I have the Rad bars. I don't think highly of the manufacturing tolerances. My bars are misaligned and, due to the thickness of the bars, cannot be bent into a correct alignment. You probably have a similar defect in the batch yours came from {just my guess though}.

Instead of sliding it over the bar, can you take it apart and then re-assemble it around the bar? This might "get around" the bulge.

 

I had a bulge in mine too. Ended up greasing the crap out of the bar, wedging a slot screwdriver so the ass'y opens up more and tapping the clutch ass'y with a rubber mallet. It eventually moved into place.

The throttle side also ended up causing my grip to stick instead of easily spring back like before. Also because of a bulge on the other side. I had to sand the inside of the plastic throttle grip with fine grit paper so it can move freely.

What a pain. Price to pay for the convenience of having holes made out I guess.

Good luck!

 

I did exactly what GearMonster did and seemed to work well. I could see how you could break it though. I dont think a lot of time went into making the bars. What I could believe is the bolts they give you with the kit don't fit through the chrome cable plate above the headlight. How hard would have been for them to use smaller bolts? I just ripped out the cable plate.

 

I had the same problem Klong. Ended up doing almost the same as gearmonster, using a slotted screwdriver to wedge the opening wider. Then I ended up having to use a C-clamp to squeeze it back together close enough to get the bolt back in. Pain in my a## but atleast they look sweet.

 

Just put my radius bars on this weekend. Had to do the same thing as gearmonster, spread the clutch assembly with a screw driver to slide it on then used a pump pliers with a rag to clamp it enough to get the bolt to thread in. Throttle was tight as well a small amount of oil on the bar made it spring back more freely. I used a 1/2 drill bit from the top of the trees and moved the wire bracket around while holding the drill straight to open the holes large enough for the bolts. The hole opened up very easy and it took only a couple minutes to do it. Now that my bars are on I do notice they vibrate much more then the stock bars and all I see is a blurr out of my mirrors now.

 

Thanks for the replies - I had tried the screwdriver trick (that's how I broke the clutch ass'y), lubed it, sanded it, etc., and it still won't go over the bulge.
On the throttle side I had all of the same problems: I ended up sanding and scrubbing the bar, then lubing it and the inside of the throttle before it would operate freely.
Knowing what I know now, I would, at the least, spend some time w/ a dremel cleaning all of the holes up, and test fitting everything very carefully to ensure a trouble free installation - it would have been much easier to do this before the bars were installed.
On the positive side, Redhorse's and Darkstar's installation instructions are excellent, tho' I would add a couple of items: use heat shrink tubing (available from Radio Shack) instead of electrical tape, and I used kite string w/ a vacuum to pull the wires thru (electrician's trick). Just tape up the wiring holes, and put the vacuum on the bar end, leaving the end cap on the other bar end; tie off one end of the string to the headlight mounting tab, and it'll suck the string thru in a heartbeat. I also used alot of white 18 gauge wire: use a permanent marker to put a tracer color on it and you can make almost any color wire you need.
Final resolution on the bars (from the vendor): file the offending bump until it fits! Needless to say I am severely disappointed in the quality control of the Radius bars, especially as this is my first ever experience w/ them.

Thanks to all,
Kevin

 

Yeah Klong, I ended up using exactly what you used. Tubing and kite string fished through with a weight at the end (no vacuum). What a pain.

Plus I had three extra wires from my Kuryakyn turn signal mirrors to run through. 14 freaking wires on the clutch side. I ended up pulling all my hair out. Looks nice though. Who needs hair anyway??

I bought alot of $hit from Barons and this was the first product that their QA sucked!