Owners of GS550's who have swapped handlebars please read

[Anonymous]

Hey,

I am planning to swap out the stock handlebars on my GS550 and it seems that I am not alone. Could those of you who have done it could post pictures of what your bike looks like with the new bars and if you could possibly recommend some handlebars to use.

I am looking for handle bars with the same basic shape just not so high up and a little more sporty looking.

Thanks for the help,

[first timer]

i need a couple of day if you want pics but i installed some drag bars on my bike, and my wrists are alot happier, i also like the rideing postion that the bike puts me in. even though i haven't had a chance to take it on any long rides yet so i am not sure of long time comfort. the drag bars aren't to bad for me cause i have long arms and that helps. if you do decide to use drag bar you will probly have to get bar end mirrors my stock mirrors won't show me any thing behind me any more. you may want to try some super bike handle bars they are drag bars with some rise to them.

ryan

[Hotblack]

Here's mine with the newer bars. They are Flanders bars, I forget the number for them but if you're interested I can get it for you.

Just a thought on drag bars, would that tend to demand more steering effort than wider bars? These bikes from what I gather already take a little muscling through the corners, due to longer wheelbase? And the L forks are even a tad longer than the others, I believe.

[first timer]

my bike seems smoother and more willing to turn and lean now. the front is no harder to turn then it was before but i don't know if my 550T is shorter then the L. and the better leaning maybe due to my diffrent rideing postion now.

ryan

[Hotblack]

That's true, light leaning seems to take no effort whatsoever. It's only when I'm leaned way over and want to tighten it up more that I have to push on those bars. I have nothing to compare it with, this is the only street bike I've ridden. I don't remember where I read that comment but it amounted to "these bikes get around the corners just fine as long as you don't mind using a little extra muscle".

The original bars were so weird that I think almost anyting would be an improvement though I'll skip the ape hangers, thank you. :roll:

[Anonymous]

Hotblack, could you look into which handle bars those are? That is exacty what I am looking for.

[Hotblack]

Fingerz, the number on the packaging is 650-0201. They're listed as BMW medium tall street bars. The dimensions are: rise - 5.5" pull back - 8" center - 5" width - 31". Looking in the Dennis Kirk catalog for reference the Suzuki GS E bars are a little shorter, have 10" pull back, and are a little narrower as well as having less center section. I didn't order the BMW bars on purpose, the guy at the shop just picked them out based on what I wanted, and I said I didn't dig a lot of pull back. Honestly I think the GS bars would be fine, but these are perfect too and I'm absolutely happy with them. Funny, I never reallized they were BMW bars, when I had the seat re-covered the guy used this cool BMW seat vinyl. Let those BMW guys drool over a REAL GS! :P :P

[Anonymous]

You will need a drill

I changed my bars on the 78/9 550 I have and really love the new change.
You can see it in the Gallery section 1979 on this site. It is the red one.
I got some "street" bars. Sorry I don't remember the manufacturer. They were on a rack at the motorcycle shop and basically went from higher bars to negative low ones. I got ones that had a slight rise but are far lower than the original ones.
One thing to note is that the handle grip controles are keyed to slip into slots in the handle bar. As I recall, one of them needs a sort of oval slot to fit in. I simply measured accuratley where the holes were in the old bars and then drilled them into the new bars with a hand drill and some oil. I made two holes next to each other for the slot. It worked just great.
Good luck,
Mike

[Anonymous]

Have GL1100 Honda style Flanders bars on mine and they are perfect.