Ignition switch relocate A la Mittzy

JSHRAM

.060 Over
Joined
Oct 9, 2015
Messages
109
Location
Cedar City, UT
Ride
2011 Triumph Rocket 3 Roadster
Took Mittzy up on his offer to make a switch extender harness for me so I could relocate mine to the lower left plastic panel (in front of the left side cover) like he did. I have to say that I really didn't like the stock location of that switch and Mittzy having already perfected the harness with the right plugs was just what I needed to push me over the edge to do it.

I tried my best to copy what Mittzy did, but learned a couple things that maybe I'd pass on if someone else wants to do this. It isn't hard, but it does require some tinkering.

First off, getting the switch out requires removing the top triple tree. Not sure how else you would do it, and the two screws holding the switch on are tamper proof (no heads) so I cut through the bracket holding the switch on with a dremmel. I tried to cut a grove in the heads and unscrew them, but no avail so I chopped them.

As Mittzy pointed out, the metal bracket under the plastic housing can be used to mount the switch to. Actually that plastic cover with the hole and the plug in it and the bracket with two spare holes looks like it was designed for a switch to go there.

You have to cut the electrical cable retaining wires off the bracket so that you are left with only the flat piece of metal. looking at the bracket, you'll see there is a dip in the middle which isn't enough for this switch... deepen it with more grinding. The holes where the swtich housing will bolt to area not quite in alignment, so you need to open them up (I just over-drilled them). And, you will need to open up the oblong holes in the switch housing (aluminum, so it is easy).

Next the hole in the plastic cover needs to be opened up. I drilled it with a 1-1/8" bit, then used my dremmel with a sanding drum to expand it to the 1-1/4" needed. The hole has to be oblong (fore to aft) as the switch doesn't protrude straight through the hole, it goes at an angle.

The bolts that you use to hold the switch onto the bracket will need to be low-profile heads otherwise they will impact the plastic housing, I ground mine down (see pictures).

After you get it all lined up, you'll discover that the switch barrel hits the corner of the airbox requiring some creative demolition. Forget the whole thing if you haven't deleted the stock air intake. Anyway, taking a chunk out of the corner of the airbox provides for a nice cozy spot to stuff the wires and connectors that used to be held by the retaining wire on the bracket (which we cut off). It's actually much cleaner this way than it was pre-surgery.

Here's some pictures of the operation. Thanks again to Mittzy!

John
 
Brake disc lock. Used 'em for years on all my bikes. Other than that.. full coverage insurance.
very nice work a bit more involved than my relocation job (on two r3 ) the metal ears being very soft I did not remove triple clamp I did cut the ears off the mounting with a recip saw all in all spent 2 hours and a bit to do the job and @DEcosse made me the extension for the ignition
 
One of the real big pluses with the new Bonneville range and Street Twin is the ignition is now in pretty much the same spot as it is on the Rocket. One of the things that almost everyone dislikes about the Thunderbird and America/Speedmaster is that the ignition is on the side of those bikes. Why on earth would you want to move it from where it is?
 
One of the real big pluses with the new Bonneville range and Street Twin is the ignition is now in pretty much the same spot as it is on the Rocket. One of the things that almost everyone dislikes about the Thunderbird and America/Speedmaster is that the ignition is on the side of those bikes. Why on earth would you want to move it from where it is?
imagine the following .. with a sport screen on the roadster you stop you have a gps neatly mounted in front of the sport screen . see if you can reach way down behind that GPS and reach the bloody thing!!!
 
imagine the following .. with a sport screen on the roadster you stop you have a gps neatly mounted in front of the sport screen . see if you can reach way down behind that GPS and reach the bloody thing!!!
That's why I moved mine.
 
imagine the following .. with a sport screen on the roadster you stop you have a gps neatly mounted in front of the sport screen . see if you can reach way down behind that GPS and reach the bloody thing!!!


Aahh you youngsters - read the old fashioned paper map and memorize*. They even invented those new fangled tank bags with plastic pockets to quickly pull over and read/check without having to take your gloves off which for safety's sake the modern GPS user should do as well. ;)

*Some of us are still challenged by a GPS :confused:. I also have fat fingers and thumbs that are even fatter in gloves and I am not Iron Man or a tech fashionista with conductive touch sensitive gloves. I even struggle to use the things in a cage when I can hear her dulcet tones encouraging me to do a U-turn or re- calculating and plotting my route after I have missed three turns already in the last mile.:rolleyes::rolleyes::D
 
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