SunRisers review (long)

Last weekend I finally installed the SunRisers clipon risers I've had
sitting in my garage for about a year. Since I bought it I've found
it tough to put more than 100 miles on my SVS (1st gen) without hand
pain. I figured I needed some risers to get some of the weight off my
hands, and the SunRisers seemed like a good deal - somewhere between
1/2 and 2/3 the cost of other risers, and the construction looked solid.

The reason I waited so long was I that I was nervous about draining
my front brake system (which you must do in order to install the
longer braided stainless steel brake line that comes with them). I've
read how tough it can be to get the brakes back to a bubble-free
state after draining them. Anyway, I finally caved in when I realized
I hadn't changed the fluid in this bike since I bought it, three
years ago. This is not a good thing, despite the fact that I only
have about 3500 miles on it. Brake fluid should be changed every year
or two.

I should note that no instructions came with the risers. However, I
did print out a set of instructions from the website
(cliponrisers.com), which ran to 6 pages and were very comprehensive.

On the dismantling side, things came apart fairly easily. The bar
ends needed some whacks on an impact driver to loosen them. Removing
the triple clamp required a bit of wiggling to get it off. And
removing the old upper brake hose was a little scary due to the risk
of dripping brake fluid (which eats paint & plastic). But I draped
things pretty well with some plastic and rags.

Once I had the old clipons off, the next (and most irreversible) step
was to cut off the old bar portion, leaving around an inch for the
SunRisers to clamp onto. I'm lucky to have my dad's old bandsaw
around with a metal blade, so it was much less work than the
recommended hacksaw. The biggest pain here was filing the cutoff ends
to get them smooth. It's amazing HOW smooth you can get them, but the
last few grooves seem to take forever to get out.

Next, I put everything back together. This was actually pretty easy
since each clipon now consists of three parts: the fork tube clamp
(old clipon), the "riser" portion, and the new actual handlebar rod,
which could all move independently. This independence proved to be
perhaps the biggest pain, though. I found it very difficult to tell
when both risers were set at the exact same angle. Eventually I dug
up an old protractor and sighted along it, and think I got it pretty
close. Clearance is a real issue too. At first I found the choke
lever was hitting the edge of the windshield. It took a bit more
angling and twisting to get it to just...barely...clear. Then I
discovered the choke cable was too tight, so had to detach it and
route it outside the left fork tube (and then wire-tie it to keep it
from rubbing on the edge of the fairing). The right controls were a
little better behaved, but I still had some clearance issues at first.

OK, handlebar position seems good, time to reassemble the brakes,
tighten everything and test ride.

Hmmm - next pain - trying to get a torque wrench on the middle banjo
bolt, up inside the fairing. It would be much easier with a wrench
with finer "clicks" - mine were coarse enough that it was tough to
move the handle far enough to get to the next "click". The upper
banjo was tough too, because every time I'd crank on it, the whole
bar riser would rotate around the stub of the old clipon. The only
way to prevent this was to SERIOUSLY crank down the allen bolt that
clamps each riser onto its two posts. This made it very clear why you
need to epoxy the riser onto that lower stub - but that final step
had to wait for the test ride.

It was also a pain getting the brakes re-filled. I have a Mityvac (a
clone actually) and it was incredibly convenient for pulling fresh
fluid down from the reservoir, but the thing pulls so much air in
through the bleeder screw threads, you really can not tell when
you're pulling pure fluid. I just ran enough through both sides to
where I figured it had to be enough (and then gave it a followup
bleed the next day). I have to admit, they still feel softer than
they used to. I need to read up some more on getting the last bubbles
out.

The test ride was a success, so I carefully marked the position of
everything with a pencil, removed the lower clamps and epoxied them
onto the stubs of the old clipons.

Yesterday I took my first real ride and I'm impressed. The risers add
about 2-1/2" (up and about 15 degrees back), which takes considerable
weight off my hands. This had the added bonus of making it easier to
deal with the controls - obvious now, when you're not leaning as hard
on the throttle, it's a lot easer to control it. They also make the
bars a few inches wider. This I found very confidence-inspiring; it
reminded me of my first ride on a BMW GS (trip last fall to Vermont).
The wide bars of the GS give an increased feeling of control and
"mastery" of the bike and where it's going. I imagine the V-Strom is
similar (as is probably the naked SV over the S version). Anyway,
while not to the degree of the GS, I definitely felt I had a finer
degree of control over the steering, and at the same time, more
leverage.

I also feel confident in the strength of the clamped AND epoxied
lower joints. Without the epoxy they'd be a wreck waiting to happen
(imagine braking hard and having your whole right handlebar rotate
forward and down!) I expect in a crash the epoxy could break loose,
but by that time you'd have more pressing issues to deal with.

Would I buy them again? Now that I've done the installation, I'm sure
the procedure would go more quickly. Honestly, I would probably
consider spending the bigger bucks for a set of one-piece replacement
clipons (mainly because of the fuss of getting these aligned just
right), but I think these would still be a serious contender. The
price was great, the installation reasonable enough, and the quality
of the product is very high. I'm looking forward to happier hands and
longer rides.

- Bob

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