A BibbleBar Is Born

14/10/2011

Since purchasing the bike, I’ve added a Ventura Rack from ZPower ( www.zpower.com.au ) to enable me to carry my junk around, and also to give the kids some kind of security that they won’t fall off. (the kids  are not too keen hanging onto the “jesus strap”).   I decided I’d have to bite the bullet and invest in a proper sissy bar so the kids feel more comfortable and the bike looks more like a weekend cruiser and less like a work bike.

I’ve looked at several dozen bar and rack combinations available for my bike and the biggest obstacle to purchasing one has been price.

I thought about purchasing a Yamaha sissy bar, with mountings and rack, and almost fell off my chair when I was quoted a price in excess of $900.  I then looked at other bar/rack combinations available and came to realise there wasn’t much chance of getting anything for less than $800 that was of any quality.

I was resigned to the fact that I was either going to have to keep using the Ventura Rack or hand over between $800 and $900 to add a proper bar and rack.  By chance I stumbled across a YouTube video on how to fit a bar and rack combination from www.bibblebar.com, a small business run from Edens Landing.  After checking out the video and the website and after reading online reviews of the products, I contact Joe and ordered an Engraved Eagle Rack with Tall Boy Back Rest with a combination License Plate/Registration Holder.  All up, including postage, the entire package cost me $550, several hundred dollars less than I was expecting to pay. 

Dealing with Joe was great and I would recommend his products to anyone.

Unlike all other bar/rack combinations I had looked at previously, the bar comes with un-drilled generic mounting plates.  This means you have to drill your own mounting holes and cut your own mounting spacers, however, the included Installation DVD gives you all the information you need and more.  I was able to drill the installation holes without too much difficulty (only mucked up once and had to drill one hole twice), however, cutting the spacers accurately was beyond my tool kit.  Problem was solved by dropping down to a local metal fabrication workshop who cut the spacers to my requirements (and quite a few spares as well) for a few dollars.

All up drilling, mounting and adjusting the bar/rack combination took about 4 hours, including running back and forth to the metal fabricators.

I now have a fantastic looking bar and rack, in shiny stainless steel…