ConvertiBar Install

[Hellgate]

The ConvertiBars arrived today, Woo! Hoo! I love the FZ but I really dislike the stock handle bar. As MadMan put it, it reminds me of an old cruiser bar, think 80 Honda Shadow. Anyhow, I installed an LSL Street bar early on. It is an excellent made bar, but now I had a motocross feel to the bike, wide. It was lower but little pull back. Ugh...I looked at lots of options. Alright, we really don't have too many options with the 07 and 08 fairing. It is not cut as deep as the 04 to 06 bike and there is very little room. So backbird clip ons and other clip on are out. Helibar doesn't made anything for the FZ6. I mean its a freaking handle bar, how difficult can this be???? Apparently, rather. So with many thanks to Al Gore, I found ConvertiBar on the internet. They make a fully adjustable clip on with an almost infinately adjustable rise, pull back and angle of bar to riser (not sure how to explain it). You'll see what I mean. So I ordered them up.

Here's stock bar photos and LSL bar photos for comparison. Note the happy look on the stock bar...and the grim look on the LSL...

Install details to follow next...stay tuned

 

[Hellgate]

The ConvertiBars are first rate. The machining is first rate, better than OEM. The fitting of the joints is perfect, and the threads are very clean. Not all was perfect, I cover those issues down the road.

The first step is to put your bike on the center stand, remove grips and controls. Remove handle bar. Next loosen the fork tube pinch bolts, and them remove the steer tube top nut. Then remove top clamp, it will come right off.

Then simply slide the Converti Bar Mounting Joint Thingie onto each fork leg. I faced the nut assemblies forward so they are easy to access for adjustment. The pinch bolt of the stock top clamp kinda gets in the way. I'm having a new top clamp machined up that pinches on the side to that problem will be solved.

Once the MJTs are on replace the top clamp and properly torque down. This is very important, check the Yamaha service manual for proper torque specs for ALL nuts in this process. You jack it up and kill yourself don't blame me. (enough of the lawyer stuff).

 

[Hellgate]

Now that the MJTs are in place, make sure they are flush to the bottom of the top clamp and gently snug them into place. I adjusted mine as far forward as I could. You will be moving this later to adjust so don't torque it yet.

Next insert the stalks into each MJT, gently snug, you will move this again. The stalks have evenly spaced hash marks every 1/2 an inch or so. I started with 4 marks showing and settled with three showing, so the 4th mark from the joint end of the stalk is flush with the top of the MJT. Following??? You can set this up however you like but be mindful of tank and fairing clearance. If you want to go really tall you may need a longer brake line. My goal here is lower and more pull back.

 

[Hellgate]

Next you will place the actual handle bars in the stalks. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS and then READ THEM AGAIN. If you have any confusion stop and call Converti. They also include a CD with help. This step is life critical, don't screw it up. Before you install the handle bar ensure that each side has one steel washer. If you do not, STOP. Call Converti. You must have this for your safety. Next read closely how the bar, the shim, and the ecentric line up. There is a "tit" on the plastic shim that MUST line up with a notch on the ecentric. Read closely and understand fully. If you don't it will not align correctly and the plastic shim may not wedge in correctly in the stalk.

Okay that said, the plastic shim allows you to adjust the bar angle from the stalk. See the photo to see the range, right down, left up. I went all the way up, shim tit on the bottom of the stalk joint. I am not set on this yet.

The shim provides you with +8, +4, 0, -4, -8 degrees of adjusment. You will need to figure out what works for you, with the amount of rise you want, with the clearance you have. Whew...

BEFORE you screw the bar to the stalk, put your controls on, leave them loose. At this point make sure your cables and wires route in a non-binding manner. I took the right side off 4 times to get it right. So eyeball it before you screw it together. Must have been the wine...

 

[Hellgate]

Now that you have your controls on the bars carefully torque all bolts to spec. I like to use LocTite Red on the key bolts, just in case.

So let's talk about issues. My 12 oz anti-vib weights arrived without bolts. For $39.95 I would expect bolts, I'll email converti tomorrow. The stalk legs rub on the inside of the fairing. I can't speak for the 04 to 06, but for 07 and 08 it does. This is the 43mm universal kit, so there it is. It's not a big deal and it is not a safely issue. I will be cutting off about 3 inches of stalk that is below the MJT. There is a good 6 inches there. I'm going to leave myself about 2 inches of rise. Once it is cut it will not longer rub. If you have converted to a TWO Line front brake system, the fitting of the brake line will just kiss the speedo. The stock single line is not an issue. My wires are a bit floppy with the bars lower so I zip tied them down better. The inside of the master cylinder clamp will limit the amount of downward rotation of the MC/Brake lever. It is low enough to work fine, not a show stopper. It really depends on the angle you prefer.

All-in-all, this is a first class product that will give me what I wanted, lower bar than stock, more pull back than the LSL. and a bit more agressive position. The photo of me is with the Convertis, note the difference from the photos on the first post.

 

[Hellgate]

Here's a couple of more photos to illustrate the clearance of the tank and the fairing. I am going to go just a bit lower, 1/4 inch and with the new top clamp I will be able to go forward about 1/2 an inch.

Here a top clamp from the shop I'm working with. As I get more I'll post up. Don't expect anything for 3 to 4 weeks however. Machining is slow.

 

[Boneman]

Awesome write up and a very interesting mod!

You do realize that you might have a bit of a market for manufacturing/selling more of those custom top clamps!!!

 

[Hellgate]

Thanks very much Boneman. It was a fun project.

Could be. The shop and I have reached an agreement of sorts. They want to begin moving more into the aftermarket performance motorcycle market. They already hold a patent on a dual ecentric rearset. It is nicer than anything I've ever seen. All their stuff is aerospace, semiconductor equipment level work. First rate, and they ride too. So my project is actually an after hours training project for two of their newer machinists. The owner will supervise them and we agreed to a simpler design. So yes there might be a market for that top clamp, if they would agree to build them in production. The top clamp in the photo is $389 retail, not sure how much market is there are that price range. Mine will be much less as it is a training project. One nice thing is they already had a piece of scrap billet for my clamp, no charge!

I leave on a work trip next Tuesday for the week, then play Army the next weekend, so I'm just going to leave my bike with them for the week. They even asked if I need to borrow a bike from them to get to work. These guys are cool.

Acculign

I keep everyone in the loop.

 

[HavBlue]

Hey Pete, pictures can often be deceiving. How tall are you and how far back are you sitting in that saddle? If you sit straight up and put your arms out straight toward the bar ends how far is it from the end of your middle finger to that bar end?

 

[Hellgate]

Charlie, I'm 6 foot even and I tend to sit back about an inch in front of the hump of the seat, or just on it.

The bike is at my house tonight, hail on the way, I'm at my apt so I'll check tomorrow night. I'll let you know.

 

[thatguyx]

f*cking awesome. great work. any more designs for that triple? (noticed no ignition mount on it) I hold this works out all well. Great Job!

 

[Hellgate]

f*cking awesome. great work. any more designs for that triple? (noticed no ignition mount on it) I hold this works out all well. Great Job!

thanks Thatguyx - for the ignition mount we are going to use a simple steel tab that will screw into mount. To mimic what Yamaha did is way too time consuming. Yamaha's is a casting so it's a bit easier to make than machining.

 

[madmanmaigret]

thanks Thatguyx - for the ignition mount we are going to use a simple steel tab that will screw into mount. To mimic what Yamaha did is way too time consuming. Yamaha's is a casting so it's a bit easier to make than machining.

Great write up, Top! Do you only own one shirt or were all the pics on one day? Would it not be easier to cut off and grind smooth the risers on the triple and just powdercaot the original? or would that effect the structural rigidity?

reading your write up I can see the "I have been talking to joe's for too long" in how you talk.:thumbup:

 

[Hellgate]

Great write up, Top! Do you only own one shirt or were all the pics on one day? Would it not be easier to cut off and grind smooth the risers on the triple and just powdercaot the original? or would that effect the structural rigidity?

reading your write up I can see the "I have been talking to joe's for too long" in how you talk.:thumbup:

Knocked the project out in about 2 hours total. However is was hot and humid last night so I could have changed my shirt.

I thought about cutting off the clamp stalks, in fact I bought one off of Flea Bay. The problem is the stalks are hallow, so I'd have two big holes. The other thing is the clamps on the clamp are forward and kinda got in the way of positioning the bar. The new top clamp will have the fork tube clamps on the side instead of forward.

Yeah when I re-read the thread this morning I did see the Joe speak in there! "Private, did I tell you to do that???"

 

[madmanmaigret]

Knocked the project out in about 2 hours total. However is was hot and humid last night so I could have changed my shirt.

I thought about cutting off the clamp stalks, in fact I bought one off of Flea Bay. The problem is the stalks are hallow, so I'd have two big holes. The other thing is the clamps on the clamp are forward and kinda got in the way of positioning the bar. The new top clamp will have the fork tube clamps on the side instead of forward.

Yeah when I re-read the thread this morning I did see the Joe speak in there! "Private, did I tell you to do that???"

I meant from the stock bar (pic) to the second set (pic) to this final product you had on the same shirt.

Makes more sense now about the holes! :thumbup: hope you finally got rid of the cruiser feel!

 

[Hellgate]

I took all of the photos last night. I took the LSL first, removed the bar and then placed the stock bar back into the clamp. Note that the controls are hanging off.

 

[madmanmaigret]

I took all of the photos last night. I took the LSL first, removed the bar and then placed the stock bar back into the clamp. Note that the controls are hanging off.

Just making sure I wouldn't have to treat anymore STUMP's (stupid tanker under mortar protection) for prickly heat!

 

[Hellgate]

No, no, no...it's C-DATs - Computerized Dumb Ass Tankers (M1 Types), M60s and M48 types are just DATs.

Infantry are called Crunchies, from the noise they make in my tracks, or the heart warming, "Earth Pigs".

But I can work with STUMPs....

 

[Hellgate]

I rode the FZ to work today and I LOVE the ConvertiBars, WOW! I've got a couple more adjustment tweaks to make yet. I think I'm going to raise the stalks one mark, and then angle the bars down 4 degrees. Once I've done that I think I've got it where I want them.

There is no flex at all. Converti's test show that with 500 lbs of force they only flex .5 mm!

I did notice the bike feels more planted because more of my weight is over the front wheel. Also I'm able to tuck under the windscreen much easier when I nail it.

They are not cheap but for the wide range of adjustability they give you they are an excellent value. :thumbup:

For me, this is the second best bang for the buck mod that I've done so far. The only one better is the Race Tech springs and 15 weight fork oil.

 

[doc_simple]

:needpics: