Bars and Grips
 

Can anyone out there help a brother out? I want to put new bars and grips on my bike but I want a bar that has a tall bend to help make standing easier but it has to be able to be cut down to about 28-29 inches and still work with my hand guards and levers and such. Any ideas? I looked at the Tag Metals bars in the CR and YZ double high bend. Would these work?

I am also looking to get new grips but I want them to be thicker than the ones I have. I have Azonic now and I was told by another member here that the Spider M1 is a good one, but after looking around, I see so many other kinds. Are there any other bigger grips that somone has used which work? I'm a 50 cent millionaire and trying to keep my bad habit on the cheaper side. Any suggestions?

To avoid a lot of handguard fit problems go with triple clamp mounts or the Bike Bonz bar clamp mounts. If you want tall bars your better off using tall mounts and choosing your bend, or keeping the stock bars. Pastrana bend is tall and narrow but the sweep bothered me. I have Renthal KTM SX bars cut to 29.5" + handguards. Nice and straight, easy on the wrists.

I've used the Tag CR double hi bars on my GG and found that there wasn't enough room left to get the controls exactly where I wanted them after I cut them down. Sorry, I can't remember what I cut them to, but it wasn't particularly narrow. 29.5" or 30" as I recall. What I would have tried next was Mini Hi bars, which don't need to be cut down as much. But instead I got Trail Tech bars, which are a little narrower than MX bars and have less sweep. http://trailtech.net/motorcycle_x-bars.html I didn't cut them down at all so they are wider than what you want. Not sure how much they could be narrowed and still leave room to position the controls. More than with the CR Hi bend for sure but maybe not enough for you. There are other choices out there but bars are too expensive to try everything. These bars work fine for me although I also have tall bar risers which are mounted forward of the stock position in the triple clamp. Easier to stand and easier on my wrists.

Regarding grips, if you want a larger diameter you can use dual sport grips like these. http://store.azmusa.com/noname.html They're bigger and softer. I've used them but have gone back to smaller grips lately. The good thing is grips are cheap and are a wear item so it's practical to try a few to see what you like.

Jon
'01 XC300

A neat trick is to cut a section out of the middle of the handle bars then reweld them.
The bars will have plenty of room for all your controls.

I hope you're joking. I know welds are strong, but the idea of cutting them welding bars back together scares me.

Girards not kidding. Thats been done successfully. You need to use a piece of round stock, or machine one, so it fits the ID of the bar. The cut ends are preped and aligned with a gap so that the weld penetrates the support stock. This is the least stressed area of the bar, between the clamps.

Most bars can be cut to 29.5 - 30.5" without fit problems. Mount all the controls loosely first, without the handguards. Slide the clutch and brake master cyl. perches in until they just hit the start of the bend and stop. Now space the throttle and other controls, and mark the bar for cut.

I've gotten away from super narrow bars. Around 30" + handguards is fine, and feels natural. Anything more narrow feels strange. Ever see Mike Lafferty's bars? Wider than 30", and he grew up (and still lives) in the tight pines of South Jersey.

My buddy got some tall bar mounts made for my old GG 200. He knows a guy with a CNC machine and this dude could make them in minutes. I'll ask my buddy if he still has them kicking around somewhere. They raised my bars about 3 inches. That would help already. I can always cut them down or get new ones for about 50 to 75 dollars. Thank You all for the help.

When mounting controls I always give the bar a couple wraps of teflon plumbers tape. It lets the controls move during an impact, thus far I have not broken any controls in the 15 years I have been doing this(knock on wood!) I also have used gasoline when installing the grips the last couple times. Brushed it on the bar, the grip slid right on and then set in place once the glue dried.

Paul B