| Author | Message | ||
     Al_lighton |
I've said it elsewhere, the Uly is not a replacement for my XR400, it's a replacement for my S3. As such, it is my intention to narrow the focus of the bike a little bit more towards street, though I have no intention of taking away from it's ability to do fire roads and such. I'll keep more aggressive tires and the tall suspension and such, but I plan on making it a little more sport tour/highway friendly. I played with the handlebars a bit today. Not sure I'm happy with the results, but it's a good experiment, I've learned a bit. I wanted lower and a little narrowerthan the stock ULY bars. So I put some stock XB-S bars on it (which supposedly have the same bend as the City-X bars but no cross bar), and while I'm happy with the forward lean, I think theymight be too narrow. More comments later after I ride it home, gotta go, but here are some pictures.           One thing for sure about ergonomics....little changes can make HUGE differences in feel. Al (Message edited by al_lighton on August 17, 2005) | ||
| Firemanjim |
Come on Al.Ya know it needs some Pro-Tapers.Make a kit!! | ||
| Al_lighton |
You may be right Jim...But it'd take a new top triple to make it happen. I rode it home, and it actually is pretty nice. It feels the way an XB-S lightning should have, but couldn't, given the short seat to triple clamp distance. I think I need to make them a tiny bit taller, and a tiny bit wider, and I need to lose the chrome. But they're definitely closer to what I'm looking for. I drove the Uly with stock bars thru several miles of lane split on 5 on sunday, and the wide bars that are at the same height as SUV mirrors wer not as cool in traffic as the shop XB9S with crossroads bars. I've always been more partial to S3 bars than S3T bars, I like a little bit of forward lean. I did note that the extra leverage afforded by the wide Uly bars is one of the reasons why the bike is so easy to balance. It felt a little hard to steer while moving VERY slowly with the new shorter bars. But it sure felt like a natural street position, and at speed, the XB-S bars felt pretty darned good. AL | ||
| Rageonthedl |
you may wanna look at some of the bars that are on sportsters | ||
| Trojan |
We have adapters to fit Pro-Taper or other 'Fat Bars' with 28mm diameter to the XB12X and other Buells with tubular bars. They fit using the stock triple trees. Price is approximately US$127 to US customers plus shipping of around US$15.  | ||
| Al_lighton |
Looks nice, Matt. Those could possibly work, but height was the reason that I thought that a new top triple would be needed. The pro-taper type bars don't have as much rise as the XB-S bars, so I think the riser itself has to make up the difference. Of course, that could also be done in an adapter like you've got. How much does that raise the bottom of the bar? Al | ||
| Trojan |
Hi Al, these only raise the bottom of the bar by around 1" from stock. I'm going to try them on our XB12X (when it arrives!) to see which bend is best for these particular risers. Trouble is there are so many MX bar bends available now it could be a long job and of course would be subject to personal choice in the end. | ||
| Typeone |
Matt, do you have any pics of the new risers installed on an XB S yet? Trying to imagine how they will look bolted up to the stock triple. Thnx. | ||
| Cdallen |
Thanks for posting this Al, I was actually going to PM you today about this but haven't had the chance. I remember you saying you wanted to try the CityX bars. Do you know if are they the same width as well as height as the standard S? Also, have you given anymore thought to removing the upper fender. Did you actually remove it earlier or just see that it was bracing the headlights and not try? I was looking at the 12Ss and thought that bracket might be able to be 'adapted' to work since it has the same rake and stearing head angle... thanks chris | ||
| 2hogs |
Hey Al, You probably already know this, but I figured I'd throw it out there. You could take the measurements rise, tip-to-tip, etc and look in a HD accessory catalog to see if HD has something that may fit. I'm just not sure about the Buell bar diameter. Just trying to help. Cheers | ||
| Al_lighton |
Don't sporties all run 1" bars? I really don't know, I don't pay much attention to them, my brain is already too full trying to keep up with Buell stuff  I'm a flanders dealer, they've got a ton of bends to chose from. I've never been able to find one that works better on a Lightning because with a Lightning, I've wanted to get the bars lower than stock so I can get enough forward lean, and tank interference or wrist angle is a concern. But the Uly doesn't need to be lower to get more forward lean because it has more seat to bar distance. What feels too wide on a Lightning would be just right on a Uly. I'm hoping to find a non-chrome bar that is slightly wider and slightly taller, with about the same pull-back angle, as the stock Lightning/City-X bars. Near as I've been able to tell by putting them next to each other, the CityX and Lightning bars are dimensionally identical other than the crossbar. I didn't remove the upper fender, but it looks pretty trivial to do so. I haven't looked at the bracket on an Ss yet, only the regular Lightning, and it's a lot different on that. Al | ||
| Light_keeper |
What about Blast bars? the stock ones are about 3" taller than the S bars. | ||
| Outrider |
For my application, Blast Bars would be fine if they were a few inches wider. | ||
| 45_degrees |
The bars on my 2004 Yamaha XT225 are about the same or maybe slighty lower than the stock S bars, but they are significantly wider. They also don't have a cross brace. | ||
| Al_lighton |
I agree, the blast/S3T bars (same) will be too narrow. Some **approximate** width dimensions of the bars XB - 27-1/2" S3 - 28" Stock Uly - 30 1/4" I'm thinking 29" and lower are going to be about perfect. I put the stock ones back on for now. The XB-S/CityX bars weren't half bad, but they're not "the ones" either. They weren't quite wide enough, but the height was close. I've got a few bars on order. Based on a few sets here that I tried, I found some that look very promising....But screw the numbers, it's the feel that counts and I won't know until I put them on. Stay tuned. The uly bars are in the back, the XB-S bars in the front. A little bit of parallax, but you can see the relative difference  Al | ||
| Al_lighton |
I got some Street Renthals in. Aluminum, anodized gray. One set is a little wider and about the same height as the XB-S bars, the other set is a little taller and ever so slightly wider than the XB-S bars. The color match isn't perfect, but it isn't bad, and beats the heck outta chrome. I mounted the tall ones last night, they feel pretty nice. I suspect the ones that I will end up keeping on the bike is the lower wider ones, but the key there is how they feel when I get the Corbin lower seat on. I have no doubt that the stock bars on a ULY will be fine for many, but for those that end up putting a Corbin or low seat on, they will probably want lower bars unless they REALLY like the sit up and beg position. I drove the bike home and back, and I do like the more sporting position. They take away a bit from the dirt bikish feel of the bike, but that's OK, I'm not trying to keep it a dirt bike, thus the bar ends and many more mods to come. Wide bars are NOT good in lane splitting traffic, and I filter up through cars at traffic lights daily. Pictures in the following post, I blew the upload on this one. One thing is for sure: Handlebars are important. It is VERY hard to prevent your new bike from crashing to the ground when you don't have handlebars on it (see post here) DOH!!! Al (Message edited by al_lighton on August 23, 2005) | ||
| Al_lighton |
Whoops, I double shrunk. Try again on the images: The stock Uly bars are at the top of this picture, the stock XB-S bars at the bottom. The taller but narrower renthals are next to the Uly bars, the wider but lower renthals next to the XB-S bars.  The Uly bars are in the back. The lower renthals are completely obscured by the XB-S bars, they are virtually the same height. The higher renthals are a little bit taller than this picture would have you believe, due to the angle that they sit on the floor. Maybe 1" taller than the XB-S bars total.  Disregard the cables and such, I'm not dressing them right while I'm doing all this playing around. They will be all out of the way when I'm finally done playing. The throttle cables work just fine, no binding. The clutch cable may be a little long. Any lower and I suspect the regular Lightning clutch cable may be a better match.   I think the bike looks a lot better without the handguards, mickey mouse mirrors, and handlebar crossbar.  I'll be starting on a new front fender soon... Al (Message edited by al_lighton on August 23, 2005) | ||
| Cdallen |
Once again, thanks for posting your progress, I am at least very interested in the same type of modifications that you are working on. Have you noticed any more wind noise/buffeting from having your head lower (more in the transition area between shielded air and clean air)? How much $ are the renthals (wider ones)? Also, if you ever put stock bars back on or can get someone with a stock bike to model both, could you get profile pictures with the same person on board to get a better idea of the change in rider position... looking forward to the fender experiments too | ||
| Al_lighton |
I'm driving Reindog up to Loma Linda tomorrow to pick up his Ulysses from Quaids. We'll be able to park them side by side and take some profile pictures of someone sitting on each. I'll post those when they're ready. I don't have the pricing here at home, but they're something like $65 I think...I'll check tomorrow. I think I'm going to meld an S2 and an XB fender into one for the front... one that looks sleeker and more conventional, but is bigger than the normal XB fender by a bit. But making it so that it is very steady is harder than on the old tubers, there isn't a support lug behind the slider, so a bolt together design may be required. I think the rear fender looks a little blocky as well, and plan on releasing a rounder version of it. Buell did a really good job with the fit of the pieces. This bike is designed and built pretty darned good. There are lots of details that seem to be done right. There's some things I'd change, but they did an awful lot right. Al (Message edited by al_lighton on August 23, 2005) | ||
| Al_lighton |
Blake, I'd be all for moving this thread over to the Knowledge Vault. But it seems appropriate for me to continue this where I started rather than starting a new thread over there. More pictures in the handlebar experiments: Stock, medium renthal street bars, low renthal street bars.    The next three shots are taken with the camera sitting on the triple tail at the pivot. Medium renthals first, low renthals second, stock bars third.    View from the cockpit. Medium renthals first, low renthals second, stock bars third. The astute observer may notice the hydraulic clutch installed on the low renthals...clutch "cable" routing is trivial with it, and it feels oh so smooth. We'll be releasing it soon.    It may not look like it in these two pictures, but the low bars do pull your shoulders forward a bit. Low renthals in the first picture, Stock in the 2nd. I think Tom is slouching a little bit more in the 2nd picture. It feels more different than this picture would seem to imply.   I'm not partial to the crossbar and the clutch cable between my eyes and the dash. It cleans things up a bit to have the crossbar gone with the hydraulic clutch cable. Al   (Message edited by al_lighton on September 20, 2005) | ||
| Jackbequick |
"..I'd be all for moving this thread over to the Knowledge Vault. But it seems appropriate for me to continue this where I started rather than starting a new thread over there..." I'm not arguing with you Al but, for the info of anyone that is worried about moved threads, when you read BadWeb using the "Search for New Messages" feature you don't miss a thing when a thread is moved. It just shows up in a different place when/if there are any new posts made to it. Jack | ||
| Blake |
Thanks Al and you too Jack. I appreciate the consideration. We'll soon move it to the ergonomics topic. 172689 | ||
| Al_lighton |
I thought I'd mentioned it here, but guess not. The renthal lows and mediums are up on the store, here and here. I like the lows. The mediums weren't bad either. The advantage of the mediums was that they had a little less pullback angle, and a little less rise in the last section of bar above the bends. Less Rise there means that the bar can be angled forward a little bit more and still have a natural feel. The more rise there is in the end section, the more the bars have to be rotated towards the rider for a natural wrist position. Rotation forward and less pullback makes it more comfortable for the rider to sit a little bit further forward, which is better for sportier riding. However, the advantage goes to the lows for both height (slightly lower, even at the ends despite the bar end rise), and also for width. The mediums are slightly narrower than the lows, and the extra width of the lows is nice. I think the lows width is perfect, wide enough for enough leverage, narrow enough to lane split and be a little bit more nimble feeling than the IMHO too wide stock bars. The height is close to perfect for me (5'-11", stubby 30" inseam), but 1/2" lower would suit me better. They feel pretty good, and the renthal coloring goes good with the bike. Al | ||
| Motogeek |
Hey, Al, one thing you don't mention (I don't think) is whether or not you ground down the mounting pin on the bar clusters or drilled the new bars to still use the pin. I just bought new Renthals and don't know what to do. Thanks! - Scott |
