As promised, I've now had some time to evaluate the convertibars and thought I'd post up if anyone is interested. First off, on a bike with a small fairing pocket such as the SH, they are a REAL pain to get set. Took myself and a friend (both fairly mechanically proficient) a total of 7 hrs to install and set right. And even at that, there is still interference with the upper fairing, which prevents full steering lock. If you do this, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get used to the new lack of steering lock before getting in over your head. Right after install I almost dropped the Hawk while doing a u-turn on my street when the bar hit the upper fairing and stopped...

Big thanks to Cliby, who not only hooked me up with the Cyclops clamps, but provided photos of the install on his bike, which I ultimately used as a loose reference when I ran out of patience during fitment.

Now the good...NO MORE NUMB HANDS...that's right, took a 80 mile ride to a local bike night with no problems at all. Previously my right hand would start going numb in 10-15 minutes and would be totally dead after about 20. Now I can ride all day as long as I do my part (elbows in and down).

As a side benefit, I always felt the turn-in was a bit sluggish with the stock set-up, but the combination of higher and wider bars make the bike seem much more responsive. Also, according to the Convertibars website, only about 1 inch of rise will be achievable with stock lines, but with carefull re-routing, I've gotten prob. close to 2 1/2.

In short, despite the hassles that almost made me surrender, I'm so glad I did this. I was afraid I'd have to sell the bike due to the fact that I just wasn't comfortable riding with no feeling in my throttle hand. The new riding position still allows a tuck at speed, but around town I can scoot forward on the seat and it feels very similar to a Monster riding position. Hope this helps someone else with "numb hand syndrome".

 

lance that is great to hear. I'm glad you like them and they worked out for you and you were able to find a good position. One additional thing, if you get some wheel weights (stick on) you can build up the steering stops so you don't have to worry about damaging anything in case of a fall and force the bards either into the tank or the fairing. You may have already done this but it wasn't clear.

b

 

Congrats on getting 2and 1/2 inches of rise with the stock lines. I couldn't fiqure out how to do it.

I've at least temporarily given up on using them on my bike. I couldn't see how to get the rise I wanted without longer brake lines and taking the Dremel to the fairing pocket and windscreen.

I also didn't like that unless I rotated the bars way forward or back, any rise would be accompanied by a major increase in end to end bar width which I didn't want.

I might try them again when I'm willing to buzz out that fairing pocket, but the more I've ridden with the stock bars the more I like and am comfortable with them. I did 350 miles last tues. with no hand pain/numbness.

The only thing I dislike about the riding position now is having my family jewels jammed up against the rear of the tank, but I think I can fix that by modifying the seat or buying an aftermarket one.

 

Wow, 350 miles with the stock clip-on's? That's impressive. I seriously thought about researching other options, to include body positioning, exercises, or medical treatment to cure the numbness. Never had it on any other bike, and I've owned prob. 20 over my riding years. However none were as bent over as this either. RK1 if you ever decide to try it again let me know and I'll send pics or details or whatever you need. Like I said, without the pics from Cliby I would have been lost. Actually brought the laptop into the garage and duplicated the position of his clamps to give a starting point.

As for the stick on wheel weights, that's pretty damn clever. No, I hadn't thought of that but I'm gonna try it. Still have some fine tuning to do before I go to the mountains at the end of the month, so I'll do it then.

 

bluevtr;

Appreciate the offer of advice in setting up c-bars. I'm having too much fun riding with what spare time I have to mess with it right now, but if I decide to have a go at them I'll give you a ping for sure.

The 350 miles was easy 'cause I've figured out how to sit with minimal weight on my hands, I was riding with good friends and we stopped a bunch of times, including two leasurely meals at good restaurants.

Like you, I've owned a lot of bikes over a lot of years and the VTR is the most lean forward/restricted position of any of them. I'm OK going 75 or 80 miles before I want a break, but I'd want to stop that often no matter what I was riding.