Vista Cruise Mods

OK, as promised, here are some pics of my modified Vista Cruise.

What I did is dump the stock plastic clamp and bar, turn the unit down on the grip somewhat, and fabricate a bent steel bracket with two holes. The bracket is secured to the bike with the same screw that holds the throttle cables to the switch housing. The allen head screw & acorn nut supplied by Vista Cruise to attach the thumb latch also attaches the unit to the new bracket. (Bracket is painted black in the photos.) I supplied a couple small flat washers.

Notice that that that screw comes very close to the switch housing, and infact interfered with it until I ground the head of the screw off quite shallow and beveled the top.

The bracket was made from a card slot blockoff plate from an old computer case. It was a very old case & the metal was much thicker than those of the more modern computers. Anyhow 18 gage steel should work fine. This part was metric metal and perhaps a tad thicker than that.

View from the seat, cruise off:




View from the seat, cruise on:



View from the bar end (cruise on):



View from below (cruise on):

[cactusjack]

Excellent pictures. I see one of these in my future.

Thanks Jack. This one was made in a hurry, and not all that pretty. I need to make a neater one out of polished stainless steel, but first I gotta scrounge around for a piece. The wife's mixing bowls aren't quite heavy enough to cut one from.

Anyhow, just position the Vista Cruise parts as I did and make a little cardboard template the approximate size you'll need, then trim the metal, bend it, mark & drill the holes (perfect accuracy not required, but reasonable accuracy is.) then round all the edges off. I just burnished this one with a wire wheel, degreased it, & shot it with spray paint after I got it all "tuned up".

Basically, I used a drill, padded vice, grinding wheel, and wire wheel, a bit of sandpaper, and a few hand tools.

[audiogooroo]

Nice job CaddmannQ!

[ells]

Gona give that a try. Thanks!

[misunderstood]

Looks good. Just curious at the on off position. Did you install it upside down as well to get it in that direction?? Thanks

[beezer]

I like it. Good job!

[VulcanE]

I like your set-up too. I have the Shindler flip-a-lever, and it is a little difficult to use, because the "flip" part sits so low. I usually will engage it with my left hand, and disengage with my right thumb. Your set-up seems to put it right at the thumb for easy access, and it mounts right were the Shindler does, and your set-up gets rid of the Bar that turned me off from the vista-cruz.

[misunderstood]

I'll buy your flip a lever !!

[VulcanE]

Well I was thinking of trying to modify it to get it to be a little more user friendly.

[Top Cat]

No, sell it to Misunderstood ,poor guy has been looki' for one for a long time. Make his day

[cactusjack]

I like your set-up too. I have the Shindler flip-a-lever, and it is a little difficult to use, because the "flip" part sits so low. I usually will engage it with my left hand, and disengage with my right thumb. Your set-up seems to put it right at the thumb for easy access, and it mounts right were the Shindler does, and your set-up gets rid of the Bar that turned me off from the vista-cruz.

Another member of this forum who also belongs to my SCRC chapter has told me the same thing - that he uses his left hand to set the Flip-a-lever. He said the bottom dead center location makes it hard to do with the right thumb.

[misunderstood]

No, sell it to Misunderstood ,poor guy has been looki' for one for a long time. Make his day

Thanks TC, sounds like a Clint Eastwood line, but "go ahead, make my day" Shoot, I'd love to get your faring too, while we're at it.

Looks good. Just curious at the on off position. Did you install it upside down as well to get it in that direction?? Thanks

Yeah, you can see from the pics that I just turned the clamp to point (approximately) down, and now the lever folds up close when unlocked.

Either locked or unlocked, I can easily get to the switches, which was the primary thing for me.

(Of course looks is important too.)

BTW, keep in mind that I just did this mod because I wanted something and I got the Vista Cruise for free.

I still think it is a flimsy piece of junk, looks ugly as sin, only works marginally well, and I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one.