'83 GL1100 Handlebars

[maury]

Wrapping up a rebuild and have discovered that the handlebars are an inch or so longer than my GL1000's. Where does one find new grips?
Also, would it be OK to simply shorten the existing bar?
Thanks

[Sidecar Bob]

The 1100 bars have weights welded into the ends so shortening them might be problematic.

FWIW, I found gel grips to fit my '83 in my local dealer's aftermarket catalogue but later replaced them with rubber/aluminum ones I found on eBay that have machined end caps. The end caps were bolted onto the ends of the grips with M8 bolts with nuts inside the grips but the holes in the ends of the bar weights were the right size so I tapped the m M8 and screwed the bolts directly into them. I've had them since 2012 and still like them

Danmoto + windshield.JPG (76.47 KiB) Viewed 136 times

[maury]

Thanks very much!
I found the exact ones on ebay.
But they say 1 inch.
Thought the grip size was 7/8 inch.
Or.... does it matter?

[Oldewing]

Our bars are 7/8,

One inch will not fit (it will fit H D though)

[Sidecar Bob]

Yep. HD and a few others use 1" (my Dnepr had 25mm bars) but just about everything Japanese has 7/8" (22mm) bars so the grips are usually 22mm for the left and 24mm for the right (to fit on the throttle sleeve).

The other important dimension is the length from the switch housing (usually located by a pin that fits in a hole in the bar) to the end of the bar. You should need 125mm (5") length. Grips also come in 115mm (4.5") length.
It is possible to drill new location holes for the switches. I remember doing that at some point; I think it may have been when I put the gel grips I had on the 'Wing on the winter machine but I'm not sure if I had to do it when I put these grips on the 'Wing and I can't tell without taking the switches off. It also could have been when I changed the switches (I have Royal Enfield switches on both bikes).

I should point out that the grips I have are very firm (hard?) so they might not be to everyone's taste. I certainly wouldn't want them on a bike that vibrates much (like my CX based V twin winter machine).