clubmans on 1100E? pics?

[Mad Mark]

just wondering if they hit the tank and if the cables will be to long? airtech has some that are wider at the clamp area for bigger bikes. any pics? i havnt seen a single 1100E with clubmans only upside down superbike bars.

[wacky941]

I've got some i'll try to post up soon.

[Mad Mark]

cool thanks wacky.

[wacky941]

Okay, to start, yes I have actually had two bikes on which I had flipped a pair of superbike bars and they actually work great but, they do allow the starter button to hit the tank on the right and the choke lever to hit the tank on the left:
My new bike with flipped bars:






My old bike with flipped bars:






Like I said the flipped bars, in my opinion look good but in both cases I dinged my tank so, I bought the "Clubman" bars and am totally satisfied with the results:








Now, as far as the cables and things such as that, I didn't change any of them, they are all original length.
I don't know if your intention is to put a cafe fairing on or not but, if you do you will most likely have the same results as I did. Like I said I didn't change the cables, that's because they tuck into the fairing, without the fairing, I think they would be considered a couple inches too long.

Now, if you are going to mount a cafe fairing, if you take a look at the last two pictures you will see the problem I ran into, the master cylinder sits right where the turn signals are on the fairing.
Without the fairing, the controls again sit right where the turn signals are so, I had to upgrade the turn signals and relocate them.
Also with the fairing installed the brake line for the master cylinder must be repositioned.

The final interesting point about the Clubman bars is the way it changes the control aspect. It actually moves the steering forward of what you expect or are used to. It's not a bad thing, in fact, once you get used to it, it actually feels comfortable.

I've got plenty of pictures in my albums that show a lot of what I ran into when making the changes to the bike.

Hope this helps or at least answers some of the questions you have.

[Mad Mark]

hey thanks alot wackey i apreciate it! one thing what clubmans do you have? and how tall are you? because im pretty short and i think the reach would be to far for me since they move the controls forward a way. i think im like 5' 8"

nice bike btw.

[wacky941]

I'm six foot tall.

I also want to point out that with the bike in this configuration, for me it's fairly comfortable but honestly I wouldn't want to ride from Houston to San Antonio like this, the normal riding configuration is like riding a sport bike or crotch rocket as they are called today. You being four inches shorter, might give you a riding stance of something closer to a sport bike racer, pretty much almost laying on the tank.

If you were here in the Houston area, I would let you take it around the block so you could get a real good idea of how it would fit you.

The good thing is that the Clubman bars are fairly inexpensive and it might be worth the purchase just for the fit check, the other good thing is if for some reason you don't like the feel, the Clubman's will sell.

[kopio]

Couple questions for you wacky....

Does your bike have the 8 inch headlight?

If so...where did you get the fairing for it and how did you mount it?

I'm loving the look of your bike! I'd like to do it with mine (or my soon to be 1982 GS1100e)

[wacky941]

I actually did a thread on it a few years ago. Here's a link to it:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=144528&page=5

If you're interested in buying a fairing from "Dude" and have problems contacting him let me know, I have a couple of email addresses for him.

It is an eight inch headlight.
I bought the fairing from a guy who calls himself "Dude," the windscreen comes from Gustafssons plastics in Florida. The mounts at one time were available from multiple sources but not anymore. The lower mount brackets I manufactured myself using the originals as a pattern. The top ones, I manufactured a pair myself but also modified the original brackets I had purchased.

For what it's worth, I just a couple months ago had Dude manufacture another fairing for me that I'm going to install on my gray EZ, for this one I'm gonna have to manufacture all the mounts myself seeing as they are no longer available.

[kopio]

Ok....another question....how comfortable is that bike to ride? I love the look, but I want something I can get on and ride for an hour or two without having to visit the chiropractor!

[wacky941]

Like I stated before, I'm six foot tall and for me it's comfortable but at the same time I wouldn't want to ride it to San Antonio, I could do it but I think that by the time I arrived I would be cursing myself for building it like that in the first place.
I guess in the end my advice would be, if you are wanting a bike to ride around and have oodles of fun then I highly suggest it but, if you are planning on actually doing some traveling on the bike, then I would stay close to stock on the bars, at worst I would put some SuperBike bars on it. I would rather be comfortable and plain than looking sharp and totally uncomfortable.

Just my opinion, hope it helps.