Completed My LSL Handlebar Conversion

Discussion in '6th Generation 2002-2013' started by rigger4343, Sep 26, 2014.

  1. rigger4343

    rigger4343 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2014
    Messages:
    74
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Charleston, SC
    Map
    Well I finished up the LSL Bar conversion this afternoon so I thought I would post up some pictures and do a little write up for those of you that have not done one yet.

    When I first got the kit and opened the box I thought, "This is all I get for the money?" That was my first impression but after getting it on the bike, I no longer have that feeling.

    It was not a big deal to install. I did pull the fairings off to make it easier to reroute things. I unplugged harnesses and rerouted on both sides. There is plenty of harness length to route them however you like.
    I did not have to do a thing with the front brake hose at all.
    I did have to take the clutch line off and reroute it to come up the back side of the fork tube. It would have worked but I did not like how tight the line would get pulled at full lock. (Plus it got in the way of my 12v plug.)
    I tried everything I could think of to route the throttle cables where they did not have to run in front of the tank and they probably would have been okay but again, they were tight so I put them in front of the tank to give them a little more room. A few tie-wraps in the right places and they do not touch the tank at all.
    New grips and new bar ends and she is done!

    Pulled some measurements before and after the install. It is approximately 2.5"-2.75" of rise and 2" of pull back. You could get more rise by sliding the clamps up the fork tubes but then there would be contact with the upper fairing.

    The way I have everything positioned, there is no contact at all with fairings or the tank. Nothing rubs and it all looks better than I thought it would. I was a little nervous that it might look cheap on the bike but it doesn't. Overall I am happy with the look of the final project.

    I did take it for a very short blast around the neighborhood and all I can say at the moment it that it does not feel like the same bike at all! Not in a bad way but I am certainly going to have to get used to it. I have my daughter this week so it may be another week before I can give it a good ride to see how it does in the real world. I do think it is going to work out well.

    Included are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

    20140923_190333 - Copy - Copy.jpg 20140923_190515.jpg 20140923_190525 - Copy.jpg 20140923_191747.jpg 20140923_195244 - Copy.jpg 20140926_113103 - Copy.jpg 20140926_202223 - Copy.jpg 20140926_202230.jpg 20140926_202244.jpg
     
  2. maicoman

    maicoman New Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2011
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    1
    Congrats Hope that you like the results.Is there a reason that you have the fork tubes protruding up thru the triple trees so high.Could you not lower the tubes into the triple trees and still have room for the master cylinders.
     
  3. rigger4343

    rigger4343 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2014
    Messages:
    74
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Charleston, SC
    Map
    Fork tubes are in the stock position. They have never been moved. I think it looks like they are sticking so high up because the original bars just had more clamping surface so they took up more space on the tube. If I were to drop the forks by the amount you see sticking up, it would drastically change the bikes steering angle. And there are no clearance issues with the master cylinders.

    Actually I was planning on raising them another 10mm because most people seem to think it really helps the bike respond to dropping it into a turn. I just have not tried that one yet.
     
  4. rigger4343

    rigger4343 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2014
    Messages:
    74
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Charleston, SC
    Map
    Got to take the bike for about a 2-3 hour ride today so I thought I might write a little update about the bars.

    I took the bike on some back roads, a little bit of higher speed 4 lane road, (about 70mph) and some stop and go today for a little mix of everything I normally ride. I can say that I truly like the bar swap. No hand pain at all. No hands going to sleep. No wrist aching at all. I noticed no negative effects in the turns either, at least for the way I ride anyway, which is not all that hard. Hard breaking feels a little different for some reason but I think it has more to do with the fact that I just need to get used to the new riding position. One thing I have discovered is that it is easier to look over my shoulder to check for cars. To me that is a good safety advantage to the bars.

    I did loose better than 60% of the visibility from my mirrors. Earlier in the week I ordered a set of the 1" mirror extenders to help out with that. They were actually sitting in the mailbox today when I got home from my ride! Would have been nice to have them on it for today. I did bolt them on and rode it just around the neighborhood for 5 minutes and it looks like they will give me back about 90% or more of my mirrors. I need to go for a ride with my jacket on and adjust them a little better but I think they are going to do the trick.

    I am still running the stock seat and I have had plans on wanting to replace it with a Sargent but now I am thinking I am going to need to do that sooner than I thought. My hands, wrist and back all feel good but my ass starts hurting much sooner. I thought this would probably happen too but its not a big deal since like I said before, I was planning on a seat mod soon.

    Overall I am really happy with it and I think once I have replaced the seat, the hole bike will come together and be a really comfortable ride for short or longer rides but still be fun and good looking.
     

Share This Page