Hi all. I have been asked to post pics and a description of how I went about intstalling a left handbrake mod. Here goes. Take no account of my advice - get a pro's advice if you intend to do this. I wanted to do this for a nunber of reasons but mainly safety in (i) making U turns (ii) slow work in car parking areas (iii) hill starts and (iv) my nightmare = slow right hand steep sharp turns ( eg Lake District passes, Scottish Lochs, South of France gorges ). Now I have done the mod the bike is transformed into what it ought to have been from the get go. Having the left lever to operate the rear brake and the right lever to operate the front brake is just like riding a modern scooter. I have had no issues with confusing the left lever for a clutch, none. But it is each to their own. I have recently ridden the Hard Knott in the Lakes ( on you tube) without the mod so I know how much better it now is. I also wanted to do as little change to stock as possible so the mod could easily be reversed. So this how I did it ( using Mad Dawg's kit which I bought from him). The kit comprised:
1.5 metre Hell braided line in black
Left hand brake cylinder and lever from a dismantled old Honda Silverline - but totally refurbished with news piston / seals etc ( a great match for the Crosstourer's right lever)
Teardrop fitting which converts the rear reservoir cylinder feed port to a port linked to the new left hand lever / cylinder ( a couple opf places make these - there's a USA based outfit which supplies in days )
Other bits and pieces which I will mention as I go along. I began by taking off the offside fairing, tank trim and OE " crash " bars :). I then loosened the tank so that I could prop it up by a few inches allowing access to the body of the beast (to better thread the new line). The OE hand guards have to go as the Silverline (and other Honda alternatives) does not have the necessary front mounting for the OE guards. I have fitted Barkbusters Storm guards which are, in any event, so much stronger and look better imho. I then moved the hand brake down the bar a few inches and drilled a new locator hole. I also extended the hand brake micro switch wiring with some black cable protection mesh.
I then fitted the Silverline lever / cylinder. It fits perfectly and does not foul the Barkbuster or the hand brake. The Hell line was attached ( new copper washers) 20 ft pounds, and carefully threaded down the forks, under the tank , behind the battery box, and down to the rear cylinder. I was probaly being over cautious but I decided to cover the part of the line which ran under the battery box with some heat protection wrapping - just in case. Although tests with an infrared temp gun, with the bike hot , have shown the relevant Hell line run area not to be hot at all.
The new line was attached to existing runs and where necessary , bobbins to protect it were used ( you need to let Hell know how many you need - four should do it )
The rear reservoir and its teardrop fitting is then removed ( a bit of fluid gets out - not much). The new teardrop and Hell banjo was atached to the port left by the reservoir feed ( new copper crush washers) . 20 ft pounds. After a through check I then bled the system with a friends help using the old school slow gravity method. I wanted to change the fluid in any event. We started with the new lever / rear cylinder - opening the rear caliper bleeder. Once that was done we also - as a precaution - bled out the front linked section by opening the lower front nearside brake caliper bleeder. It took a while as I wanted to change the fluid and make sure we had no air ( we then bled the front lever / cylinder by opening the upper bleeder on each front caliper - so that all the fluid had been changed - took just over 1 ltr Dot 4 to do the job).
Front left, front right and foot brake were all firm. Tank , trims etc were then re attached. A test ride followed - all good. You have to remember that on the Crosstourer that the rear brake is linked to the front ( lower piston only) and the front is just the front. So when applying the left lever, or foot brake, initial pressure goes to the rear caliper then as pressure is increased , pressure is fed to the front caliper . So its not just a choice between a handful of rear brake or a handful of front brake. But it is still a joy to have the option of operating the rear brake with the left lever in many riding situations.
I did not take many pics as I did the mod - apologies. But I hope it is easy to see how this can be done. I am aware of several other ways to do this but I think this is the best. Also it is easy to reverse if you move the beast on.
( me and the DCT on the Hard Knott pass - pre mod:)
OE guards have to go . Silverline lever different in this regard. Barkbuster Storms used - far stronger in any event.
Old rear reservoir - comes off in one piece
Old reservoir teardrop fitting
Bike fairings and trims removed, tank loosened and propped up
New Silverline lever and reservoir fitted. Doesnt foul paddles / switches or Barkbuster
front view - re located hand brake. Works 100%. No fouling. The cable runs sits nicely in the gap
Hand brake wiring extended a few inches. Added the nylon mesh sheath
loom I made up to link the left and right micro switches. The Silverline micro switch is, I discovered, different so this will have to wait. It does work though with the "wrong" switch connected as shown.
An example of using the attached Hell bobbins to protect the new brake line
I used this hat wrap under the battery box on the new line just in case ( but later tests with a hot bike and infra red thermomemter gun showed the area not to be hot)
Front cyclinder, nearside. Lower bleeder is just for the footbrakje and new left lever - linked to the front brake. Upper bleeder both sides for the front right lever and reservoir only
Rear master cyclindedr with removed reservoir and pipe still in place
New teardrop fitted and left lever lie attached . It looks factory to me.
This is identical to the one I used - but that one was black. Just do some web searches - teardrop brake modifcation
