Barnett Cables: A Closer Look

I'm Nate Beck. And you're watching fix my hog cables. They're one of the most important parts of your Harley Davidson motorcycle and they're also one of the most overlooked, having a quality set of cables that are in good condition is critical to not only the safety of the bike but also the operation of the bike. So let's talk about cables a little bit here. We have two cables that are pulled off customer bikes as we can see they're worn out, they need replacing this one split.

Here we have corrosion, all very typical things on a wear item for a Harley Davidson. When we are talking about replacing our cables, though, we got to think about what we're going to replace it with oftentimes a stock length cable is not the ideal choice with many different options of handlebars, risers. The front end configurations of Harley's a mixture of all three, a stock length cable is not always your best choice. There are very good aftermarket choices that offer many more lengths, offer many more designs and better quality. Barnett has been making cables since 1948 and come in multiple designs and features.

Now let's start talking about what Barnett offers. Barnett makes throttle by wire and cables in platinum stealth series classic stainless traditional black. Now, all of these cables are gonna come with a protective outer housing that's gonna prevent sun discoloration due to excessive sun exposure. So with your bike sitting out at rallies, with your bike sitting in the driveway, out of your favorite restaurant, you know, bikes take a lot of sun. So it's gonna keep, make sure these cables all look the same throughout the life of the cable.

Now on the inside of the cable, since 1987 they've used a silicon lubed nylon coated inner wire. What this is gonna do is going to let the cable go through the housing a lot more smoothly and more consistently. It's gonna save on hand cramping and it's gonna let you feel where that uh friction zone is all the time. Also, they've used a lined cable housing and that is going to give you a lot more durability and longevity along the life of the cable. Now, for those of you on the newer bikes, um Barnett offers an HD replacement clutch cable that gives you the traditional style uh clutch adjustment as opposed to the newer self adjusting mechanism.

So if you've worked on your own bikes for a while, and you're really familiar with that traditional style of clutch adjustment on your clutch cable, and you have a newer bike with a self adjusting mechanism, give Barnett a call and they'll get you set up with uh with one with the traditional style. Now, all of these features are great and the fact that Barnett started in 48 and is still in business today means they service a ton of motorcycles. But like I said, you know, none of this is good unless it fits your bike and stock length cables, not always the best choice to get around this. Barnett offers custom length cables. Now, these custom length cables are one offs.

You can literally order one from Barnett. There's no minimum order on this and all you need to do is take a piece of string or wire or maybe an old cable that's a little bit uh longer so you can run it through your bike through the handlebars around the headlights, you know, really get the routing down of how you want it. Measure that call Barnett and say, hey, I need a cable at this length for this style bike and they'll get you set up again, no minimums and it's gonna give you the exact correct length of the cable. We all know a cable is too long, is gonna stick way out in front of your bike. It's gonna be flapping in the wind.

It's gonna be distracting a cable that's too short is gonna be really dangerous because when you're turning those handlebars complete side to side, the cable is gonna bind and create unsafe situations. So having the correct length cable is really important. And Barnett's got your back on that with their custom length cables with no minimums. Now, for those of you with fly by wire throttle by wire applications, Barnett has you too, they offer plug and play wire extensions. Now, what these are gonna do is you're going to unplug your current, fly by wire and measure how much more distance you need.

Call it Barnett say I need this much extra distance on a fly by wire set up for this Harley Davidson and they'll send you it literally plug and play, you plug it in, you put your bike back together and you're back on the road for more about what Barnett offers for more details on the products we've talked about and for other products, Barnett makes, check out Barnet clutches.com until next time you're watching Fix my hog. Ride safe, ranch safe and we'll see you on the road.