Forward Bar Position
 

2nd Question of the day -

I have read that you should never place your bars in front of the centerline of the top of the fork tubes.

Why is this? Is it a "hard and fast rule," or a rider preference issue?


Jeff

I ride with mine in the forward position, as I'm quite tall 6'3" it gives me a bit more room on the bike.
If they shouldn't be used why have them there?

I am also interested to know what effect it has on handling etc. I have them in the forward mounts as it feels more comfortable for me

I mounted the bars way forward (1.5" forward of stock forward position) on my '06 GasGas EC300. It was by far the best improvement to keep me in the attack position and balanced when standing up. I ride technical woods terrain almost exclusively standing up since my back does not tolerate sit down riding. The bar forward position allows me to put more weight on the bars, taking weight off my back.

I have had no steering or stability issues with my GasGas with this change in over 2 years of riding.

I did this by making some aluminum extension mounts. I made extensions that bolted in the stock bar mount holes in the triple clamps. The extensions had a forward hole in which I installed the bar mounts. The extensions were made of 7076-T6 aluminum bar stock 0.5 inch thick by 1.2 inch width. They are very stout.

See this post for a picture... http://www.gasgasrider.org/forum/sho...ward#post57616

Now we're talkin' Eric! That's kind of what I was thinking, but have heard a couple of comments that made me hesitate to put effort into something like that (like the last post here: http://www.gasgasrider.org/forum/sho...ht=bars&page=2 .

Here's another option I've wondered about, don't know if it would work in this application:

http://www.mxsouth.com/enduroenginee...ser-mounts.htm

Or: http://www.roxspeedfx.com/cgi-bin/ca...?subcat_id=303

(Wish I knew how to upload the pictures.)

Regarding bar height, one guy I talked to said he would be hesitant to put bar risers on the GG perches, because of concerns about leverage on the bolt and the possibility of it breaking. Does anyone else have that concern? There sure are a lot of companies that sell bar riser extensions!

So - good work there, Eric! Thanks for sharing the picture.

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

What about a different bar bend. Maybe some really tall bars with very little sweep.

BTW, this snow today kinda messes up with any for a while:mad:

I tried some high mounts on my 2010.I went too high & ended up standing too upright rather than over the bars.This led to a nasty fall back on the throttle & bike going vertical like an Apollo rocket launch incident.It came down on the end of the bars( I run bark busters) & sheared the bar clamp bolt off.I have since relaced the bolts with higher grade s/steel bolts & a higher bar bend instead.

Everyone has their taste but just to give you ideas what some of the finnish world champions such as kari tiainen and juha salminen do:
They always have their bars as back as it goes and with no extra rise. David Knight does the same and he's a big guy! And they all always ride standing.

As i talked with Tiainen: this is to make you able to stay as back on the bike as possible when necessary and also to make you able to go as far forward when turning (high bar does not allow that)

They also never, ever, ever use clutch. When Kari Tiainen trains young finnish enduroriders, he sometimes makes them to tape the lever to hand guard

Regarding bar height, one guy I talked to said he would be hesitant to put bar risers on the GG perches, because of concerns about leverage on the bolt and the possibility of it breaking. Does anyone else have that concern? There sure are a lot of companies that sell bar riser extensions!

Jeff[/QUOTE]
I've got my mounts raised up with some 1.5 inch spacers, mounted them with high tensile bolts, cutting the heads of the bolts into a "T" to fit into the mounts.
I just don't see that one size fits all can be right. The set-up for someone 6'3" must surely be different for someone 5'3"?

Interesting comments on the Finnish Enduro riders, especially on the clutch usage.

As noted, bars are a rider preference item. People have varying arm, leg and torso lengths. Try bar risers and try forward bar mounts to see which feels best.

Risers and/or extensions will increase leverage, which increases stress and the odds of something breaking in a crash. Even professionally machined aftermarket risers are known to break in a crash. Consider your options if your risers/mounts break while riding. Would you be able to put it back in a stock position and continue riding? I know I can. Fortunately, I haven't had to do that.