ok all; sorry to bring this up again, but I searched the archives and came up with some conflicting information. I'm hoping that since the F has been out a little bit longer that people have more of an idea.
I'm planning on putting clip-ons on my bike, I know Vortex makes a good pair; pretty expensive, but I like the look. my questions are:
1) if I were to lower the triple clamp to install the clip-ons, will there be sufficient tank clearance? just looking at it, it doesn't seem like the bars would scrape against the farings, but does having the bars lower cause conflict with the tank? I think this is one that applies to everybodys' models. will I still be able to lock the wheel?
2) I know that lowering the triple clamp will change the rake/trail numbers and the handling of the bike, but how drastically and to what effect? wouldn't having the wheelbase closer together actually help in tight corners? I'm not really gonna be testing the top speed too much, so I'm not really concerned with high-speed handling... I dunno, this is where I'm getting confused. larger rake/trail keeps the bike stable at high speeds, but hinders maneuverability; smaller rake/trail numbers have the opposite effect. so.... is it really that bad? I know it's something new to get used to, but is it unsafe??? that's really my concern. thanks for the input!
I'm not sure about how the clearance issues would work, but they are something to consider. Hopefully someone who's put clip ons on their F model can chime in here
As for the rake/steering thing. A shorter wheelbase (smaller rake and trail numbers) will let the bike maneuver better in corners, but the risk you're running is having the bike be twitchy. What I mean by that is that the slightest input can cause a large change in your steering. A slight pressure on the bars will make a much larger difference because it will be far more sensative to steering inputs.
Imagine that the steering angle is straight down, no angle to it whatsoever. The slightest change in the direction of the bars will make a VERY dramatic change in the direction of the wheel. Now imagine that it's raked out, like a chopper. Steering inputs are much less noticeable because a movement in the bars doesn't change the direction of the wheel drastically. With clip-ons, steering input is reduced, too, because the bars are closer together, which means you get less torque on them (Force times distance, less distance, less torque). It's to prevent the repli-racers from being overly twitchy; to compensate for their more radical steering angles.
Also the shorter your wheelbase, the lower your safe top speed is. Our bikes are pretty stable at 110, but they can still get a bit iffy. Change the steering angle and it might drop that to 90 or so.
Then again, dropping the forks for clip-ons might not change it that much.
Ask Airbrush he did the exact same mod,by making his own top triple!
Or you could put on SM bars. tdan did that mod. As I'm sure many others have. You might check that out. They are cheaper, too.
Quote from: fretbuzz on February 15, 2006, 08:53:38 AM
Ask Airbrush he did the exact same mod,by making his own top triple!
I only had to move the fork tubes about half an inch in the triple clamp, thats if you remove the aluminum handle bar clamp from the top of the triple. I just removed mine and made an aluminum plate to cover over the rest of the triple that was showing. Not sufficient enough movement on mine to really change any handling characteristics of the bike. My clip ons were not vortex, ebay special, not sure what they were off of, just 37mm.
Quote from: Jake D on February 15, 2006, 08:55:52 AM
Or you could put on SM bars. tdan did that mod. As I'm sure many others have. You might check that out. They are cheaper, too.
SM bars are like, $160 yo. What you smokin'? You can get Vortex clip-ons for like, $120.
And yeah, like Airbrush said, you wouldn't have to drop them that much if you took off the top plate. Wasn't sure wether you were gonna do that, and it slipped my mind to mention it.
has anyone lowered their bike and added clip ons???
i know lowering the bike changes the handling and you have to lower the front the same as the rear..
but adding clip ones lowers the front too? right? or is it a different kind of "lowering" then what you do with the lowering the front to accomadate the lowerign links on the rear??
Sorry if someone already ansered this
thanks for the input guys. I think I'm gonna go your route airbrush and remove the stock triple-clamp cover. what did you end up doing with the guage cluster by the way?
Quote from: solarpulse on February 16, 2006, 02:33:22 PM
has anyone lowered their bike and added clip ons???
i know lowering the bike changes the handling and you have to lower the front the same as the rear..
but adding clip ones lowers the front too? right? or is it a different kind of "lowering" then what you do with the lowering the front to accomadate the lowerign links on the rear??
Sorry if someone already ansered this
One of the main complaints about clip-ons is that they put too much strain on hands and wrists when street riding, which is why Suzuki changed the GS to a traditional / conventional tubular handlebar after the first year ('89) of production. The stock Suzuki clip-ons worked well at higher speeds (I enjoyed riding my '89 once I got up to 70+ MPH), but many people prefer tubular bars, which are cheap and easy to change if you don't like the bend you have right now. If you spend a lot of time typing at a keyboard, you probably already know that carpal tunnel syndrome is one of those nasty RSI (repetitive stress injuries) you want to avoid; installing clip-ons can aggravate RSI problems.
Keep in mind that under the right circumstances, clip-ons work well, but they're probably better suited to racetrack use or short(er) rides; once you get up to speed, the air flowing over the tank pushes against your chest and helps keep your weight off your wrists. For those of us with tubular handlebars, it is easy enough to change to another style ("Clubman" style bars are still popular) for a trackday; I still have a spare set of clubmans already set up with grips and controls for that very reason, though I haven't done a trackday in years...
Depending on your height, you might want to consider changing handlebars. You might find some that suit you better than the stock bars, but you'll have to make sure they don't foul your fairing or controls when you turn from lock-to-lock... Someone with a GS/F model can probably give you more specific advice...