putting both Gen-Mar risers and ST bars on an RS

[Paul Fox <pgf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

okay.  here's my experience with putting both the gen-mar risers
and the ST bars on my RS.  some of this has been covered earlier
by don, but it seems my experience was a little different than his,
so i thought i'd write it up.

first the punchline, so kathy doesn't get nervous :-) -- i think it's
going to work.

i received the risers first, and installed them alone:

    the gen-mar risers install in a very straightforward manner. 
    they're essentially thick shims, an inch thick, or maybe a little
    more.  you remove the bolts which hold the bars, set the shims
    down, and reinstall with the longer bolts (supplied).  whereas
    on the ST the brake line needs to be replaced, on the RS this
    is not necessary.  the one issue is with the throttle.  if you
    look at the stock setup, the throttle cable connects to the grip
    with a J-shaped 90 degree bend.  the short side of 'J' bend leaves
    the grip housing heading straight up, then curves along the
    direction of the bar, and the cable exits the long side of the
    'J', heading toward the center of the bars.  the trouble is that
    with the added height from the risers, this section of 'J' bend
    contacts the right side fairing at full left steering lock.  the
    solution is simple:  loosen the throttle grip housing (two
    phillips screws), and rotate the housing forward so that the 'J'
    now exits to the front.  lying it down like this lets it clear the
    fairing, and everything works just fine.

now, add the ST bars:

    first issue:  the electronic switch clusters on both sides have
    locator posts, which are designed to fit into matching holes in
    the RS bars, to keep them from rotating.  i had vagues thoughts
    of trying to drill the bars, but decided instead to simply file
    off the posts.  (i had done this on a previous bike with no
    ill effect.)  they seem to tighten up enough, and since there's
    nothing else attached (mirrors, levers, etc) i think they'll be
    fine.

    second issue:  on the left, with everything installed, there wasn't
    quite enough slack in the electric harness at full left lock.  i
    managed to tug just a little extra wire free from where it disappears
    up front under the instrument cluster assembly, and now it's _just_
    okay.  i think the clips that hold it to the fork tube needed to be
    rearranged a bit as well.  everything else, including the clutch
    cable which don mentioned had been an issue on his RS, seems to
    be fine.

    third issue:  on the left, it's the throttle housing again.  with
    the 'J' lying forward as described above, at left lock it runs
    directly into the fairing, and not by just a little bit.  with the
    'J' rotated back vertical, it clears the fairing just fine, but
    the cable is too short in that position, and you'll accelerate
    hard when you do your first tight turn.  the "real" solution is to
    get a longer throttle cable.  what i did instead is just a little
    unorthodox (i may yet decide to get the longer cable).  by
    disassembling the throttle housing (by fully removing the two
    phillips screws -- so far i'd only had to loosen them, to slide
    the assembly on and off the bar), i found that it is possible to
    re-route the throttle cable.  in stock form, it travels in front
    of the fork tubes, and approaches the 'J' from in front and above
    the bar.  i routed it (from left to right) behind the ignition
    switch, and _between_ the fork tubes, so it approaches the
    throttle below the bar.  i rotated the 'J' so that it heads
    straight down (i.e.  180 degrees from the stock position), and
    connected the cable there.  with this arrangement, there seems to
    be enough slack everywhere.  the metal barrel adjuster on the
    cable does make contact with (and rub on) the rear edge of the
    triple clamp, so i covered it with a piece of clear plastic tubing
    that i split and zip-tied in place.  as i said, this cable routing
    feels a little unorthodox, but it seems to work okay.  my
    assumption right now is that getting an ST throttle cable would
    make everything work again.

    fourth issue:  this one is minor, and probably different on different
    bikes.  because the shape of the RS and ST bars is different, the
    descending brake line hits the vertical portion of the handlebar
    sooner than it did with the RS bars.  this means i can't rotate
    the brake lever _quite_ as far downward as i had it before.  i'm
    sure i can fix this by loosening the brake line banjo bolt very
    slightly, and rotating it a bit so that the line clears the handlebar.
    but the lever is pretty close to where i'd want it anyway, so
    i'll hold off on that.

one final note:  the ST bars are a bit longer than than the RS bars,
so there are some gaps left between the handlebar endweights and the
grips.  it _may_ be that it's really the spacers in the center of the
end-weights that are different -- i think shortening the RS spacers
have would fix the problem, and allow the end-weights to move in closer
to the grips, but i'm in no hurry.

another final note:  getting a screwdriver on the phillips head screws
would be tricky in some cases, due to limited clearance below the bars.
i used a phillips bit in a 1/4" drive socket, but any very short or
right-angle screwdriver would probably work.

don -- did you really not have any trouble with the throttle cable?  if
not, then it's clear that not all RS models are alike.

kathy -- i'll be interested to hear your experience.

paul
=---------------------
  paul fox, pgf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (arlington, ma, where it's 38.3 degrees)
  'oh-oh Sprint RS, '91 VX800, DoD #1462, AMA #545601

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