Help please - i've broken my bar ends :-(

[New Leaf]

Can anyone out there offer me some help with my bar ends?

I have a 2000 naked sv650.

I took the bar end weights off to fit a set of v-strom hand guards for the winter.

When i removed the bar end weights a nut came off each side. The nuts do have a thread but they are much wider than the bolts that hold the bar end weights on. So when i go to screw everything back on the bolt just spins freely and pushes in. There doesn't seem to be a thread inside the handle bars to grip the bolt. :-(

Any ideas what i have done and how i fix it. I had to come in from the garage cos i was so angry i was about to squirt a tube of no-nails down the bars and let it half set before putting the bolts back!

As an aside - the instructions for the hand guards mention an 'expander' but there isn't one that comes with the kit - any idea what one of those is?

[oldjack]

I've recently fitted some vstrom handguards, but to my K5 bike. The bar end weight is held in place by an expander nut inside the handlebar, the bolt in the bar end screws into this, and tightening it compresses a rubber sleeve sandwiched between the 2 plates of the expander nut (a bit hard to describe !). I think you have completely unscrewed the bolt and left the expander nut inside the bars - you should have only loosened the bolt sufficiently the uncompress the rubber to allow you to pull the expander nut out, still attached to the bolt.

The v strom kit comes with very long bolts, if you screw one in to the expander nut it should be long enough to reach it and hold onto a couple of threads, sufficient to pull it out.

The vstrom bolts are too long for my existing expander nut system, I had to cut a spacer from a bit of copper tube to enable the expander bolt to compress.

The spacer shown in the vstrom instructions is not for the bar ends, it fits under the bolt through the clutch lever, it is much smaller than shown in the parts list.

Hope this helps, but your curvy might be different !

[kwak zzr]

^^^ this is correct, i made the same mistake when taking my bar ends off :roll:

[northwind]

Sounds like it'll be as oldjack says. I reckon the bigger nuts were just in there as spacers. The rubber things can be a fiddle to get out once you've unthreaded the bolts, but if you have circlip pliars they're ideal for the job, or you can make a hook out of wire if all else fails.

[david-m]

Anyone know if the hand guards would fit a K5 pointy??

If so does anyone have a part number?

[oldjack]

David, the vstrom guards are "bolt-on" for a K5. Part number is 57300-27820-291, but your dealer will know, as he will have sold lots of 'em, they are the Suzuki bargain of the week, £23 for a beautifully made rigid made to measure assembly instead of a cut-to-fit, flimsy mod held on with zip ties that you normally have to use !

NB my comment earlier in this topic about needing spacers 'cos the bolts are too long.

Jack

[New Leaf]

i've been out and had another look.

If there was an expander nut inside my handlebars, it must have slid right down inside the bars. Even the huge long bolts from the hand guard set slide freely in their whole length without making contact with a nut.

Do you think i could order some new expander bolts from a Suzuki dealer? or how about using some wall plugs or something from B&Q?

I might just give in and take it to the dealer and get him to sort it. Is it okay to ride it without the bar end weights on?

[northwind]

Yeah, should be fine. Assuming the bars are hollow all the way through you should be able to push the rubbers right through and out the other side using a coathanger, though.

[david-m]

Jack.

sorry should have put will they fit my k5 (SV650S) as mine is the part faired model not a naked one

[seedy100]

Did the same thing when I fitter heated grips.

I ended up getting a length of studding to poke down the clip-on and screw into the nut.

What really anoys me is that I deliberatly poked the expander down the bar to "Get it out of the way". :oops:

Chris

[New Leaf]

Thanks for all your help peeps.

Its all fixed now and i'm a happy little leaf.

I took it to my local independent bike man and he fished the expander nuts out with pointy pliers and a screwdriver and fitter the hand guards whilst he was at it - all for just £35 - an hours labour.

I'm a bit annoyed at myself for breaking the bar ends in the first place, but i've learned how to remove the bar end properly now - which will be useful for taking the horrid hand guards off in the spring - and it didn't break the bank or anything.

[valleyboy]

its easier to undo the bolts slightly, so only a few turns left before they come out, and pull the bar end weight out.. this should bring the expanding nut/bung out with it.... had plenty of scuffed bar end weights on my SV when I had it :oops:

[Dysparunia]

What's the advantage of hand guards if you're not off road?

(trying to expand my knowledge of motorcycling)

:?

[FG1]

I would imagine that they are usefull for reducing the wind chill effect.
David, do you have a piccy of the guards fitted as I would like to see whether they look worth while for the winter commute.

[oldjack]

Much warmer in very cold weather, below 2 or 3 degrees, as they stop the windblast. Keep the worst of the rain off too in heavy rain.

It hasn't happened to me yet but I'm hoping they'll stop my levers getting bent if I drop my bike.

Yes I know they look stupid, although not as bad as muffs, but then I'm not a poser, you should see the rest of my gear !

[the white rabbit]

It hasn't happened to me yet but I'm hoping they'll stop my levers getting bent if I drop my bike.

They should do. Mine do :oops:

[chazzyb]

I would imagine that they are usefull for reducing the wind chill effect.
David, do you have a piccy of the guards fitted as I would like to see whether they look worth while for the winter commute.

What's wrong with a remodeled 4 pint plastic milk whatnot on each side of the bars? :lol:

[New Leaf]

they do make a huge difference to keeping your hands warm.

For the last month I've had to stop halfway through my 2 hour morning commute to gatwick from Ely. I leave before 6am and so i go almost the whole way before the sun comes up. My hands were getting so cold with the wind blast that i always had to stop at lakeside to but them under the hand drier.

I've done it twice with the hand guards on now and i was nice and warm the whole way - and it was just 3 degrees when i left :-)

yeah they do look pants - but i don't care.