Installed the clip on bars, new springs, lowering kit, and cut my spacers an inch.

Lots of extra cable length.

Bike handling dramatically improved. No more noodly, spongy, sloppy steering. Nice firm predictable steering. Good upgrade for anyone looking to keep the bike in its mostly stock form but improve ride quality.

I will be doing the full RYCA kit, but wanted to see the effect of RYCAs front end kit on a stock bike. Good stuff.

s40fan wrote on 03/10/11 at 18:41:12:



agreed on the extra cable length. I have been pricing out some custom brake lines. Looks like it needs to be about 2 inches shorter, which is in line with how much the suspension is dropped. Now I just need to decide on which angle banjo fittings would work best.

sbaugz wrote on 03/10/11 at 22:07:20:


Let me know what you find. I am looking for custom brake cables too. Thanks

What happens when the bars are rotated more forward? Any clearance issues?

I didnt try to tidy anything up and did this quick the other night. The brake cable is going to have to be replaced, I dont see any way around that. I was going to do that for performance reasons anyway.

The clutch cable is the same do to the metal guide. Not sure if this applies to all years as I am not that familiar with the differences.

I am adding a new carb and have to get a new cable as i mentioned in other posts, but the stock cable and carb might be need replacing for those folks that really like a clean look.

I have not seen or heard of how RYCA recommends dealing with this. I did not get the impression that there are replacements in the kit. I did talk to Casey on the phone when first considering the kit and asked him about cables and he did not provide a clear answer at the time. This was many months ago.

I wasnt too worried about it as cables can be replaced without too much trouble.

Cables:

The only custom cable we use on the bikes is the extended speedometer cable (included in the complete kit). All the rest are stock. The front fork lowering mod and clip-ons will create excess lengths of cable, but you can get creative and make them look good. Zip ties are really useful, especially the ones that un-zip.

The main challenge is the brake line. On my bike, I clamped it a little lower with the stock cable clamp and then tucked the rest between the forks behind the headlight. It's hidden pretty well when the tank is on.

You can use the stock horn mount bracket as an attachment point for some cables. And there are some other tricks for the wiring harness. Ryan will be demonstrating how to route all the wiring and cables on the build video. But there's many ways to do, no right or wrong.

Here are some pics from each side of my bike:

Took the bike out and ran it hard for over an hour through some serious twisties. Also cleaned up the cables as best I could. Looks better but still want to get shorter cables.

Anyway, was basically running WOT on good old Texas back roads and highways. My buddy was on a GIXXER and getting pretty frustrated at my inability to top 90 even with my chin on the tank and tucked in.

I will say the bike is a blast. Going to get a fork brace to tighten up the front. Hit some pretty big bumps at WOT at bounced pretty good off the saddle. My buddy was laughing his ass off. Despite the low top speed and mellow acceleration the bike is just plain fun to ride. You feel like you are going a good 20 mph faster than you really are. Doesnt corner too bad and is fairly predictable.

It will be really interesting to see what the bigger rear wheel and shocks will do to the ride quality. My buddy said I was darn close to dragging pegs and muffler, so hopefully the taller rear will give the bike a little more guts in the corners.

The brake cable is relatively easy. Shorter throttle and clutch cables are a bit more complicated, and a bigger issue for those of us who had buckhorn bars.