# Anyone share experience with welding handle bars?



## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

honda handlebars break easily sometimes and i have seen many older honda's that had their handlebars broken and welded up.

recently picked up a 928 with a poor welding job on the bars and am thinking about grinding it apart and redoing the weld.

anyone here have experience with that? can you put some kind of sleeve between the two ends? 

what is the best way to do this and still make it look nice?

does anyone have pictures of their welding jobs on repairing handlebars?

thanks.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Post a few pics of the damage


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

To make it look good you'll have to place a internal reinforcement sleeve, weld it and grind it down to the original size.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

YSHSfan said:


> To make it look good you'll have to place a internal reinforcement sleeve, weld it and grind it down to the original size.


yes , i can see how that would work. how would you do that where the handlebars curve towars the handles?

has anyone done that before? any pictures? I couldn't find anything on you-tube. maybe I wasn't searching correctly.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

orangputeh said:


> yes , i can see how that would work. how would you do that where the handlebars curve towars the handles?


If you have a friend that has a tube bender, you can get a piece of smaller tube (which fits inside the handle bars) and get it bent in the shape of the handle bars.
If not you have two choices:
* Make a few "V" cuts on the smaller pipe to curve it like the handle bars, weld it and grind it to shape.
* Install a straight piece of smaller pipe on the broken area, fill the open areas with weld and grind it to the original size.


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## Shaw351 (Nov 15, 2016)

Above-mentioned repairs will work for your handles, there are many ways to get them welded up into shape.
I make side reinforcement for my older ariens machines, only have this one pixx. Early ones i just welded up, but i like to make them just bolt on now. The material is 1/2" square hot rolled steel stock that I use on wrought-iron railings.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Shaw351 said:


> Above-mentioned repairs will work for your handles, there are many ways to get them welded up into shape.
> I make side reinforcement for my older ariens machines, only have this one pixx. Early ones i just welded up, but i like to make them just bolt on now. The material is 1/2" square hot rolled steel stock that I use on wrought-iron railings.


ok thanks. i can see how you re-enforced that. on a lot of machines the bars snap apart in two places. one is at the bend where the the bar goes up from the bottom to the curve near the handles and the other place is where both bars connect at the bolt area.

i't get some pictures here soon.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

If you wanted to try and fabricate that interior sleeve you might also try a muffler shop since they'd have a bender. Not sure if they can do something that diameter but you might find the right guy who likes something different and would do it more for a challenge rather than just $$.


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## Shaw351 (Nov 15, 2016)

orangputeh said:


> ok thanks. i can see how you re-enforced that. on a lot of machines the bars snap apart in two places. one is at the bend where the the bar goes up from the bottom to the curve near the handles and the other place is where both bars connect at the bolt area.
> 
> i't get some pictures here soon.


Exactly in those places, thats why my brackets are made that way. Wish my pixx had shown upper attachment as it bolted right through the upper joint. I currenty have sold all my machines with those modifications. 
If you have a keeper machine im sure i can build a set of brackets to bolt on. Just post up side pixx of machine and model number, sure i can find a similar machine here for templating.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Shaw351 said:


> Exactly in those places, thats why my brackets are made that way. Wish my pixx had shown upper attachment as it bolted right through the upper joint. I currenty have sold all my machines with those modifications.
> If you have a keeper machine im sure i can build a set of brackets to bolt on. Just post up side pixx of machine and model number, sure i can find a similar machine here for templating.


thanks for the offer. I'll do it eventually.

Today I signed up for a welding class at the community makerspace. they may have a tube bender and the nice thing about this class is that you can bring projects down there and they have a metal expert there to help you.


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## Shaw351 (Nov 15, 2016)

Found some better pixx of handle reinforcements.....


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

learned a lot in the welding class. 

some of these handle bar welds look so bad that i may want to grind the welds off if possible and redo them.

the instructor asked me if the welds were bad and I said no. they just look horrible. i guess he did not understand why i wanted to redo them. he looked at me kind of strange.

i do have high standards and will redo things several times if i have to to get it right.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

orangputeh said:


> the instructor asked me if the welds were bad and I said no. they just look horrible.


If a weld looks horrible, IT IS BAD in my books...!


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Shaw351 said:


> Found some better pixx of handle reinforcements.....


They look great.....!

If I was to even improve the design of those reinforcement brackets, I'd make them so that you can also unbolt them from the bottom. This way it can be brought back to "stock" if desired.


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## Fat City (Feb 11, 2017)

Slice up a steel bicycle handle bar to get curvy metal . Cut a relief slot in the metal going into the damaged handle bars . I've fixed a few broken lawn mower handles by adding a sleeve, and brazing it . * Do Not Braze Galvanized Metal, lethal fumes ! *


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