Well, after all the help I've received from this site I thought I was home free and ready to wrap things up with my RK handlebar swap....but Nooooo! Now the riser cover won't fit. I've searched here and elsewhere to see how to deal with this, and it seems that the problem could be the poly bushings (HD-brand), or the one-piece clamp, or maybe the clamp bolt tightening sequence, or ??? The riser cover won't clear the handlbar and/or clamp enough to seat properly over the fork lock key cylinder. It seems like the bars or the clamp are about 1/8" to 1/4" too high. Has anyone had any luck with modifying the poly bushings in some way to allow the risers to sit lower? I'd hate to dig my old stock bushings out of the round can and put them back in, but I don't want to ruin the poly ones either. Any ideas so I can quit bothering you guys?
Thanks in advance, Again!

 

No one?

 

Am I understanding that your riser cover will not bolt down to the risers over the bars?

 

When you say "luck with modifying the poly bushings in some way to allow the risers to sit lower" I am wondering in relation to what? the triple tree? the bike (closer to you) I am trying to visulize, If you had some pics that might help.

 

The riser contacts the top of the handlebar, where the rounded cutouts of the riser are. It kind of pivots at that point and I can attach it at either the front where it bolts to the nacelle, or at the back where it screws to the fork lock, but not both. And at either location, it is 1/8" to 1/4" too high. I'll try to get some pics tonight, but it's the wife's birthday so I might have other things to do....

 

OK trying to understand:
1- what year of bike?
2- is the one piece clamp mentioned the original factory none chromed one piece clamp that the newer bikes come with or is it one of the one piece chrome ones?
3-handlebars..same thickness as original ones at the clamp area or are they thicker??
4-bolts for clamp..original factory?
5-I thought the original factory bushings were almost flush when installed?
*there is very little room under the cover at the tank side clamp bolts.. maybe an 1/8th ..so if multiple items raise the bar,clamp, bolts a little it could cause a clearance issue
just trying to picture situation?

 

1 - 06 Road King
2 - The original clamps were 2-piece from the factory, I replaced them with the one-piece non-chrome that comes on 08 up.
3 - The bars are 1.25", but step down to 1" at the clamp. Where the riser cover contacts them they are 1.25".
4 - Bolts are factory original. I do notice that the one piece clamp is thicker, maybe 1/8", at the base where the bolt holes are compared to the stock 2 piece clamps. I thought about drilling these down a little too.
5 - Original bushings were almost flush, except for the cup washer at top of rubber bushing - risers sit on top of the washer.

The poly bushings may be thicker at the top, by enough to make a difference in clearance. They are the Harley poly bushings, although they look a lot like the Alloy Art (?) gooden-tite bushings from aftermarket catalogs and are priced about the same. I suspect that they are thicker enough, with their 1/8" of poly plus the built-in chrome washer on top, to make that difference, and that's why I am asking if it is possible to trim off the excess poly so the bushing sits lower in the triple tree and allows the riser to in turn sit lower also. Has anyone done it, or is it a bad idea and should I just put the crappy factory ones back in?

I'm trying to find out if there are alternatives to butchering the poly bushings and/or the one piece clamp to make the riser fit correctly. The riser bolts underneath the triple tree are torqued to the right spec.

 

Much easier to understand and picture situation now.
It would seem that the clamping unit itself is not a problem as the new 1 piece clamp has a low profile. The new bars also have a reduced thickness at clamp area and if the one piece clamp piece sits flush to the bottom two pieces then the bars could be ruled out as an issue.
That just leaves the bushings..they probably have a fat lip..and the fat lip raises the entire system and then causes it to hit the inside of the cover.
I have not cut down bushings and do not know of anyone that has cut them down.
Is it possible that the bushings you got are not for a road king but for another set-up that does not have a cover?

 

It's possible, I had not considered that as I'm pretty sure that I made sure they were correct when I bought them. But it's certainly worth another close look and if they are correct, then I guess I'll find the old ones , pull out the new and compare.

 

Here's an update: I checked the poly bushings to make sure they are the right ones for RK, they are. That leaves me with these alternatives: Trim the poly on the bushings so they sit lower as mentioned earlier; have the riser cover cutouts enlarged by 1/4" so they don't hit the top of the bars (might need to have it re-chromed after); buy the Screamin Eagle version of the riser cover ($285 or so from HD, no thanks); or have the bottoms of the risers themselves machined so they sit 1/4" lower.

One other thing that I wonder about is the torque value listed for the poly bushings is 18 ft. lbs., whereas the torque for the stock is listed at 40. I've got the polys at 18, should I try to go to 40 to compress them more or is that asking for bigger problems? I'm skeptical on this, can't imagine that they would compress very much by putting anither 20 ft. lbs. on them, but ????

Since I haven't found much info on this problem, I presume others have not run into it or have found an easier way around it. Which makes me think I might still be missing something (besides a few brain cells of course but that's another thing). I am leaning toward having 1/4" machined off the bottom of the risers - just seems a little extreme to have to do that for parts that are supposed to fit. Once again, any help is greatly appreciated.