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Comfort and Riding with "Cafe" or "dropped" bars??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Darin Jordan
  • Start date Start date
D

Darin Jordan

Guest
It's been awhile since I've been on the forum, mostly due to the crappy weather here in Seattle keeping me away from the bike!

Got nice on Friday, so I went for a spin to work and back. LOVE IT!

Ran across a couple of people riding their bikes this past Saturday, and one of them happened to be a very "Mad Maxish" looking GS... all blacked out with flat black, etc... Looked like it was "purposefully rough"... Very cool, actually.

The bike had some dropped bars, that looked like either clip-ons or the dropped Cafe' style, and a Wes Cooley style fairing. I couldn't tell from the short look I got if it had relocated pedals or not, but the seat looked to be stock.

On my '80 GS850G, I have stock style bars and currently no fairing, though I'm planning on a Wes Cooley here at some point.

I have a couple of question concerning such an update:

1) Will the Cooley style fairing work with the stock bars??

2) If I go to the Cafe or Dropped bars, how comfortable is this riding position for longer trips? Honestly, it looks pretty comfortable to me, but I've never tried it so it's hard to know. I'm REALLY torn on going this route, as I like the "old school" look of the bike now, but REALLY am a racer at heart, and really like the look of the bars when they are tighter in like that. Just looks like a more "natural" riding position to me.

3) Would you recommend relocating the pegs and controls, and, if so, are conversions for that still around ??
​
Thanks!
 
Bars are cheap. Experiment and see what fits you. Don't worry about cable length until you settle on what you want to keep. Maybe not even then. Just re-route a little as necessary.

I'm 6'2" and I like GP Touring bars on my 1000G (same frame as your 850). Or maybe they're Euro bend, I can never remember. They lean me forward a bit, but not so far that my back gets sore. Starting about 70 mph, I can lean entirely on the wind instead of holding myself up. Anything lower (drag bars, clubman's) I think would wear me out too fast. A long trip would require leaning on the tank or a bag or something.

Brett (Griffin) has a Cooley fairing on his 1000G with Daytona or Euro bend, or something low like those, I think. I don't see why it wouldn't work with stock bars, except they will keep you sat up higher in the wind. The Cooley fairing doesn't come back far enough to interfere with the bars.
 
Here is a picture of the bars on the bike now. No problems running for 4-6 hours a day, though my hands do get sore after awhile... especially my right hand. Have a throttle lock to help with that.

Can anyone tell me what bend these are now? I'm not sure if they are the stock bars or not'''
 
Those look like Euro bars.. might be Daytona's. They are not as low as superbike bars looking at the pic.

You should be able to get the spec of all bikemaster bars & measure to find out for sure.
 
The Clubman (cafe) bars are tortuous for long rides unless you have rear sets. They also are somewhat tough to get to work on the wider tanks of the Gs, at least in my experience because right where the "sweet spot" is for setting them up they will hit the tank when turned lock to lock.

I agree with Dan in that those look like euro/Daytona bars. Those, IMO are as good as they get. Give you leverage for quick steering but a nice sporty riding position. You will have no trouble with a Cooley or cafe fairing with those.
 
Clipons and clubmans looks sweet. I have the clipons but only time will tell if I decide to get some bars or stay with them. My test ride felt a litte akward, but it was only my first ride and I was also falling off the back of the bike from the seat behind not bolted on yet. I think for a backroads toy that you go out and rip some roads they will be fine. If you want to travel any distance drag bars at minimum.
 
TheCafeKid said:
I agree with Dan in that those look like euro/Daytona bars. Those, IMO are as good as they get. Give you leverage for quick steering but a nice sporty riding position. You will have no trouble with a Cooley or cafe fairing with those.
Click to expand...

Excellent. I'll probably just leave them then... The Cooley fairing is what I THINK I want... I like the vintage look of it and how it's minimal. I've seen a couple of others that look similar, but seem to have a bit more coverage. We'll see. I'm not really looking for a full-fairing, just something to reduce the wind blasting in my chest and face on longer rides... Was thinking a Cooley with an extended windscreen would work well and still maintain the cool look of the bike.
 
I can ride for hours with low bars. I just can't straighten up when I get off!
Niels
 
Renton huh. I'm in Auburn. Nice to see another local on a GS850.

My bars and such are all still stock, I do have a small windscreen. There are a few Pics in my user photo albums.
 
Clubman bars really strain your neck as you try to look down the road, and they make turning your head to check your six nearly impossible. I have a set in the garage and they will remain there until somebody wants them.

Here is a pic of the Euro bars I have on there now. It is very comfortable, There is a minor, but noticeable increase in steering effort from the stock bars.
 
I have used a few bar styles from sit-up and beg highsets to flats and clip-ons and for me I find the clip-ons work best. I find them O.K. comfort wise although many riders don't for various reasons. The clip-ons provide very good feel and are quick to respond to input from the rider. I use them from slow city traffic right through to 12 hour riding days when touring - one of the regular trips covering 4,500km in 6 days. As TCK has mentioned rearsets are a help with clip-ons for body position. And as they say try the different bars until you find the one that best suits you and your riding style on that bike because what works on one bike doesn't always work for the next one. Good luck with the bars, cheers.
 
Back considering bars again...

I've been having some issues with my Daytona/Euro style bars lately... I'm going to play around a bit with rotating them in the mounts up/down to see what affect that has, but basically, it feels like they angle back too far. Similar to my mountain bike bars that I replaced, these GS bars seem to angle back too much and it doesn't feel natural. I'm thinking I'd like them to be straighter, so my wrist and my forearm don't line up correctly to be confortable, especially on my right hand. I've tried relaxing more, sitting up straighter, etc., but ultimately, it's just not comfortable.

Does anyone know of a bar style that works on these bikes that would be straighter?? More perpendicular to the centerline of the bike, in other words?? If you have some pics to show what they'd look like, that would be very helpful.

I'll go scan Bikemasters offerings to see if I can figure something out as well.

Near as I can tell, my bars currently are 6" center width, 4" back, and about a 5.5-6" rise... 30" wide. Rough measurements, but as close as I could get on the bike.
 
Darin Jordan said:
On my '80 GS850G, I have stock style bars and currently no fairing, though I'm planning on a Wes Cooley here at some point.

I have a couple of question concerning such an update:
1) Will the Cooley style fairing work with the stock bars??

​
Click to expand...

​
Would you believe that Cooleys came from the factory with stock bars? :-\\\

Yeah, I think they would work. :p

.
 
The Cooley has much lower bars than my skunk's or 1000G's stock ones.

You will not fit the common Emgo or Maier Cafe style fairings with stock bars. Daytona bars are about the highest you'll get away with.

:)
 
I have Clubmans, and the lower bars and stock pegs have me jack-knifed on the bike. A long ride in that position would be torture. Once I complete my rearsets, I expect that to improve substantially, but I don't think it will be comfortable enough for a really long haul.

My riding is principally in the city for short jaunts of an hour out, stop for a drink and hour back. So it's NBD for me. If I were to explore more of a distance ride (like a day trip or overnight), I don't think my set up would be good for that.
 
After rotating the bars up/forward last night, and then repositioning the control accordingly, it seems to feel a little better, though there is still considerably more pressure on the outside of my palm and on the inside. The bars just seem to "V" back too far.

I was looking at the Bikemaster bar styles... I'm wondering of the Euro style bars might be a better fit... Going to do some measuring...
 
Darin, I have the same issue with my Euro bars but haven't been riding the GS enough lately to bother doing something about it. I might go to drag bars or clipons.
 
I have Renthal ultra lows on my GS1100 and love them. They are fairly straight and a bit lower than stock, but not clubman at all. When I got the bike it had drag bars which were nasty. I'm 6' and the Renthals lean me forward a little but feel very natural.
 
FiremanBob said:
Clubman bars really strain your neck as you try to look down the road, and they make turning your head to check your six nearly impossible. I have a set in the garage and they will remain there until somebody wants them.

Here is a pic of the Euro bars I have on there now. It is very comfortable, There is a minor, but noticeable increase in steering effort from the stock bars.
Click to expand...

Until someone wants them eh?

;]

I would love to talk to you about maybe working on a price!
I'll pm you buddy!
 
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