[Turismon]

Well, Here is the thing, I like scooting back on my seat and getting a little lower on my riding position, but I like being able just to lax off roll easy one handed with the stock bars which seems nice, but over time with fast riding and wind getting down my arms are up int he air above my heart level and seems to make them fall asleep.

I was just wondering any people here that rode around with stock bars for a long time and then went sport, how was your experience? Would you go back? I primarily still want to take some long trips/rides on my bike and was wondering how the sport bars are for that vs stock mainly. I can live with the around town 30 minute drives to work I guess, but then again depending how they are for longer trips that 30 minutes daily to and from might be nice to have the sport bars.

Anyway, I'm not too worried about the handling etc, I want to know how it affects riding position / how it feels with longer riders etc, shorter rides? Can you still one arm it comfortably etc? Thanks for the input, I was going to go search through all the posts, but I wanted up to date opinions .

 

[twowheeladdict]

IMO, you have to use your back and core muscles more with the Sportbars to be comfortable. They are definitely better than the stock bars at interstate speeds since it is easier to tuck in out of the wind. The sport bars do have more vibration than the stock bars. I've tried a lot of handlebar configurations and finally decided that stock was best for the type of riding I want to do with the bike.

If you want the bike to look cool when sitting at bike night then definitely go for the sport bars because they are the best looking bars for the Ninja 650R hands down.

 

[HanctheTank]

i rode for about a month with the stock bars, then decided they were just too high, went with the sport bars and now my wrist doesn't hurt anymore and the handling of the bike improves greatly. they were one of the first things i did to my ninja and i have to say it was probably one of the best

 

[HanctheTank]

The sport bars do have more vibration than the stock bars.

in my experience if you get some gel grips, the vibes are actually less

 

[twowheeladdict]

in my experience if you get some gel grips, the vibes are actually less

I agree that the gel grips help out. I moved them to the stock bars and IMO the stock bars with the gel grips have less vibs than the sportbars with gel grips. I had the V2 sportbars so I can't comment on the V3.

One other thing. I rotated the stock bars back towards the rider until they just about touched the tank at full turn. Then I rotated the brake and clutch levers down as far as I could to form a nice line between arms, wrist, and hands on the grips.

 

[Turismon]

I agree that the gel grips help out. I moved them to the stock bars and IMO the stock bars with the gel grips have less vibs than the sportbars with gel grips. I had the V2 sportbars so I can't comment on the V3.

One other thing. I rotated the stock bars back towards the rider until they just about touched the tank at full turn. Then I rotated the brake and clutch levers down as far as I could to form a nice line between arms, wrist, and hands on the grips.

Interesting, did this cause you to have to move back on your seat much or anything?

 

[twowheeladdict]

Interesting, did this cause you to have to move back on your seat much or anything?

I sent my seat to Spencer at www.greatdaytoride.com and he put in a gel insert and memory foam in the rider postition. So pushing my butt into the pocket where the seat is widest is the most comfortable for long rides and has my 5'11" frame with 32" inseam leaned slightly forward. I also have the option of sliding up on the seat and sitting upright without my groin against the tank, or sliding my butt up into the hump and tuck my arms in near my knees to get down out of the wind.

I also have the tall double bubble on the bike for touring and the super short for summer riding.

 

[Turismon]

gotcha, great info man, thanks! Anything special I need to tell this guy for my seat or does he do them all failry the same? I'm the same height and size as you pretty much. I like how that sounds that it keeps bout back a little more, I find myself always scooting back there and sliding forward some.

 

[Turismon]

One other thing. I rotated the stock bars back towards the rider until they just about touched the tank at full turn. Then I rotated the brake and clutch levers down as far as I could to form a nice line between arms, wrist, and hands on the grips.

do you have a pic of this laying around?

 

[twowheeladdict]

gotcha, great info man, thanks! Anything special I need to tell this guy for my seat or does he do them all failry the same? I'm the same height and size as you pretty much. I like how that sounds that it keeps bout back a little more, I find myself always scooting back there and sliding forward some.

Have a conversation with Spencer. Tell him where on the seat you want to sit and that you don't want to slide forward. He usually likes a photo of you on the bike to see where you prefer sitting on it.

No pics of the current configuration, but will take some tomorrow.

 

[biketechted]

in my experience if you get some gel grips, the vibes are actually less

Oury road grips. http://www.ourygrips.com/grips_menu.html#
Just got these because of the Sportbar vibration.
Oldie and a goodie.

 

[Baxter]

I can't directly answer your question since I haven't tried the sportsbars. But perhaps you could borrow or test ride a supersport with clip ons and see how that feels to you. It might be too low in comparison to the 650R with sportbars, but it would give you something to directly experience for comparison.

 

[Turismon]

Alrighty, well i decided to just go for it since alot of people have bars and I find my self laying down alot on my ride or down and tired of my arms pretty much pinched together. Definatley a different ride and I like it! The vibrations arent all that bad, i think the real reason people think it's so much worse is because your putting more weight on your hands and you just absorb it more, if you sit loose with your legs holding weight it's not much different than stock.

That said all in all I think I really like the look, feel, turning corners is sweet and all that. However parking lot manuvering and locking the bike sucks now but it's not that bad, you do it .10% of the time so not a big deal.

I got some grips as well but haven't put them on, hoping they help some with the vibrations. Next upgrade is gear indicator I Think. Or an exaust soon. Gonna need to find someone with a exaust in DFW area so I can see if I like the sound or not!

Also post looking for some people with the gear indicator for mounting samples!

Install went fairly easy except for the red locktite crap that was on the bar ends, took some muscle and a buddy to hold the bars to get those things undone. Bent the Cable holder on my forks to get the brake line on the outside of it to give it some slack and then zip tied it back to the other cables and worked great.

P.S. Ill post some pic's soon. Not that it's going to be any different than everyone elses but what the hell.

 

[rabarr]

I rode the 650r for at least 3 hours and didn't find any problems with the stock bars. The differance may be in our trunk length and not the leg length..........****

 

[Green Rocket]

I had no problems with my hands or arms using my stock handle bars on my latest 130 mile trip. I would switch from riding somewhat crouched forward, to get out of the wind, to lying in a full tuck, with my feet up on the passenger pegs.

I would wonder how the position of the stock rider pegs would feel from going to sport bars. Would you feel like they need to be moved backwards?

I managed to ride a SS bike yesterday and the feeling when I got back onto my bike was very strange. like i was riding on a motocross bike! But today everything is back to normal.

 

[NozzleNut]

Since you already got them, this won't do much goo dnow, but...

The previous owner of my bike bought some lowered handle bars, not clip ons, but they are bent "up" less than an inch but still quite lowered and cost $50.

You can tuck easier, but still sit straight up. Good feel.

 

[Turismon]

I had no problems with my hands or arms using my stock handle bars on my latest 130 mile trip. I would switch from riding somewhat crouched forward, to get out of the wind, to lying in a full tuck, with my feet up on the passenger pegs.

I would wonder how the position of the stock rider pegs would feel from going to sport bars. Would you feel like they need to be moved backwards?

I managed to ride a SS bike yesterday and the feeling when I got back onto my bike was very strange. like i was riding on a motocross bike! But today everything is back to normal.

could be height differences, but when I lay on my tank with Stock bars my arms are cunched pretty tight at my elbow area and my hands will fall asleep after some time, just very unconfortable. I can now lay down, with my hands just under my body and it's very nice. If i had a tank bag to sit my head on to limit the neck fatiuge i could ride all day long lol!

I can also sit pretty straight up with the sport bars too if I extend my arms all the way, at least pretty close to straight up, so I pretty much now have the full range of any position I want and they are all confortable. The only negitive now is the vibrations have definatley gone up, but if you don't death grip your grips you dont' really notice much.