Ok so this is a copypasta from a different forum I belong to, but it covers the gist of what I did. If anyone has questions feel free to ask. I haven't seen anyone else put aftermarket bars or heated grips on a ryker before, so I figured I'd share the struggle.
Today's project was putting on heated grips for the wife's ryker. It took 5 hours because BRP. First, the old lady wanted bars with more pullback, which they don't make for the ryker. I did some quick measurementing and figured the stock bars were 7/8" so any regular aftermarket bar would fit. Off we went to the shop, and they were horrified. Why would you do that? How could you think that a non-BRP handlebar is better than a BRP handlebar? It's dangerous! They couldn't articulate how it would be dangerous, or why it wouldn't work, but they were dead set against it. I was able to keep my ******* self in check by not asking if the renthal bars could only be put on renthal motorcycles? Regardless they let us take a bunch of bars out to the bike for test fits. We chose a set of renthal aluminum bars for a KLX110. Brought them home and removed the crossbar and pad. Naturally they had painted the bars after the crossbar was installed so there wasn't paint underneath. Oh well, I guess I'm painting them before I do anything else. 4 coats of wrinkle paint followed by 2 hours in a homemade oven at 200* to set the paint and that was sorted out. Then I pulled the old bars and installed the new ones, and ran into my first of many challenges. They wouldn't tighten down. Much grr. So because BRP, the handlebars are in fact 7/8". At the ends. But the finish they put on the middle makes it bigger. The ends are .875, which is 7/8", or 11.6 heptanes for the metric folks. The center, though. That's .890" (12.r heptanes) NFC why they'd do that other than to cut into the aftermarket but it was a simple fix. 220 grit sandpaper is about 14 thousandths thick. I cut some strips to nest in the bottom clamps and installed the bars. Fit perfect, and zero movement even with excessive force applied. Then I went to install the grips (bikemaster; I usually go with Oxford but these were a gift) I started pushing the left grip on and it got about halfway before it became immovably stuck. I tried whaling on it with a mallet but there was too much play and give in the handlebar mount to do anything so off the bars came again. I pulled the center bar clamp off the bike and reattached it to the bars just under where the grip needed to end up, mounted it in my beating table and whaled on it with the mallet again. Success! Managed to get it all the way down, and at the correct angle. Then reinstalled the bar. The throttle side was easier. I removed the throttle tube, peeled off the old grip, then used the lathe to turn off (lather) the ridges on the ends that kept the original grip in place. Then I marked the top of the tube, figured out where the grip should clock on it, and just used the shop press to hydraulically mash the grip onto the tube. All of this was the easy part. Now for the wiring. BRP really doesn't know how to make these things, and it shows. Long story short I found power and ground, and signal for a relay I used to power these since the accessory circuit is fused at 5a and my measured current draw for all the accessories was 4.6a. Regardless, 5 hours later and she has heated grips and bars with more pullback. Some notes, the grips get up to about 130*f (16* digibles for the metric) The KLX bars when laid back how I mounted them have almost exactly the same sweep and angle as the stock bars, just 6" closer to the operator. I think it looks weird, but she's happy.
Lot of work and I agree, it looks a little different. As long as she's happy, thats all that matters. Comfort, ergonomics & reach are important when riding. Curious, did you consider risers with pullback such as the Rox Risers.
Rox risers only give you 2” of change. Height, pullback, whatever it’s only 2”. Test fitting showed than she needed 6” or so (wink wink nudge nudge) so they would not have been enough. Besides that, they’d have the same problem of being 7/8” and being .015” or so too small. But hey if it works for someone else go to it and good luck. I was just relating what I did to get the ergos correct for my wife, and adding heated grips for her.
Pic showing the pullback difference compared to the stock bars. 6" of pullback, at least 2" of rise:
With my Rox riser, which is angled back towards me at about (guessing) 40 degrees, I have to slide my handlebar forward to make it easier to fuel up. I don't think that will be necessary with your wife's Ryker. I'm comfortable with the Rox and I'm sure your wife is happy with her Ryker modification.
we use our Ryker as a 2up touring-machine here in the Austrian Alps (16.000 miles now) - with the higher Handlebars I sit straight, much better feeling and handling on longer tours, I use the Oxford grips, because of the better controller - the handlebars are used ones from an Aprilia Mille motorcycle - just two new wholes and it works fine !!
New handlebars/heated grips
Untitled by Uncle Grr!, on Flickr
Untitled by Uncle Grr!, on Flickr
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