My bars and risers finally came in and I spent my time in the office just going over the bike to see if there was anything i missed that I might want to upgrade. Once this project is finished, I'll be moving on to another. I can't really think of anything.
The ROX anti-vibe risers are really good looking pieces and went on with no problems as did the FLEXX bars. For the grips I opted to run the Pro Taper Pillow Top grips because I have used these in the past and found that they are the most comfortable grips ever and give me minimal if any blisters after a hard afternoon of riding. Since I was adding so much height with the new risers and bars, I was a little concerned with the cables and brake lines being too short, but again had no problems. They are at their limits, but not to the point of causing any problems in the future.
One thing I did discover in doing this was that the Pro Armor kill switch that was installed by Yamaha originally has a large housing that allows it to fit perfectly on the oversized crosstube of the handlebars and comes with an insert if you choose to run them on standard sizes as well. Talk about a much welcome feature on such a basic item.
Also to clean up the appearance of the controls, I chose to remove the emergency brake lever and cable. This was very simple to do as it only takes less than 5 minutes and makes the machine look much sportier once it's finished.
Finally one of the things I thought about the other day was how tacky the machine looked with my beadlock rear wheels and the stock black rims and tires up front. If I'm riding this at the motocross track, I want it to have the right setup as well. I went through my shed of old tires and wheels and came out with a set of slightly used ITP MXR fronts and a set of their T-9 Pro series wheels. Sure they had some scratches in them, but they weren't bent and would hold up great for anything I could put this machine through.
With everything installed, I stepped back and took in the sight of my completed project. No, it's not a National Championship winning machine, but it is a fun bike that I will enjoy for months and months to come. All of these parts only take a few hours to install as long as you dont have any interruptions and are well worth the time. Price wise, the most expensive items I had to order in were the bars and like I said are well worth the money. The wheels and tires came off of my old Banshee which sits tucked away in my garage ready for a rebuild itself.
Take a look at the pics and tell me what you think. If there is anything you think it could be missing or have done to your own personal machine to taylor it to your needs, let us know. I'm always excited to see new pics of our readers rides on our website and you never know if we might contact you about doign a story on your ride if it's got that just right look.
Thanks for reading.
-Eli