Riser bars on '98 ST2 - Fast from the Past

[ptourin]

This may have been covered but I searched and didn't find a link to the company so I thought I'd post a couple of shots. I've wanted to bring my bars up and back a bit, and also angle them back - more than I could do with just the Dr. Desmo riser plates I bought. Those got me almost there but not quite - in their back position I had to reduce the lock-to-lock a bit, and my brake and clutch reservoirs just touched the fairing at lock on each side.

I bought a set of Fast from the Past 50mm high rise bars (Results for Clip-ons) from one forum member and a set of Monster adapters from another and mounted them up. In the bars-back configuration, They can only be mounted with the fork lock bolt in - it you mount it out, it hits the tank at full lock. There's lots of adjustment for the bars - angle back and "droop". You can see from the photos that there's no problem with the reservoirs hitting the fairing. They're a bit tight to the tank at full lock in the position that I ended up liking - might just go with it or might reduce the lock a bit more. You can see in the detail photo the Dr. Desmo riser (shiny, white cable tie attached to it), the flange of the Monster adapter above it (tab sticking out to the front inside) - and Erik's suggestion for an analog voltmeter - thanks Erik, it looks cool.

Once I saw that the fit worked, I re-mounted my Dr. Desmo riser plates to gain another 1/2" - this also worked fine. I'm at the limit of the clutch hydraulic line - I could get a thicker riser plate and go up another 1/2" - 3/4", but I'd definitely be needing another clutch line.

The only catch is that with the riser pieces mounted back and in, the bar width is pretty narrow. My reservoirs are hitting the riser pieces and the bars aren't completely into the riser pieces. Solution will be to buy a '3 piece of 7/8" bar stock and make 2 longer bars. There are plenty of choices out there for material - aluminum in different wall thicknesses or even solid - it'll take boring out at the ends to mount bar weights or a Throttlemeister, but that's doable. And with the extra bar length, my reservoirs would clear the riser pieces entirely - so I could reverse them and move the bars back another inch or so (not quite sure what the offset is).

They're not elegant like the stock bars, but they're way adjustable and comfortable, the finish matches the bike, they're not blindingly expensive.

[SS904]

I'm not sure if I understand why you have the clip ons mounted like you do. Wouldn't they fit mounted with the risers outboard to give you more bar width?

Different clip ons, but the same idea. These are my Cycle Cats with the risers mounted correctly. I don’t see why you had to mount yours reversed except for some clearance issues not evident in your pics.

[ptourin]

The Cycle Cat installation is really good looking!
I guess I didn't say this clearly. I'm using Cycle Cat adapters (Monster adapters, because I found them inexpensively) - I mounted them in the normal way, exactly the way yours are mounted - then I raised them another 1/2" by putting my Dr. Desmo plates under them.
The issue is with the FftP riser clamps, where they clamp onto the Cycle Cat adapters. The FftP site has descriptive diagrams showing all the ways the clamps & risers can be configured - very flexible setup. Also, look at my middle photo you'll see that the riser piece is mounted to the back of the clamp, and that the clamp bolt is on the inside - that places the risers to the inside of the clamps, and that makes the bars narrow. I then tried reversing the clamps so that the risers were mounted to the outside of the clamps - but the "bumps" where the risers bolt onto the clamps hit the tank at full lock, and I didn't want to reduce the lock a lot more.

[erikrichard]

What SS904 said, they need to be mounted outboard as in this pic 56-0016 by Fast from the Past
I've got my steering lock bolts adjusted as far in as they can go, and don't feel any problem with low speed manuevers. If you can't get them adjusted clearance wise with the risers installed properly, I'd send them back and order the Convertibar setup we talked about to go with those Cycle cat adaptors. The extra cost of them will be offset by selling the DrDesmo risers you won't need with the Convertibars.
Nice job on the voltmeter!

[va duc]

I wonder if you could turn the riser's around so the allen head faces the instruments?

[ptourin]

Yes, the clamps will mount with risers forward, but then the bars aren't as far back - I needed them back more than I needed the height increase, since I'm short. Between mounting the clamps with the risers forward/back and in/out - plus being able to reverse the risers - there are 8 different setups you can do. Add to that the ability to tilt the bars up/down and angle them forward/back and it's great for finding out what kind of setup is most comfortable for you.

[ptourin]

Erik, Dan - you mentioned a couple of interesting things in your posts. Erik, your link to FftP shows the bars in their 2nd forwardmost position, and I'm trying to move them back. The 3rd and 4th positions require that the clamp rings get reversed, so the risers are behind the clamp. This is where I run into difficulties. In the 3rd position I have to mount the clamp ring with the risers "in" - if I mount the clamp ring with the risers "out", the clamp bolt hits the tank. That's what moves the bars inwards as I described.
Dan - I'm trying to figure out what Cycle Cat sells - curious which bars you have in that photo. It looks to me like 4 of their kits have a fair amount of rise and mount to the 50 mm. adapters: the DBR2 (F25-50 risers), DBR23 (S25-50 risers - for monsters), DBR5 (S15-50 risers - not as much rise - for older ST2/4), DBR25 (s45-50 risers - later ST3/4S - expensive!!). It looks to me like you have the DBR23's - but in your photo they're mounted so they move the bars forward, not back. I assume they could be reversed...

[SS904]

Sorry for the slow response, day 5 here without power. Running on a generator, but have been busy at work too...

I honestly do not remember the nomenclature of the bars. The kit I bought was listed for a Monster S4 and designated "low rise". They came with triple adapters that had tabs to mount the Monster's instruments. I eventually sourced a set of the no-tab ST adapters and sold off the others.

As far as pull back goes, you can rotate these risers back a decent amount, and then with the eccentric at the bar attachment point you can set the bar angle in pretty much any position you want (within reason). My goal with these was more pull back and a sharper angle (drop) on the bars. I always thought the stock bars were too flat and too far forward. I didn’t necessarily want much more rise. These do give some, but not a lot. They did exactly what I wanted. A nice comfortable down angle on the bars, and I am now sitting with my ass resting at the rise in the seat rather than my junk crushed into the tank... This while still giving a SPORT touring appropriate sport bike crouch. The higher rise bars would certainly have you more upright.