1973 Hi-Rider original equipment

quawk

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Being a newbie to this site and ownership of a 1973 Hi-Rider, can someone tell me did these bikes originally come with a horn, turn signals (indicators), and a center stand? My bike has none of these items. Just wondering if the previous owner had removed these things. He had made some changes, namely extended fork legs and an aftermarket side turnout exhaust, so he may have made some other changes, namely deleting these items.
 
quawk said:
did these bikes originally come with a horn, turn signals (indicators), and a center stand?
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Yes, so they are missing.

The horn could be there but it is tucked out of sight in front of the rear mudguard near the battery tray. The bike was built around it ;)
 
quawk said:
Being a newbie to this site and ownership of a 1973 Hi-Rider, can someone tell me did these bikes originally come with a horn, turn signals (indicators), and a center stand? My bike has none of these items. Just wondering if the previous owner had removed these things. He had made some changes, namely extended fork legs and an aftermarket side turnout exhaust, so he may have made some other changes, namely deleting these items.
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The extended forks probably made the center stand unusable.

If the wiring is near stock:

At the taillight you should have Brown: Brake Light, Brown/Green: Taillight, Green/White and Green/Red: Indicators, there might be a Red wire for ground or it might use the fender/frame.

On the timing side close to the front/bottom of the oil tank, there should be two wires coming from the inner primary (inner chain case), a Brown/Blue and a Red going to a power connector, and a Purple/Black and a Red going to the horn.
 
marshg246 said:
The extended forks probably made the center stand unusable.

If the wiring is near stock:

At the taillight you should have Brown: Brake Light, Brown/Green: Taillight, Green/White and Green/Red: Indicators, there might be a Red wire for ground or it might use the fender/frame.

On the timing side close to the front/bottom of the oil tank, there should be two wires coming from the inner primary (inner chain case), a Brown/Blue and a Red going to a power connector, and a Purple/Black and a Red going to the horn.
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Have found the horn. It is present, but non working. Other lighting works as it should. You're probably correct about a center stand not working with the extended forks. Turn signal wiring appears present, but as I said no indicators.
 
I haven't gone out to measure, but I don't believe the Hi-Rider forks are longer than the other Commandos. It was the handlebars that were extended.
 
You are correct in that the Hi-Rider didn't have extended forks compard to the other Commandos. The pevious owner had installed the extended forks after purchase.
 
quawk said:
You are correct in that the Hi-Rider didn't have extended forks compard to the other Commandos. The pevious owner had installed the extended forks after purchase.
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It's possible that the forks have screw-in extensions. I bought a junker once that had that. The forks were standard, but a 6" extension screwed in, a 6" damper rod was screwed on, and the spring was against the bottom of the extension = scary and quite a jigsaw to take apart (probably worse to assemble!
 
My '74 850 Commando came to me as a HiRider...which I quickly preformed an emergency Roadsterization upon. Had all original turn lamps, horn, centerstand. I too thought the horn to be non-functional, so removed it but then discovered it worked very well once connected to good power source (a poor battery and/or poor ign switch power source likely played a role of non-function in bike).
Forks are standard length across all Commandos.
My bike has dealer installed 16 inch fatty rear wheel...an attempt to further increase the "Easy Rider Chopper" look. I replaced with 18 inch alloy that I spoked to the hub myself.

Other known differences from other model Commandos': the front brake hose is longer, as are the switch cluster wires I believe and clutch cable, to accommodate the higher handle bars. The headlamp is the 5-3/4" size, not the 7" found on the other models. The tank is the 9 Litre "peanut" size (mine is metal). Obviously the banana seat and tall grab bar is H.R. specific.
That's it.
 
quawk said:
Have found the horn. It is present, but non working. Other lighting works as it should. You're probably correct about a center stand not working with the extended forks. Turn signal wiring appears present, but as I said no indicators.
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The original horn can be made to work, but they were not very loud. Lots of modern horns are much louder, require much less current, and can be mounted in that location or elsewhere.

Lately, I've been using these: https://a.co/d/3KzjsHZ Either one of them is louder than the original and the pair requires less current than the original.
 
Tornado said:
My '74 850 Commando came to me as a HiRider...which I quickly preformed an emergency Roadsterization upon. Had all original turn lamps, horn, centerstand. I too thought the horn to be non-functional, so removed it but then discovered it worked very well once connected to good power source (a poor battery and/or poor ign switch power source likely played a role of non-function in bike).
Forks are standard length across all Commandos.
My bike has dealer installed 16 inch fatty rear wheel...an attempt to further increase the "Easy Rider Chopper" look. I replaced with 18 inch alloy that I spoked to the hub myself.

Other known differences from other model Commandos': the front brake hose is longer, as are the switch cluster wires I believe and clutch cable, to accommodate the higher handle bars. The headlamp is the 5-3/4" size, not the 7" found on the other models. The tank is the 9 Litre "peanut" size (mine is metal). Obviously the banana seat and tall grab bar is H.R. specific.
That's it.
Click to expand...
Yes, the brake hose and clutch cable are longer for a HI Rider, the stock wiring for the switch clusters from a Roadster will work fine with Hi Rider bars. The factory coiled up the excess and hid it under the tank. The bike pictured is a Roadster fitted with High bars for an old man with back problems, factory Roadster harness. Yes, the headlight is of smaller diameter, but just uses longer spacers.
 

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Tornado said:
My '74 850 Commando came to me as a HiRider...which I quickly preformed an emergency Roadsterization upon. Had all original turn lamps, horn, centerstand. I too thought the horn to be non-functional, so removed it but then discovered it worked very well once connected to good power source (a poor battery and/or poor ign switch power source likely played a role of non-function in bike).
Forks are standard length across all Commandos.
My bike has dealer installed 16 inch fatty rear wheel...an attempt to further increase the "Easy Rider Chopper" look. I replaced with 18 inch alloy that I spoked to the hub myself.

Other known differences from other model Commandos': the front brake hose is longer, as are the switch cluster wires I believe and clutch cable, to accommodate the higher handle bars. The headlamp is the 5-3/4" size, not the 7" found on the other models. The tank is the 9 Litre "peanut" size (mine is metal). Obviously the banana seat and tall grab bar is H.R. specific.
That's it.
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When you say the 9 litre "peanut" tank on your Hi-Rider was metal, did you get an aftermarket tank? I thought all the HR tanks were fiberglass, as mine is.
 
NORTSTER1974 said:
Yes, the brake hose and clutch cable are longer for a HI Rider, the stock wiring for the switch clusters from a Roadster will work fine with Hi Rider bars. The factory coiled up the excess and hid it under the tank. The bike pictured is a Roadster fitted with High bars for an old man with back problems, factory Roadster harness. Yes, the headlight is of smaller diameter, but just uses longer spacers.
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How does "an old man with back problems" kick start the bike pictured. I'm an old man with an aching back and I don't know if I'm going to be able to kick start my bike. Keeping my fingers crossed that when I get this thing sorted out, it will start easily enough that even I'll be able to kick start if.
 
quawk said:
When you say the 9 litre "peanut" tank on your Hi-Rider was metal, did you get an aftermarket tank? I thought all the HR tanks were fiberglass, as mine is.
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'75 had the steel peanut tank.
1973 Hi-Rider original equipment
 
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I am happy to say that I was directly involved with the return of an original High Rider that had been "Roadsterized", back to original spec again.

When I removed the High-rider stuff from a bike that I resto-modded for a client (photo above), I sold the tall bars, sissy bar, and tall seat to a fellow in Europe who was wanting to restore a former high rider, and he had been searching for MONTHS, in all the appropriate places (including AN), and could NOT find them. He was overjoyed to pay a tidy sum around 4 figures.

That eased my guilt for being involved in the client's project inasmuch as I stood to be criticized by the Rivet Counter's Guild.
 
Some responses have mentioned I will need a different brake hose. My bike has the front drum brake which I intend to keep. I realize the disc is a better brake but I like the looks of the drum with the air vent/cooling scoop. Front brake handlebar lever and cable are missing so I'll have to get those anyway.
 
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quawk said:
Thanks for the pic, nice bike. It gives me a view of where the turn signals should be located. And I thinks I've already researched this but, does your '75 have electric start and left side shift as I think they went to in '75?
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The black '75 retained the e-start and left-foot-shift when I resto-modded it for my client.

1973 Hi-Rider original equipment


However, on my '75-engined special, I converted it to right-foot shift VERY easily. 3 rubber plugs and a transmission outer cover and bits from an earlier model

1973 Hi-Rider original equipment
 
Something else about my bike, as I mentioned in earlier posts the previous owner had put on aftermarket side turnout exhaust (ughhh!) . It looks like from pics of others' bikes that the exhasut pipe/header pipe should have a slight bend/kick up ahead of the muffler. Can someone verify this. If that is the case, it looks like he (PO) may have cut them ahead of that bend so these aftermarket turnout pipes run parrallel with the bottom line of the bike or straight back. If so, that means I'll be looking for a set of header pipes because I do intend to install the "pea shooter" mufflers.
 
quawk said:
Something else about my bike, as I mentioned in earlier posts the previous owner had put on aftermarket side turnout exhaust (ughhh!) . It looks like from pics of others' bikes that the exhasut pipe/header pipe should have a slight bend/kick up ahead of the muffler. Can someone verify this. If that is the case, it looks like he (PO) may have cut them ahead of that bend so these aftermarket turnout pipes run parrallel with the bottom line of the bike or straight back. If so, that means I'll be looking for a set of header pipes because I do intend to install the "pea shooter" mufflers.
Click to expand...
Yes, the upswept peashooters were OEM spec

I might have a set of turn signals, I will look this afternoon...
 
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