Found My Perfect handlebars

[toompine]

Yes this happens on all my new bikes (not that that happens all that often), seems I am never comfortable with the stock bars. Part of it is short arms, part of it is a hitch in my elbow that does not straighten out entirely. For me the stock bars are too wide, too high, too far away and too long. Not bad mind you, just not all day comfortable. I added the Rox Riser to get them back an inch so I wanted a lower bar as a replacement. I did a lot of measuring and searching and came up with Pro Taper Contour "Woods Low" bar. Looked perfect. Cut them down an inch each end and put them on and went for a ride. ::001:: Better but not good enough. Not enough pull back and was rotating my elbow up and I could also feel it in my shoulder

I was at the San Mateo Progressive Motorcycle show a few weeks ago and saw the bars on the new Triumph XC and Explorer and they looked perfect. Went to the local BMW/Ducati/Triumph dealer to try them again and see if they could be had. Then......now don't shoot the messenger...I looked at the 1200GS bars and they looked the same or better than the Triumph bars and felt great sitting on the bike. Only problem was that they were like $250

I found a used pair on ADV at a great price and rode with them a few days ago. Got to say for me they were perfect. The GS bars and the Triumph bars are meant to be rotated way back towards the rider. It looks odd to me but it gets the controls closer to the rider and the pull back/rise angle gets just perfect for riding. ::008:: So my Yamaha now has a bit of european influence.

 

[rem]

I don't think punishment is warranted. Vinny and Guido will NOT be dispatched to your location.


Merry Christmas. ::016:: R. ::025::

 

[SpeedStar]

I agree, the GS bars do seem to be a good fit.

 

[barryd]

Nice mod. Comfort is the reason I am wanting to get aTenere. I enjoy the Duc but it is not great for long trips. A bit of a pain to carry enough for more than a couple of days od riding.

 

[Longboard]

::006:: ::006:: ::006:: ::006:: ::006::

Please!

Longboard

 

[toompine]

::006::

Please!

Longboard

Well maybe not but here goes. Bars are pretty hard to depict in photographs, it is all about feel. The last picture I laid the stock bars over the top to show the similarities/differences. Bars have the same sweep and rise angle, but are lower and farther back resulting in a more relaxed feel. Also narrower by 1 1/2" but plenty of bar space to mount the controls

 

[HoebSTer]

Toom, what did. You use in place of the nuts in the end of bars on oem ones?

 

[toompine]

Toom, what did. You use in place of the nuts in the end of bars on oem ones?

Well I wondered if that would come up. I had a set of Aceribis hand guards and they have a split insert ( see picture) that is threaded. You slide it into the bars, screw down the thread and it expands to hold the insert. Modeling that I actually made another set for the Protaper bars because I could do it faster than order up another set. When I got the GS bars I saw that they had a threaded insert but it was a big bolt, bigger than the hole in the stock anti-vibe weights. Sooooo, I simply whipped out a 9/16" drill and drilled out the aluminum inserts in the GS bars. Took all of about 10 minutes and left the inside diameter of the bar untouched. Slipped my inserts in and tightened it all up.

 

[Twitch]

Then......now don't shoot the messenger...I looked at the 1200GS bars and they looked the same or better than the Triumph bars and felt great sitting on the bike. Only problem was that they were like $250

I found a used pair on ADV at a great price and rode with them a few days ago. Got to say for me they were perfect. The GS bars and the Triumph bars are meant to be rotated way back towards the rider. It looks odd to me but it gets the controls closer to the rider and the pull back/rise angle gets just perfect for riding. ::008:: So my Yamaha now has a bit of european influence.

What matters is that they work for you and it sounds like these bars do the job. Good mod. ::008::

 

[jaderider]

Hi,

Looking for new bars myself. How are the GS bars working for you these days. Looked at the cost of the Triumph bars on line and they are about $125.00 Guess I need to go to a dealer and try them out for size myself.