| Author | Message | ||
     Nobuell |
My 08XT riding position was a little to high with the stock bars. Also, the extensive sweep caused soreness in my wrists and elbows. After reviewing the available bars, and reading many posts, I decided on the Protaper Schoolboy Highs. While making the change I thought it would be a good time to add a Kuryakyn voltage status indicator. High purchased the bars at a LBS and ordered the indicator and hand guard adapters from Al at American Sport bike. Here in the Chicago area this past Saturday was cold, raining and sleeting so I figured it was a good day for the install. I pulled the fairing off and started removing the controls and the old bars. I decided that I did not want to drill holes in the bars so I removed the control housing location pins with a razor knife. Problem 1 - I trial fit the new bars to to the clamp to find that the top clamp hits the bar radius when the bars were puled back to a comfortable position. I hand filed a small bevel under the top clamp to eliminate the interference. I also filed a small bevel on the clamp edge so it would not contact the aluminum bars and cause a stress riser. Problem 2 - The left hand end of the new bars are knurled to help keep the grips in place for motocross. Unfortunately, the knurl makes the bars a little larger in diameter. The larger diameter would not allow the heated grip over the bar. Using 220 grit sandpaper, I sanded the knurls downs until the heated grip would fit over the bars with a slight interference fit. I applied some hairspray in the grip and on the bar end when installing. The grip was locked into place after drying. Problem 3 - Previously I removed the control housing locating pins. I discovered the Protaper bar diameter on the smooth portion of the bars to be slightly smaller in diameter than the stock bars. The control housing would rotate when fully tightened. I applied a couple wraps of aluminum tape at the clamping points. This sufficiently increased the diameter to eliminate the housing rotation. After attending to the problems listed above, I reassembled the components on the new bar. The clutch and throttle cables easily pushed into the fairing reducing their length to match the reduce height and width. The heated grip power leads were long enough to remove and install without unplugging. The extra lengths of all of the power cables were tucked into the fairing and cable tied into place on the bars. The levers and bars were fitted loosely for final adjustment. The handlebar inserts were installed and worked perfectly with the hand gaurds. I spliced the voltage indicator leads into the power outlet leads and mounted the voltage indicator to the front face of the front brake fluid reservoir. Next I pulled the bike off of the jack and sat on the seat. Very nice, the position is definitely lower and slightly more narrow. The relaxed sweep felt just right. Tweak the bars into the best feeling location and adjust the levers. Tighten the lever and bars and double check all of the other fasteners. Push outside and grab my gear for a test ride. The bike feels completely different, I can feel much more feedback when turning. The slightly leaned forward position is reminiscent of my old BMW R100S. They are much more comfortable and I feel like I am in a better position when cornering.  This is a view with the bars installed. I like the more streamlined look.  This is a view of the bars. The Platinum grey bars matched the existing paint. I removed the Protaper pad and installed my GPS mount to the cross bar. | ||
| Tenn10 |
The new handlebar looks great! This is a mod that I would consider. I feel like the stock bars are a little too wide as well. Good Work Nobuell! | ||
| Froggy |
Cool, they look great! FYI for others, the XB9SX CityX bars bolt right on and have no clearance issues.  | ||
| Pos90 |
Thats good to hear Froggy. I should have my cityx bar on my uly by the end of this week. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
What's the big red switch on the left side? | ||
| Mnrider |
 | ||
| Nobuell |
Mikef5000 I was wondering when someone would notice the Big Red Switch. When I installed my HID lights and Aux lights, I added the capability to deenergize the low beam HID. I did not want the HID to go on and off when starting. I didn't think it would be good for the HID electronics I just leave the lights off and turn them on after the motor is started. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I see! Good plan! You are correct about it being bad for HID's to go on off on. | ||
| Smokey3644 |
Do those foam grip covers interfere with the heat from you heated grips? I have the foam grip covers on my dirt bike and really like them. | ||
| Nobuell |
Smokey, I added the foam grip covers because the stock grips were to small in diameter for my hands. No, they do not interfere at all. They may take a few extra minutes to reach temperature but the heat output feels about the same. Actually the high setting is almost to hot to hold in some cases. | ||
| Smokey3644 |
Thanks, I'll give them a try, I have the same hand issues. | ||
| Nobuell |
I ridden the bike for the past few weeks after installation of the new bars. I really like the new riding position. The bike feels more like a sport touring bike vrs a sport tourer with high motocross bars. I did not buy the bike to do any off-roading so the position feels much better for my application. Having less forward sweep did eliminate the wrist soreness I would get with the stock bars. It does take a little more effort to turn, but it feels just right now. The only concern I have at this point is the front brake hose. The lower height of the bar has introduced a fairly radical bend between the handlebar and the top hose clamp. I am considering replacing the hose with a shorter length that would fit properly. Does anybody have a suggestion and part # for a hose that would work? Thanks in advance for the help. |
