A while back, I spent a week one day in the garage of Bikernet headquarters with Bandit. Bandit was hot to put apehangers on his shiny new Road King Classic.

Once I arrived and cooled down his "high-bar desire", I suggested putting all the handlebar switch wires inside the bars where they would be safe from his undue attentions in the future. After a quick assurance on my part that I wouldn't feel a thing, he okayed the idea.

With the bars off of the bike and the switch wires laid out on the bench, he started whining about "all those wires". It was at this time I whipped out the handy dandy "wire vise" and showed him how to use it (it only took three times) to solder the wire extensions in place. While Bandit amused himself with this new toy, he asked where I found it. I explained to him (slowly) that the first time I saw one in use was at the old West Coast Choppers shop in Paramount, CA. One of the mechanics "Koon" was using the wire vise on one of the shop bikes, when I asked where he found it he replied, "some old guy showed me one." I asked to see it up-close and personal and traced the wire vise on the palm of my hand so I could make one once I got home.

After Bandit was done with his soldering chores on the switch wiring, I retrieved the wire vise from the bench only to be stopped at the door. The only escape was to promise Bandit a wire vise of his own. So, the only way to one-up the doorman, was to show everybody just how easy a wire vise is to make.

All you need is a short length of wire (a piece of welding rod or even a coat hanger) and a couple of alligator clamps. Here is my wire vise and the components for Bandit's.

I've added a six-inch scale to give you and idea of the overall dimensions. The vise is two and a half inches wide and each arm is an inch and a half long.

After marking where each bend is, the wire is lightly clamped in the bench vise and bent ninety degrees.

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