My buddy can't keep up in the rough on his RXP. His excuse is that he can't hold the throttle in while bouncing around. Is there a trigger throttle that works with the stock bars? I don't want to hear his excuses anymore.

Yes, a company called PPG makes a finger throttle kit. Its a very nice piece and it looks stock. It works very well. To complement the finger throttle they also offer a Handlebar extension kit, WELL worth the money!!! The new bars are 3" wider and all the factory hardware bolts back up. Everything looks factory when done, only better!! Here are some pics.

Thanks for the info, Hulk.

HULK,

I AM USED TO RIDING MY YAMAHA WITH FINGER THROTTLE ALSO. THE ONLY THING I DON'T LIKE ABOUT MY RXP IS THE THUMB THROTTLE.
IS IT VERY DIFFICULT TO CHANGE THE RXP OVER TO THE FINGER THROTTLE?

it was actually quite easy to convert it over. Once i put the finger throttle on it was quite apparent i needed the longer bars too and i ordered them. No sense in having to do it twice!!! If you get the PPG finger throttle go ahead and get the longer bar kit too. Its amazing the difference it makes and it looks factory too!

HULK,
WHAT DO YOU MEAN AFTER YOU PUT THE TRIGGER THROTTLE ON IT WAS APPARENT YOU NEEDED THE LONGER HANDLE BARS?

YOURS LOOKS GREAT WITH THE BARS AND NEW GRIPS, BUT I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO CHANGE MY BARS.
I DO STRAIGHT LINE LAKE RACING AND RIDING AND DON'T REALLY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE ORIGINAL BARS.

WAS THE APPROXIMATE TIME TO CHANGE OVER TO FINGER THROTTLE AND WHAT ALL IS INVOLVED?

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.
SHAKY

It was apparant that i needed longer bars because you have to cut off 1/2" of your stock grip when using the finger throttle. That was just too much for me, i have big hands.

All i do is lake ride too and i gotta say that the wider bars makes for a MUCH more comfortable grip. The stock bars are just too narrow. Trust me, you will like having the extra 3" in width to your bars.

Changing over to the finger throttle is a snap. Pull off grip, pull off thumb throttle. Install finger throttle, put on grip and then adjust throttle cable.

Go for the handle bar extension with finger throttle kit. $250. Pricy, but money well spent.

Oh, the handle bar kits comes with the Spider grips you see in the pics above. Much more comfortable than the stockers.

Listen to the Hulk!!!

After you install longer bars, and the trigger you will feel much better about your ski, in almost any water condition...straightline or turns. In a nutshell, the skinny bars are great if you are around 5'6" tall...anything over that, and you are looking for more control.

Do a search on the boards from pistonwash, talking about getting the correct width for your PERSONAL size, stance, etc... good reading.

I went my own way on this one, but the results are similar to PPG's package for less money, but MORE work. I think PPG's kit looks much cleaner.

The hardest part, was bending the Renthal Banshee ATV bars to fit inside the plastic housing. This also made sense, due to the fact that the "pullback" on the atv bars was too severe and dropped the bars into an uncomfortable position.

http://www.hydrotoys.com/rxp/DSC_0128.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/rxp/DSC02693.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/rxp/DSC_0129.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/rxp/DSC_0128.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/rxp/DSC02695.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/rxp/DSC_0136.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/laughlin/2004/DSC_0220.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/laughlin/2004/4x6pics0128.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/laughlin/2004/DSC_0379.jpg
http://www.hydrotoys.com/laughlin/2004/DSC_0384.jpg
Renthal ATV bars(31" from grip-grip) ($80)
Old Yamaha trigger (ski boneyard) ($?)
ODI Rogue grips (any bicycle shop)($15)

Middle covering was material from an old wetsuit.

ps-while you have that plastic cover off, a piece of duct tape covering about half of that buzzer makes it WAYYYYYY more useful, and WAYYYYYYY less annoying to your lake neighbors.

Mark, you have the best looking RXP on the water man! Love that black/silver combo.

I ended up filling my buzzer hole up with some "right stuff" silicone. You can still hear it but it is a nice quiet pleasant beep.

Thanks. I just moved the trim/start/stop button assembly back over to the middle, so that it lines up with the cushion assembly. It looks much better, but...will it be as functional. How quickly can you get to the trim, ect...
Maybe I'll put some grip material in that area, so that I can move my hand back/forth without loosing grip.

I think I know what I want to try next... Remove the hook, install mech trim tabs and aftermarket sponsons.

I've been thinking about removing the hook also. You go first though and let me know how it turns out... LOL!

Going to start on it Sunday.

sounds great Mark! i was told not to remove all of the hook though. if all the hook is removed it will porpoise. take that for what its worth.

oh, take lots of pics of the whole process and share them with us here. thanks!

It's ALL getting removed. I'll handle the porpoise through normal means.

sounds like a plan mark... keep us informed of the outcome.

i used a stock yamaha throttle from a superjet, a yamaha sitdown throttle also works.if you're good with a dremil tool and have some patience you can remove enough material from the stock seadoo plastic end cap/cover and slid the yamaha throttle inside so that you wont need to cut down the grips. i did it and it came out really clean-looks factory. had to tap a hole in the bars to secure the yamaha throttle and had to use one black screw on the frontside of the chin pad cover to hold the frontside of the end cap and i also used a little hot glue underneath the end cap cover to keep things tight. the throttle cable just slips into the yamaha throttle with no problem but i made up a small retainer clip from a piece of aluminum and bolted it in place to really hold the cable tight.then adjust the cable at the intake butterfly and your done! go for it ,if you mess up order another cover for $12.00

Nice job Mark, that's a great lookin RXP. Can the stock handlebars be rotated forward like a GPR? If I'm sitting forward in the seat, the factory bars hit my knees from If I turn hard left or right. (I'm 6'1")

if you want to still utilize the stock plastic/chinpad you cant rotate them forward.

In a nutshell...NO you can only change the width and retain the plastic cover.

Can you make it wider, and therefore more control...YES.

It's not hard to do, but you will need to do some basic wrenching. Remove the plastic cover. I think it's 4x 8mm's underneath. Top piece comes off, revealing the green/yellow tampon. The bottom piece has the beeper in it, so let it hang. Remove the tampon with 10's and then loosen the bars. Remove the grips with 10's under the rubber caps on the ends. Remove the allens on the control pod and trigger. With the bar loose, move it one way, and remove the trigger, and then the other and remove the controls.

If you have your tools handy, the above should take you about 15 minutes, and 1 beer.

At this point, take your handlebars to the motocross shop, and check out the ATV bars. Primarily the ones for Banshee or Raptor seem to be close. The middle bend is the one that prevents it from fitting under the plastic, so try to get the middle width as close as possible. Next you will see the "pulldown" on the atv bars is greater than the watercraft bars. ***This is where the problem lies*** You will need to find one with no pulldown, or bend a brand new set of bars to match the pulldown on the stocker. If you buy a nice bar like a renthal, you will soon find out they are tough as nails. The cheapy bars bend with little resistance.

Once you get the angle where you want it, you'll need to reassemble, and drill holes where you want your gauges and throttle.

ps-you might want to buy a cheapy bar and do the mod, then decide to spend the extra cash and try it on a good bar.

The grips I understand. The SeaDoo grips are TOP NOTCH. But now that I'm using ODI Rogue grips, I'm using a grip that is even better. It's hard to believe, until you try them... Plus they are available at any bike shop for $17 a set.

The only difference between doing a "direct replacement", and making an atv bar fit, is finding the bar, and bending the droop out. Thats about it. It is a little work, but the payoff is great.

The PPG option comes with the piece to close off the trigger opening, and it looks somewhat stock. This is probably the most professional way to do it.