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Tubular Bar upgrade

rgmr250

Bicycle
I picked up 2 sets of bars and tubular adapters from Herbie on the forum, and got them finished off today. They look almost 'ape hanger', but this upgrade was all about comfort and they place my arms/hands in just the right position. The only thing I'm not certain about is the pullback angle, but the 2nd set of bars are the adjustable Moxie bars, and I have some 2" Rox risers to combine with them that might get swapped in if I don't get used to the pullback angle.
First pic is 'before', next 2 pics are 'after'
 

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You will fit right in at Sturgis! Rather ape-ish, but it is all about your comfort. Nice clean looking ride BTW. Any cable/line length issues?
 
ZXtasy said:
You will fit right in at Sturgis! Rather ape-ish, but it is all about your comfort. Nice clean looking ride BTW. Any cable/line length issues?

Yeah, not the 'look' I'm wanting, but I just couldn't ride for more than 45 minutes without getting a sore back, so I needed to do something for my comfort. I got a longer choke cable with the bars/adapters, and then got a 5" longer braided clutch line, and 2 x 43" long braided brake lines to replace the 3 line stock brake line system (which was about 6" longer than stock. I went longer than I needed on both - I probably could have shaved 1-2 inches off of both and been ok. Throttle cables re-routed to the right side of the frame spine, and behind the right fork leg instead of going in front of it. Wiring just needed to be shuffled a little to make more length.
 
Well did you consider going down and forward at all? On my 97 BMW R-1100 RT I went for tubular adapters and put a super bike bend bar in place so i could lean forward a bit and let my arms take the support and not my back. I do like a more sporty stance, now that you have the adapter you can experiment. I am 57 and ride my naked ZX-10 as much as my Connie. Its bar is 4 inches up and 2 inches back from the stock position, still sporty but I can do a  500 mile day on it and be pretty comfy, as long as at least 400 of those miles are curvy.
 
I got a short (45 min) ride in today running errands and it's much better. It feels odd/different - a lot more 'touring' than 'sport' now, but I was definitely more comfortable. I have some adjustments that I can try, and I also have the Moxi bars and Rox risers that I can experiment with.
 
Keep the adaptor on and get some Daytona bars from Bikemaster. Then add the Rox risers and you will be comfortable and still sporty.
 
Yeah, I was looking at the Daytona bars, they seem to be the most popular ones for the Concours Tubular bar adapters. I'll ride with these for a bit and see how I like them.
 
Jim Snyder said:
Keep the adaptor on and get some Daytona bars from Bikemaster. Then add the Rox risers and you will be comfortable and still sporty.

x100      :great: :great: :great:

that was my solution also, well, I didn't use "risers", but the wider, and flatter hand position is often the cure for the "back pain", and when people rode either of my bikes, with flatter, wider bars, they found the position much more desirable than the tall pull back bars, that still are "narrow".

I joke about it and say "wider people need wider bars", but all joking aside, it does take the "pinch" out of your shoulders and upper back.
 
MAN OF BLUES said:
Jim Snyder said:
Keep the adaptor on and get some Daytona bars from Bikemaster. Then add the Rox risers and you will be comfortable and still sporty.

x100      :great: :great: :great:

that was my solution also, well, I didn't use "risers", but the wider, and flatter hand position is often the cure for the "back pain", and when people rode either of my bikes, with flatter, wider bars, they found the position much more desirable than the tall pull back bars, that still are "narrow".

I joke about it and say "wider people need wider bars", but all joking aside, it does take the "pinch" out of your shoulders and upper back.

This is the only problem I see with the Moxi bars - they aren't very wide. I haven't looked closely, but it looks like the handgrip portion is removable - I wonder if long bars could be put in each side to make the overall width wider. The Moxi bars are very adjustable, so I could play around with the pull back - I tend to like something 'flatter' (less pullback) as well.
 
The wider the bars the better the low speed handling and on a top heavy bike like the C-10 that is a huge help. I had the Daytona bars on my C-10 and loved them so much I rigged up the same setup on my FJR. I actually used a Storz Storz adaptor for a C-10 with a homemade adaptor plate. Absolutely love it.
 

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this was my setup, with the Superbike bar style.. on KB mounts.. those bars are slightly wider, flatter, and lower than the Daytona's on my other bike, COGZilla... I also have the Superbike bars on my '78 KZ1000Ltd.

one of the saddest days, the day I sold it to these people, and watched it ride out of my driveway... :'( :'( :'( :'(

but, you can see the hand position, and riders "arm spread" in the photos... 
 

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For me, the taller and wider the better.

2018073111202302-IMG_0416-M.jpg
 
Jim Snyder said:
The wider the bars the better the low speed handling and on a top heavy bike like the C-10 that is a huge help...

On my new-to-me C10, I’m initially going with Storz I just got off Ebay… I saw several folks have used the Daytona bars and they are readily available, but they looked like they would lower the hand-position, not what I think I could tolerate for long; then I saw where someone had used CB650 bars and that looked more my speed – at least for an initial tryout.  Appears that longer hoses are in order, but the hoses on mine look like the originals so they are overdue for a change anyway… for a 70-something rider, the low speed control should always be a concern, I suspect, and after oodles of long-pavement cruiser miles, I’m used to the twist and slouch position for highway droning… we’ll see; at least with tubular bars, the possibilities border on limitless…
 
dcstrng said:
Jim Snyder said:
The wider the bars the better the low speed handling and on a top heavy bike like the C-10 that is a huge help...

On my new-to-me C10, I’m initially going with Storz I just got off Ebay… I saw several folks have used the Daytona bars and they are readily available, but they looked like they would lower the hand-position, not what I think I could tolerate for long; then I saw where someone had used CB650 bars and that looked more my speed – at least for an initial tryout.  Appears that longer hoses are in order, but the hoses on mine look like the originals so they are overdue for a change anyway… for a 70-something rider, the low speed control should always be a concern, I suspect, and after oodles of long-pavement cruiser miles, I’m used to the twist and slouch position for highway droning… we’ll see; at least with tubular bars, the possibilities border on limitless…

The trick is to get the bars moved back towards the rider. My 7/8" bar setup is lower then the stock bars but closer to the rider. That way you still have a good straight posture but still maintain a sporty look and good handling characteristics.  A Storz adaptor with some setback risers is the ticket to getting a comfortable position.
 
Here is the page from Storz that gives details on the adaptor and the different styles of handlebars.
 

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I'm not sure of the brand/model of bars I got for Herbie, but they (according to my measurements) appear to have about a 7" rise and 9" pullback. I'd seen that chart on the Storz website before - it's handy for sure, and shows that the bars I got have a pretty dramatic rise and pullback. I'll ride it a bit like it is and see if I want a change, so far, it's comfortable, but a little less sporty feeling, which I'm OK with as long as I'm comfortable. I may experiment just to see how other configurations feel. My initial thought is to have a flatter (less pullback) bar, but with lots of rise , to get the bars close to me, but still not as much angle, and possibly lower. I think I can get that with the 2" Rox risers and the Moxi bars. Only issue with the Moxi bars is that they are fairly narrow overall, but adjusting the angle of the handgrip part should be able to compensate a little bit for that, maybe.
 
Jim Snyder said:
Here is the page from Storz that gives details on the adaptor and the different styles of handlebars.

Thanks -- I'll play with this once I get the brake hoses (looks like mine were/are originals), and given how many 7/8" bars there out there something will fill the bill (a 70 something ate up with the rotundity isn't going to look sporty regardless -- but comfort, whatever it takes...).
 
Coming in late, but a lot of experience with this sort of thing.  In fact, I'm probably notorious for changing the bars on almost every motorcycle I've ever owned since I got my '67 BSA Royal Star and put "European" bars on it to replace the cowhorn thingies the Blighties evidently thought we Yanks wanted.  I even (sacrilegiously) changed the clip-ons on my '66 Velocette Venom Thruxton to a pipe bar conversion back in '70.
Practically the first thing I realized about my new-to-me '86 when I got it in '89 was that my work-damaged neck could not manage the body position of the stock bars.  (Recall the '86s had shorter ones if you're new to these things.)
I fell right into the Storz mount combined with the Heli Multi-Tour Sport bars.  I don't recall how I got steered in that direction exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was the Heli people.
This was utterly sensational.  I fell in love with the bike the moment I test-rode the installation.  They stayed on there for about 80,000 miles until a complicated situation found me trading the bike in on, of all things, a new '98 GL1500.  Which, naturally, I modified the handlebars on by cutting and welding.
I removed the entire mount setup before the trade-in; in fact, I put the bike back to stock, even the goofy saddle (goofy if you're 5-9).  The Storz/Heli combo sat a while until my even more beloved GPZ1100 arrived, and then it went right on, on Day One.  Shucks, the reason the original owner was dumping it after only a couple thousand miles was how awful the ergos were.
Yeah, but they weren't once the Helis were popped on and I went past a hundred K on that thing until another complicated domestic transaction found me selling it-  got $1500 with the odo showing 106!  Guy couldn't get his wallet out fast enough after the test ride.  Stupid me!  That thing was the best bike I ever owned.  Not one single repair in all of those years and miles and it still sounded like a Swiss watch as it was ridden away.  Dang.
Anyway,  Storz mounts are becoming really hard to find, even in the back corners of the 'net, but that is the easiest way to C10 joy.  The only mod I needed was a slightly longer Galfer brake hose, which a Connie needs anyway to get the mush out.
I can't recommend this kind of setup enough, but clapping together a Storz-like plate and riser clamps isn't hard if you have a bandsaw or something.  It's a 3/8" thick aluminum plate like you can get from McMaster-Carr with 3/4" thick spacers underneath to get the plate up above the top yoke cover, hogged out a little for the ignition switch, and then simple bar clamps as are all over Ebay or Amazon.  Some longer, good quality hex head screws to replace the shorter stockers and it's done.
The barn-find '99 I just got will soon feel this ministration once I get it running convincingly well.
 
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