So I was out for a ride today and hit a bit of a rough patch of road. On really bad bumps I have a habit of getting up off the seat a bit to save my tailbone from the assault.

Well when I did that I must have pulled back on the handlebars enough that it caused them to tilt back! Holy **** I was scared for a second. I pulled over right away and I jerked the bars back to the position they were before.

So I just recently installed Biltwell Frisco bars. And I remember VIVIDLY torquing the handlebar clamp down to the specified torque...even gave another 1/8 turn on them all after. I guess I am going to have to tighten them up some more....because that **** is not cool.

Any thoughts, Comments?

 

I know on my apes, the only thing that worked, was to put a pin in them. no moving them now

 

Are your bars knurled? If not you can take them off and beat the area that should be knurled with a chisel to cause some of the area to expand.. that'll allow them to torque down better. Another option is to add a piece of aluminum or rubber or something around the bar before you put the clamp on.. I've heard that works. Some people also drill a hole through the riser and bars and put a pin through it.

Mine are not knurled either and it's been a serious pain in the *** for me. Doesn't matter how tight I torque them down, they'll slip. A couple months ago I hit a turkey vulture with my right grip, the bird tried to clear the road but the wind blew him back down.. that pushed my bars almost into my lap at 70 mph.. I don't know why it didn't wreck me with that much force on one side of the bars.. I guess muscle memory / reflexes saved me.

I've been meaning to take my own advice and solve the slipping problem but faced with the decision to ride or work on the bike, something's gotta be bad wrong for me not to just ride.

 

That's the route I'd prefer to go, but after the hassle I went through of wiring the bars internally I'm not willing to drill through the bars.

 

+1 on putting a piece of foil, or something, on the bars between the clamp to keep it from moving. I've had my fair share of slipping bars...

 

Thanks for the replies guys. The bars are not knurled at all (the stock drag bars were), but the inside of the clamps are so I though that would help keep the bars in check....guess not.

I think pinning the bars is out since I have them wired internally. I will look into getting some rubber or putting some tin foil in there.

What would be better though? rubber or tin foil? Or what about knurling them myself?

 

I found this thread and someone suggested using drywall sanding cloth wrapped around the bars and then tightening in the clamp....cheap fix....and they say it works really well. I will try this route first and report back. Hopefully be able to do it this weekend.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sport...-knurling.html

 

Even putting tin foil won't do much if the bars aren't knurled. If it were me I'd pin them. Pulling the wires out to drill them wouldn't take too much extra time and its the best way to prevent it from happening again.

 

Let me know how it goes, regardless of what you use, I will have to solve it myself soon. My tentative plan was to cut open a beer can and use that aluminum strip; I don't think aluminum foil is thick enough to make a difference. If that didn't work I'd cut a swatch of rubber and try that. There's no way I'm pulling the wires out my bars.. I realize that the first time you do anything it takes 10 times longer than the 2nd time.. but I had a helluva time pulling wires through my bars.

 

I agree, pulling the wires out of my bars is NOT an option. Partly because I would have to cut and re-solder my connectors back on...well i guess mostly that it.