The Dre-XT-Stück - gettin' all stiff

... handlebar mounts. The old girl has come a long way, but the stock handlebar rubbers have somewhere along the way decided to go soft again. Which sounds nice, but actually isn't when you move the bars and it feels as if you first have to call your front-wheel and then politely ask it to turn too.

So a set of solid handlebar bushings was called for. Unlike on the sidecar I didn't make them myself this time as I found a dealer, where proper POM stuff was actually cheaper than my raw-material.

Straight from the special parts bin (i.e. trash), came this one piece handlebar-clamp, which originally sported some sort of eagle and pitted chrome.

No matter of normal levels of brute force or heat or a combination of both had the original handlebar bushings move even by the slightest fraction of an inch. It wasn't this happy anymore after it met Mr. sawblade.

Testfitment, but that chrome is just too chromy. Sand it down a bit more, pre-heat it a bit with a heat gun and then blast it with some paint.

The verdict: is it a huge difference? Heck yeah. Especially with a 30mm raise of the bars, it's as comfortable as a hot bathtub in Winter. My hands fall onto the grips all naturally. Next steps on the old Dre-XT-Stück will be a 600 engine as the current 500 4-valve proofed to have a bit too much appetite for oil when pushed and I have to modify the pannier rack that came with the bike to be ready for whatever I want to throw at it.