MikeOK

Hello, there is a very detailed wiring diagram in the shop manual. I've been pondering doing something like this myself, in fact I started a 3D model and will use it to add a few parts, remove some others, and I can see what it will look like before I actually do anything. It's time consuming but enjoyable.

Anybody got a link for the 2bros?

I only had it in the clutch side, and only for a few days. I went ahead and flushed it out to be on the safe side. It worked fine with the DOT 5, and I have since talked to others who have switched completely over to DOT 5 but I understand you have to completely flush in order to use it. It's supposed to be more heat tolerant, and now I remember this same discussion came up on one of the dirt bike boards I used to frequent. I went back and re-read a few of the old discussions and several people report improved braking while racing MX with the DOT 5 because of less brake fade. I can't find where any one of them had seal problems after using it, either.

Okay, after reading this post and discovering I had incorrectly used DOT 5 in my clutch I went to Auto Zone this morning and got the stuff to fix it. I ended up coming with yet another way, instead of using my trusty old tin man oil can squirter, I did this: Buy one of the 2 stroke oil mixing syringes. They hold way plenty brake fluid for a fill and the 3/16" I.D. clear vinyl tubing you'll need to fit the bleeder bolt fits on it well. This time I used the "ABS" fluid and everything I needed to fill the clutch (and probably enough to do the brakes) was about $10. And by filling it from the bottom up you'll only have a teenie but of air (maybe none) to bleed. By the way I've never been able to do this on any bike without getting the stuff all over the place, no matter how careful I am. Just be sure to clean up after you're finished.

You are correct. I went out in the shop and got out an old DOT 5.X (5.something, it's hard to read) can and it said that it could be mixed with DOT 3 or 4, but then I looked at the can I bought the other day (DOT 5) and it says just the opposite. Now I gotta go out and flush and refill my clutch. Bummer. Glad I read this thread, I guess I had been using 5.1 all this time...

What's wrong with DOT 5? I've used it in all my bikes since it came out and never had a problem. It can be mixed with DOT 4 too. One easy method of replacing your fluid is to get one of the old fashioned oil squirt cans, the ones like the tin man used. You can get them cheap at Auto Zone. Also get some clear hose that will fit on the bleeder cap. Fill the can with brake fluid, loosen the bleeder, then squirt from the bottom up. No air, very little mess, and since you never let air get in in the first place you don't have to bleed...

Okay I snapped a few more pics. I got the stainless clutch line on today as well. I've gone gradually with this project so it's really hard to say how much better it is than stock, but it is obviously different. The 2nd pic shows the highest/most aft I could go with the stock brake line and wiring harnesses. This pic also shows why you can't go with the stock height, the bottom of the bars rubs the inner fairing trim as you can see in the red circle (this was even a little higher than stock height). The wire connectors on the brake switch also will not let you go quite down to stock, they bind on the clamp before you can get that low. I was also limited in how high I could go becuase of the left switch assembly rubbing the windshield as you can see in the the 4th pic. Everything works, and it is an improvement, but I was not able to get them to exactly stock height, and was not able to get them quite as far back as I wanted because of the length of the wiring harnesses. When I clean the air filter I'll see if I can make an improvement on the throttle cable routing (3rd pic), or even get a new set of longer cables and put them back to their stock location. Anyway, a definate improvement over stock for comfort and it's nice to be able to move them around (nearly) wherever you want them. Maybe someone with stock bars can snap a pic of the windshield to clutch master cylinder clearance at full right lock for comparison? http://www.geocities.com/mdwsr/cbars.html

:grin: I've been on a run of the graveyard shift the last few days. My priorities have been: sleep, eat, work, eat, sleep... If anybody wants a a pic of a particular angle let me know but give me a few days, I feel like I'm living on Planet P when I'm working midnights.

Bubba - I plan to leave mine up and back most of the time. I would move them back to near stock if I were doing a track day or a a pure twisty ride, but the difference is not so great as to make you put them back just for any ride. There is a definate change in the ride though, and it's real easy to move them once you get them on.

Bubba - to get most of the benefit you can use all the stock lines, but to get it all you will have to buy at least the clutch line. I re-routed some things to get mine most of the advertised distance but I'm still not sure I like all the changes. I still have not put my new clutch line on but with the longer one I can get all available aft and higher movement possible on the clutch side. My brake line seems to be long enough to get nearly the same distance, maybe slightly less in height than maximum. I think that's not typical from what I've heard though, maybe I just got lucky and got a longer than normal brake line stock. I have a few rides on them now and I really do like the change for comfort. There is a noticable shift rearward in the weight balance though, so you need to be careful the first few times in the twisties, but for overall comfort I really like them. My reasoning for buying these instead of the VFR bars is that I can spend a few more bucks and have the ability to adjust them. I priced the VFR bars and by the time I paid shipping and/or tax the difference was going to be about $60 for the base kit. I do have a few gripes though. There are a couple reasons I couldn't get them to adjust to the stock position. One was that the lowered bars bumped against the inner fairing trim, and another was the connectors on the brake switch would not let you go all the way down. I nearly broke one of them trying to force them down until I realized the problem. Another thing I don't care for too much is the way you have to re-route your throttle cable outside the right fork stanchion. It works but puts them in a little more of a bind than I like. I might see if I can find a longer set eventually and put them back to the stock location. So anyway, I really hate to be unpaid advertising for them, but they have excellent customer service, you have the ability to adjust within certain limits, and the quality is tops. You will have to decide for yourself if it is worth the extra cash, and also if it's worth all the tinkering you have to do to get full benefit. I tried the "fixed" bars of a different brand and could not see that much benefit. With these I can.

I think the real problem is that most vehicles don't have a digital temp guage and let you know exactly what their other engines are running. Mine runs hot in city stoplight traffic, and it's new. 240 is not all that hot anyway, my Jeep runs 215-220 on the open road. The manual says you have a problem if it gets over 250 and stays there. If I'm at a stoplight and it gets up to 240 or so I usually kill the engine until the light turns green, then I blast off and take advantage of all that cool ram air blastin into the ram air into a hot engine... Sweet... Mine does not run hot on the highway, except for one day it got up to 210-215 when I was running 65 MPH down the highway. I was concerned until I realized I had a 35 MPH tailwind.

I pretty much finished up this evening, except for putting on the new clutch hose which came in today. I was able to get my bars as high as you can see in the pic in the link below but I had to raise the stock clutch line from the frame clip on the left side of the frame, just behind the head tube. I will definately not leave it this way, just wanted to see how far I could go with everything else stock. I have plently of slack in my brake hose so will leave it stock for now. I can get just a little more than is in the pic, but not unless I do some more mod's. To go more aft I will have to grind off the barrell bolt stop on the master cylinder, and to go higher I will need a longer brake line. I am satisfied, but did run into a few small problems. I could not use the bar weights that came with the kit because the bolt was to big to fit through the stock end caps. I used the stock weights instead. Also, I could find no possible way to run them at stock height without trimming the inner fairing trim (no thanks, not worth it). There may be another way to do it but I couldn't figure it out. Another thing I ran into when trying to run them lower was the way you have to re-route the throttle cables. You have to run them outside the right fork stanchion, and with the bars near the stock position the throttle cables tend to get stuck between the bars and the stanchion on full lock left. Not good. These things are definately overpriced, but what aftermarket doo-dad isn't? I bet some insurance company gets a big hit for every one of these sold anyway. When you compare it to the other alternatives I think these are worth the price, but only then. They seem to be very strong, and definately top quality, and give you more adjustability than some other options. http://www.geocities.com/mdwsr/cbars.html

I took a 30 mile twisty ride this afternnon, and there is already a definate improvement. I wanted my bars aft more than higher, but with this setup you just about have to do both. Raising the stockers as high as I could did not help my fit at all, I needed them back. My problem stock was my reach, I am 5' 8" with short arms and I almost had to sit against the tank to get comfortable. Already with these I can sit back against the back of the saddle rise in comfort, and an inch more will be perfect but I have a couple more things to iron out (and may not get that much even then). I should have it all done by the end of the week if my parts get here, I'll post more after that.

Do any of you have the convertibars on your birds? I looked around at all the options (VFR bars, heli-bars, another version like the converti's, etc) and finally decided to spring for these. I finally got them on and working today, and like any project like this, now that they are on I could do it again in 2-3 hours. I won't admit publicly how long it took me the first time though (it was WAY more than 2 hours heheh). I have the stainless clutch line still on the way, but after using all the stock lines I have (so far) been able to get 1 1/4" up and about 1 1/2" aft. I can get more, but I'm doing it a little at a time as I work out fitment issues, plus I enjoy tinkering. I did run into way more issues than I expected, but have been able to resolve all of them so far. I called the tech support # saturday morning about an issue, and was called back a couple hours later. It turned out to be something that could not be resolved until monday, but he called me back early monday morning with everything worked out. Excellent customer service. I'll reserve my judgement until I get my longer clutch line and work out a couple more things, but thought I might get some dialogue going for future searches. I'll have some pics up soon that might help on new installations, as the included directions are good but not bike specific, and I suspect the XX is one of the harder bikes to modify this way.

I think you are right, they will be slightly less noticable but I hate to even guess what that entire switch assembly costs. The front signal uses the same bulb as the brake so it should be the same difference in brightness as the brake light from parking light to brake light. I'm gonna try it as soon as I can make a trip to radio shack. I gotta get the convertibars on first though, will finish that tonight hopefully.

I am the first owner, and they are stock now. The way they work stock is running lights on all the time except when you use the signal, then they alternate from full bright to off. The way I am describing will make them exactly like your brake/parking light, as in they will alternate from running lights to full bright instead of off and on. The front turn signal bulbs are the same dual element as the brake light bulb(s). By the way, I don't usually sit around and read schematics for fun Yesterday when I was trying to get the stock weights out of the bars I accidentally hit the turn signal switch while taping the weight with a rubber mallet. I hit the turn signal switch and broke it, and I discovered this alternate way to wire them by trying to figure out a way to fix it with a .79 c DPDT switch instead of buying a whole new jillion dollar switch assembly from Honda... Besides I think they would look better the way I will re-wire them.

I've been studying the schematic for my bike, and it appears that you could re-wire the front signals to work like a car, as in running lights on all the time and the signals alternate from normal running lights to bright for signal, instead of going on and completely off when you signal. Since the front bulb is dual element and the running lights and signals are on seperate circuits this should work. All you would have to do is jumper the BAT5 - PR - PL (I think). Anyone tried this? I've also found a few errors in the schematic, nothing other than wire colors but I've found 2 color errors so far.

Well, 35 mm would be approximately 1/3 of the travel, which sounds about right, but I'm not sure what my static sag is. In fact I hadn't even considered that, since static sag on a mx bikeisn't so much of a factor. I am at work now, but have 2 days off starting tomorrow and this is on my "tinker list". Thanks for the replies...

Actually it was a statement, but I was not absolutely sure I used the right terminology. 1/4 - 1/3 seems to be the universal sag, I didn't know if it applied to sportbikes as well. I'm fairly sure mine is set too stiff, the ride reflects this as well. When I am in the twisties and hit any kind of groove or bump, the bike feels too tight (as in not enough sag to initially "push" the rear wheel into the hole). Anyway, I got off topic on my own post, but this seems to confirm that I can solve two problems with one adjustment. Thanks...

I can't say exactly right right at the moment, but it barely moves with my weight on it. I have more of an offroad & mx background so I'm really not sure how to set up a sport bike. Plus I'm dealing with 4" of travel instead of 12", so I'm thinking maybe the tuning process is a little different. I did have another reason for asking as well, I would like to lower it about 1/2" or so and this would be very easy to do by reducing my spring preload, thus increasing sag. But, since I have zero experience tuning suspension on a sportbike I thought I would ask first. I will probably raise the forks in the clamps by the same amount. Before somone asks why, I have a pair of convertibars on the way and the main reason I want to lower it 1/2" is to compensate somewhat for the higher COG I will have with the altered handlebars. Also, I have read some comments here about this topic, and I think maybe some are confusing "preload" with "damping". The damping screw should have very little effect on sag, it should only effect the rate of damping (and I assume only compression damping on this shock). Preload normally is related to sag, or, it is the amount of spring tension in the static state (?)

I read through the service manual and could not find the rear sag setting, I could not even find where it mentioned sag. Where do you guys run yours? Mine seems a little firm at the stock sag setting. TIA

41 mpg here after 3 tanks of fuel.