New handlebar and mirrors

[DrD]

After over a year I decided that the sit-up-and-beg ergos of the R12R was too upright for me. I had the handlebar replaced with one from an F800ST. Turned out bar risers were needed with the new handlebar, or the handlebar would hit the tank way too soon. The height of the grips is still well below the standard. From pics on this forum, I added the K1200R mirrors.







The turn signals do hit the tank at full deflection:





And, what the heck, pics of the Rick Mayer seat:







I like the handling with this setup.

[MJB]

Looks Good...

How do you like the Rick Mayer seat?

[DrD]

Looks Good...

How do you like the Rick Mayer seat?

Thanks. I was uncertain about the seat for the first 500 miles or so. Now, it feels great.

[MJB]

Looks Good...

How do you like the Rick Mayer seat?

Thanks. I was uncertain about the seat for the first 500 miles or so. Now, it feels great.

Al lot more comfy than the stock seat?

[Paul-from-VA]

I have the same handlebars on order, didn't even consider the clearance problem. Where did you get the riser? Is the tank clearance any issue now? How about the bar angle compared to stock? I am hoping for something a bit straighter.

[NCGS]

The turn signals do hit the tank at full deflection:

Tell ya what, if that was mine, I'd grab my handy-dandy Dremel and trim down those turn signal levers before I'd let 'em anyhwere near the tank. As hard as you're going to try not to, someday, somewhere, the bars are going to flop over and put a nice ding in the top of your ($1200+) gas tank.

If the bars are what you like, then whittle the flappers down - they're a lot cheaper to replace than the tank.

Just my .02 cents - it's your bike..

[celticus]

Looks good. And you are from Vermont too right?
Mark

[DrD]

In no particular order:

1) The VT is for Virginia Tech. I have a son attending there now.

2) The RM seat is a lot more comfortable than stock. The stock seat, like most, is too narrow for me. This is also the same height as the tall seat, which helps my knees and hips.

3) The shop had the bar risers in stock, I'm not sure of the manufacturer. Should be easy to get.

4) The F800ST bar is lower, straighter, and shorter than the stock bar. Turns take a bit more force on this bar than stock, but not much. And it feels much better for me with my shoulder width and arm length.

5) I was thinking of cutting down the turn levers. I'm more concerned with breaking one off and paying some ridiculour price to fix it than with denting the tank. The plastic in the levers is kind of thin and brittle.

[famousperson]

The bars make the bike look MEAN! Not my cup of tea as far as riding position goes, though. There's something about leading with my head...

[lucagoa]

Dr D,
I love your seat!! Is the Rick Mayer seat a standard product or they "custom" made it for you?
Why the hell in Italy we do not have such saddlemaker.........
I'll have to see if someone from the US wish to ship to Italy (even though I think it won't be an easy task )

[fixinbones]

did you try rotating your bars slightly forward in the bar clamps. that might cure your tank hitting problem.

[DrD]

l: The RM seat is sort of custom made. I sent them pics of me on the bike and they made the seat off of that. Not a complete custom fitting, but it works. You must have such saddlemaker in IT -- maybe they don't advertise?

f: I have rotated the bar forward about 15 degrees. This permits more turn angle before lever contact, but it still contacts. No more rotation is possible since the brake line fitting is just touching at this point. This is almost the point where the hard stop is reached, so maybe it is OK.