First bike + right side controls for one-arm rider (pics)

[Shorts]

I'm putting these up as I've most completed the project I was working on - my first bike, modified to fit me and use of only my right arm. We took up riding this February, stationed in Japan and lots of new stuff to see. After 2 weeks I got bored riding pillion on DHs Kawasaki Vulcan 400, and I wanted to ride myself. So we shopped for a while until I found a suitable bike, 2000 Honda VTR250, purchased from Red Baron, who we bought the Vulcan from. The VTR250 has 74k kms on it, had a few characters marks, and overall was a solid, broken in, bike.




Since I do not have the use of my left arm (BPI and broken neck C5-C7) I'm bound to do everything with only my right arm and hand. Guess that brings about a new twist to learning to ride a street bike. I use to ride dirtbikes in my eary teens. I searched online for "one-armed" anything pertaining to motorcycles and riding and I found several very informative websites that turned out to the the foundation of my riding endevor:

Disabled Riders of America (DRA forum)

National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD homepage) and NABD forum

American Motorcycle Association (AMA)

It was these, and many of the links included to various mountain biking, orthotic and prosthetic, biking and cycling articles that lead me forward with ideas. There are no blueprints for this kinda thing, so its trial and error, with functionality and safety being the top goals. The common modification for my arm situation is to move all the left side controls over to work in tandem with the right side controls. I am certainly not the first and I won't be the last person who needs to modify a bike/trike/sidecar to work with a disability. I'm just A person, and this is what I had to do.

The idea is very basic and concept is simple. It's the actual fitting that gets to be a bear. But some cutting, drilling, rearranging, twisting, cramming, cussing, reconnecting, draining, extending, rerouting, tweaking, testing, pumping, bleeding, splicing, wiping....well, you get the idea, and all that and you're done! Unfortunately, there really wasn't anything to see as far as pics of that process was concerned and I could go on and on about every detail, but I'll spare the crowd the boredom

The only thing remaining is a new left side mirror clamp (original built into clutch perch) and electrical switches from the left to the right (turn signal, headlight, horn, pass). I'm still thinking on how I'm going to do this, working around the stock setup is tricky to a point.


What I see now, sitting in the saddle (minus some switches and a mirror):



I installed 2" Rox Pivoting Risers as this eased my posture and took pressure off the throttle/clutch/brake hand that is already fairly busy. Becase of this, I had to replace the brake hose and throttle cables with extended lines. I also moved the left switch housing inboard to slack the choke cable and wiring harness. That also required redrilling a new holding hole:



In order to get the clutch perch to fit under the brake perch, I needed to removed the brake light switch and use a banjo bolt switch. Incidently I hacked off the stock mirror holder on both perches to try the initial clutch-over-brake setup:



Because the throttle cables exited at a forward angle, the clutch lever was not able to be pulled back completely. So I removed the throttle and redrilled the holding hole in the handlebar so that the cables are now exiting straight down as well as move the housing outboard just enough to allow the wiring harness to exit freely. This mod also contributed to needing longer throttle cables:



View of clutch hand position:



View of hand position, disengaged levers:



View of hand position, levers engaged:



Right side, view from the front:




I hope this gives an idea of my bike and the mods I'm learning to ride with. I feel bad, my poor first bike is taking a beating like what I've already done in the short 3.5wks I've had it in the garage. It had no idea what it was getting into when it came home with me.

To fine tune the controls, I would like to find a shorty brake lever and an adjustable position

Any questions, about me or the bike, please feel free to ask. I don't mind answering the questions you might feel 'inappropriate'. I don't mind talking about the accident, my limitations, my modifications or experiences whatsoever. None of that bothers me to discuss it.

[Gadjet]

Looks very good.

One thing you might want to consider to ease some of the congestion is a new front brake lever with a remote master cylinder. This will allow you to mount the fluid resevoir a little more out of the way to clear up some room.

Have you thought about trying to fit aluminum bar guards on the handlebars?

something like these:

the curved piece of bar attached to the end of the bar and wrapping around the lever.

While it may look odd on a sport standard, it would serve two functions

1. protect all that work you put into moving everything to the right side.
2. Give you somewhere to mount extra switches for your headlight, turn signals, etc....

you could fashion (or have made) a small switch box that bolts onto the bar guard and has several toggle/momentary switches for your extra functions that you can engage by reaching out with one finger.

Heck, I'd even build it for you if I knew all the specs needed for it to fit properly.

[Shorts]

That's a pretty good idea. I was thinking something like that pictured, but I kept stalling at those plastic hand guards for motox and enduro.."doh! that won't work". How does that handguard install to the handlebar end? My bars are factory closed.

Another fella on the DRA board has a setup with one switch housing on an extended end of the handlebar (so that it can be worked with the pinky or next to last finger), so that has me thinking too.



Initially I was considering to go to a remote MC (I made some postings in the troubleshooting forum I think about mc size), but ended up getting this to go. Since I might be looking at rebuilding the MC, I might upgrade to a new unit then. So yes, that idea is still a possibility.


Thanks for the ideas. They help

[Gadjet]

That's a pretty good idea. I was thinking something like that pictured, but I kept stalling at those plastic hand guards for motox and enduro.."doh! that won't work". How does that handguard install to the handlebar end? My bars are factory closed.

hmm. that might pose a problem, as the guards are held to the end of the bars by a bolt the threads into an expanding sleeve - you need to have bars with a hollow end for it to work.

Looking at the pics of your bars, you might be able to either cut off the closed end cap or drill it out. Hard for me to say not being able to actually have a physical look at your bars.

[BuzZz]

I like that bike, I wish I could find one here, but I don't ever recall seeing a VTR-250 without full fairings here. Lack of bodywork is optimal for my wife, since I know for a fact, her first bike is going to smack pavement a few times. And your doing a great job adapting the bike to yourself.

I don't know what kind of cash your prepared to spend on this thing, but if your so inclined, there are a few aftermarket parts that might work better for you. Or not, you'll have to decide that.

http://www.hardracing.com/GP%20Tech/Thumbrake.htm

One of the thumb-operated brake M/C's could be made to work on the rightside and feed your front calipers. Some modification to your expensive new M/C might be needed..... not sure if it would be worth all that to you ar not. You may be best off with what you got now.....

Off-roaders have some nice shorty clutch lever options....


This thing is better than popcorn to me....


This will change the leverage ratio of your lever/perch assembly, making the clutch pull easier, but increasing the lever travel. It fits on the cable so it can be used with any perch/lever assembly you choose.

The single aluminium bar style of handlebar guard (like Gadjets) is your best bet for bar protection. It is the strongest and gives the most room for your controls. The shield-type ones keep the windblast off your hands and are surprisingly warm (if riding in the cold is an issue for you), but they can get a bit tight if your levers are set in the 'wrong' place. With 2 levers, your unlikely to get the room for both.

And I'd kinda like to see a pic of you on the bike, in your normal riding position. Not that it would help or anything, just cause I'm curious.

[VermilionX]

glad to see your handicap doesn't affect your resolve to ride

i applaud you and more power to you!

[sharpmagna]

Thanks for taking the time to post up pics of your bike, shorts. I'm still jealous that smaller naked standards like that aren't available in the states

If you can't find any shorty levers, you could always chop the lever and bend it with some help from a torch.

[Sev]

That's awsome, just awsome. Cannot wait to see it in action.

[GrandGT]

yeh, thats really cool

[mgdavis]

Awesome. I hope that works well for you. Do you get enough leverage on your front brake with just the one finger?