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changing handlebars on a 1981 R100RS

chwood4

New member
Anyone have any helpfuls hints or can point me in the direction of raising my stock handlebars on the bike ? I have hear that some "K" bars (with or without?) any pullback blocks are often used. I would suspect different cables would be required as well. I am inquiring for a fellow who is interested in buying my RS, but is concerned the riding style might be a bit extreme for him. I don't think it is such an obstacle to prevent him from buying a nice RS. Thanks
 
I can tell you that "S" bars (with their slight rise) will hit the inside of the fairing panels before the fork reaches full turn. The P.O. I bought my 81 RS from tried that. I quickly reinstalled the RS bars. That was almost 30 years ago. There may be a combination out there that works, but I can't help you with that.
 
Handlebars

I think that what you're looking for is a handlebar from a K75C or S model. A few inches of rise and narrow enough to clear the fairing. No need for risers and I think the cables will work as they are.
 
I added K75S bars to my 78 RS. I was able to use the stock cables, but I had to re-route the throttle cables a bit because they pulled the tight enough to raise idle at full left stop. I then added a set to a friend's RS. Both bars came from ebay, but his hit the fairing. From what I found out later, some of the later bikes had wider bars. We were able to cut the ends off about 1/2 of an inch and all was ok. The new bars made the bike much more enjoyable to ride.

Wayne
 
RS with K75S bars

I added K75S bars to my 78 RS. I was able to use the stock cables, but I had to re-route the throttle cables a bit because they pulled the tight enough to raise idle at full left stop. I then added a set to a friend's RS. Both bars came from ebay, but his hit the fairing. From what I found out later, some of the later bikes had wider bars. We were able to cut the ends off about 1/2 of an inch and all was ok. The new bars made the bike much more enjoyable to ride.

Wayne

I too have the K75S bars, ditto the above comments. In addition, my topbrace (aftermarket) has two sets of holes and the second set of holes allows moving the bars about 1" closer to the tank. This made a BIG difference to my 6' 1" frame for long rides.
 
I have some K75S bars that I'd like to put on my 83 R100RS. I tried installing them a while back when I had the front end apart. They appeared to fit OK but the brake hose from the master cyl to the splitter seems to be too short, it was binding when turning the bars. It seems to be just barely long enough with the stock bars. The clutch/throttle/choke cables seemed to be OK but just barely. I was thinking the perhaps RT cables and brake hose would work better but may be a little too long. I dunno. At any rate, I'm interested in this topic too, so would appreciate any inputs.
 
Hmmm...maybe I need to take another look. You wouldn't have any pictures of that area with the new bars, would you?
 
I have a 83 R100RS with K75S bars, stock cables and SS brake line. The foam grips will just rub the fairing at full turn. I really like the new position.
 
I got the SS line before the handle bars so it was for the stock bars. I think it might be a little longer but I'm not sure.
 
Thanks for the info. I'll try the other bars again and see how it goes. I was a in a bit of a hurry the first time around...the bike had been apart for a while and I was impatient to get it going again...so I probably didn't look into it as deeply as I shoulda. It seems like the MC-to-Splitter hose is just barely long enough as it is, tho, but maybe a little re-routing would help. That is, when it cools off enough here to work out in the garage...been in the 110+ temps lately and it's just too hot. Too hot to ride, too, for me anyway. I guess it's kind of the same situation as you guys up north have in the winter when it's too cold to work out in the garage. Oh well...
 
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