RSTD handlebars on the Venture

I'm using stock bars with 1 1/2 risers right now. I'm thinking about trying the RSTD stock bars with no risers.

I decided to brave the weather and see how the RSTD bars would fit. It was a brutal 75 degrees with a 10 mph wind from the south, but I know you folks wanted to know. I put on shorts, sunscreen and a cap and got started.

First thing I looked at was how the bar end weights attached. Not even close. If I'm going to use these bars, I'll need RSTD weights. Anyone have a good picture of what the RSTD weights look like on the bike?

I only took two measurements for position comparison. I measured perpendicular from the top of the pivot point on the shifter to the center of the bar at that point. About 30 inches. I measured from the widest point on the fairing to the center of the bar end (not the weight). About 8.5 inches. With the RSTD bars, the first measurement remained about 30 inches. The other measurement was now about 9 inches. I was a little surprised that they didn't pull back a little more, but that is a 1/2" more than with the 1 1/2" risers.

First thing I noticed with the RSTD bars in place was the open center space. The bars passed to the outside of the speakers. I think I like that. One drawback for some is that I'm not sure the cigarette lighter type power point will be easily accessable. I have never used mine so not a problem.

The throttle cable looks like it will need replacing. The risers have it stretched pretty tight in a full right turn. The clutch and upper brake look like they might work stock, but I think to be safe, I'll go a little longer. I expect the same cables and hoses used for the Flanders conversion would work here also.

No way to judge comfort or picking up more wind on the hands due to the width until I actually do it and ride some. I'm sure I'll end up doing this, but it may be a few weeks. I have some other stuff I want to look into before I get started.

One other thing you might have noticed in the attachments. The larger mirrors. I always hated the view from the stock mirrors. They may look good on the bike, but I couldn't see enough in them. These are about perfect for me. My only complaint is they are easy to move. I haven't had riding affect them yet, but it doesn't take much to move them. I like to hang my helmet on the right mirror and I usually end up needing to readjusting it. Time will tell how well they hold up, but for $25 + $13 shipping, I'm happy. Here is a link to a set he has for sale and a link to his store.

You can really see the difference between the two bars when you open up both pictures and place them side by side. Also the RSTD bars might be wider once you put the grips on...the grips tend to extend the length of the bar a bit. I like the look of the RSTD bars. I owned an RSTD and it fit me perfect...would still have it if someone didn't run into it and total it.

With all that winter temperatures in the 70's you've been riding to much my friend. I can tell from your photos...you lawn needed cutting 3-4 months ago...probably around Christmas or Thanksgiving! :)

Later...

Just go with the Flander Bar Kit conversion from Buckeye Performance

A totally different to feel to the bike, a much more relaxed position and with slow speed maneuvering (and I have the narrower front tire for sometime) even better.

No more pain in the shoulder area. :cool10:

With all that winter temperatures in the 70's you've been riding to much my friend. I can tell from your photos...you lawn needed cutting 3-4 months ago...probably around Christmas or Thanksgiving! :)

That's mostly my neighbors area. He keeps his cut a little better than I do.

Just go with the Flander Bar Kit conversion from Buckeye Performance

 

A totally different to feel to the bike, a much more relaxed position and with slow speed maneuvering (and I have the narrower front tire for sometime) even better.

 

No more pain in the shoulder area. :cool10:

I might end up with flanders in the long run, but I want to try this first. The RSTD bars have a little more pull back plus they have 2" more height. I think I want that height. No way to know for sure until I try them. If I don't like them, I'll go flanders... maybe with the risers. Selling the RSTD bars will not be a problem if I don't like them.

I've had the narrow front tire, leveling links, and both together. For me, the best overall handling came with using the leveling links with the stock size front tire.

I think the first thing you should do is pack up the bike and bring it to northern NY where the temps. are a balmy 12 above zero and then you would n't be having this dilema!!:rotf::rotf:

I think the first thing you should do is pack up the bike and bring it to northern NY where the temps. are a balmy 12 above zero and then you would n't be having this dilema!!:rotf::rotf:

Tempting as that sounds... I guess I'll just put up with all this.

Now in about 3 months, I will probably wish I was up there!

....I get started.

 

One other thing you might have noticed in the attachments. The larger mirrors....

I bought a set of these mirrors. The link you provided didn't work, and I searched his e-bay store but there were none available. I bought a set from Flanders. They were $30.00 plus shipping. I put them on last night and my first thought was they were a poor mirror. Then I realized they needed to be cleaned. Cleaning improved them a bunch. I still don't think they are as sharp an image as the stock Yamaha, but they are adequate, and I love the bigger view. They seem stable at highway speed. I did notice they are easy to adjust, but I thought the Yamaha ones were a bit on the stiff side.

As far as the looks go I think they look just fine. Keep in mind though that I'm one of the few people that have actually been arrested by the fashion police:whistling:.

Thanks for the post.

Royal Star Venture - Bar Dia 1" Height 6" Width 31" Pull back 14" Center 7.5" Clamp area 2.5" X 5 3/8"

Royal Star Venture - Bar Dia 1" Height 8" Width 33" Pull back 16.5" Center 8" Clamp Area 2.5" X 5 3/8"

I have been following with great interest, the postings regarding the use of either risers (typically Baron's) or the RSTD Handlebars (some have opted for the Flanders bars). In many, if not most instances, people have indicated the need to replace cables and or hoses to the handlebar controls. Has anyone tried rerouting the cables, hoses and wires to the front of the triple tree (fork brace)?

On my previous bike (Valkyrie), the comon solution for addition risers was to reroute the cables to the front of the triple tree. Is this an option or is there too much other stuff in the way?

I bought a set of these mirrors. The link you provided didn't work, and I searched his e-bay store but there were none available. I bought a set from Flanders. They were $30.00 plus shipping. I put them on last night and my first thought was they were a poor mirror. Then I realized they needed to be cleaned. Cleaning improved them a bunch. I still don't think they are as sharp an image as the stock Yamaha, but they are adequate, and I love the bigger view. They seem stable at highway speed. I did notice they are easy to adjust, but I thought the Yamaha ones were a bit on the stiff side.

 

As far as the looks go I think they look just fine. Keep in mind though that I'm one of the few people that have actually been arrested by the fashion police:whistling:.

 

Thanks for the post.

Looks like he has 3 sets again. I agree with your assessment. Bottom line for me is I can see whats behind me better than I could with the stock mirrors.

I have been following with great interest, the postings regarding the use of either risers (typically Baron's) or the RSTD Handlebars (some have opted for the Flanders bars). In many, if not most instances, people have indicated the need to replace cables and or hoses to the handlebar controls. Has anyone tried rerouting the cables, hoses and wires to the front of the triple tree (fork brace)?

 

On my previous bike (Valkyrie), the comon solution for addition risers was to reroute the cables to the front of the triple tree. Is this an option or is there too much other stuff in the way?

I won't say you couldn't route to the front of the triple tree, but I like having everything out of the way and where it belongs. Just a cleaner install. It's that up front cost that hurts. I figure the SS hoses will help brake performance some and save the cost of replacing them in a few years.

I had heard about the Flanders bar mod some time ago but went with the risers instead. I was on the Flanders site one day looking at the specs when I saw the RSTD bars had about the same pull back as the Flanders but were 2" taller and wider (and about $40 to $50 cheaper). I asked around a bit, saw they would fit using the same over size hoses and cables as the Flanders and decided to try them.

I tore everything down last weekend and got the bars, cables and hoses back on and bled. I've got a lot of wiring I want to clean up in the fairing so I left it torn down to work on this weekend. Had a little scare this evening when I got home. There was a lot of green liquid on the floor under and around the bike. Saw a drop or two coming from under the bike. What I found was the plug for draining coolant from the cylinders had popped out. I had pulled the cooling fins off the left rear so I could replace the clutch bleeder valve with a speed bleeder and I had left the cover off. I guess it got warm enough to build a little pressure and pop the plug out. Easy fix and now I have a reason to go ahead and flush the cooling system.

I don't mind working on the bike, but I sure will be glad when it's back together and I'm riding again!

Dear Big Shell:

Your project to convert to the RSTD handlebars is interesting. Can you provide a breakdown of the total cost of the project along with your sources of supply for parts? Thx.

MickO

I'm not sure what anyones individual problem is with the stock bars but heres mine and how I cured it. I have long arms and the stock bars made my elbows kick in and I rode with my arms angled towards my chest. Very uncomfortable on longer rides because it always gave me a pain between my shoulder blades. I was able to solve this without spending a dime, although there are only a handfull of people on this site that I know for a fact could do the same thing for nothing. I replaced the bars with the stock ones off my Warrior. About 3" wider and less pull back so now my arms sit perfect. The other nice part is I ran into the opposite of what the Flanders bars does. I had more than enough cable. I actually had to tuck some back in. Worked great, direct bolt on and no extra parts to buy.

here is a list of all yamaha stock handle bar sizes

Dray

No link showed. However here is a pretty comprehensive list of all handlebar sizes in case anyone needs it.

http://www.sideroadcycles.com/ImportedMotorcycles/ImportHandlebars/StockBarsOne.html

I ride a lot, pretty much everyday, but haven't gotten around to doing risers or alternative handlebars. At 5'9", I know I would like the bars pulled back a bit. I'll probably look into the risers before too long. Maybe the Flanders bars....

Just for kicks, I was looking at the mirrors on my VMax the other day and comparing them to the RSV's. The VMax's handlebars are, of course, very much shorter, so the mirror stems are much longer than the RSV's.

I have a friend who added homemade longer stems to his RSV mirrors to set them out a bit farther. He is a big guy and wanted to see things better behind him.

I wonder, has anyone tried the VMax mirrors/stems? The mirrors are identical. Only the stems are different lengths. I might swap mine out, just to see what they look like and how they might help the rear view.

Dear Big Shell:

 

Your project to convert to the RSTD handlebars is interesting. Can you provide a breakdown of the total cost of the project along with your sources of supply for parts? Thx.

MickO

I can't find my receipts right now that has the itemized cost.

I ordered the RSTD bars from Flatout Motorcycles . They were about $85. I had ordered some other stuff at the same time and total shipping was about $15.

I got the rest of the stuff from Rick at BuckeyPerformance. I got throttle cables, Stainles Steel Braided front brake hose set, and the SS clutch hose. Most folks also get the SS rear brake hose, but you don't have to replace it to switch out the bars. If you plan to do the Butler rear brake mod, I wouldn't get the rear hose now, but get it when you do that mod. I had already done the Butler mod, so didn't need it. I also needed the RSTD bar end weights, screws that hold them to RSTD bars and the plastic end caps. I got the SS throttle cables. You could save a few $'s going with the black cables. I had heard that the cables and hoses for the Flanders bars were 2" over stock, but I wasn't 100% sure of that, so I asked Rick to get me whatever he sold for the Flanders mod or +2"... whichever was longer. He charged me about $400 shipped for SS throttle cables, SS 3 hose front brake set, SS clutch hose, and bar end weights and hardware. I expect he can supply the RSTD bars too. Check with him on shipped price.

I rounded the $'s up a little, but not much. You're looking at about $500 to do what I did.

I'm 6' 2" and about 375 lbs. I put risers on shortly after getting the bike. I won't say I've had a lot of discomfort with the setup, but at times I feel like I'm reaching for the bars... especially when I lean back on the backrest. I really wanted to get rid on the risers, too. For me, this is more of a 'tweak' than a need. My hope is the extra height will feel like the risers and the extra pull back will let me lean back a little more. Not sure what to expect from the extra width. I figured the only way to know for sure if this mod will work for me is to try it. The largest expense is in the SS hoses and that's a mod I would have done in the next couple of years anyway.

So how does the $500 you spent compare with the Flander's "kit" from Buckeye?

Can I buy your risers from you? I'd like to try that since I feel I only really need about a inch more pull back. Maybe the risers would save me some dough.

So how does the $500 you spent compare with the Flander's "kit" from Buckeye?

 

Can I buy your risers from you? I'd like to try that since I feel I only really need about a inch more pull back. Maybe the risers would save me some dough.

Buying the RSTD bars and weights from flatout is about $70 less than buying the flanders and weights from Rick. Rick might get you the same price as flatout, you would have to ask him. The hoses and cables I bought from Rick are the same as the flanders mod prices (I think they are the same size). I haven't found my detailed invoice to confirm that, but I'm pretty sure that's right.

I'm going to hang onto this risers for a bit. If I don't like the RSTD bars, I may go back to stock and risers or maybe Flanders... or maybe Flanders and risers. If I do, I'll need to find new bolts. When I pulled these risers off, a couple of the bolts seemed to have a little wobble to them like they were bent. I only took a quick look at them and didn't see anything, but I sure need to look closer. These are Barons risers.

I have the opposite problem as most of you guys do. I have an RSTD, but don't like the

hand position of my handlebars. Too much pullback and the angle of the grips is pointing too far back. I found that the hand position of the Venture bars is more perpendicular - kinda like my old drag bars, and my arms won't hit my knees in sharp turns.

I used the link that was posted here, I can find height, width, pullback, etc, but no info on

the angle of the hand grip area. It's pretty hard to tell much from most of the photos on

websites. Anybody know where I can find some description of the grip area angle?

RSTD has the big wide speedometer, so Venture bars won't fit. Anybody got any ideas on

bars that would give me about the same hand position as the Venture bars, but be wide

enough to fit around the speedo?

Thanks

Roger

I like the height and pull back... haven't had enough time to evaluate width and angle on the grips. I don't think the width will be an issue, but that angle on the grips could be. I won't get enough saddle time to really evaluate it until I can solve my #1 cylinder not firing. I don't have a covered area to work in and the off and on light rain is keeping me from it for now. Maybe soon, though.

I have a set of Barons risers that I just installed and am not sure I am going to keep them. Let me know if you are interested in a set.

So how does the $500 you spent compare with the Flander's "kit" from Buckeye?

 

Can I buy your risers from you? I'd like to try that since I feel I only really need about a inch more pull back. Maybe the risers would save me some dough.

I've put some miles on the bars now, including one 400+ mile day. I like what I have, but if I could custom bend some bars, I would take a couple of inches off the width and put a little less angle on the grips. That would reduce the pullback some, so I think I would also add another inch or two to the height and angle the bars back (lower them) a little more.

I was afraid the angle on the grips might be uncomfortable, but I haven't found that to be the case. The extra width and height do put more wind on the hands. Last week, I cut two inches off my stock shield and put in a couple of round pop-out vents to make a summer replacement for the tall, wide clearview shield. I really get air on the gloves now!

In the mornings, when my body is fresh, and I'm sitting tall and a little forward, the bars feel about perfect. In the evening, when I'm tired and slouching, I tend to sit lower and use the back rest more. When I do that, I still feel like I'm reaching a little, but not really enough to complain about. One of these days, I'm going to put those bars on the risers (if the cables still reach) and see what that feels like.