bent handlebar - suggestions?

[jaesun]

The previous owner dropped my 2005 Ninja in a parking lot. I knew about the broken turn signal and scrapes, but I didn't notice the bent handlebar. I actually noticed that it had a slight wobble before I saw the bend. The handlebar does not touch the tank.

Any suggestions? Can I eliminate the wobble by tightening the handlebar to the riser? I didn't realize that the bar and riser are 2 different parts until I saw a parts diagram, so I haven't tried. It's pouring outside so I'll get to it tomorrow when it's clear.

I'm hoping the riser is fine. I'll probably keep the handlebar as is for now, but I will eventually replace it along with the bolt in the near future. Unless it's something I absolutely have to do now.

[dirty nasty]

look at the end of the bar on the riser side. you will notice small black caps. pop these off and tighten the bolts with a 6mm allen.

as for new bars, i would go for used OEM if i were trying to do it on the cheap. the only other option for bars that i know of are woodcraft lowered risers, but those will cost considerably more and might now offer the feel you'd like.

[Monkeytofu]

No you can't eliminate the wobble by tightening it. You may get rid of it slightly if the bolt has loosened up over time, but with one of my bars that bent the wobble was there regardless of what I did.


It's far from being an important thing you need to replace, however you'll find your riding a lot more relaxed, comfortable, and controlled once you have bars that are both perfectly straight.

[jaesun]

I was afraid of that.

Well, it's good to know that I can wait. I'll either wait until I cause more damage by dropping it myself a few times or when I replace the grips. I still have to get my bike inspected. I'm hoping that this doesn't get noticed.

[Panda]

In PA a bent handlebar will make you fail inspection.

[FrugalNinja250]

The riser's probably bent, they bend surprisingly easy too. Look at the seam where the riser sits on top of the triple, if there's a gap then it's bent.

The bar can be straightened if you want to give it a go. I had to straighten my bars when I got my bike as both sides were bent, then one side I had to straighten again after I dropped it in my driveway, that was three years and 40K miles ago. These bars bend really easily, it doesn't take much to bend one, and it doesn't take much to unbend one.

Remove all the controls and grips so that the bar is bare. Turn the forks all the way to the opposite side, for instance, if you're straightening the right bar turn the forks to the left stop. Get a 2' long piece of 1" Schedule 40 pipe, this is pretty cheap at the hardware store, and slip it over the bar to the point where the end of the pipe aligns with the actual point of bend on the bar. Use a large hammer or mini-sledge and tap the end of the pipe (it won't take much, maybe a 6" swing) to gently start working the bar back to being straight. Visually look along the length of the bar to check alignment with the top of the riser and adjust your hammer tapping angle accordingly. Pull the bar out and roll it on a smooth surface with the flange hanging off the edge and see if the riser insert portion of the bar wobbles. It takes some trial and error but you can get a bar that's perfectly straight again.

There's no need to worry about cracking or metal fatigue, the bars are made out of very low carbon mild steel (which is why they bend so incredibly easy in the first place). The only bars I wouldn't mess with are ones bent so badly that the metal is bulged at the bend point, but it generally takes 30-45° of bend to get to that point. When the bar is straight, brush off the loose paint flakes with a wire brush and spray on a good flat black paint, let dry, and reassemble.

When you disassemble the controls, make note of the alignment hole in the bar that the control housing dimple fits into so that you can put the bar back in correctly. Also, the left and right bars are the same.

If your riser is bent don't attempt to straighten it. I worked on one with a vise and a large sledge hammer and all I accomplished was to destroy it. The aluminum alloy they're made from is extremely tough and somewhat brittle. The main issues with a bent riser is that the recess in their underside sets the fork tube insertion depth, so a bent riser will allow the fork tube to slide a bit further up. You can instead use a ruler to set the tube height to make sure the left and right sides are the same (and this only applies if you remove the forks for some reason; fork tubes are fixed in place by their clamps and not the risers).

Helpful hints: To get the bar end off, use a propane torch to apply heat to the bar end screw. The bar end screw is held in with red thread locker and generally the Phillips slot will strip before the screw will break loose. Move the heat around, you don't want to cook things, just get the screw up to a couple hundred degrees. It will take a minute or so. Once the screw breaks loose remove the bar end.

Use compressed air to get the grip off. Use an air nozzle with a tapered tip and blow air between the grip and bar, the grip will almost literally fall off. When reinstalling the grip use the same technique. Changing grips with compressed air takes less than a minute, no mess, no wait for something to dry, no goo.

[jaesun]

Wow, thanks for the long post.

I looked and there's a gap under the riser that doesn't appear on the straight side. Oh well.

But good news, the bolt tightened up a bit and the wobble is gone. If it comes back, I'll use some blue loctite.

[lowdown112]

Its only 40$ to replace handlebar brand new OEM from powersportsplus.com and they ship in about a week as well. Had the same problem except mines was bent previous owner must have dropped it hard

[rabies]

take it off.
put in vice
heat up.
use a big hammer and make straight...

[psych0hans]

Clip ons

[FrugalNinja250]

Originally Posted by rabies

take it off.
put in vice
heat up.
use a big hammer and make straight...

No need to use heat. Also, the vice will probably crush the bar, rendering it useless.

[jaesun]

I just want to say thanks again.

I was putting on some more miles this past weekend and working on my countersteering/leaning in the Maryland backroads. I noticed that I had an easier time going in one direction than the other. I'm guessing that this was because of the throttle in my right hand and lack of confidence pressing against it. But in the back of my head, I kept thinking about the bent handlebar. So just to get that doubt out of my head, I splurged for a new OEM handlebar and riser along with bolts on Sunday night. The riser was probably unnecessary, but then again, I hope to get some of it back when I eventually unload them on eBay...

If you're reading this and need a code from Motorcycle Superstore, send me a PM. I have one from their Summer 2012 catalog that expires at the end of this month. Just let me know what you're getting so I can live vicariously through you because I am done with my motorcycle spending until next season.