Barkbusters for F650GS Dakar

where did you order from?

I'm also looking for a set.

Hi Steven,

I ordered mine from Chris Louw in Stilbaai.  He has a container coming in sometime next week. You can mail him on chrislouw@easycoms.co.za for more info.

thanks. mailed him.

Price?

Got mine about 2 days ago from Chris. Fitting them tonight!  I paid R1010 delivered at my doorstep.  I would definitely recommend Chris, fast service and query responses.

I also got mine this week.

woop woop.

Will fit them tomorrow. I'm super excited about the raisers that come with them more than anything else.

I'm also exited about the risers! I think they will make a big difference, seeing that I'm 1.89m tall...probably 191m with my GS boots, so I hope they make it more comfortable when standing.   BTW, thanks Steven for the feedback on the crashbars!

When I got my barkbusters from Biketique fitted, they had to cut some of the hand grip on the left, and the throttlegrip on the right to get the screws to fit in. The barkbusters bar-end weights are a lot smaller and I noticed a lot more vibration coming through the handlebars/but more frontwheel feedback as well. The only cable i noticed that was too short was the throttle cable (in full lock left i think, it rev's up to 3.5rpm), but clutch was fine. Im 6" and the raise was just enough, but f you are a little taller, you might want to get a 35mm raiser to suppliment it.

Once you have fitted the Barkbusters, make sure you align them with your Levers as even slightly off leaves them unprotected (lost my only clucth lever in the middle of the transkei!!!!).

the also look cool 

Hope this helps somewhat.

Arghhhh, if only I had seen your post before attempting to fit the barkbusters.

Man, I've been struggling for hours. First I put the raisers in, but find screwng in the long bolts to be a bit of an effort. They just didn't seem to screw in easily.

Anyway got  the raisers fitted, and putting the plastic paenl back, not the bolt holes aren't aligned. I can't put all four back in.

So I moved onto the next task removing my current handguards. i almost had a hernia doing this. The were screwed on so tight i broke my torque tool loosening the first night.

Finlly got the handguard or and started the rocket-science-type-taks of fitting the barkbuster, only to discover the bold for the bar-end is too short.

It looks like I'll need to cut some rubber off the grip, and even then the bolt's gonna be too short.

This is not a home job.

Looks like I'll have to call the professionals on monday.

Grrrrr.

Thanks will check it out.

I still think the bolt will be too short to go through the BB frame and bar-end weight.

Hi all,

I fitted my barkbusters on Friday and I can luckily say that I had no problems...luckily I had a friend to help! The only slight hiccup was also the throttle cable that pinched somewhere and revved a little on full left lock...but it was like that before the busters.  Fixed that by re-routing the cable and all was fine. 

The longer bolts for the raisers  also went in a bit tightly, but we got them in and torqued to 20nm. (Steven, I think that one of your bolts might have bent...could be the reason why they don't line up to put the abs/flasher panel on.)

I also didn't have problems with the length of the end bolts, Steve is right, just move the assembly and it should fit fine!  I think there is a thread on Wild dog about the issue...

Some Pics:

Barkbusters

Raisers

Raisers without the ABS panel

I got the right-hand barkbuster on - by moving the throttle contol further onto the bar - didn't want to push it too far, so opted to cut a bit off the rubber grip.

Could not for the life of me get my left handguard off - stripped my torque tool trying - so stopped by Atlantic Motorrad this morn and Shane helped me loosen the nuts.

He als osuggested the reason why I've not been ableto refit the harzard panel is that I may have not tightened the raiser evenly. Will try again tonight.

Glad to hear I wasn't the only one experiencing the tight fit of the longer bolts.

Its seems many of you were amused at my struggles getting those barkbusters fitted.

So I'm now selling tickets - for when I fit my centre stand (which I just ordered)

You can even places bets at how long it will take me, and how many buckets of sweat I'll fill.

I fitted my center stand quite quickly and with no problems. The trick is to have a proper spring puller, a large one preferably.

Hi Steven,

What did you pay for the centre stand if I may ask? Did you order from Chris?

Yup ordered  the stand from Chris.

Warren: what the hell is a spring puller? and why on earth would anybody have one of those things?

A spring puller is something that is mostly used on 2 strokes to extend the springs that hold the exhaust. Mine is (was, I broke it using it for something else) a longish straight iron bar about 5mm thick with a T shaped handle on it. At the other end is an almost full hook that one hooks the end of the spring with, then it's much easier to extend the spring and hook into where it's supposed to go. Those springs on the center stand do not extend easily. When I say I did it easy I suppose I must add that Jason from CPR gave me a hand.

Spring Puller 

I also fitted a centre stand to my Dakar recently.  In the absence of a spring puller, the trick was to have another person available to slip the bolts in while you are pulling the stand backwards with both hands (sitting with legs on either side of the back wheel.)

Sounds complicated.

wow, talk about great service from Chris.

Called yesterday at lunch time about ordering the Centre Stand.

It's already arrived. Amazing.

question regarding the centre stand.

Do I need to grease those inserts where the stand bolts onto the frame?

Or do I simply insert and screw on?

Grease on any pivot point cannot hurt. As you know I have just found out how expensive no grease on a pivot point can be.

Grease them, liberally........

I used grease on these. I noticed a bit of corrosion inside the mount points when I removed the plastic caps which are there by default, so hopefully the grease will help prevent this in future, as well as reducing the pivot friction.

I have been getting more and more miffed out by the look of my bike. All the black parts of the bike need re-coating (Brake leaver housing/clutch lever housing, footbrake, handlebars etc).

I would like to get a Renthal bar, as has a lot better riding position, is stronger and the paint wont chip off like the stock BM ones. Do you folks know where one can get all these items re-coated, or if one can do it yourself? Keen to find out, thanks guys.

I would suggest that you powdercoat all the parts. I don't know where you can get it done, but ask any panel-beater shop and they should know of a place.

I fitted the centre stand this weekend. it was a quick and fairly easy job.

Except now, its a bit pointless, cause I have no idea how to get my bike up onto the centre stand. Just can't seem to do it without help.

Stand on the left side of the bike and put your left foot on the stand. Push it down until it is on the ground and the bike can in fact stand like this if you let it go. Then grab the frame round about where the rear foot peg is and pull up and back.

Practise this with someone to catch the bike:

1. Stand on left of bike facing forward
2. Hold the left handlebar grip with your left hand, and the pillion grip or somewhere on the side of the bike near the pillion footpeg with your right hand.  For the right hand, lower is better.
3. Now put your right foot on the centrestand foot lever thingy and push the stand down till you can feel that both feet of the stand are on the ground.
4. Push down with your right foot while pulling up with your right hand, in one fluid motion.  If you can engineer it so that your right hand is low enough that you don't need to use your arm to lift - only your body as you straighten your leg, so much the better.

HTH

thanks for the advice - will attempt it later - and report back.