Canvas Grips

By Hans Muller
WDM20 58764
May 2007

CANVAS GRIPS

Original replacement canvas grips for your WDM20 are no longer off-the-shelf items, so if yours are worn, or even missing, you will have to make them yourself.

On the pictures, the twist grip is an original; I have made however another one for a spare twist grip!





Figure 2. Twist grip (original).

I used pieces of canvas webbing from a Brit army issue knapsack; the brass ferrules were turned from 1" brass stock, but I am thinking to try and make them from thin brass sheet using a kind of DIY drawing process. If you make them yourself, be sure the canvas will fit inside the ferrule!

First the twist grip: degrease and remove any oxide, put on a ferrule, and then glue (using a not-too-fast two-part epoxy glue) one side on the tube (glue line about 1 cm wide). Inserting the webbing under the ferrule can be a bit tricky!

Then after curing cut in a neat straight line and slightly into the glued part to get rid of the loose threads. Use a very sharp (utility) knife, and scrape off dried glue protruding from under the webbing from the tube.

Now wrap the rest of the canvas tight around the tube, cut off the excess - again with a very sharp knife - with at most 1 mm overlap, apply enough glue on the webbing and the inside of the ferrule, and make a butted joint.

Then wrap a piece of glue-inert plastic around the grip (that slippery kind of plastic used for sandwich bags), then spirally wind a long strip of rubber from an old inner tube, and let the glue set. The ends will be nicely pushed and glued together, and now you can put on the second ferrule.

For the left side grip (Figure 2), don't glue the webbing directly on the handlebar, but try to find a thin walled tube that fits over the handlebar, and apply the canvas on that. I used a piece of 7/8" gas pipe that I turned down to the same outside diameter as the twist grip tube, but later I found thin-walled tubing used in old electrical installations was a perfect fit..



Figure 2. Left side grip.

Secure the tube with epoxy glue, or preferably make a handle bar end plug (Figure 3), with a hidden setscrew that goes through the handlebar; this will allow for later and easier repairs. (Sorry, bad sketch but too lazy to learn correct drawing with the computer....)





Figure 3. Handlebar end plug drawing.

My grips have now done about 1700 miles, no fraying, and they look exactly like the original ones.