I kept noticing that my handle bars seemed to move out of alignment by about ¼ of an inch or so to the left or right. I would realign and torque the risers to spec. and in a week or so, sometimes less; I would need to do it again. Sometimes I use a Condor brand front wheel stand when I work on my bike. The stand captures the front wheel and holds it tight enough that takes a pretty good tug to disengage it. One day after redoing the risers I tried turning the front slightly while the bike was in the stand and I found that I could move the bars with out too much difficulty. I could also see the all of the movement was in the risers. Even when torque to max spec. I could move them. The amount of movement was not readily apparent until the front end was in the stand. I felt that if I could see it flex and move in the stand than going down the road and hitting bumps and pavement irregularities would certainly make it move out of adjustment. So after reading a post by another member I thought I would try the Polyurethane riser bushings. I installed them and they work great. No more movement, No more adjustments, and No noticeable increase in vibration maybe even a little less. If given the choice today I would install the urethane bushings tomorrow.

Zyklon

 

Which ones would you recommend, or are they all pretty much the same?

THANKS!

 

I just used the HD urethane bushings because that’s what was available at the time. If you can find after market bushings they will most likely work the same.

Zyklon

 

I just used the HD urethane bushings because that’s what was available at the time. If you can find after market bushings they will most likely work the same.

Zyklon

 

I use the HD....I like them !

 

Is there any 'trick' to changing them? Seems like it would be pretty straight-forward, but I've been burned in the past on other stuff that I thought would be easy. What about the torque specs or the best way to 'ballpark' it? Didn't see anything in the service manual about it...

THANKS!

 

I also switched to the poly bushings.......... bars feel much more secure. However I believe I feel slightly more vibration.

 

RE, hd_sob

No tricks or slight of hand on the install. HD bushings come with the installation instructions and agree with the torque specs that are on page 1.25 of the Service Manual where they are called Riser clamp screws. 144-180in-lbs. (please note that’s in-lbs. not ft-lbs)

Zyklon

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I don't have time right now to read the previous posts, so I'm not sure what the others are saying. What I will say is this...the day I picked up my bike, I was riding it home and about half way home, I noticed that my handlebars seemed really loose (well..the risers)...so before I even got home, I turned around and went back. I showed the salesman, and he said, yeah..mine looked excessively loose. So he had one of the techs tighten the bolts down even more than they were. That worked a little, but they still had quite a bit of give and I didn't particularly like the mushy feeling. I was used to drag bars on my previous bike (with no risers) and any amount of movement didn't feel right. So when I had the 1000 mile service done, I had them install the polyurothane bushings. Made all the difference in the world. No more movement. Some people say they like that little bit of give in the handlebars...but my feeling is that's what we have a front suspension for.

Can't comment on the install because like I said..the dealer did it. But it was well worth the 30 or 40 bucks for the part.
Hope this helps.

Todd