• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Swapping Handlebars

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hello All,

I'm considering swapping handlebars on my GS550L. Is it a difficult job? Time consuming? Any pointers or tips would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Hakan Uras
huras@engin.umich.edu
 
funny you should ask, as i swapped out the bars on my GS750T on tuesday. It took me about an hour, all told, but i took a couple of shortcuts:

I didn't keep the original grips, i went out and bought some new after market ones.
I haven't finished re-routing the cables so that everything looks super perdy :)

It's fairly straightforward, you loosen off the break leavers, switchpods, and anything else attached to the bike, remove the grips (i cut them off, it was easier that way) and then undo the 4 allen bolts on the bar clamps. remove the clamps, wiggle all the gear off the original bars, and go backwards back through the process, putting the new grips on last.

Depending on how different your new bars are, you may want/need to get creative with running the different cables.

Good luck!
 
You may have to drill some dimples for the tabs on your controls, I did. I also ended up using the old grips, I had difficulty finding ones long enough for the throttle barrel. I used the brake cleaner trick to get the left grip off - where you work the spray up between the grip and the bar to ease removal. If you can find proper grips though that's the easiest way to go :).

I have a 550L too, and I couldn't stand what the stock bars did to my wrists, and wasn't crazy about the looks either. The ones I have now look very much like the standard E bars, and I'm quite happy. My wrists are no longer at an unnatural angle and I can sit straight up or lean slightly forward easily, and it seems to make the bike more controllable. It's a very worthwhile swap.
 
i concure. i just did my bars this weekend too. the old bars killed my wrists too. now i have some nice drag bars on it. the only problem is now my mirrors have become pushed to close together and i can't get them to pick up anything behind me. anyone have any recomendations on what i could do so i can see behind me again?

Ryan

HotB got any pics of your bike?
 
Some bars just don't allow the stock mirrors to be useed anymore. Drag bars, clubmans, super drops all leave your mirrors in useless positions. There are two good options, bar end mirrors or aftermarket fully adjustables. Here are some links so you can have a peak:

169.jpg


170.jpg



Andre
 
I was thinking of adding bar end mirrors to mine, but do they work on the throttle side?
 
OK, I tried adding some drag bars on my GS but the idle would increase on hard left and right.
Would that be fixed just by rerouting the throttle cable?
Thanks
 
My switch was easy in that the bars I went to are more or less stock for E models, so I can order cables and such for it. The wiring itself needs a little tucking and folding though. Drag bars seem like the could be tricky, depending on where you're coming from. Going from the L 'deer antlers' to the E bars makes the cables a little unwieldy, though not sharply kinked, just looped way out. I'm having no problem with them, but I'm going to replace them anyway in the near future. The front brake hose does a little zig zag now, but with no sharper a bend that the rear has, so i think that's fine. If you're getting the raised idle maybe routing will help, maybe you need shorter cables. I just went for the gentlest bends I could with everything (except the wiring). Someone going from the L bars to drag bars I would think would have to replace the cables and brake line, that's a pretty radical difference.

As far as mirrors I had some round ones with 10" stalks that I'd ordered from Whitney's (actually pretty decent mirrors!). They looked really funny on the old bars and were hard to angle, but they work perfect on the new bars. The L bars have short mirror stalks, I imagine they would be a problem on drag bars, not so sure of the 10" ones.
 
i would agree with HB you need to pull your gas tank and reroute your throttel cable, make a nice big lazy a arch and don't worry about tieing the cable to the frame. your first concern is to make the idle stop jumping up on your turns once you figure out which way the cable wants to go then start coaxing it to go where you want it to go with in reason.

ryan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top