Just put some Vortex Clip-ons on my bike, took about 4 hours haha, cause I had no idea what I was doing.  Don't have an owners manual and never worked on a bike before.  Safe, I know  .  But they appear to work great, gotta get used to the new riding position but I like it a lot so far.  I'll post up a walk through of what I did and pictures and stuff when I have more energy.  I put them above the top triple, but I'm gonna get a piece of aluminum ASAP to take off the top triple part, my bike has some mad forward lean right now, plenty of clearance still, just a little too aggressive for my back.

your back will get used to it

did you have any clearance issues.  I was thinking of getting those clip ons also, but i envisioned them coming very close to hitting the gas tank ... let me know.

your hands will keep it from hitting the tank

yeah just adjust the clip-ons when you put them on i just measured mine with everything on them, and made sure there was a small fraction of space between the tank and the bars if they are turned all the way. The only one you really need to worry about is the left bar becuase of the distance it has to travel in order for you to lock the bars. but your hands will get in the way first anyways just like stated above.

After taking off the top plate, was there enough room to put the clip-ons without having to lower the forks?

I'm thinking about doing this, but I'm too lazy to adjust the forks and stuff.

the best idea, in my opinion, is to find a 89 set up.  that is what i have and i love it....but my back does not

I have the Kat front end , and i have my clip ones Mounted above the triple ,. and its a damn comfy riding Position ,  not to aggressive , but not like MX bars , just perfect , i think that was very lucky tho

Clip ons or drag bar........................i can't decide 

Drag bars are straighter, clip-ons feel more solidly connected (whether or not that's a good thing is dependant upon your intended use and how long your rides will be).  I like clip-ons better, but MX bars the best because I can drop the bike or lend it to people that will drop the bike and not worry about anything aside from levers being bent.

It looks like the gauges are attached to the top plate. After removing the top plate, is there anywhere else that they can be attached to?

Or am I just dead wrong about everything I just said?

thanks!

no your right, what im goign to do, is take the mounts off of the top plate, and weld them to the actual triple tree clamp underneath it. and if you ended up raising your forks to get the bars on and you hit a bump do you get any where sounds,   when i hit a bump i get a hard knock almost like my forks have compressed as far as they can go and hit. but im only 110 lbs so i dont think they should ge compressed that much with the added wieght from lowering the front end.  i know when i raised the forks it made the angle different on the forks and shifted more of the wieght of the engine foward thus compressing the forks more, but i figured i would have enough that they wouldnt fully compress or am i wrong?? anyone have any other ideas maybe just the fender hitting? but if it did that would it just crack or break, i would at least see some paint marks but i dont see anything

I haven't done any mods yet, and my front forks bottom out when I hit bumps too.

From what I measured, the forks need to be dropped a bit less than half a cm. Although you're right in that it changes the bike's geometry by a bit, I don't think that the adjustment would give the fender enough room to hit anything else. I guess that this would be a good opportunity to get progressive springs, or better yet, swap out the front forks; maybe the new ones already come with clip on handlebars.

Or, if you can stand it being kinda ugly, the clip-ons don't have to be flush with the fork tops... just saying

Quote from: 510 on September 10, 2007, 08:53:24 PM
It looks like the gauges are attached to the top plate. After removing the top plate, is there anywhere else that they can be attached to?

Or am I just dead wrong about everything I just said?

thanks!

You'd have to fab up some sort of mounting bracketry for the gauges and the headlight, which would be a royal PITA unless you're experienced with that sort of thing and then you probably wouldn't be asking about it, you'd just do it.

Quote from: speeddemon190 on September 11, 2007, 02:11:37 AM
no your right, what im goign to do, is take the mounts off of the top plate, and weld them to the actual triple tree clamp underneath it. and if you ended up raising your forks to get the bars on and you hit a bump do you get any where sounds,   when i hit a bump i get a hard knock almost like my forks have compressed as far as they can go and hit. but im only 110 lbs so i dont think they should ge compressed that much with the added wieght from lowering the front end.  i know when i raised the forks it made the angle different on the forks and shifted more of the wieght of the engine foward thus compressing the forks more, but i figured i would have enough that they wouldnt fully compress or am i wrong?? anyone have any other ideas maybe just the fender hitting? but if it did that would it just crack or break, i would at least see some paint marks but i dont see anything

Stock fork springs are very, very soft.  The forks bottom themselves out (run out of travel) well before the fender would ever hit.

will these vortex clip ons fit my 07 gs500f  with out crazy fab. work? will these hit the tank when the steering lock is engaged?

Quote from: mo07gs on September 12, 2007, 10:52:50 AM
will these vortex clip ons fit my 07 gs500f  with out crazy fab. work? will these hit the tank when the steering lock is engaged?

Three ways that I know people have used are:
1. Remove the handlebar, but leave the top plate as is. Drop the forks a bit more than an inch to make room for the clip-ons
2. Put the clip-ons below the top triple
3. Remove the top plate to make room, drop the forks a few fractions of an inch, and either mount the gauges to the fairing or make a new (thinner) top plate.

Options 1 and 3, from what I hear, should give the clip-ons enough room to not hit the tank or the fairing. 3 probably also modifies the bike's geometry a lot less.

I mounted my clip-ons below the top triple. as far as the gauges go just fab a new top plate made of 3/16 or a little thicker alluminum and just use a 38mm circular saw to make the holes and use a band saw/jigsaw or plasma to cut the shape. If my camera worked I would post some picutes but It got wet when I went to the lake.

Quote from: mach1 on September 12, 2007, 05:19:24 PM
I mounted my clip-ons below the top triple. as far as the gauges go just fab a new top plate made of 3/16 or a little thicker alluminum and just use a 38mm circular saw to make the holes and use a band saw/jigsaw or plasma to cut the shape. If my camera worked I would post some picutes but It got wet when I went to the lake.

by mounting the cllip ons below the top triple will that create a fairing or tank issue?  Also take in to consideration im a 180lbs dont want to trash my springs yet.

Oh sorry I removed my fairings. YOu could just remove your top triple plate and like I said make a new top plate and mount the clip-ons about the triple. Mounting them under or over the triple wont mess up your front suspention.