Acrapovic exhaust sound on Yamaha Bolt

With and without DB-killer.

The DB-killer for the Acrapovic pipe for Yamaha Bolt

Yamaha Bolt riser bushings / washers - the final solution

The custom made washers (4) have finally been installed and the handlebars now have virtually no play at all. The effects on vibrations is a big question at this point as test riding is not possible due to the sub zero temperatures.

Below you can see the amount of play before the installation

Top down view on how the bars are now

UPDATE [16.8.2016]

Picture courtesy of SS Custom Cycle

Just a heads up. It seems that SS custom cycle has these for sale now so you don't need to have ones made when installing taller bars or risers. SS Custom Cycle website

Testing luggage

Waterproof Wolfman luggage on Yamaha Bolt

I tried mounting one of the two Wolfman bags that I have on the sissy bar. Seems to work great and it's actually easier to mount and take of than on the luggage racks I had on the previous bike.

If tightened properly the bag is not resting on the fender, so it shouldn't scratch the paint. The bag however does not work as a back rest as I originally planned. There is just too much space between my back and the bag. I need to either wear a back pack or mount a much larger back on the sissy. Bummer.

Pullback riser installation 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".

Mustang solo seat for Yamaha xv950 / Star Bolt

Mustang solo seat and Yamaha OEM  seat size comparison

 I tried on the Mustang seat while I was installing the forwards. What should have been a 2 minute job turned into a half an hour wrestle with seat. The seat just refused to set so that I could attach the mounting screw. The instructions said that if this happens I should loosen the rear fender struts. That helped nothing. Others have reported the same problem and while i suspect it will go away after some use it sure is annoying!

Can't say anything about the comfort yet, but it should be  comfortable.

Mustang seat is somewhat higher than the stock one

Mustang seat is also quite a bit wider

Forward controls for Yamaha Bolt by SS Custom Cycle

Overlay image of the SS custom Cycle forward controls and the Stock controls

I got the SS Custom Cycle forwards mounted yesterday. The kit itself is of reasonably good quality. Personally I would have preferred the relocation bars to be made out of steel instead of aluminium, but the parts are plenty strong as they are now. I have to say though, that the mounting instructions leave a lot of room for improvement, Tiny B&W pictures and the instructions don't really help with the tricky parts such as how to actually deal with the extension rods for the shifter and rear brake for example.

As for the peg location, I don't think I could make it work with anything much farther than the 4.5" that the SS kit provides. The protruding engine on the left side combined with the extended feet position would cause the heat guard to rub against my leg. The 4.5" extension does seem to make the rather big airbox much more comfortable as my leg now hits it in a different angle which doesn't feel uncomfortable anymore.

UPDATE 15.4. 

After some riding I'm happy to say that I'm able to rest my ankles on the pegs quite comfortably. This was something that I wanted to achieve with the forwards, it's a usefull option to have on longer stints. It's not a comfy option with sneakers, but with proper riding boots, there is no discomfort.

License plate holder modification on Yamaha Bolt

The  plate is now about 2" higher than stock

The tail of the bike doesn't look right to me. For the best look the bike would need a side plate holder, but as a first aid I moved the licence plate up a bit and removed the excess plastic around the plate. The reflector is now gone, but will be mounted on the back of the sissy bar.

Vibration damping mounting hardware