Convertibars installed on a Honda VFR800. Photos by the author.
You have to grow old, but you don?t have to grow up. That?s the mantra of a lot of sportbike owners who, like me, still enjoy blasting down a twisty road but whose limber years are behind them, making riding a sportbike anywhere else an exercise in masochism. Convertibars has come up with a way to give you the sporty crouch you want on a Sunday morning and the higher rise you yearn for the rest of the week.
Convertibars consist of three main components: ?Cyclops? clamps, which attach to the fork tubes; risers that fit into the Cyclops clamps; and bars that fit into the risers? heads. Along with the bar components, the kit for my 2000 Honda VFR800 came with a longer braided stainless-steel hydraulic clutch hose and top front brake hose, both made by HEL USA, to take advantage of the added height possible with the Convertibars. (HEL also supplied a complete set of lines for the bike, agreeing with me that connecting new stainless lines to 17-year-old rubber hoses made little sense. They?re not part of the Convertibars kit, but they made a substantial improvement in brake feel, and reduced effort at the lever and pedal.) Two longer throttle cables, made by Motion Pro, are included. There are also two aluminum spacers for the brake and clutch master cylinders; more on these later. Detail of the left side.
Installation is pretty straightforward; there?s really only one way to put everything together. Adjusting it is...