I was sitting in the garage today looking the bike over and doing little tweaks here and there as usual and noticed my bars were staggered off by about 1/4 inch to the left. Well, once I got them loose to move them I started playing with various ideas of bar placement and though, "hmm, I wonder if these could mimic clip-ons..."
SO, I took all the controls off, flipped the bars 180degrees and then bolted them down cafe racer style. I came very close with the clearance to the tank, but everything else is looking clear and unbound so I ran the bike down the street to the nice quick S-curve and ran it around for a little while. I immediately noticed the riding position is a LOT lower. I'm basically laying on the tank like the old-school cafe racers and my back is a bit more strained, but nothing horrible yet. I'll have to make an hour+ run down 105 or 65 by the river to get a real feel for the long haul in this position. Otherwise, the handling is exceptionally stable over the standard upright position and it has made the knee down twisty flopping much easier with my weight down and forward over the front end.
I took a few pics of the bike with the bars flopped down and it doesn't look too bad. It looks strange from a few angles, but otherwise, this is THE cheapest way to play around with the idea of purchasing clip-ons. I'd rather not spend the $100+ if I'm going to hate this position...
I'm going to pick up a pixie hat and laminar lip and possible ride down to St. Louis with the bars set like this if I'm reasonably comfortable down low. I might need a blanket or something padded to make my chest comfortable though.
Linear Mode
