Back, around the turn of the century, I had a Yamaha Road Star which I modified a bunch. I went full-retro, by replacing much of the usual chrome parts with black pieces. The result ended up looking like a restored machine of the 1950s and I loved it. One of the changes was to go to really wide "bikini beach handlebars". It resulted in a fully upright seating position, with widely splayed grips. It was super comfortable and, with such wide bars, the bike changed direction effortlessly, with a really quick turn-in. It was fantastic on the Tail of the Dragon. Just thinking about changing direction was almost enough to make it happen.
Now I'm wondering if the beach bars would be as good on the R18. The stock bar is pretty wide, but it sure would be good to have some measurements for comparison to the beach bars in the accessory catalog. Has anyone yet got the OEM beach bars? If so, what do you think of them? Have you got any measurements regarding the width or height, compared to the stockers? Are the risers stock or swapped to different height?
The accessory catalog doesn't mention wiring, but since the stock bars have the switch wires routed internally, I can only assume that the beach bars will come pre-wired internally as well.
Here are a couple photos of my 1999 Road Star with beach bars....
Now I'm wondering if the beach bars would be as good on the R18. The stock bar is pretty wide, but it sure would be good to have some measurements for comparison to the beach bars in the accessory catalog. Has anyone yet got the OEM beach bars? If so, what do you think of them? Have you got any measurements regarding the width or height, compared to the stockers? Are the risers stock or swapped to different height?
The accessory catalog doesn't mention wiring, but since the stock bars have the switch wires routed internally, I can only assume that the beach bars will come pre-wired internally as well.
Here are a couple photos of my 1999 Road Star with beach bars....