirror
mount didn't go right through its boss, but an application of a drill
and tap altered this. So as the picture shows I now have a span adjustable
lever, mirror mounting and when I have time and re-fit the switch a
front brake light.
