Help from all who have changed handlebars

[peteinpa]

I've got my Rizoma MA009 bars and will be installing when I can't ride anymore (snow YUCK!) 

My BIG question and I've searched and read everything I can find is do you drill the new bars or dremel those locator pins off. Let me say right now on stock bars the left control housing is already slightly loose. I tightened it and it still twists with slight effort till the pin stops it in its hole. These are plastic threads so you can't go crazy on the torque.

On the right side the throttle housing has 2 pins, 1 in each half. (I think, haven't taken apart yet, just looked in manual) What a pain, so 3 holes in the bar on that side. 

If the vote is drill holes, how do you accurately mark the exact right spots?

Thanks.

[betoney]

I have never drilled for the locator pins. On the left side there is a silver clamp inside the switchgear that can be tightened. On the right side I wrapped a few layers of electrical tape on the bar to act as a shim. 

[kilo3]

5 minutes ago, betoney said:

I have never drilled for the locator pins. On the left side there is a silver clamp inside the switchgear that can be tightened. On the right side I wrapped a few layers of electrical tape on the bar to act as a shim. 

Same, removed the pins with sandpaper, electrical tape to fit.

[Wintersdark]

Yup.  I dremel the pins off 100% of my bikes inside the first week I own them.  Ultimately, you want to adjust the angle of the controls to your body anyways, so the pins tend to be counterproductive unless you're the mythical Average Rider.

I've never once drilled handlebars, and I've never had a problem with controls rotating in use.  If they're loose, as others said a wrap of electrical tape as a shim both protects the bars and fixes that, but to be honest I've never once even needed to do that.  My Tracer's controls aren't shimmed, the pins are long gone, and the controls are completely immobile.

 

[peteinpa]

That seems unanimous. So even for the throttle housing, does that squeeze tight enough?

[betoney]

7 minutes ago, peteinpa said:

That seems unanimous. So even for the throttle housing, does that squeeze tight enough?

Yes, no issues.

[peteinpa]

Found a tip on Youtube. After removing location pins, put a piece of heat shrink between control housing and handlebar to keep it from rotating.

[Ride365]

19 hours ago, kilo3 said:

Same, removed the pins with sandpaper, electrical tape to fit.

 

I've always gone with the aluminum tape for that, but yeah good quality electrical tape like from 3M works as well.

[andz]

When I took the handguards off I fitted end weights from a naked MT-09 as well as Rizoma grips and had to move the switch blocks out to close the gaps.

I just filed the pins off the switch blocks and tightened them up, no movement in 3 years.

The bars are standard so maybe aftermarket bars are slightly narrower requiring the fixes mentioned above.

[Wintersdark]

Hmm.  I will interject that my bars (2019 GT) are indeed *not* standard. They're 22mm at the grip, but IIRC 1" where they attach to the risers (I assume 1"; wider, but I don't recall the exact measurement).  So if replacing them, you'd want to do some measuring first just to be sure you're getting a set that fits. 

[betoney]

51 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

Hmm.  I will interject that my bars (2019 GT) are indeed *not* standard. They're 22mm at the grip, but IIRC 1" where they attach to the risers (I assume 1"; wider, but I don't recall the exact measurement).  So if replacing them, you'd want to do some measuring first just to be sure you're getting a set that fits. 

True, they are not a straight 7/8” bar, the center is 1-1/8”.  On dirtbikes they are referred to as a “fat bar”. 

[Buggy Nate]

I’ll buck the trend and always drill for locator pins. I absolutely detest the rotating switch block/sticky electrical tape dodgyness! Sorry not sorry! Takes a few more minutes to correctly line up the switch blocks where you want them and they’ll not move from where you set them.

[betoney]

5 minutes ago, Buggy Nate said:

I’ll buck the trend and always drill for locator pins. I absolutely detest the rotating switch block/sticky electrical tape dodgyness! Sorry not sorry! Takes a few more minutes to correctly line up the switch blocks where you want them and they’ll not move from where you set them.

But then you are stuck with only one position - ever. 

Depending if I am wearing bulky gloves or slimmer summer gloves or with or without hand guards I will reposition my controls and switch gear.  Ergonomics are a pet peeve of mine and I reposition my controls a few mm up or down, inward or outward from time to time.

[andz]

Speaking of ergonomics it grates me intensely that when the levers are perfectly aligned horizontally the mirror stalks are not at the same angle from vertical. WTF?

[Wintersdark]

On 10/15/2020 at 12:26 PM, andz said:

Speaking of ergonomics it grates me intensely that when the levers are perfectly aligned horizontally the mirror stalks are not at the same angle from vertical. WTF?

This bothers me too.  A lot.  I mean, it doesn't really matter and it's easy to forget about, but as soon as you look at it along the bars, from side to side, it just looks wrong.  Nobody looking at the bike has ever noticed it, but it drives me nuts every time I take stuff apart and put it back together.