The cables appeared to be original. Both the clutch and brake cable had broken strands. The housings on all of the cables were stiff and with the vinyl cracked or missing in sections. They all needed to be replaced.
I decided to make cables for several reasons:
- The OEM cables appeared to be a bit too long for the stock bars.
- I installed new handlebars with about 1″ less rise than the original bars so the new cables needed to be even shorter.
- One of the cable sections is no longer available.
- I like making stuff.
After reading about them, I made a simple solder pot from a short 1.25″ diameter piece of steel rod with a short handle welded to it. The pot is heated with a MAPP torch. The mass of the pot keeps the solder liquid for several minutes. It took some experimentation to find the right flux. But with the right flux the pot makes soldering fittings onto cables an easy task.
I also made both 6mm & 7mm ferrule compression fixtures. A ferrule is compressed via the fixture with a vise. These fixtures were made from two pieces 1/4″ thick steel plate and a couple of short sections of 1/4″ diameter steel rod.
