mods added: Heli-Bars & Lowering Blocks (some tips / photos included)

Recently added Heli-Bars and Lowering Blocks to my 06 to improve the driving position for my "touring" use of the bike.

I design and sell automotive accessories for a living, so it's fun to see other parts made by people who obviously take pride in their products.

The Heli-Bars were well made, TIG welded, and had precision drilled holes for the throttle pin, locating tabs, etc. The instructions included could be much better. The installation is mostly straight forward, however, three points to mention that are neglected in the instructions:
1. I struggled with alignment of the right side switch assembly housing until I realized that the pin in the housing was not aligned to the hole in the bar. The tolerance is really tight. I found the best way to align them was to place the bar in to the lower half of the housing in-line with the pin, then rotate the bar in to place on the pin. The housing should easily snap together with out binding if it is properly aligned. See photo below of the pin and receiving hole below.
2. Install the throttle / switch assembly with the Heli-Bar before placing them on the fork so that you can align the pin in the switch housing and rotate the bar in place.



Other than the instructions, my only other complaint is the lack of the alignment tab in the fork. The photo below shows the tab on the factory bars. While I suppose one could claim that not having the tab allows the user to set his or her own angle on the bar, I think the safety factor of having the tab in place is a big plus. The forks are not splined and do not have any other locking mechanism other than the friction of the pinch joint of the bars.



3. The instructions do not give any pointers on alignment of the bars. Since the bars lack the alignment tabs of the factory bars, I at first set them to what I felt gave the best riding position. However, upon turning the wheel to lock, I found they would hit the tank. I then compromised on the position by allowing about an inch between the tank and the bar (allowing for enough room with the grip).

I purchased the lowering blocks from Larry on this thread. Very well made, I appreciated the media blasted / clear anodized finish that matches many of the other finishes on the bike. The fit is very precise, he must have spent a considerable amount of time dialing this in. Installation was very straight forward. The blocks move the peg down on the same plane which is nice. The photo in the instructions are not that clear, the image on the thread above is better to refer to. It's helpful to have some grease on hand while things are apart and you may wish to replace the cotter pins while you're at it. My only wish was that a button head fastener be used to match many of the other fasteners around the area. I rotated the gear selector two spline locations counter clock wise which put it at approximately the factory angle. I could not adjust the rear brake lever to the same angle as factory since the adjustment stud on the cylinder was maxed out (I left a minimal gap between the stud and lever to prevent binding)... See photo below. I suppose one could remove the lever and grind the stud down slightly to get more clearance. The angle is close enough that I think it will be fine.



Overall, the riding position of the two parts has me very happy with the bike. I feel that the riding position for touring has improved with minimal impact on the sportiness of the bike.

Does anyone recognize the peg in the photo above? One of the passenger pegs is missing, and I really like the design and finish of these but have not been able to find the same online.

thanks,
-- Chris

 

Chris,
Do you have some sort of cover on your engine cover?

 

Yes, it has several carbon fiber covers over the engine and rear tire.

 

Nice write up,thanks for sharing :thumbsup:

 

q: did you have to adjust your rear brake light switch?

 

No, it worked with out adjusting the switch. This would be easy to do if needed though. Good to check brake light activation from both the handle bar and peg mods.