[Sevulturus]

So last Thursday I decided to splurge and buy a new set of handlebars for my bike. After work finished I wandered up to the parts counter and hashed out that I'd be buying a set of Renthals which would be ordered and hopefully shipped post-haste.

Tuesday I was working in the back shop when Amy yelled across the yard from the parts building/show room. "JEFF!"

"JEFF!!!!"

"Your bars are here!"

So I ran across the lot to check them out. "Sweeeeet, they look hot. I'll pay for them tomorrow."

Amy says, "I called your house, but you weren't there, so I left a message for you at home."

Thirty minutes later Warren comes up and says, "you got a message, your bars are in." He looked really confused that he had to tell me, and Mike the foreman was laughing.

I didn't get the story until I got home the next night, but apparently Amy called my house and told my Mom that my bars were in. Who then turned around and called the service desk to ask them to tell me that my bars were in. She's pretty funny sometimes.

Thursdays we're open late, but the service dept basically closes down at 6 like normal. There are a couple of guys who stay around to move stuff and get bikes moved out. But generally nothing happens. I stayed behind to replace my bars, and help out a little bit. So at 6 I rolled my bike into the shop and went to work.

Que up an appropriate song.

Remove the bar ends, and bar end mirrors.

Pull off the left grip, and switch gear housing. The disk is the choke.

Rip off the clutch and we're 1/2 way done the dissasembly.

Take off the brake lever and the switch gear housing. Then remove the handlebar clamp and slide the bars out of the throttle housing. This saves you from having to reattach throttle cables.

Naked bars.

Compare the old bars to the new bars.

Install the left grip and barend mirror.

Drill a hole for the switchgear mounting locating pin.

 

[Sevulturus]

Drill a hole for the other side.

Start bolting shit on in the opposite order. Remember to fit the choke disk before you fit the lefthand grip. That's right I had to pull it back off then put it on a second time. It's a BITCH to push a fitted race grip over that knurled surface.

I hope you remembered to fit your throttle tube over the right side before bolting down the bars.

About this time we had a bike come in for an "emergency service" so the three of us hammered through a 1.5 hour service in about 20 minutes. Then we cleaned up and went home.

On the ride I realized that the bars were rotated to far forwards and the left hand switch gear was too far away from the grip. The clutch lever was also too high.

So I got home and started pulling stuff apart again. It took two solid tugs to free up enough slack to get the switch gear where I wanted. Haha..

Mark the spot again, this time I used nailpolish lacking a paint stick at home.

Drill the hole straight up with a cordless drill... and no safety glasses.

Forget to take a picture of the final-final project. Haha, I'll try to get one tomorrow.

As for the bars themselves they're much nicer to my wrists because I don't need to cock them to fit comfortably on the bars. Really helps the ol' carpel tunnel.

And steering... well it's like a new bike again. The extra leverage really increases the steering sensitivity. A little means a lot. It's been a blast so far, but I need more miles to truely run them in. And they still need a little fine tuning.

Up next weighted bar ends to damp some vibration.

Okay, so I had accidentally set the right hand switchgear incorrectly on the bars meaning the brake lever would hit the throttle cable when I tried to brake. Obviously this affected the braking performance, so I pulled the throttle assembly off today, drilled a new hole - meant to mention that I used a 3/16" twistdrill - then bolted everything back on.

With a 3/16" twistdrill there is still a little slop off the mounting holes. Not much but it's there. In retrospect I might have gone a little smaller... or used a drillpress. It's kind of tough drilling into a round surface.

 

[sanitys]

you wouldnt happen to be able to order me a set of renthal flat bars would you?

http://www.demonbikes.com/product.asp?ID=6585

more or less drag bars 670mm wide, and 55mm sweep.

Bike does look sweet with those bars, let me know about the flat bars, thanks!

 

[Sevulturus]

Any shop could order them in for you, for the same price I could get them too you at. But I'd have to charge you shipping, and you'd probably have to pay boarder fees.

 

[Vcook]

sliding grips on is easy, just use some grip glue and slide it on before it gets too tacky. some guys like to use hairspray but I find using real grip glue is the win.

 

[sanitys]

Any shop could order them in for you, for the same price I could get them too you at. But I'd have to charge you shipping, and you'd probably have to pay boarder fees.

the only suppliers i can find are UK suppliers, they want 118 shipped, over half of that price is shipping, hence why i asked if you could order them. If you can get a price and let me know that would be great.

 

[dogbreath]

Those look nice Sev. A huge difference from the stock bars I can tell just from the pictures.

 

[catman]

They look great ! Too bad the pad was red !

 

[The Green Lantern]

they look good man:metal:

 

[Sevulturus]

the only suppliers i can find are UK suppliers, they want 118 shipped, over half of that price is shipping, hence why i asked if you could order them. If you can get a price and let me know that would be great.

Yeah, mine were $136 Canadian plus tax. But being an employee I got them for cost. Sadly, I cannot get a second set at cost, so I'd have to charge you full price plus shipping. Not sure what that works out to in America bucks... but I don't think you want to go through me.

sliding grips on is easy, just use some grip glue and slide it on before it gets too tacky. some guys like to use hairspray but I find using real grip glue is the win.

That works for standard grips. I've got a set of progrips are are molded to a carbon-fiber sheath that tighten into place with two little set screws. The knurls ended up basically threading the sheath, and it literally took WD40 to get them on, and even then it was a massive struggle.
http://www.progrip.it/default.asp?tip=13&ite=gri

As for installing grips... stick a blower chuck on your airline, shove the grip on a little ways, then stick the blower end under the right side of the grip (towards the middle) hit the air and shove. The air inflates it, and the grip slaps into place in seconds with no muss and no fuss. Alternately a small amount of spray on contact adhevise will work.

 

[The Green Lantern]

some crg's or pazzo's would look sweet with those,or justcut down the ones you have

 

[Sevulturus]

Those are Pazzo levers, and CRG mirrors...

 

[The Green Lantern]

well then your ahead of me here,or im still drunk form last night
but anyways good job

 

[albertaf4i]

so you paid 136$ and they are 7/8' renthals????:shootme: i got my 1 1/4 for 40 buks they are renthal fattys if any one is lookin for some cheaper check ebay out way way cheaper

 

[endo]

He didn't pay $136, that's what they're worth. And with the perks of being a mechanic, sometimes it's worth it to pay a bit extra and get it at work. The bosses like that you're supporting them, and he's got a fucking awesome boss.

 

[Sevulturus]

I paid $80 for mine. Plus the free use of a shop to fit them. And the knowledge they aren't knockoffs . Hehe, and I didn't have to pay for extra clamps, plus they came with the crossbrace. All in all, I'm very happy with the deal I got

 

[albertaf4i]

yeah sounds liek you got a decent deal for sure yeah and about the knock offs i know mine arent due to they came in a renthal box with part number and the whole bit but yeah wish i had hook ups i might see your bike if you come to sylvan

 

[Sevulturus]

Might be rolling through Sylvan next weekend. Planning on doing a tour through Jasper Canmore and Calgary for the long weekend, could potentially make a stop.