How To: Install Woodcraft Adjustable Clip-On Risers
Alius ex alio
Sometimes—often times—I feel like I should inscribe this on my bike. “From one to another” is the direct English translation, though we are more familiar with the phrase, “one thing leads to another.” The Fixx knew this and they repeatedly tried their best to warn me from the early ‘80s onwards. But did I listen? The answer is an unequivocal “no” which brings me to this point in life yet again.
In my quest for an ever better handling SV650, I have made a slew of incremental enhancements, most of which are documented here. I made a breakthrough with the installation of a Penske (article forthcoming) shock, replacing the old and tired GSX-R1000 unit. I dialed in an extra 20mm of length compared to the old unit and the bike suddenly came alive. It has become so eager to tip into corners that I can brake later and with more confidence. It did come with a considerable downside however—pain.
Motivation
In my first trackday with the new setup I experienced some light arm pain. I attributed most of it to excessive gripping of the bars. On the following track day I consciously refrained from the death grip, but it didn’t get any better. In fact it got far worse. By the end of the last session the pain was so intense I could no longer use the clutch lever. I needed to make a change, but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the handling gains by reducing my shock length. Enter clip on risers, exit the excruciating pain.
You can take all the measurements you like—and believe me, I did—but you don’t really know how things are going to feel until you ride. Considering the price and work involved in changing the geometry of your bars, that is a bit of a risk for a somewhat unknown reward. Then I found these new adjustable clip on risers from Woodcraft. I had a pretty good idea what I wanted, but with adjustable risers I was confident that I could dial in just what I needed.
So Many Options
Woodcraft provides a lot of options when choosing your adjustable risers. Because they are modular by design, you can essentially mix and match until you come up with the desired combo. There are two styles of fork clamps, one that angles the bars toward the center of the fork and one that, more traditionally, angles them ahead of the fork. The clamps come in a number of diameters to match your specific fork tubes. In my case, the 2005 GSX-R 600 forks were 50mm. Next you have the risers themselves which are available in 35 and 70mm heights. Lastly the bars themselves are available in regular 12” length or short 11” length. At the time of my purchase I believe standard and long were the only options. If I were to make the purchase again, I would choose the short bars because the center mount does not leave much room to feed the bars inboard to adjust their width. As it stands now I will likely need to trim about an inch off of my bars. If you want that extra length and you’re willing to replace more components than I did, it’s certainly an option.
50mm center mount clamps, 35mm riser, standard length (12”) bars
But keep in mind alius ex alio. There are likely to be downstream effects of relocating your bars including the clutch cable, clutch perch, throttle cables, brake lines, brake fluid reservoir mount, and bodywork interference. This project is not for the faint of heart, but judging by my results, completely worthwhile.
Deconstruction
Before you can get these installed, you’ll have to uninstall your factory bars of course. This is one of the more tedious aspects, but at least once you get the Woodcraft risers on you’ll never have to repeat it again. Before you get too far though, it’s good to take some measurements so you have a baseline. You can’t tell how far you’ve come if you don’t know where you started. I used a fixed point on the tail of my bike and measured to the bars for my horizontal location and from the bars to the floor for my vertical. A good trick for establishing a measuring point is to place a little tape on the tail and make a dot with a marker. Another useful tip is to mark the position of your current bars on the upper triple, just for initial reference. Be sure to record your measurements and keep them around for a bit for future adjustments.
Start by stripping the components from the bars working from the outside inward. It’s much easier to do this while they are firmly attached to the bike. Bar ends, grips, lever perches, throttle mounts—all must come off. You might struggle with the left grip. I like to spray a bit of liquid (window cleaner) up each end of the grip and try to work it all the way through. Once you’ve done this it becomes much easier to remove and it leaves the grip nice and clean inside. Depending on your exact model of bike you may not need to remove the clutch cable from the lever and perch though I chose to do so. On the right side, after you remove your brake reservoir try to keep it upright so air inside doesn’t make its way into the master cylinder.
Next, you’ll need to drop the forks to remove the clip ons. Support the front of your bike using a front stand that fits in the lower triple is your best bet here. Pair it with a rear stand for proper support. Remove the front wheel as shown here. Then you can loosen the triple clamp bolts. I prefer to work from the bottom up. You don’t need to overdo it here. You’ll want to loosen them enough to slide the fork down, but only so far as necessary to remove the clip on, then you can slide them back into position and re-tighten them.
Installation
Attach the fork clamps next using four of the longer bolts provided. Note the “W” logo on the top surface. This should face outwards and toward the back of the bike. This is how you can identify the left set from the right set. Space is tight so a shorter 5mm hex key wrench is helpful here. You’ll want to get them snug, but not tight just yet. There will be a gap between the halves so do your best to balance that gap on each side of the clamps.
Counter to the directions you may find on the Woodcraft website, you will need to insert the collar inside the riser next. If you chose the 35mm riser, there will not be sufficient room between the riser and the triple if you try to install the collars later. On the 70mm riser it probably makes no difference. Make sure the shoulder is facing the inside surface of the riser. Use thread locker down the full length of the three screws that hold them together and fully tighten them.
On the left side, slide your clutch perch onto the bars. Depending on your model, your perch may have a protrusion in the perch designed to index with the factory bar. This was not the case with my SV controls, but likely was the case with the GSX-R’s. You have two choices here; to drill a hole in the bar or remove the protrusion. I would opt for the latter, but I can not offer you guidance on how to go about this since it was not applicable to my situation. Nevertheless, you should know about it and formulate a plan. Once you have completed that step, you can place the left bar in the riser and snug the bolts. This is a good time to place the grip on the bar. Spray a bit of window cleaner or alcohol on the bar and/or grip and slide it on. On the right side, slide the throttle tube onto the remaining bar and snug the riser bolts to hold it in place.
Begin attaching all the other components to the bars, again snugly, but not tightly. The cables in particular may determine if you can attach the clutch perch and throttle and how far down the bar they can be located. For my application, I could not attach the clutch cable (alius ex alio) and had to replace it with another item that is frequently used by SV racers. You can see that article here if you need instruction for installation, part numbers, and sources. On the other side, the throttle cables defined where my grips would ultimately land. The only position that allowed for unrestricted steering movement was as close to the risers as possible. Naturally, the clutch side had to follow suit to maintain symmetry. Don't forget to mount your upper fairing and check for interference there. On my, admittedly unusual, configuration the throttle cables do interfere with the fairing at full lock. I may someday trim the fairing, but in practical use this is never an issue for a track bike. Lastly you will need to figure out a way to mount your brake fluid reservoir. I chose a universal mount from Driven Racing that worked out nicely. While it would have been nice to have taken advantage of an existing mounting hole, I opted to drill and tap my triple. The part allows you to make bends to it so you can find the perfect location. For my application, I needed to locate the reservoir forward of the throttle cables but far enough back that it would clear the bodywork while keeping it relatively level. I was able to do this with on 90 degree bend and one far more subtle arc.
This is a good time to evaluate the comfort level of your bars. Climb on the bike and get a feel for the new—and hopefully improved—ergonomics. Refer to your earlier measurements and make adjustments to the bars to meet your particular goals. In my experience as a product developer in this industry, your best bet is to over compensate. Take whatever your initial goal is and double it. The result should be immediately noticeable. You can keep adjusting in either direction as needed, but taking a big bite of the apple the first time is much more efficient than nibbling at it. When you are happy with their new position be sure to revisit all of the fasteners to ensure they are safely tightened.
The Payoff
Taking to the track after this modification I was a little apprehensive, I’ll admit. Would my arm pump return? Just take it easy with the grip and you might be alright. I was far better than alright however. My symptoms had almost completely faded. In fact, I felt better the day after my track day than I did the day before it! My goal for the day was to improve my upper body position and carry more speed into the turns. i got to fully concentrate on both of those goals while making a lot of passes on the outside of Thunderhill turns 2, 3, and 5 without any distraction. While I am still tinkering with the exact positioning of the bars, I am very satisfied with this product from Woodcraft. Well done, guys.
