[cupofresh]

Thanks for the pictures! Here is a picture of my bike in its current state. I cannot decide still if I want to get riser bars for it, or leave the clip-ons on it. I have them mounted below the triple, and it is mostly for looks, doesn't change the comfort too much. I appreciate any suggestions/advice/comments about my bike that you may have.

[shpielers]

Mother of god that looks uncomfortable. I commute 100 miles/day so that would kill me. That make the turn in any different?

[rschlegel]

Hey cupofresh,
I just installed taller bars on my '98 600. Check out "higher bars = easier miles" in the touring section for pics and details. It was super easy. I only needed longer brake a longer brake line and was able to have a dual line setup made for $69. The clutch cable was snug at full lock but had no adverse affect. I did have an extended cable made today for $20 just because I had everything apart so good time to do it.

[cupofresh]

Rschlegel, thanks. It looks fairly simple to do.

Shpieler, it's not too uncomfortable, I'm young and do not go very far anways so it's not an issue. It gives the bike a bit more of an aggressive feel since ur a little father forward. But I am considering the riser bars for sure.

[rk97]

FWIW, wider bars on heavier bikes may actually improve handling feel despite adding height. More leverage.

Raising bar height does make proper body position through fast turns more difficult though. Parking my EX500 and my F2 with clip-ons next to each other was an eye-opener as far as how much lower your hands are. And the feel at speed was incredibly different. Getting off the EX felt weird. Getting off the F2 felt natural. That said, most of us aren't commuting on a race track.

...I'm considering dirt bars.

[cupofresh]

rk97, Which did you prefer though? Are you saying you like the lower handlebar feel? I was thinking of some renthal dirt bars as well.

[cupofresh]

I finally got around to getting some different handle bars on my bike. I eill post pictures tomorrow when its light outside!

[cupofresh]

[rschlegel]

Looks good. I'm sure you will like it more and will find low speed handling much better.

[BareKat]

my risers:

[cupofresh]

So a quick question. Does anyone know the factory height the forks are supposed to rise above the upper triple tree? I had to lower my forks (raise the front end) a little because of the new bars I put on and I just installed the r6 rear spring which lowers the back a little. I was wondering if anyone had ideas about what I could do! I already have used washers as spacers under the clamps. I would like to lower the front end (raise up forks) a tad so I don't mess up the steering geometry. That's for any help.

[Purplehaze]

That lip of the top cap is supposed to be flush with the clamp. May not be a big deal as long as the rest of yous suspension works in tandem.

[cupofresh]

Yeah I have just been reading about rake on the forums and it seems as though by raising the front end and lowering the rear I may have more sloppy handling, which is not what I want. I'm also not to keen on the looks of the washers as spacers, but I have to have them there unless I raise the front of the bike even more. It's also a bit difficult to get my keys in and out. Do people relocate the ignition ever? If so, where is a good place to do that?

[Kreylyn]

Yeah I have just been reading about rake on the forums and it seems as though by raising the front end and lowering the rear I may have more sloppy handling, which is not what I want. I'm also not to keen on the looks of the washers as spacers, but I have to have them there unless I raise the front of the bike even more. It's also a bit difficult to get my keys in and out. Do people relocate the ignition ever? If so, where is a good place to do that?

For the fork issue...

Buy a set of racetech springs for your weight. Add a spacer under the damping rod inside the forks. This spacer needs to be the rough estimate of how much you need to lower the front to counter the rear lowering. Since the forks sit at a fixed angle for the frame/neck angle, you need to factor that in when doing the math. The % difference is 1.12% aprox for the length of the forks.

This means if you lower the rear by .75" with a normal R6 shock, you should add a spacer under the damping rod of (1.12 X .75 = .84").

Once the forks are re-assembled, set the tops of the fork tube flush with the triple. Make minor adjustments at that point to fine tune your geometry by moving the forks up or down in the triples for better handling, but your main drop adjustment will be taken care of by the spacer you added under the damping rod.

Use GOOD fork oil fyi...

Krey

[cupofresh]

Krey, is the spacers you are talking about the same as the 1$ fork mod? I recently put some spacers in the top of my forks (about 4 washers, probably close to .75 in). So what you are saying is that essentially I have already lowered the front by .75 in? if that is the case then I could have definitely kept those bars on and just made the forks flush to the triple tree. But, instead I just put the stock clip ons back on and put all my fairings back on. That is good info to know for the future though, because I raised the forks about .5 in above the clip-ons to accommodate for lowering the rear, but if I don't need to do that because of the spacers then I will indeed lower those forks back down to be flush with the clipons. Thanks for the info!