Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Changing handle bars. Need help.

I am looking at putting Speedmaster handle bars on my America. I know I need a four inch risers that accept one inch bars to do so, but what do I need to know about mounting the risers to the bike. I am going to buy the bars from newbonneville.com but I am looking at risers from jc whitney. has anyone done this before? please advise.

if you get american aftermarket ( harley style ) risers
the bolts are 1/2" and you will need to drill out the
stock holes.
just take your time and keep them straight.
I have done this to 2 americas so far.

Not about the risers, but here's some info.

Put a towel on your tank so when you loosen the bars, they will not come crashing down and ruin your day.. Even better, suspend some wires from your ceiling and tie the bars off.

Use a 6 point socket on the nuts holding the current risers on. They are really, really tight so a cheater bar might be in order.

Good point about the towel, Phil, a handle bar ding can really ruin your day. DLR, you'll be surprisd how heavy the bars are once they're off the risers. Loosen the riser nuts before you take the bars off, they are on really tight and mind the headlight bucket...

Does anyone know if the cables and lines will be ok??

Cables and wires should be just fine, just mind the throttle cables don't take any sharp bends.

Considering you are going to have the whole throttle control off anyway, now might be a good time to move the throttle cables to the right side of the frame. Just in case you want to do different bars down the road that would require it.

My experience re: BA throttle cables -

Stock BA setup - binding on full lock right.
BA bars, SM risers - moved to right side, ok.
SM bars & risers - moved back to left & still more than enough slack.

I made adapters to avoid drilling the tree. They are also available from a few sources but kind of pricey ($26 give or take for 2 studs!) I put 4 1/2" chrome risers on my SM with 1 1/2" pull back I have the America cables and break line to make it work. The throttle cables are on the right side of the tank to make enough slack , had to do that when I first put America bars on the stock SM risers. Perfect riding position for me now.

The origonal riser bolts are 10mm ,after market Hardley and Hardley are 1/2"

You can use single cap Hardley style risers as opposed to individual caps the spacing between the risers is the same. Thats what I put on mine with a little custom work on the cap.