Nov 19, 2015

Pullback riser installation on Yamaha Bolt

5.5" pullback risers on Yamaha Bolt
5.5" pullback risers on Yamaha Bolt
Easy peasy, right? That's what I thought, but turns out that's hardly the case. For a proper rise and pullback you need more than 2" of rise and for that to be possible you need to

1. change all cables for longer ones (clutch, throttle, brake)
2. reroute the electrical wires going to the bars


Tank must come off for the cable swap

For the cable swap you need to first empty the front brake system of fluids, remove the tank and then of course you will need to refill and bleed the brake system, remove old and nstall the new cables. I bought the Yamaha factory extended cables mainly because I could get them much faster compared to ordering them overseas.

The Yamaha factory extended cables aren't really that much longer. They will not work for proper apes.

Now for the risers themselves, you need to figure out what models and lengths will work because the speedo will get in the way if your new risers are the wrong length or shape. For example, I don't think pullback risers shorter that 4.5" will clear the speedo.

5.5" risers leave plenty of room between the speedo and bars
Once you score the risers you need to also remember to order top clamp bolts and the actual riser bolts as the metric top clamp bolts will most likely not fit and risers tend to come sans the actual riser bolts.

- I bought my risers and top clamps at J&P cycles. (had to order them separately also)
- The risers bolts were ordered from SS Custom Cycles along with some other stuff
- The top clamp bolts were chopped down to 7/8" from 1" bolts as UNC bolts seem to rarer than diamonds in here.

The actual installation, while slow, went relative smoothly thanks to the instructional video by Chaparral Motorsports.


Results
I'm very happy with the new ergonomics, but I have a few worries too. The bars now have much more leverage which in turn means that there is a lot more play/movement in them because of the rubber mounts in the top triple tree.



Yamaha provides metal "stiffening washers" with their mini apes ( see above video at 10:21) , but since I kept the original bars I will have to find some on my own. I'm hoping the http://www.yamahastarbolt.com/ forums will come through and someone will post the measurements of the washers so I can either buy them or have them made.



My own measurements would suggest that the washers should be around
outer diameter 35 mm
inner diameter 20 mm
Thickness ~ 2 mm

Judging from the installation video the metal washer is a slightly loose fit.


EDIT
Score!
Apparently the Yamaha Mini ape replacement washers are:
outer diameter 1.375" = 35 mm
inner diameter 0.84" = 21 mm
Thickness ~ 2,5 mm
>> See here (Reply #48) 

The closest I could find is DIN 433 M20 washer which is:
outer diameter 34 mm
inner diameter 21 mm
Thickness 3 mm

It might work...

The top clamps also tighten "all the way" meaning that there is no gap left on any side. This means that if the bars start to move there is no room for tightening them. The bars feel solid for now, but I'm left with an uneasy feeling.

The top clamp looks clean this way, but may not be tight enough

The Yamaha extended cables work pretty well with the 5.5" rise, but I don't see that there is room to go much higher. Rerouting the cables will likely help, but my cables are now running the "OEM route".

12 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Hi, nice raise! Since you have removed the stock brake lines and throttle lines, could you measure and list them for us. This way we will know what to order for our handlebar raise. I want to go for the 10inch riser with dragbars. Thanks.

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  3. Replies
    1. If you referring to me measuring the cables. I haven't gotten round to it yet. I'm in the middle of moving houses and all my stuff is in boxes.

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  4. could you tell me the exact risers you used?? dont want to order the wrong set.

    thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From J&P cycles
      163-336 TWO PIECE RISER CLAMPS BLK
      512-428 5-1/2" PULLBACK RISERS

      Remember you need to also buy bolts for the riser top clamps and bolts for the risers

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    2. J&P did not have the riser mounting bolts at the time so I ordered them From SS custom cycle (Riser mounting kit 0602-0265)

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. What's the bolt size? 12mm or 14mm??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The risers have no metric bolt. The bolts are UNC. See the my post avove for reference

      Delete
  7. Hi, Great Job here. I have ABS and have no option to raise my steering. I think that there is a bit of rise I can do. Could you please let me know what the original riser gives as rise? This was, I can calculate the rise from the original risers plus the rise from the original tracker bar, could give me some indication as a maximum to go. I am planning to get the drag/flat bars.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't do the measurements as the I would have to reattach the originals.
      I suggest visiting http://www.yamahastarbolt.com/. You will find lot's of threads bout changing bars.

      I've seen people being able to install 2" risers with some cable rerouting.

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