Raising the bars, and changing their angle question....

Stanley · Post by **Stanley** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:09 pm

Any thoughts on this please...
I'm after changing the handlebar position. It's not that they are too low, as such, but I really don't like the angle that they sit at. Puts my wrists at an awkward angle and makes the clutch almost painful to use.

So I started by undoing the M6 bolt underneath, and pivoting the bars forward into a more "flat bar" position. This felt better, but the bars were now a long reach away.
So I moved the bars onto the top of the yoke. So now a good angle; a fairly long reach; and a bit higher. Bit worried though..... Worried that the bars will spin on the stanchions. Thinking of joining the two redundant "tabs" with a turnbuckle arrangement; sort of lock them to each other.
Do other people that have simple moved the bars to above the yoke do this? Or just risk it with one pinch bolt holding onto the stanchion?

I've though about making up a new top yoke and doing a flat bar conversion, but don't have access to any machine tools these days.

Here's where I'm up to now,

Any thoughts?

skiddy boxers · Post by **skiddy boxers** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:03 pm

Hi Andy
I joined mine together with a bit of flat bar and it was tested last year on a ferry crossing when a fully loaded Goldwing fell over taking my bike with it. The bars moved but only a small amount. If they hadn't been locked together the one that punctured the fairing of the French R1 next to mine

would have probably been pushed back enough to make it unrideable off the ferry.

All I had to do when I got off the ferry was loosen the two nuts reset the bars, retighen the nuts and ride off. Two minute job.

Worth doing in my opinion.

Dai wiskers · Post by **Dai wiskers** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:03 pm

The bars wont turn but make sure you have enough play in the front brake hose
Dai

skiddy boxers · Post by **skiddy boxers** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:05 pm

Dai wiskers wrote:The bars wont turn but make sure you have enough play in the front brake hose
Dai

They will if the bar hits something and the play in the brake hose is a good point as well.

Dai wiskers · Post by **Dai wiskers** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:14 pm

skiddy boxers wrote:
Dai wiskers wrote:The bars wont turn but make sure you have enough play in the front brake hose
Dai
They will if the bar hits something and the play in the brake hose is a good point as well.

Two replys two different answers mine hit the road pretty hard and stayed put ok moved a touch but still ridable

Be carefull changing the angle too much as you can run into clearance problems with the fairing

One of the jobs i am planning for this winter is fitting braided hoses for the front brake then i will be putting my bars back above the top yoke the stock hose just fits on mine but is almost tight when the forks are fully extended

StreetFlatTwin · Post by **StreetFlatTwin** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:15 pm

Could you not just buy a second top yolk (ebay? on here??) and drill it to accept risers and attach flat bars to these??

Otherwise on top of the yolk is actually fairly common on R11's and was it not an accepted option from BMW?? If it was, it must be safe enough without any additional bits.........

Nookiebear · Post by **Nookiebear** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:28 pm

What about the bar risers you can get for the R11?

Dai wiskers · Post by **Dai wiskers** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:52 pm

StreetFlatTwin wrote:Could you not just buy a second top yolk (ebay? on here??) and drill it to accept risers and attach flat bars to these??

Otherwise on top of the yolk is actually fairly common on R11's and was it not an accepted option from BMW?? If it was, it must be safe enough without any additional bits.........

The comfort bar option from BMW had a small tab to locate the bars.

But as i said mine went down hard enough to brake the rear indicator, brake the mirror. and crack cylinder head guard but the bars only moved the slightest bit infact i feel if i had had the BMW comfort bars fitted it probably would have snapped the retaining tab.

Stanley · Post by **Stanley** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:54 am

Thanks for the answers chaps.

Confirmed my thoughts really. I'll lock them together with a bit of aluminium or steel flat bar. That will provide an extra bit of friction too, whilst also giving a potential mounting surface for a sat nav or camera.

I've tested the clearance; clutch lever kisses the screen on full lock. I can live with that.
Brake hose is waay too short, but I intend to replace them anyway. I'll get a good bit longer incase I do a full "flat bar" conversion in the future.

Anyone found me a Lennie's Induct yet?!

Another picture

Cheers

Mike B · Post by **Mike B** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:00 am

They wont turn if you nip em tight enough.

my bike fell over in the garage about a year ago, the bar end was the first thing to hit the garage wall. they didn't move.

Hit anything harder than that and it wouldnt be the bars i was worrying about.

A bar across would make it look more "finished" tho IMHO

cornishflat · Post by **cornishflat** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:48 am

I have Barbacks fitted which, as you know is a similar set up. I would say that providing you have the screws nipped up or torqued to the correct...ish setting you will be fine. A cross member does smarten it up a tad though and its on my to do list. If you think about it bikes in the past with clip-ons rarely had a locking arrangement, a stout pair of boots came in handy though....just in case.