I used risers that bolt to the top triple and installed a cheap bikemaster superbike bend bar. The hard part was making the spacers which allow the risers to bolt up to the triple. They have to be the correct angle for the drop on the gull wing 954 top triple. I made them out of 1.25" (I think) aluminum bar stock with a hacksaw and a file. It took a few hours and they're still not cosmetically perfect, but they work just fine. With better tools they wouldn't be that difficult to make, but I just used what I had on hand.

 

Greg,
The race modification for the frame was to weld fitted aluminum plates over the inside of the frame castings, where it bridges the rear cylinder and at the frame head. There was also an additional diagonal brace added between the side rails, forward of the two cast ones.

The frame is the source of a lot of the twisty flex. It is much softer than Honda's other frames.

 

Yeah, I remember that. My next step is the braced swingarm. I'm hoping it'll at least help the issue. I'm not prepared to take the bike down to the frame and make mods in that fashion. It IS a street bike after all.

 

Well, I decided to attempt one last-ditch effort to get these bars right before I dropped $200 for some Convertibars parts. I discovered that just the risers and bars would fit the ScaryFast clamps I already have, so I was ready to jump on the Convertibars bandwagon.

After f*&king with them for about an hour I found that the limiting factor was the front brake master and lever. Now remember I had installed the 929 mc for use with the stock brakes. With the 1000RR radial calipers this was a bit of overkill. There was very little lever travel before I got a rock solid lever. This also led to difficulty in modulation and feel. So I decided to dig the old stocker out of the basement box-o-stock-parts. Everything bolted right up and after a good bleed the lever feel was *just right*! Now, to adjust the bars....

Something I had also noticed about the CrazyFast bars was that they were too wide for my taste. I ended up adjusting everything inwards about 3/4" and that felt much better. Yeah, I have some bare bar showing at the ends but I'll just deal with it for now. If I can sneak them into work I'll get my machinist buddy to cut them down. I was also able to angle the levers down more with the stock master, something I couldn't do due to clearances with the 929 unit. Amazingly everything went very smoothly after that. Clearance are way more than I expected they would be compared to the 929 master.

I was happy about not spending the extra money to get the bars to work. For anyone else doing this project, I think the full Convertibars setup is definitely the way to go. I just got lucky with the ebay special on the CrazyFast bars.

So anyway, after I was all done I decided to clean her up a bit. So here's some pics of the FINAL product (thank God)....

 

that is Persistence! nice work, glad it worked. I actually have convertibars, but not completely happy - a lot of bulk to be honest. what you have look almost the same but I haven't seen those before

 

They're almost the same thing except the Convertibars risers are taller and the ScaryFast don't have the elliptical insert that allows bar angle change.

Oh, and they were about $250 cheaper!

 

Your bike looks amazing Greg. Kudos on a job well done

In terms of the frame and swingarm reinforcements, here is what Roger D had to say when he wrapped up his suggestions for the 900RR forks I bought: "be carefull not to get carried away and add too much additional stiffening (note: referring to my query about stiffening the swingarm). "V" Twins because of the unique Torque delivery require a fair degree of S/arm flexibility
A worthwhile job is to weld a brace across the front of the frame below the headstock"

For what it's worth

 

Killer, what would you charge a poor fellow to make him a set of those nice spacers you invented to adapt the 954 top bridge to mount Superbike bars?

Thanks Bro,
RC

 

Hey, I just used a hacksaw, grinder and file and lots of trial and error fitting. I couldn't charge enough to cover my time. Honestly, I think there is enough flat space on the top of the gull wing 954/929 triple to mount the TAG mounts without angled spacers. That is the avenue I would explore if I were to do this again and it would greatly simplify the job.

 

Thanks Bro!

I've got the mounts ordered, so I may just go ahead and buy the 954 top to see how it'll work w/o spacers! Thanks for the feedback

 

So how do we account for the MASSIVE swingarm on the RC51? It's a twin and an SP2 will make 135hp with bolt-ons. I think Roger's assumption here is that the swingarm flexibility is there to absorb some of the power of a tuned VTR so as to not stress the swingarm mounts on the motor. For handling sake, I think the a braced swingarm is a good idea.

I know, I know....why am I always questioning/doubting good ole Ditchfield? I agree with his assessment if I were building the entire package, but I'm not. I'm in search of less twisty-flex, not more power. Let me get more miles on the 1000RR forks so I can accurately assess the swingarm mod when it's done. Won't be this week though, as all it's doing is f'in raining for the next 5 days.

 

For our military folks out there doing fork swaps, I got this from Convertibars today:

"Yes, we do have a 10% military discount. Enter "military" as a promotional code, and put your rank and serial number in the notes section of the order form."

 

Listen here, punk. Can ya ride it as fast as it can be ridden the way it is? Well...can ya punk?

 

I can now!



This is just a post to link to the thread from the suspension troubleshooting I did:

https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=14586

 

as to handle bars...you and mill out the stock VTRs to the other tubes ...the vtr are 41's and if your 1000 rr 's are 43's then just take to machine shop and mill out 1mm...check to see if that will work...that would save you money there..

 

not that easy. The 1000RR forks are USDs so teh slider portion may only be 43mm but the top portion is more like 50 mm.

 

Here's what the difference in size is...