[shrubbo]

There is a followup post in a thread somewhere on this forum where it is suggested to rotate the bars up as it gives a more natural position, well that is what I think they said. I can't find the post so I am unsure of who it is but thanks, what a great idea.

I did this yesterday. 2 Allen key bolts under the instrument cluster and move it out of the way gives access to the 4 Allen key bolts that hold the bars. Then you need to rotate the lever/mirror mounts slightly to compensate and that was pretty much it. I did have a lot of trouble with one of the bolts holding the cluster, stripped it trying to get it to turn. A pair of Vice Grips and a shifter fixed that one.

The cables squeaked a lot because they where rubbing where it goes into the headlight housing but I fixed that by turning where the cables go into the throttle up slightly. That took up/compensated for the slack created by raising the bars. Problem solved.

Result...


The bars now match the natural angle of my hands and the mirrors are much higher and give a vastly better view. So far I have only done about 300k's but it feels really good. Switch gear is a little rotated but I will get used to that. In fact I think I already have. I can only remember thinking it was a little odd yesterday and no thoughts I can think of about it today.

I am extremely happy with the result. Thanks mystery guy

 

[MikeusAR]

I am curious what mirrors you switched to. I like the look better than the stock Honda mirrors.

 

[shrubbo]

Yeah the chrome OEM things just didn't suit my tastes.

To start with I bought these to test it out...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Universa...orcycle_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d8d365bf

Cheap as shite because they are shite, They can break very easily if you put much pressure on them (limited movement in the mirror itself) and they are painted so bugs and crap end up knocking the paint off. You get what you pay for but they do the job and the job was to see if I liked them.

The first thing that took me back was how small they are but that was only because I was used to the OEM's. They are about the same width of the top of my head, maybe a bit smaller but a lot smaller in the height of them so basically if a plane is about to land on you then you may be in trouble.

Anyway I road around for a bit, got used to them very quickly and then had no problems at all. They were getting pretty shabby so I then ordered these...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/181340887712?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

These are the Magazi branded ones and are clearly vastly better quality all round (I think they are powder coated) and the mirrors have a slight blue tinge to them.

Note: depending on your height you may run out of adjustment on the mirror as I did. Just a simple case of moving the lever/mirror mount slightly and it was all good.

 

[shrubbo]

BTW a lot of you guys may be thinking rotating the bars is obvious. Not when you come from sports bikes with clip on's. It wasn't until I read the mentioned post that it even occurred to me that you could do that... so thanks again

 

[bscrive]

To me the handlebars suck no matter how you put them, so I changed mine out.

 

[shrubbo]

To me the handlebars suck no matter how you put them, so I changed mine out.

Ahhh nice, yours is the one with the neat hard bags attached tho I don't think I would like the bars back as far as yours... but you do have me thinking now

 

[bscrive]

Ahhh nice, yours is the one with the neat hard bags attached tho I don't think I would like the bars back as far as yours... but you do have me thinking now

shrubbo,

I extended my bars by 8", but really 4-6" would have been good enough. My main problem was the angle of the grips, bit I figured that if I was going to change the angle of the grips that I might as well make the bars longer. I do really enjoy the longer bars. With my highway pegs it makes the long distance rides much more enjoyable.

This winter I am also going to put on a Rostra universal cruise control to make riding even more enjoyable. Although, I will have to wait until spring to try it.

 

[shrubbo]

Ok thanks for the info mate. Weather permitting I got a reasonable ride on tomorrow so I will get a real test of comfort. However I don't think I will have a problem with the angle of the grips per say. With the bars rotated up they pretty much fit the angle of my hands so as you could imagine I was pretty happy with that... but the longer bars... that could be cool.

Cruise control as well? You're ticking the right boxes mate

 

[bscrive]

I really need cruise control. The one from MC Cruise is just too expensive, over $1000. The Rostra is only $200.
The only problem I see is hooking up the speed sensor. We have a VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor), but I have heard that if you tap into that that it will give you problems with the bike. MC Cruise had this problem setting up their cruise, but I don't know how they fixed it. The new model Rostra (250-1223) will let you use the generator pulses to set your speed. I am not sure how it will work, though, if I put on my radio, and/or heated gear while the cruise is on, thus increasing the generator output. This may make the cruise surge. If worst comes to worst then I will use the Rostra speed sensor I have at home that I was going to use on another project in the past. That entails bolting it to the swing arm and attaching a magnet to the rear wheel. It will look ugly, but it will work. I am hoping to avoid that.
I have a throttle lock, but when I am with my wife on her Can-Am Spyder F3S, I am unable to use it because I cannot get it to set properly when she has her cruise set. I am constantly adjusting the throttle anyways.

 

[Surfndad]

What cruise does the full size gold wing use? that would seem like the most compatible to use and install.

 

[bscrive]

Wiring on the Valkyrie is different than the full Goldwing I would think. Also, the components needed to hook it up would be more expensive than buying the MC Cruise unit. Good idea though, but I already thought of that.

 

[shrubbo]

Just a foot note to this, I had to put them back to where they were. I began to get VERY painful pressure points on my ass just like I did before I got the seat modified even tho the lean forward is minimal. I didn't even realize rotating the bars was the cause of the re-occurrence of this problem to start with until last week when I thought I would check by setting the bars back down... problem went away. So there you go

 

[Mcawber]

There is a followup post in a thread somewhere on this forum where it is suggested to rotate the bars up as it gives a more natural position, well that is what I think they said. I can't find the post so I am unsure of who it is but thanks, what a great idea.

I did this yesterday. 2 Allen key bolts under the instrument cluster and move it out of the way gives access to the 4 Allen key bolts that hold the bars. Then you need to rotate the lever/mirror mounts slightly to compensate and that was pretty much it. I did have a lot of trouble with one of the bolts holding the cluster, stripped it trying to get it to turn. A pair of Vice Grips and a shifter fixed that one.

The cables squeaked a lot because they where rubbing where it goes into the headlight housing but I fixed that by turning where the cables go into the throttle up slightly. That took up/compensated for the slack created by raising the bars. Problem solved.

Result...


The bars now match the natural angle of my hands and the mirrors are much higher and give a vastly better view. So far I have only done about 300k's but it feels really good. Switch gear is a little rotated but I will get used to that. In fact I think I already have. I can only remember thinking it was a little odd yesterday and no thoughts I can think of about it today.

I am extremely happy with the result. Thanks mystery guy

Point to note. If the tall Honda screen is fitted adjusting the bars will make it excessively vertical. A couple of spacer brackets on the lower screen pointing points sorts it out.