Tutorial #1: How to change grips and handlebars

Hello y’all and thanks for stopping by.

Tonight I had a blinding headache. So instead of sitting playing my Xbox or watching a film, I decided to sort out my handlebar situation once and for all. I was going to get Renthals, but after dropping my bike…it was actually a blessing in disguise.

Picture 1: As you can see the throttle grip and assembly has been shoved to the right, making the handlebar visible. I rode my bike to work like this today and it felt strange, a bit…more comfy! It may have been a placebo effect but I was unhappy with the way it was so wide so I would change it anyway.

SO

I set about setting both grips closer to the middle of the bike.

NOTE!: Please take what I am about to show you as just guidelines. Every bike will be different in some way and may not be like this. I only know how to do this from getting the tools out and going for it. I was extremely cautious doing this the first time and you should be too. I didn’t know what to expect, i.e. things popping out or springs flying out all over the place! But it is remarkably easy once you know how.

Step 1:

It has been advised that you always start with the throttle side. So I didn’t break this tradition. Locate your throttle assembly and see how to remove it. In my case it was 2 screws. 1 screw above the master lever and 1 screw below it.

IMPORTANT BIT

You may find that the screws are different lengths. Take note of what one goes where to save confusion later. My method is to arrange the various parts on a surface as I take them off.

Step 2:

Be very very careful when removing the throttle assembly. If you go in guns blazing, you may not have time to memorise what bits go where and then spend the next 3 hours trying to work out how it all fits back in. By removing the throttle assembly I could see that there are 2 cables immediately visible. These are the throttle cables.

As I removed both halves of the throttle assembly case, I checked out the damage from the drop. Obviously something had broken or the throttle wouldn’t have been pushed up the bar. It turns out it was the small locator boss which stops the assembly from rotating round the bar….great, this was a really important bit.

Never mind, I had some ideas how to fix it anyway.

Step 3:

Make sure you note the throttle cables in some way. In my case, the 2 throttle cables are different colours. The greeny grey cable you see is the cable that stretches around the back, so the left knob if you are looking towards the bike. The black cable is the one that goes directly to the throttle tube, so the right knob if you are looking towardsthe bike.

Once you have noted all the positions and colours, remove the other half of the assembly case to free up the throttle tube.

Step 4:

Remove the throttle tube and what I do now is put the throttle cables back on the throttle tube. This is a wee reminder for me which cables go where. The throttle tube is the light grey bit in the pictures below

You are now free to begin the next step and what you should have on your bike now is this:

Step 5:

When I dropped my bike on the drive, the bar ends acted as an apple corer and cored 2 inches of gravel in to the bar. This needs to be removed so I can fit the bar ends when they arrive.

I used a screwdriver and a pair of scissors to remove the dried dirt from inside the bar:

Step 6:

The small boss that broke off when I dropped my bike locates in to a hole in the handlebar. Again, this is to stop the throttle assembly rotating around the bar and makes it more secure.

NOTE: Aftermarket handlebars do not come pre drilled, So get yourself a powerdrill and metal bit before hand.

Drilling a round bar is really quite difficult. Not only do you need to get the hole bang on as to get the position of the indicators etc right, but you need to get it started first. The techique I use is to get some masking tape and a pen. Then mark the middle of the bar where you like the position of the buttons. So dry fit the assembly and note the boss position. Then mark the tape. Then get one half of the assembly case, the half with the boss, and mark where the boss looking down on it. (i.e. how far along the bar it is) you then have a cross hair to drill on.

Now I don’t know if you ever saw the “Nuts!” magazine advert, where the woman is drilling a hole in the wall. She starts the drill up and the drill drives itself up the wall. Then the “Women, don’t expect any help on a…” slogan starts.

Well this is exactly what drilling on a round bar is like. Once you put the drill bit to the metal and start the drill going, the bit slides all over the place. If you have a punch, then make a ruddy big mark so that you can at least get the hole started. In the end I resorted to using a phillips head and a ratchet to hammer a dent in the surface of the bar. Then I used brute force to start the hole.

I then ended up with

Step 7:

After I did the hole, I thought about how I was going to stop the assembly from rotating around the bar, since the boss had sheared off…

Dad suggested tape, but I didn’t have any “Duck” tape so I used electrical tape. This was pretty duff and it also impeded the throttle action. So the tape came off.

BUT!

I fired the brain in to action and came up with this:

I used a brass wood screw, with the head hacksawed off and screwed in to the boss. It worked a treat!!

Step 8:

Then its time to fit everything back together again. Remember the throttle cable positions and placement inside the assembly case.

Once you have fitted everything back together again, check for throttle action and if you can rotate the throttle, let it go and it springs back to the start, then good job sonny, you’ve made it. If not, then reverse the steps to see if you have got a throttle cable snagged or caught up somewhere. In my throttle assembly case, there is a small channel for the cable to go in to, this means the cables are away from any joint etc.

Step 9:

You aint out the woods yet boyo. You’ve still got the other side to do! But fear not, it’s easier on the other side as you don’t have a master cylinder or throttle cables to deal with. It’s just a drill a hole and fit back together again job.

And that is it!!!

A few key points to remember here:

Always remember where everything goes. Write it on a bit paper, place parts in a specific way, take photos…whatever it takes to remember where everything goes back. Theres nothing worse than forgetting…

The master cylinder (or front brake resevoir) needs to remain vertical. Do not slant it or bump it. I taped mine to my clocks.

Do not rush it. It took me 25 minutes to fix both sides of the bars, but I’ve done it 3 times now so I know what i am doing. Take your time and nothing will go wrong

If in doubt about anything then stop. You don’t want to soldier on only to find that you did something stupid and rendered your bike useless for the time being.

Get the right tools out before you start. Don’t wait until you need it to find it. It will frustrate you and you will end up rushing it. The tools I needed were: A hex key for the mirror stalks, a phillips head screw driver for the button assemblies, a metal drill bit (6mm i think), a power drill, masking tape, a pen and a bucket load of patience.

So there you have it.

And the result!?

My bike feels like a different bike. You may not think that 2 inches closer to the clocks would make any difference at all, but oh my, how good it is. It actually reminds me of my Yamaha MT-03, great position, easy to chuck about and very confidence inspiring!

I am glad I didn’t order the Renthals!

Thanks for looking folks and I hope I helped to take away some of the fear of tinkering with your bike.

Next week I show you how to knit your very own rug…

Gordon