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I (like a dumbass) didn't put poly bushings in when I put my apes on several years ago. I got tired of the excessive play in the bars and decided to put some in. Thought I'd share how easy this was. If this is a repeat, sorry but I couldn't find any posts about installing these on fairing bikes with the least amount of disassembly.
Note: You don't have to remove the outer fairing. I did thinking I'd be removing the radio. Even so, it does give you a bit more light to work with.
Get the bike off the ground, makes it easier to swing the front end around.
Remove the switch cover and ignition switch. You'll have to finesse the switch a bit, but it will come out.
Swing the front end to either side to expose the riser bolt underneath. ž" socket will remove it, drop it down with the lower washer and set aside.
Swing the front to the other side and repeat. Hold on to the bars as they are now free from the top tree. Use some towels and lay them down or just get them off the top of the riser bushings.
Remove the center bushing by tapping it down with a very long screwdriver and small hammer.
Remove riser metal sleeve and lower rubber bushing from the bottom, remove the top bushing.
Repeat on other side.
Put some red thread locker on the bolts and swing the front to one side, insert the bolt from the bottom into the bushings & sleeve. Get the bars & risers back on top of the bushings. (This is where another set of hands would be useful, but I managed to do it myself.)
Get a few turns of the bolt in the riser so the bars are stable, then rotate the front and do the other side.
Tighten the bolts down to 40ft lbs.
Re-assemble the everything else.
As always, YMMV.
The zip tie in picture is because when I originally put the bars on, I broke the locking tab on the connector (very easy to do). Zip tie keeps it in just fine.
2 year old post but good info. I used a little Napa silglide (typically used on caliper slide pins) to get the new poly bushings to slide in. 40 ft lbs? I wont doubt that is the torque spec but I am sure I was putting a lot more force on those bolts the get the risers to snug up. Lots of old red lock tite on there I guess. It sucks there is no flat areas on the base of riser to use a wrench to hold it steady when the bars are off.
Yup you're not going to pull that off with a fairinged bike.
I did the job solo and it was a pain in between steadying the inner fairing which was laid forward...but dont allow it to lay too far forward or it interferes with getting enough turn angle to access the bolt heads under the triple tree.
i have noticed that the poly bushings dont compress as much as the rubber which is understandable. That slight difference and the larger diameter bars I am putting on I think I will be doing a little trimming of the fairing dash. I am prepared for that though due to some of the reading I have done on the subject.
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Fairing bikes bar riser bushing replacement
