Hi All, I'm Looking at getting some slightly raised clipons for my 916, the OE ones are starting to become too extreme for my advancing years. I was initially looking for some Gilles Variobars /Helibars or similar, but looking around i see there are various items available from China at a significantly lower price, does anyone have experience of these, quality and useability/ease of fit etc?
But not everything made in China is the same quality. There will be great all the way down to utter shite.
I have a pair of Gilles Variobars which were on my 1098s. I removed them when I chopped it in I also have a set on my 748 they do make a comfy change They are trickier to set up on the 748 due to fairing clearance. You also have to remove the locating pins on the stuff that fits on the bars. PM if you are interested
Sorry to deflect the thread, but if you remove the locating lug from the switch block will it still grip the bars without shifting? I have a black Ducabike handlebar that is flatter than the original for my Streetfighter. It isn't drilled to take the lug on the right hand grip. I've debated whether to try and drill the bar - tricky to get it in the right place - or cut off the lug but I wonder whether the whole cluster will turn on the bar as I use the throttle.
Cheers. I'll get them fitted. I've tried many times to figure out on my head how to drill the hole for the lug and get it in the right place, without success..
I can only relate my own experience- YMMV . Over standard, 2 sets of European, one set from the US, and maybe 6 sets from CN used on race and trackday bikes (I used to crash quite often) I have never had a failure on any set from “normal” track use. I have had 1 clamp fracture during a crash with a CN set but only after the bike slid onto stepped kerbing. The most common crash outcome for a clip-on was a bent bar with bulging near the clamp. CN Alloy quality and machining has never been a problem, but anodising dyes seem to fade more quickly. (Real cheap stuff in no longer anodised but lacquered, I gave those a miss). The bosses on CN sets are sometimes a bit more “chunky” than others, possibly to make up for softer metal.
I have a bike with left and right switchgear that the previous owner removed the locating pin from... Both of them move if switches are pressed too hard. Most annoying.
Yep I always remove the pins from my bikes, the standard angles do not suit my riding position / liking. They are only there so assembly alignment at the factory is easy and all bikes off the line / in the showrooms look the same.
That isn’t the reason. On sports bikes set up to standard, to get decent lock angle for the road, they often run the switchgear pretty close to the tank. If that location pin is not set as designed to keep e.g. the starter / indicator button profile clear of the tank one good twist of the bars and you have an imprint and paint damage on the tank and/or broken switches. Plus it will fail its first mot when deemed to trap hands.
The bars I want to fit are a stippled texture so I'm hoping I won't have that issue. Back in the day all bikes had smooth chromed bar and switch clusters never seemed to slip. What @Neil66 says about assembly makes sense, but so does @Jon Wright 's point about tank clearance. However my Ducabike bars are slightly wider than stock so hopefully they'll mitigate that problem.
