bobjohnson
New Member
So I got my apex clipons this week, finally got them installed today, managed to do it under the triple clamp rather than dropping the front end.
Things I found while I was doing this:
1) Order the 4 inch risers. I got the 3's and theyre slightly too short, the brake master wont clear the gauge cluster unless I swung the clamps almost all the way back, and then I didnt have clearance from the gas tank. I had to bring the risers up into the fork clamp about 3/8". It will hold fine, theres still a good inch and a half of the riser in the clamp and theyre solid billet aluminum, but it would be better if they were all the way through the clamp and sticking out the bottom a bit. The 4" risers would have fixed that, I might order some 4" replacements but theyre 80 bucks each.
2) You will have to spin the brake line on the master cylinder to point left rather than down. Apex changed the riser design and the brake master doesnt clear the top all the way in most positions, leaving you with very little options for position. The other option would be to cut the brake master clamp a bit so it will sit flat against the riser, I didnt have the tools to do it properly. If you have an aftermarket master cylinder or some other smaller, non OEM one, it wont be a problem. I'll probably get a different one at some point with a remote reservoir, because at full left lock on the bars the brake line goes right over the cluster and looks kinda bad.
3) You will absolutely have to either cut or remove the side cockpit fairings, like Dakinechick did when she installed them. There is no way around this unfortunately. I opted to remove them because I always hated the way they looked. You can remount the cluster shroud using the bolts from those cockpit fairings rather than the plastic pop rivets, so its still secure in there. If you dont plan to reinstall the fairings you can cut off the 2 tabs, I left mine on for now just to make sure I'm happy, I will probably cut them off later for a cleaner look assuming I dont notice anything annoying from the fairing not being there. I think maybe wind might blast up through there now, but I doubt it will be too bad since a lot of bikes are more open in the front than the FZ6R.
Overall I'm really happy with the way it turned out, I'll add some pictures later so people know how it looks, I still have to reinstall my grips, after that ill grab some pictures. I was really hesitant to lower the front end without there being a steering stabilizer available for this bike, and I like the way it handles now, a 1.75" drop on the front seemed to extreme for my tastes.
Things I found while I was doing this:
1) Order the 4 inch risers. I got the 3's and theyre slightly too short, the brake master wont clear the gauge cluster unless I swung the clamps almost all the way back, and then I didnt have clearance from the gas tank. I had to bring the risers up into the fork clamp about 3/8". It will hold fine, theres still a good inch and a half of the riser in the clamp and theyre solid billet aluminum, but it would be better if they were all the way through the clamp and sticking out the bottom a bit. The 4" risers would have fixed that, I might order some 4" replacements but theyre 80 bucks each.
2) You will have to spin the brake line on the master cylinder to point left rather than down. Apex changed the riser design and the brake master doesnt clear the top all the way in most positions, leaving you with very little options for position. The other option would be to cut the brake master clamp a bit so it will sit flat against the riser, I didnt have the tools to do it properly. If you have an aftermarket master cylinder or some other smaller, non OEM one, it wont be a problem. I'll probably get a different one at some point with a remote reservoir, because at full left lock on the bars the brake line goes right over the cluster and looks kinda bad.
3) You will absolutely have to either cut or remove the side cockpit fairings, like Dakinechick did when she installed them. There is no way around this unfortunately. I opted to remove them because I always hated the way they looked. You can remount the cluster shroud using the bolts from those cockpit fairings rather than the plastic pop rivets, so its still secure in there. If you dont plan to reinstall the fairings you can cut off the 2 tabs, I left mine on for now just to make sure I'm happy, I will probably cut them off later for a cleaner look assuming I dont notice anything annoying from the fairing not being there. I think maybe wind might blast up through there now, but I doubt it will be too bad since a lot of bikes are more open in the front than the FZ6R.
Overall I'm really happy with the way it turned out, I'll add some pictures later so people know how it looks, I still have to reinstall my grips, after that ill grab some pictures. I was really hesitant to lower the front end without there being a steering stabilizer available for this bike, and I like the way it handles now, a 1.75" drop on the front seemed to extreme for my tastes.
