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MPH handlebar risers


Ralph Werner

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Guest Gary Cheek

Seems WaaaaY steep to me too . The CNC bits are plain and simple that leaves some high priced hoses at best .

I made a pair of very simiilar risers from billet 7075 aluminum (the eurofolks call it ERGAL ,I believe) I didn't put anybody's name or logo on them but for a few minutes time in engraving easily COULD have . I prefer the "clean" look anyhow.

Next trip to the aero-hose place I will have some hoses made up . That should leave enough bucks in change for a weekend trip and some great food to boot !

If you want to email me ,I can send you some pics.

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Gary, why don't you post some photos of your risers here? You might get interest from several folks :thumbsup:

 

As an aside, I just dropped a note to Cycle Cat to see where their kit is at. The last time I spoke with them, they had encountered some delays, but it was still on their R&D schedule. I'll let everyone know what they say. From what I can tell, it seems like they may have the best kit out there.

 

 

For me though, with the new grips, lead-shot, and some excercise(strengthen the back)... I think I'm going to try to soldier on with the stock setup. It's not too bad, and only really starts to get to me after many many hours, so I'm thinking that if I can get back into shape and support a better posture with my knees and back, I can get some of the weight off of my wrists/hands and be OK. We'll see though.

 

 

al

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I went to Cycle Kat last summer to provide a donor bike. They said they would call me in a couple weeks. Haven't heard a word from them. Al R. mentioned they put it off as a winter project. Well, there is only 6 more weeks of winter and no word yet. I've got the cold weather gear for the trip but 90 miles in 20 degree weather is still 90 miles.

 

For what it's worth Alfred can contact me at work at 937-222-6444 or at home at 937-859-3322 or twhitaker6 at woh dot rr dot com

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Just heard back from Alfred, and unfortunately it's not good news.

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like that unless they get a lot of interest from owners wanting their product, they can't afford to prioritize it right now, or in the near future. I would have to assume that they haven't heard much from owners interested in the product, so are focusing on larger opportunities... which from a business perspective, I can understand.

 

They seem like a bunch of nice guys, and Alfred got right back to me, but it doesn't look like they'll have a product any time soon.... again unless there was a huge groundswell of potential buyers knocking down their door :huh2:

 

 

Tue, 3 Feb 2004

 

Al-

 

From the designated reponder to the designated inquirer, I officially regret

to inform you that we have made no progress on the MG bar kit... The truth

is we are swamped with development projects, and have to triage them based

upon the level of demand... We would very much like to make the products

contemplated for V11 LeMans, but they are scheduled behind probably 15 other

development projects, most of which are on Spring-early summer deadlines.

 

What's worse, as new projects come in, we are constantly evaluating and

prioritizing, and honestly, the MG project has slipped several times... I

suppose if we had a better sense of the potential for the kits, it might

help elevate them, but as it stands, we are just not sure we will sell

enough of them to justify the development time, especially if it is

development time taken from other products.

 

I feel bad about this, because it is not only something we would like to

accomplish, but also because we like the bikes very much, and for that

matter, we like all of the owners we've had the privilege to meet.

 

Again, I apologize, and hope you understand.  Please let me know if I can

assist further, although I know that to date, we've not assisted very

much at all.

 

As always,

 

Best-

 

-Alfred

 

Alfred Kobacker, President

Cycle Cat division, Ideanamics, LLC

800 Morrison Rd.

Columbus, OH 43230 USA

 

 

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Oh well. I thought I may not have represented Moto Guzzi in the greatest light. I was pretty enthusiastic though. Alfred seems to eat, sleep, drink, etc Ducati. When I was there he had over a dozen of them for reference.

 

Looks like I'll be contacting Cyclops at www.convertibar.com

 

I heard they make a post that will accept our bars. Has there been any feedback on that item?

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on risers for your mg I had my machinist build me a set. they are 2.25 risers they work will on my dads lemans and on my scura no new lines need to be made the lines are a little tight but work fine. the riding position is easier on the body for an all day ride!!!

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Guest mphcycles

I never said they were the cheap way to go. But it does seem to be the only product ready to market at this time. I dont intend to make yacht payments from this product. I hoped it would help me sell a few more bikes here. The cost of making only a couple sets runs near what it cost to do 10 sets. Thus I offered them to other riders. It fits, it works, its complete. As the other vendor has pointed out, the market is so small that any production run is not cost effective. This is why no one else has gone to the trouble to complete a kit.

Mike Haven

MPH Cycles

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Yeah Moto, a few folks have put the Centauro risers on the bikes before the Ballabio came out ^_^ Jason did a whole "How To" write up:

 

http://www.motoguzzi-forum.nl/howto/adapting.htm

 

( :!: P.S. Jaap, the link seems to be dead right now :huh2: )

 

 

To Mike Haven's point, there are actually several vendors out with bar risers now. We tried to cover several of the efforts in the FAQ section:

 

Raising Handlebars FAQ

 

 

Here are several nice examples(in the threads):

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...65&hl=handlebar

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1549

 

 

...but Mike is correct though in that it is a relatively(literally, relative other market opportunities for the manufacturers) small market, so I'm not surprised that many more are not out there. In fact, I'm actually surprised by the number that are, such as the Two Brothers solution.

 

Gen Mar was also making some risers, but I haven't heard nor checked with them for a long time.

 

al

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Also, keep in mind that this is a commercial offering. Mike Haven needs to make a buck or two to stay afloat. Sure, if you're handy with a mill, then making a set of the add-on risers is not too difficult. About a year before the MPH offering, I made a much clunkier, less attractive set of add-on risers as my 'first design' but ended up giving them away (they didn't work for the recipient either :lol: ). I found drilling the triple clamp and mounting up proper bars to be more pleasing to me. I'm not advocating one or the other- it's up to the individual to decide what will work on their own bike.

As far as prices go, I guess it's what the market bears, right? I dunno. It seems like all these add-ons (bars, footpegs, accessory doo dads) are about 3-400 dollars US. It's just some thoughts, and I'm not even sure they are mine after reading it over. Maybe this is just my extemporaneous stream of unconciousness.

Cheers,

Jason

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Ah, here we go- I'm as bad as Al- I have a picture of everything. Like I said- this was my first design for bar risers, and they didn't work well because they were too big around the outside dimensions. I recall that they fouled other bits in the cockpit.

cheers,

Jason

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