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Gee whiz. I thought this would be a fairly simple straight forward mod. Boy was I wrong!

First Kawi decides to fill the end of the bars with metal, I guess for dampening. So you have to drill this hole in the bar ends larger. So I go to buy a drill bit but anything as large as I need, I need a 1/2 or larger drill so now I had to find a reduced shank bit. I did in 3/4 spent $20 on that and still have not made hardly a dent in that hole.

I have it to a little over 3/8 in diameter but now I need to get the next size up of two to open the hole up further so I can install the bar end mounts.

What a pain!!! It should not be this hard to install bark busters.

I was told to chop a inch of the bars and I would be past the metal in the ends but it seems to extend 4-5 inches.

Any suggestions? Boy is this fustrating.

Suggestion #1: Throw the stock bars away. They are cheap flimsy mild steel. They will bend on the first hard hit.
Suggestion #2: Get a good pair of aftermarket bars, there are many sizes pulls and rises.
Suggestion #3: Sit on bike with new bars and trim the ends if necessary for your desired width.
Suggestion #4: Get new grips cuz the factory grips won't come off.
Suggestion #5: install the bark busters.

bradf wrote:Suggestion #1: Throw the stock bars away. They are cheap flimsy mild steel. They will bend on the first hard hit.
Suggestion #2: Get a good pair of aftermarket bars, there are many sizes pulls and rises.
Suggestion #3: Sit on bike with new bars and trim the ends if necessary for your desired width.
Suggestion #4: Get new grips cuz the factory grips won't come off.
Suggestion #5: install the bark busters.

I've bent 3 sets of 7/8" bars. 1 OEM and 2 aftermarket bars. The aftermarket bars earned their bend. The OEM did not.

Since going to fat bars, I've not bent a set of bars. Although, I've bent two bar clamps.

You think that's a pain in the ol keester wait til you take a nice drop with those flimsy POS bars and have to ride 10 miles through lotsa crappy trails back to the truck with one side of the bars pointing straight down at the ground! DAMHIK

http://www.Rockymountainmc.com sells some descent Tusk bars for about $25
I have a set on the KDX and on the DR650

quailchaser wrote: Since going to fat bars, I've not bent a set of bars. Although, I've bent two bar clamps.

Fatbars are pretty awesome!

I have a set on my Vstrom. I had a little run-in with a Dodge 4x4 a little while ago. Pretty much totalled the front end but the bars are fine

Mr. Wibbens wrote:You think that's a pain in the ol keester wait til you take a nice drop with those flimsy POS bars and have to ride 10 miles through lotsa crappy trails back to the truck with one side of the bars pointing straight down at the ground! DAMHIK

http://www.Rockymountainmc.com sells some descent Tusk bars for about $25
I have a set on the KDX and on the DR650

I have a pair of their Tusk Alum bars and they're fine. I also bought their D-flex bark busters and they better then I expected for the $'s.
Right now they have some Tusk Alum bars on close out for $9.99.
I'm gonna order a couple pair and hang'm on the wall for back ups for that price.

Mr. Wibbens wrote:

quailchaser wrote: Since going to fat bars, I've not bent a set of bars. Although, I've bent two bar clamps.

Fatbars are pretty awesome!

I have a set on my Vstrom. I had a little run-in with a Dodge 4x4 a little while ago. Pretty much totalled the front end but the bars are fine

Hope the rider was fine as well.

I love the "Fat Bar" set up. Worked so well on the KDX, that the first thing I did on the KX was to chang out a perfectly good set of Renthals for a set of Tag fatties. Two weeks later, she and I had a disagreement with a particular high speed turn and a set of large braking bumps. Rode the remaining 15 miles of ST with a significant pull to the left.

I bought a set of Pro Taper bars in anticipation of replacing the bent Tags. Turned out...the bars survived...one bar clamp stud bent. Should have waited to access the damage before purchasing replacement parts.

The fat bars are the way to go, the only other problem is trying to get the mounts lined up on the "fat" part to accept the aluminum guard depending on your bar bend, or if you trim the ends of your bars off a tad.

Mine are clamped on anything but perfect as far as being a clean install, but they're on snug and doing their job.

Notice that everybody has an opinion, 'eh?

My 7/8" bars have been thumped a good bit..and every one of those thumps would have pretzeled the OEM bars.

My Renthals are still straight.

Get a one piece top clamp!

re: 'the bars survived...one bar clamp stud bent.'


Just curious, was that with a one piece top clamp?

Don't get CHEAPY BARS. Spend the cash & get a REAL PAIR. I smashed a Tree @ approx. 20mph & my Renthals DID NOT BEND. They rotated back in the clamps. Also likke Carvr I also have a one piece top clamp.

If you have mount trouble with hand guards, check into the triple clamp mount method offered by Cycra, and I think others. I like the way they clean up the "dash" a lot, and I don't run into problems with where the controls are placed. They won't work with '03 KX triple clamps though. I had to buy a Scotts one that cost about as much as my forks!

Cycra seems to make some pretty good stuff.

Still have to put them in the bar ends..so the OEM welded up ends would still be a problem.

Kind of BTW now, but drilling out that insert is likely going to be tough. I do recall some have done it. I tried it with no luck whatsoever. I ended up cutting a bit off the bars.

Still, the point is that the OEM bars really are not worth messing with. You will end up with 'real' bars sooner or later, might as well be sooner.

canyncarvr wrote: re: 'the bars survived...one bar clamp stud bent.'


Just curious, was that with a one piece top clamp?

No.

Drill the hole so you can tap it for your handguard bolt. I don't remember what size but it worked for me.