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I'm reading thread after thread on here about handlebars, and reading books on trail riding. I successfully confused myself. I knew I could do it.

The bars on my bike now are 33" wide from tip to tip. That's about two inches too wide. Do they sell a shorter bar, or do I cut on the ones I have now? I'm probably going to need risers too, because I'm 6'1" and these are a good bit too low.

Trying to find that comfortable standing/resting sweet spot seems like it's worth the aggravation, in order to dial my bike in perfectly. So the bars need to be dealt with.

You can cut the bars you have now and add risers or you can get taller and narrower bars. I am also 6'1" and I have the RC high bend from Renthal and a lot of people have the CR high bend from the same. If you go to their site they have a chart that should help confuse you even more. The way the chart was layed out kinda confused me a bit at first.

You have to cut them, some bars will have 1/2" lines on the ends, so no measuring required. I have some Pro Taper CR bend, and i took 1/2" off each side. I haven't measured them but if i cut any more, it would be difficult to mount my Cycra's. The stockers my bike came with were cut waaaay down!

A hacksaw with a good blade will make quick work of the cuts.

rbates9 wrote:You can cut the bars you have now and add risers or you can get taller and narrower bars. I am also 6'1" and I have the RC high bend from Renthal and a lot of people have the CR high bend from the same. If you go to their site they have a chart that should help confuse you even more. The way the chart was layed out kinda confused me a bit at first.

I actually read a post from you in one of the threads on the subject, I looked at Rocky Mountains site, but didn't see the exact bars you mentioned.

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My favorite method of cutting my bars is a tubing cutter, like you'd use when plumbing with copper lines. Even one of those little bitty ones works great. Takes some time, but makes a perfect cut. Cutting them down and adding a set of Rox risers would probably set you up better than trying to find new bars that suit you. With those risers, you have some adjustment options. The downside is they get tweaked a little easy in a decent get-off. Easy enough to loosen up and fix, as long as you have the correct tools with you.

Julien D wrote:My favorite method of cutting my bars is a tubing cutter, like you'd use when plumbing with copper lines. Even one of those little bitty ones works great. Takes some time, but makes a perfect cut. Cutting them down and adding a set of Rox risers would probably set you up better than trying to find new bars that suit you. With those risers, you have some adjustment options. The downside is they get tweaked a little easy in a decent get-off. Easy enough to loosen up and fix, as long as you have the correct tools with you.

Sounds ideal. I'll go with the two inch risers. I believe oem for my bike is 1 1/8.

If you plan on swapping your stock 7/8" bars for 1 1/8" fat bars and installing risers, Try these one piece units.
http://shop.enduroeng.com/cgi-bin/comme ... key=23-602
I'm 6'2" and the risers coupled high fat bars fits me perfect. Also the additional 5/8" forward really helps.

Crappy pic, but you can see there's a lot more room to move around..



Side pic- check out the distance from the seat to grip, then check out your stock setup.



The bars are Trailtech X bars, woods bend. Have about the same ergos as the stock KTM bend, but higher- great bar for 50 bucks.
http://trailtech.net/motorcycle_x-bars.html

Oem is 7/8.

Thanks guys, I ordered the Rox risers(7/8), and will try with these pro taper bars already on my bike. I do have a tubing cutter, so hopefully that'll be as smooth as Julien explained.

Thedude1973 wrote:Thanks guys, I ordered the Rox risers(7/8), and will try with these pro taper bars already on my bike. I do have a tubing cutter, so hopefully that'll be as smooth as Julien explained.

Pro Taper you say. Are they fat bars or are they standard bars? Do they have a cross bar?

rbates9 wrote:

Thedude1973 wrote:Thanks guys, I ordered the Rox risers(7/8), and will try with these pro taper bars already on my bike. I do have a tubing cutter, so hopefully that'll be as smooth as Julien explained.

Pro Taper you say. Are they fat bars or are they standard bars? Do they have a cross bar?

Standard, yes with cross bar. At moment though, Im leaning toward those trailTech x bars. (The low rise)

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Remember, if you go with the Trailtech X bars, their 1 1/8" at the clamping point, then taper to 7/8" on the ends.
The stock OEM clamps are 7/8".
Why did you opt for the low bend trailtech bars?

tirebiter wrote:Remember, if you go with the Trailtech X bars, their 1 1/8" at the clamping point, then taper to 7/8" on the ends.
The stock OEM clamps are 7/8".
Why did you opt for the low bend trailtech bars?

Yea I like the idea of the fatter bar. I can do the 7/8 to 1 1/8 step up with the risers. I liked the low bend because it's states that they are for tall trail riders that prefer to ride standing up. That's me.

Am I on the wrong path here?

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Thedude1973 wrote:

tirebiter wrote:Remember, if you go with the Trailtech X bars, their 1 1/8" at the clamping point, then taper to 7/8" on the ends.
The stock OEM clamps are 7/8".
Why did you opt for the low bend trailtech bars?

Yea I like the idea of the fatter bar. I can do the 7/8 to 1 1/8 step up with the risers. I liked the low bend because it's states that they are for tall trail riders that prefer to ride standing up. That's me.

Am I on the wrong path here?

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there's only one way to find out...
Every "Body" is different, as well as every bike.
On my Husaberg in the above pic I'm using a Renthal "Carmichael high" bend bar with no risers. Does it work on the berg? Yes. Does that bend work for me on the KDX? No- too much sweep, pushes me back.
It's all subjective And can be frustrating till you find the right combo; Then you get a new bike and start the process all over again.

Yea, I don't know. I'll get it sorted by the beginning of the riding season.

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got some bars that work well JIMMY BUTTON Renthal KDX suits these being in between CR HI & ENDURO HI ,Can get risers from renthal with em but at 5ft 10" I am happy as with my choice for the KDX weight not so far forward as MX bars yet NOT typical enduro SWEEP a HYBRID MX HI /ENDURO suits the bike balance ,longer on the controls mount length to cut em if u want to play around with that or renthal road bars are shorter over all varied heights.

Just a note from experience.....

Move the controls in first and then see how much you can cut before cutting.

This seems obvious, of course, especially when you have to go buy ANOTHER new set of bars

I have the Pastrana fmx handlebars with the protaper rubber mounts this is a great setup for 5'10' plus riders.