Anyone tried Helibar Billet Bar Adapter?

[FJRider]

Has anyone tried the Helibar Tour Performance Billet Bar Adapter?
These are 1 5/8" taller, 1/2" rearward, and 1/2" wider. I'm curious how they feel, and what's involved with installing them? Does it require destroying the original grips? And were any mods necessary to the cabling?

 

[Scooter]

I've heard all about the Heli Bars, but never heard of this "bar adapter". Do you have a link so I can see it?

 

[MrHans]

I've heard all about the Heli Bars, but never heard of this "bar adapter".  Do you have a link so I can see it?

Google gave me this:
http://www.casporttouring.com/store....=Suzuki for $289.00.


but no pic... "shrug"

 

[Revlis]

NO NO NO, Just go to Helibar.com or your local dealer. Should be about $170. The bars kick butt and make a significant difference in comfort. That's all they are talking about, Helibars.

I just installed mine and I am very happy. They are quite heavy and have a real nice powder coating on them, high quality stuff and they do not hit the fairing or mirrors or anything....

 

[MoosesBusa]

You re-route the fast idle cable from behind the stem to inbetween the tank bolts. You use alcohol to remove the stock grips and re-install them as well. That's it. No other fancy or complicated procedures necessary. Took me about an Hour from start to finish taking my time and following the handy directions.

 

[FJRider]

Yep, that's the one. $169.95 for www.casporttouring.com, part # HB9902. I was consider the typcial risers, but figured these would have better clearence to the windscreen. Thanks for the info!

 

[JZ1]

Yep, that's the one.  $169.95 for www.casporttouring.com, part # HB9902.  I was consider the typcial risers, but figured these would have better clearence to the windscreen.  Thanks for the info!

Nice Mod. Makes the seating position less agressive, more comfortable. Easy to install, however, once installed, the helibars can not be used to secure the bike, i.e. if you intended to trailer your bike somewhere, you can't secure a tie-down to the helibar, per manufacturer warning. The helibar will break.

FYI

 

[MrHans]

Yep, that's the one.  $169.95 for www.casporttouring.com, part # HB9902.  I was consider the typcial risers, but figured these would have better clearence to the windscreen.  Thanks for the info!

Nice Mod.  Makes the seating position less agressive, more comfortable.  Easy to install, however, once installed, the helibars can not be used to secure the bike, i.e. if you intended to trailer your bike somewhere, you can't secure a tie-down to the helibar, per manufacturer warning. The helibar will break.  

FYI

This little tidbit is making me lean towards a spacer (ala genmar) or having my buddy make some spacers for me.
Thanks!

 

[Revlis]

Yep, that's the one. $169.95 for www.casporttouring.com, part # HB9902. I was consider the typcial risers, but figured these would have better clearence to the windscreen. Thanks for the info!

Nice Mod. Makes the seating position less agressive, more comfortable. Easy to install, however, once installed, the helibars can not be used to secure the bike, i.e. if you intended to trailer your bike somewhere, you can't secure a tie-down to the helibar, per manufacturer warning. The helibar will break.

FYI

This little tidbit is making me lean towards a spacer (ala genmar) or having my buddy make some spacers for me.
Thanks!

Nah, I wouldn't do it. The Gen-mar and other risers are just too ugly, and they do not really relocate the bars properly. Just moving them up isn't allways the answer. The Heli's are damn near invisible, which is nice as it helps avoid looking like an old fart.

 

[Rhythm]

Revlis
REVILICIOUS!



Group: Moderators
Posts: 9502
Avg posts/day:11.42
Joined: April 2003
Location: North of Seattle Posted: July 16 2005,07:01

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote (MrHans @ July 15 2005,15:19)
Quote (JZ1 @ July 11 2005,10:24)
Quote (FJRider @ July 11 2005,10:21)
Yep, that's the one. $169.95 for www.casporttouring.com, part # HB9902. I was consider the typcial risers, but figured these would have better clearence to the windscreen. Thanks for the info!

Nice Mod. Makes the seating position less agressive, more comfortable. Easy to install, however, once installed, the helibars can not be used to secure the bike, i.e. if you intended to trailer your bike somewhere, you can't secure a tie-down to the helibar, per manufacturer warning. The helibar will break.

FYI

This little tidbit is making me lean towards a spacer (ala genmar) or having my buddy make some spacers for me.
Thanks!

Nah, I wouldn't do it. The Gen-mar and other risers are just too ugly, and they do not really relocate the bars properly. Just moving them up isn't allways the answer. The Heli's are damn near invisible, which is nice as it helps avoid looking like an old fart. [/QUOTE]

If you do decide to go with a jerry rigged setup just use some black tape to tape together some washer to get the correct height you want . Just make sure to replace the stock bolts with longer ones that have the same tensile strenght or stronger. The tensile strenght is marked on the stock bolts.

This is the type of setup I use personally

 

[cjaj_70]

Helibars was the first mod i did to my bike, yes before removing the reflectors or cutting the fender

. I was able to keep my orignal grips. Fast easy install. Really satisfied with fit and finish and like the new riding position.

 

[MrHans]

Yep, that's the one.  $169.95 for www.casporttouring.com, part # HB9902.  I was consider the typcial risers, but figured these would have better clearence to the windscreen.  Thanks for the info!

Nice Mod.  Makes the seating position less agressive, more comfortable.  Easy to install, however, once installed, the helibars can not be used to secure the bike, i.e. if you intended to trailer your bike somewhere, you can't secure a tie-down to the helibar, per manufacturer warning. The helibar will break.  

FYI

This little tidbit is making me lean towards a spacer (ala genmar) or having my buddy make some spacers for me.
Thanks!

Nah, I wouldn't do it.  The Gen-mar and other risers are just too ugly, and they do not really relocate the bars properly.  Just moving them up isn't allways the answer.   The Heli's are damn near invisible, which is nice as it helps avoid looking like an old fart.

Not just an old fart @ 38, but one with a Hayabusa!  

If you do decide to go with a jerry rigged setup just use some black tape to tape together some washer to get the correct height you want . Just make sure to replace the stock bolts with longer ones that have the same tensile strenght or stronger. The tensile strenght is marked on the stock bolts.
[/QUOTE]
I am all about maintaining strength when I do modifications. If I consider it fugly I'll go with the Helibars. Not being able to use the helibars as tie down points is ridiculous though. Why make a replacement part inherently weaker in construction?



<!--EDIT|MrHans
Reason for Edit: None given...|1121579321 -->

 

[Rhythm]

Quote  
If you do decide to go with a jerry rigged setup just use some black tape to tape together some washer to get the correct height you want .  Just make sure to replace the stock bolts with longer ones that have the  same tensile strenght or stronger. The tensile strenght is marked on the stock bolts.  


I am all about maintaining strength when I do modifications. If I consider it fugly I'll go with the Helibars. Not being able to use the helibars as tie down points is ridiculous though. Why make a replacement part inherently weaker in construction?[/QUOTE]

Absolutely, MrHans I can agree with that statement but like I have said earlier I have  used this setup on both of my Busa with no problems while doing occassional cat walks
( wheelies). If you have concerns with my mod just us a stronger tensile strength bolt as suggested.

Just my .02 to the playaz on a budget , now pick your poison !



<!--EDIT|Rhythm
Reason for Edit: None given...|1121615903 -->

 

[cjaj_70]

The reason they are weaker is because the piece of metal they use to raise the bar from it's original position creates leverage, making
that point weaker than a solid bar.

 

[Rhythm]

The reason they are weaker is because the piece of metal they use to raise the bar from it's original position creates leverage, making      
that point weaker than a solid bar.[/QUOTE]

Once again the fact remains its still safe to do, period.  I guess everyone one that has polished frame now has to worry about a weakn frame and the possiblity of their frame splitting in two, right  .

 

<!--EDIT|Rhythm
Reason for Edit: None given...|1121624770 -->

 

[Revlis]

Uhh... Helibars are by no means weak, They are plenty burly and are way solid, so the manufacterer asks you not to use them as tie downs? Big Deal, hell Suzuki tells us to shift into 6th gear at 43 MPH or something silly. Yamaha sells luggage racks for their cruisers stamped with a 6lb load limit, on and on. It's called CYA, AKA Lawyers suck... It's the same thing. There are plenty of better locations that don't place sensitive plastic in jeapordy anyway, besides Busa's are for riding not trailering.

Heck it was shipped across country without a single tie down on a handle bar.

Bottom line, The heli's do the job and don't ass up the bike, The Gen-Mars, Reapers, and the rest of the Tripple clamp cover spacers do, plain and simple, create an eyesore of your tripple C's. Every one I have seen looks unfortunate and drops your suspension adjustments and your ignition in a hole. The benefit is that they are cheap and they can allow some lowering of the front if you desired. But they still have a negative impact on appearance.

 

[cjaj_70]

The reason they are weaker is because the piece of metal they use to raise the bar from it's original position creates leverage, making
that point weaker than a solid bar.

Once again the fact remains its still safe to do, period. I guess everyone one that has polished frame now has to worry about a weakn frame and the possiblity of their frame splitting in two, right .

[/QUOTE]
Not saying they are not safe, they are very well built. Just pointing out that is the only reason i could see for not using as a tie down.

 

[Rhythm]

cjaj_70 Posted on July 17 2005,09:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote (Rhythm @ July 17 2005,07:25)
Quote
The reason they are weaker is because the piece of metal they use to raise the bar from it's original position creates leverage, making
that point weaker than a solid bar.


Once again the fact remains its still safe to do, period. I guess everyone one that has polished frame now has to worry about a weakn frame and the possiblity of their frame splitting in two, right .


Not saying they are not safe, they are very well built. Just pointing out that is the only reason i could see for not using as a tie down. [/QUOTE]

My bad, I thought you were talking about my jerry rigged reaper riser set up.

 

[FJRider]

Here's the follow-up. I ended up buying and installing the Helibar Billet Adapters. Thanks to all that responded. They were easy to install. I did the whole job in less than a hour.

The original Suzuki bars seem to be solid aluminum (I think). The helibars I believe are welded steel tubing, but have the same notches and pin points just like the oem. They are black powder coated, and plenty strong. Definitely a first class mod!

And yes, the instructions do say not to use the helibars as a tie-down point. That wasn't a big deal to me though because I never use that tie-down point anyway. When ever I've had to tow a bike I tie onto the triple-tree fork area. Tha'ts a much stronger tie-down point.

The results? Fantastic! First, just looking at the bike you can't tell it's been mod'ed, but it makes a big difference when riding it. Lean angle is still there, but not nearly as agressive. I really like my riding position now! I was really hoping to find something other than the Genmar risers. To me, watching the fork adjustment points disappear into the rising upper tree just looked plain ugly. Plus the Genmar's only "raise" the bars, where the Heibar mod also brings the bars to the rear, and makes them a 1/2" wider too.

For anyone considering the Hilbar Billet adapters, here a couple of suggestions that are not in the instructions;

1) Definitely first remove the windshield. That makes it a lot easier to get to things.

2) To get the left grip off I tried a little trick I learned from another forum; I used compressed air. I have a narrow blower tube adapter for my compressor. I just removed the bar weights and slid that narrow blower tube in between the oem bar and grip, applied air, and the grip came right off!

 

[cjaj_70]

cjaj_70 Posted on July 17 2005,09:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote (Rhythm @ July 17 2005,07:25)
Quote
The reason they are weaker is because the piece of metal they use to raise the bar from it's original position creates leverage, making
that point weaker than a solid bar.


Once again the fact remains its still safe to do, period. I guess everyone one that has polished frame now has to worry about a weakn frame and the possiblity of their frame splitting in two, right .


Not saying they are not safe, they are very well built. Just pointing out that is the only reason i could see for not using as a tie down.

My bad, I thought you were talking about my jerry rigged reaper riser set up.[/QUOTE]
No prob