I bought a 1969 CB350K1 in January and have almost finished rebuilding it. My question though, is this: when running the wires from the handlebar controls (horn, headlight, turn signal, starter) into the headlight, how do they get there? I bought a NOS control, but there doesn't seem to be a way to run the wires out. Do I have to drill a hole in the controller? I don't see a holes in the handlebar to run the wires through there. Anyone out there have one to check?
You must have an aftermarket handle bar on your bike.
A stock handle bar has holes in it for running the wires to the harness in the headlight.
You could try cutting the holes in the handle bar yourself which I would never do, or you can goto ebay and buy the correct handle bar for your bike.
My 71 CL350K-3 needs a handle bar because the chrome is in very very bad shape but, I do not buy one from ebay for some reason. Maybe because it is such a PITA to run the wires through the bar to begin with, that really sucks.
On the flip side of this thread, if I have a set of after market handlebars with no holes for wiring, is there a set of hand controls, brakes, throttle tube, etc that I can buy that would work?
In my case, I have a 74 CB350 K4 twin but I bought some clubman handlebars for a cafe racer style look. I don't want to drill holes in the clubmans and would rather buy some brakes, throttle controls, etc from another bike and put those one. Of course, I'll need brake handles that work with cables and not hydraulics and wires that run outside of the bars. Any suggestions?
You can drill the holes yourself! I've done this three times. You have to carefully mark the point where you want the holes. Use your old bars as a refrence and take care to make sure they're angled properly. Mount the new bars on the bike and loosely put the controls and levers and all on the bars and tilt them until they're are to you liking. then make reference marks.
The right side will need the big hole for the wires to go through and also a smaller hole that a pin in the inside of the controls goes into. Just take time and mark it just right and then drill small pilot holes first and then enlarge them to the size of the holes on the stock handle bars. You might need to put the bars in a vise so they don't disembowel you as the drill bit cuts in and grabs them. I once just clamped a set of cafe bars to a table top and drilled and it came loose and tried to kill me. Put a rag or old shirt around the bars where you clamp them so you don't damage the chrome in the vise.
The other hole you'll need is in the center on the underside toward the front. Drill two half inch or so holes about 1.5 inches apart and then use a dremel to cut away the remainder so you end up with a hole shaped like an oval. This is where the wires come out and go to the the headlight shell. It's a pain getting the wires shoved through the bars. I'd reccomend putting new heat shrink on them or wrapping them in electrical tape (kinda ghetto but it works fine) because the old black covering is brittle and stiff as you know.
Also, there will be sharp jagged edges on your new holes! Make sure you file these down or your wires will get cut into and then you'll go crazy. Also, the holes you drill WILL rust, but that's life.
