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tube bars without a "kit"


timmythecop

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Hello chaps.

 

Without going into too much detail, i recently rode a 2016 BMW R1200 GS 1800 miles from New York City to new Orleans. 

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I fell in love with the bike as everyone told me I would, and I wanted to buy one.  Then, on the flight home, I remembered how ugly it was, how expensive it was and how complicated it was.  I also realized that I had a perfectly good 6th gen in my garage that I had already decided to make it my long distance bike.

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So I started poking around and asking questions about LSL, etc.  While I was looking, my hand was sorta forced as to what direction to go in, by me finding a set of mounting brackets for 75 bucks.  I am not asking "what fits", or "do i have to change xyz", I am asking about preference. The bars depicted in where i am so far were just at hand, so I threw them on there. 

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I have heard CB919 bars and the LSL low bars are groovy. I was hoping to find the superbike bars of my youth with the graceful curves, because I know that they put my hand where I like 'em, but all I seem to find are the Emgo types and those are OK, but i dont know.....If I can get this thing half as comfy as that BMW was, I will be putting a lot of miles on it this year.

 

Please tell what you like and dont like, what worked and what was a problem.  Sorry if this topic was done do death before.

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Like you, I didn't know what bend of handlebar to get. In the end I opted for LSL's AN1 bar. Not sure of the dimensions but it turns out that they suit me just fine so I haven't tried any alternatives.

 

I found the throttle cables too short and ended up buying a set for the ST1300. Perhaps more patience and alternate routing would have resolved the problem.

 

There is just a slight contact with the upper cowl at full lock, but no issues with the fuel tank.

 

I still haven't gotten around to fitting bar-end weights. The AN1 bar is aluminum and the wall thickness prevents fitting the oe weights, and I haven't yet found a good alternative. Even so, the alloy bars still have much less vibration than the oe Honda 'bars. Vibration the more important reason I went to a tubular 'bar in the first place.

 

Below is pic of my setup.

 

Good luck,

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Edited by Lorne
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comfortable bars will vary person to person, and bike to bike, because your feet/hips/hands all have to work together to be comfortable, so pegs/seat/bars all need to work together.

If the pegs say sit upright because they are low, the seat says lean forward (say, if you have a longer shock so the rear is higher), and the bars say sit upright, it will feel slightly off, as well.

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The bars on the GS look to be a foot higher than the seat, you're not gonna be able to pull that off on the VFR and keep the fairing. 

 

I had a vintage K&N Superbike bar on my CB900. After the old guy ran me over, I replaced them with an Emgo Superbike bar and they feel the same as the old ones. 

 

MX bars offer more options. My blue streetfighter you rode has a "CR Low" bend, it's available in a High version too. Quite a bit wider than the street bars though. 

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I've also found the mounting location of the bar in relation to the forks and stem changes road feel quite a bit. IMO the LSL kit mounts them too far back, almost directly over the stem center. What I found feels best is when the bar center is mounted forward of the stem center by 60-75% of the total offset distance. On standard VFR triples that would be 10-15mm back from the fork centerline. Mounting closer to the axle gives more direct feedback and feels lighter. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, SEBSPEED said:

I've also found the mounting location of the bar in relation to the forks and stem changes road feel quite a bit. IMO the LSL kit mounts them too far back, almost directly over the stem center. What I found feels best is when the bar center is mounted forward of the stem center by 60-75% of the total offset distance. On standard VFR triples that would be 10-15mm back from the fork centerline. Mounting closer to the axle gives more direct feedback and feels lighter. 

 

 

There's my something new for the day. Id never thought of that.

Explains why, when i rotated the oem symmetrical  clamps to be forward on my old ktm 640SM it suddenly felt like i was holding the axle in my hands it was so responsive.

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5 hours ago, SEBSPEED said:

I've also found the mounting location of the bar in relation to the forks and stem changes road feel quite a bit.

 

By itself, the mounting location has zero to do with road feel. Where your hands are located, relative to the stock position, is what matters. And that is determined by the shape of the handlebar + the mounting location.

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stock:

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Armstrong Military bike bars:

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Superbike bars:

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Gonna go with these and see what it feels like.  I am very interested in how the extra leverage will affect cornering.

20190122_130651.thumb.jpg.84a797c511b8ae1519eec92d15291485.jpg

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1 minute ago, SEBSPEED said:

Do you have room to flip those risers 180° to move the bar forward, or will the bar then foul the forks?

 

Another problem is that the handlebar will now block key access to the ignition.

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Did you rotate the forks with these 'bars and check for clearance at full lock?

 

Hard to tell from the photo just how wide your 'bars are, but they look wider than the set I got from LSL. If so, you'll probably run into issues with not just the throttle cables, but also the clutch line and the wiring harness. Take your time and double-check lock-to-lock to be sure that there are no surprises with any of these.

 

Lorne 

 

7 hours ago, timmythecop said:

 

Gonna go with these and see what it feels like.  I am very interested in how the extra leverage will affect cornering.

20190122_130651.thumb.jpg.84a797c511b8ae1519eec92d15291485.jpg

 

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I am pretty sure the limiting factor with the bars moved closer to the front is fouling the fairing at lock. I look to have just enough room for levers.

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I also think these look wider than they are because they are buck nekkid. lines are sorted. cables are prolly OK. adapting the throttlemeisters to the bars will be the real challenge.

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8 minutes ago, SEBSPEED said:

 

Possibly. Have you tried it?

 

 

You are correct, my mistake. If the risers were rotated 180° the centre of the handlebar would still be behind the ignition switch. 

Interference with the fork tops may be an issue, as you noted earlier.

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9 minutes ago, timmythecop said:

I also think these look wider than they are because they are buck nekkid. lines are sorted. cables are prolly OK. adapting the throttlemeisters to the bars will be the real challenge.

 

I thought the only trouble with Throttlemeister bar ends was trying to fit them to aluminum bars, being thicker than steel.

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12 hours ago, Lorne said:

 

I thought the only trouble with Throttlemeister bar ends was trying to fit them to aluminum bars, being thicker than steel.

the black bars are ally.

 

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5 hours ago, timmythecop said:

the black bars are ally.

 

Ah, yes, I have the same problem. Luckily for me the vibration was much reduced with the LSL kit & ally 'bars as compared to the stock clip-ons.

 

Btw, as you also have a 5th gen, is there any difference in engine vibration between it and your 6th gen? I had  '98 and a'99 VFR800 and both were much smoother that my VTec, as were my VFR750s and VTR1000Fs. The VTec is the first bike that I couldn't live with without a throttle lock.

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41 minutes ago, Lorne said:

 

 

Btw, as you also have a 5th gen, is there any difference in engine vibration between it and your 6th gen?  

Not that I can tell.  The 6th gen after Vtec feels to me exactly like a 5th gen at all revs.

 

Here are some comparison photos between stock clip on and superbike bars.

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Not as much difference as I suspected going in.  You can also see that they are the length of a throttlemeister wider than stock.

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Oh, well, I guess my VTec just has extra character 🙁

 

I measured my handlebars and they are 29" wide, the rise is ~2½" (at the inboard point), and the control length is ~8½".

 

If you wanted your bars higher you could fit a spacer under the lower clamp and fit longer fasteners. As a temporary test you could loosen and raise the whole assembly. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

54 minutes ago, timmythecop said:

Not that I can tell.  The 6th gen after Vtec feels to me exactly like a 5th gen at all revs.

 

Here are some comparison photos between stock clip on and superbike bars.

 

20190123_161548.thumb.jpg.739f91c628537911f54da495d95ac447.jpg

 

Not as much difference as I suspected going in.  You can also see that they are the length of a throttlemeister wider than stock.

 

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Make sure the tops of your brake and clutch fluid reservoirs clear the underside of your windscreen fairings on full lock. You may need to adjust the angles that the banjo bolts make from the reservoirs too.

 

The bars I put on my 5th Gen let the brake and clutch control clear the tank and fairings by less than a 1/8 inch! I used ST1100 throttle cables but they DID NOT FIT DIRECTLY, the return cable was about 3/4 inch too short in its sheeve. Its a tricky job shortening sheeve without wrecking the cable.

 

I put a modified motor car cruise control on my bike to eliminate wrist pain. In the higher gears it works fine. You need to be ready if you engage it in 3rd...!

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38 minutes ago, SEBSPEED said:

I've drilled out the ends of aluminum bars before to fit parts like bar ends and turn signals. 

 

I'm guessing that it takes a mill or sturdy drill press to keep the drill but centred. In any case I was too chicken to give it a try.

 

Btw, that is a very tasty VFR you've made. I am a big fan of your work.

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