OtherStuff/Risers

Risers for my SV650S

I decided to "raise the bar" on my SV650S and started looking at Helibars but after a bit more research particularly on http://www.svdownunder.com I decided to go with risers manunfactured in NZ by F1 Engineering. The Oz vs NZ exchange rate at the time helped my decision.

I don't suffer from sore wrists or back but I do find my knuckle joints a bit stiff - this may have nothing to do with riding position but more to do with vibration. I do find when riding down a long downhill stretch, the weight on my arms can get a bit uncomfortable but not a big worry.

This is one of them. The weld quality looks pretty good. I have never seen a Helibar in the flesh but I don't believe they are stainless steel.

There was a bit of a glitch at the dispatch end where the risers were sent without any of the other bits and pieces. The risers arrived in the mail just 4 days after I ordered them but I had to wait another week and a half before the other stuff came. Such are the vagaries of international post. I was starting to think they had got lost in the mail.

There was another problem in that risers were not drilled to take the lug in the switch blocks. Steve did offer to send a complete kit, including drilled risers but I figured I could manage to drill a 5 mm hole. It did slow the job down however since I had to partially fit stuff together, mark the holes, take them off and drill them. Steve did send me the distances from the ends of the bars for the holes. Interestingly my measurement (lining up the stock and riser together) was 9 mm further from the bar end than Steve's for the right hand.

Here I have the tri clamp off as well as all the bits that can come off the stock bars. The throttle and clutch cables aren't long enough to let you slide them off. I used compressed air to get the left grip off, took all of about 20 seconds.

After loosening the pinch bolts, the clipons just slide off. With them off you can get the clutch mount and throttle off.

Fast forward and here we have the riser back on. This uses all stock parts although due to cable lengths and clearances I had to re-route some wiring looms. I had to adjust the clutch cable freeplay (cable was now too tight) after fitting. Also needed to hacksaw the little aluminium lug off the brake assembly which stopped the banjo fitting from turning enough.

My first impressions (before any longer distance rides) are what you would mostly expect a higher riding position and consequently:

Less weight on the arms.
More upgright riding position - particularly noticeable when my pillion leans on me.
More exposure to wind stream.
Even more elbow obscuring the rear vision mirrors.

It will be interesting to see how what difference the risers make to lane splitting when it gets a bit squeezy since the bars feel wider also.