Triumphrat

wonderdog · 04-07-2006

After no more than 20 minutes riding, my left shoulder and neck have started to hurt. I feel like I'm stretching to reach the bars, but only on my left side. Its reached a point where something needs to be done.
Took my Helix out for a 30 miler to charge the battery and the position was completely comfortable, no pain. The bars are closer and a little higher. Its very comfy but handles like a, uhh, well, a scooter. Actuallly its great up to 55.
I'm considering the 1 1/2" riser from Bella Corse and possibly the Western Bars from them also. Any comments on what might or might not work???

WD :???:

DAK-Man · 04-07-2006

I have the same problem with my Speedmaster. So I got some risers from WWW.SCOOTWORKS.COM. They specialize in metric bikes. Might check them out.

mecscc · 04-07-2006

Sounds like you need bars that pull back into you more so that you don't have to stretch so far. DennisKirk.com has a wide variety of bars and all shapes and sizes. I hesitate to suggest risers first, although it may come to that. You need to lean forward just a bit to take some of the strain off your lower back. Hate to see you solve one problem and create another. Trouble with your problem is that it is such a trial and error thing and could get expensive. I would measure the offset in your bars, front to back and then increase that by 3'' or so. That should help a lot. What I don't know is how much slack is in your cables and whether or not those would have to be changed also if you go with what I am discribing, which used to be called longhorn bars, but I have no idea what they call them now.

Monte

Monte

:-D

04-07-2006

I put on Gen Mar risers from New Bonnie.....It helped.
Would like to have Westerns....like on my 72 Daytona,
but they weren't available when I got the bike(03 Bonnie)
Steve

Bob_N · 04-07-2006

I'm only 5-08 and the reach of the stock bars put me in an uncomfortable position. I got the Gen Mar risers and it made a world of difference for me, they really helped.

Bob

FattRat · 04-08-2006

I think I have finally concluded that it's more the angle of your wrist that can cause problems.... or prevent them. I recently bought (but haven't installed yet) some 'flat'/rectangle handlebar ends from www.hunterdesigns.com

I spoke to the gentleman over the phone at some length. He told me what I already knew..... but I didn't know WHY! I thought my difficulties were because I've been trying to wrap my small hands around handlebars made for bigger people with bigger hands. I partially had it right..... Mr. Hunter explained that the human hand does not like to wrap itself around a cylinder. There is a nerve in the fatty swell beneath the thumb that gets constricted and sends all sorts of uncomfortable signals to all parts of the body. I thought it was my thick winter gloves around fat bars..... no, it's because the bars are round.

Anyway, handlebars are EVERYTHING! Once you happen onto the best angle for your wrists, relieving frequently other parts of your body.... then consider what Mr. Hunter suggests. I got mine, check 'em out!

OH, as a final note:
I'm 5' 2" with pretty short arms and a short torso. I recently installed some "Clubman" 1 inch bars from Flanders and love 'em. The wrist angle is similar, though not the same, as the stock bars..... but they have a lower rise, and less radical wrist angle. I've been running the M bars with some risers for the last several thousand miles. Looking tough-n-fine with my Black M Bars has since taken a back seat to comfort. My back between my shoulder blades would spasm with the M bars, and the wrist angle sucked unless you're young, set'em low, angle them like cafe bars, and ride aggressively. Not for me......

[ This message was edited by: FattRat on 2006-04-07 23:28 ]

wonderdog · 04-08-2006

Monte - By offset, do you mean the distance from the hold down back to the grips?

I'm 6 ft with a 33 inch reach and my Bonnie is bone stock. I agree with the necessity of forward lean. With two lower discs ruptured this is a positioning that needs to be done in little pieces. My experience with road bicycles is that a small adjustment makes a world of difference. Hopefully that carries over to motorcycles.

Pat - Yes, at my age the importance of comfort has freight trained looking tough and fine.

Steve, Bob, DAKman, I'm going to check out your recs also.

Its great to have this forum to bring these situations out to people with lots of experience. It saves time and money and is greatly appreciated. Being a newbie with more birthday experience under my belt requires fast learning to maximize fun times. Thanks all.

WD :-D :-D

vol245 · 04-08-2006

Good point Pat. I put some Superbars on mine and found the wrist angle of those to be very uncomfortable for me. I put the stock ones back on and doubt I will ever change them. They don't look the best, but they work for me. Next move is the K&Q seat. The stock one looks good and once again it isn't working for me after 4000 miles. Be happy and comfortable.

mecscc · 04-08-2006

Yes, WD, that is right. Handlebars are sold with four measurements in mind: rise (height of the bar from the mounting point in the center); end rise (height of the bar from the mounting point at the end of the bar); width (the total width of the bar); center width (the width of the bar in the center where it mounts where the bar is flat before rising); and pull back (the distance from to mounting point to the furthest point on the bar end toward the rider.) There is a fifth measurement that is assumed: you either buy 7/8 or 1" bars to match your mounting. I haven't measured a Bonnie but they are likely 7/8" bars.

Many bars have sufficient rise to totally avoid any need to buy bar risers, the bar itself providing the rise. So in your case you can buy a bar with an inch or two more rise than your stock bar and with a 3-4" pullback and it would meet the needs I think you have to relieve the reaching, which is putting a strain on your shoulder.

Go to www.denniskirk.com and look at them. Better yet, go there and order their 2006 Metric Bike catalogue. Or call them on their free line, 1-800-969-7504, and ask them to send it to you. It is free; over an inch thick, almost 800 pages of items, and they will send it to you very quickly. The bar selections are on pp. 451-453 and scattered elsewhere. There are also lots of bar riser choices for those who like the shape of their current bars. There are at least 75 choices in bars in that catalogue.

I had one other thought. When I had my accident I dislocated my left shoulder and it was HARD to ride because of the stretch it put on that shoulder. Shoulder occupational therapy exercises really helped. You might try them. Google "dislocated shoulder exercizes" and you will find several sites that have excercizes in PDF format that you can download that have explanations how to do them and line drawings showing how. They are very easy and they really help to loosen up the shoulder and increase normal mobility. They only take about 10 minutes twice a day.

Monte :-D

[ This message was edited by: mecscc on 2006-04-08 07:53 ]

wonderdog · 04-08-2006

Monte,

That last suggestion really hit home! The left shoulder has a 'click' that catches me more and more often. Hurts like the devil in 'midclick' and then is gone. Could be part of the problem when riding.

When younger, people used to tell me to "listen to your body". Nowadays its voice has become quite shrill. I've even caught myself saying that all of these little pains just let me know I'm still alive.

WD

:-D

:evil: :wink:

[ This message was edited by: wonderdog on 2006-04-08 08:19 ]