My girlfriend Katie has had her SRX400 for a year now and although the bike is ideal for her in many ways she has never really got on with the riding position, particularly the stretch to the handlebars. As she is restricted to 33hp for another year, I thought that it was time to do something about it.

After making some rough measurements of the top yoke, I thought it just possible that some of the bolt-on CNC risers might just fit... with a bit of luck.

A pair of these risers (£30) and a pair of Renthal road bars (another £30) were brought at the NEC bike show. Once offered up to the bike, it was clear that they would fit, but there would be no margin for error when drilling the 4 x 8mm holes for the through bolts. The top yoke isn't solid and is webbed for strength, so care is needed when drilling not to damage these webs and so weaken the structure of the yoke. The webs also make it impossible to tighten any bolt through the yoke into the risers, as there is simply no room.

After much fiddling and head scratching, I decided the only solution was to make up some simple plates from some 6mm aluminium I had in my scrap bin.
The plates sat neatly across the tops of the reinforcing webs and allowed me to do up the long 8mm bolts (an oddpack from Halfords) with ease, using some
thread lock for peace of mind.

Once the bars were fitted, it was obvious that all cables, wiring and the front brake pipe would have to be modified. I had the four cables extended by a foot (which with hindsight was probably a good four inches too long) at Venhill Engineering, Dorking, Surrey who were able to do the job for a reasonable £48 and in just a day or two they were ready. A new brake line was made up at A&H Performance Cycles, at Ash Station, also local to me in Surrey, for £20, which included some new brake fluid.

The wiring to the switch gear I extended at home using simple bullet connectors and about ten inch of new wiring each side was put in and taped up.

Some new foam handle bar grips were put on and after some careful routing of the cables the bike fired up straight away and I went for a ride. The bike has been completely transformed and is much nicer to ride at the sort of speeds most of us do most of the time, and it looks good as well.

The cost? All up around £140, which Katie and I think is money well spent.

Noggin