NOGGY!!That sounds like a proper nightmare! Really sorry you went through all of that! You really should have dropped me a line, because (and this may shock you) I did pretty much all that you have so far! I had all the same mallet bashing, lots of head scratching, a bit of paint chipping (the bars were still bare, so only off of the bikes frame ) and some serious wondering as to WHY Renntec made a foot, then put in spacers to stand the bars off from the frame. It made NO sense to me either!! But the bars simply don't fit without the spacers. I think you've hit the nail on the head with 'afterthought'. Not as bad as the 8 foot long bolts on crash bobbins though I suppose! I hope you're happy with them now. I swear that after that palaver, mine are NEVER coming off!
Pulled away from home this morning and felt a rather worrying knock in 1st. Stopped, pulled away again, felt it again. Fine in all the other gears though. Time to book it in at my local dealer.
Check your font sprocket nut
Finally got my crash bars on & decided im never fitting crash bars to a bike ever again 2 more night shifts, an oil and coolant change & i'm hopefully back on the road.