Subject: RE: Handlebar question

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for your reply. Now I'm not sure which bars I have. I have only had
this bike for a few months and have never really seen another one, but a s you
state it seems that your hands are at an odd angle. I have a 1972 California
model which as I understand it is basically a police bike with chrome fenders.
Therefore it has floorboards instead of pegs, the Harley style kicklstand and
the side mounted ignition switch and no tachometer, just the single mounted
speedometer. I take it from that that I also have the police style handlebars.
Therefore with the slightly higher seat my hands are only about three inches
above my knees. I noticed today while riding my GL1100 that my hands are a
good 8-10 inches above my knees and that I don't have to lean as far forward
to hold onto the bars. I thought maybe that there might be some kind of risers
or a different handlebar that wouldn't look too wierd and still bring my hands
up and/or back a few inches. Bruce Giller (on the list) sent me an e-mail
today and said that I had described his problem almost perfectly and he was
also trying to arrive at a solution. Thanks again. All ideas or comments are
gratefully accepted.

Rex

Hi Rex,
I never liked the police bars, they seemed to put my hands at an unnatural
angle. Of course, they were on peg equipped bikes and not board ones.

For the first five years I had my '69 Ambo, it had GS1000 Suzuki bars on it that
the original owner had installed. With those bars I got lots of wind noise from
the police fairing and my back (especially the tailbone) got sore on extended
rides. A crash on my SP in '85 resulted in a badly sprained but otherwise
undamaged back, but it still bothers me from time to time. I switched back to
the stock "civilian" bars and I'm now down out of the wind and my back no longer
bothers me. More weight is now bore by my thighs and the lean forward helps keep
my back curvature more correct. The Ambo also seems a lot more sporty (if Ambo
and sporty can be used in the same sentence!:-)) kind of like an SPs grandpa.

It could be a switch to the civilian bars may help you as well - hope so!
Cheers,

Charlie

Rex Clark <rccla-@comcast.net> wrote:

Hi everybody,

I have a '72 Eldorado California with footboards and police bars (at least I
believe they are the original style bars) I am 6'3" with a 34" inseam and had
Rich Maund build a seat to accomodate my size (the original foam was pretty
well gone anyway) After riding a short time my back is hurting pretty badly. I
have a 1981 Honda GL1100 with a backrest I can ride all day (400 miles or so)
with no problem at all. My question is this. The handlebars on the Guzzi only
bring my hands up to about 3 inches higher than my knees but on the Honda the
bars are much higher in relation to the rest of my body. It seems to me that
my backache might be at least partially caused by the much lower position of
the handlebars. Of course part of the problem is that I'm 56 years old and had
some disc damage sustained in an auto accident a few years ago. And the
backrest on the Honda helps a lot also. But I'm just trying to help the
situation as best I can. I wonder if anyone an opinion or suggestions on
things to try. I wuold like to ride to some rallies but right now would
probably have to take the Honda:-( Thanks in advance.

Rex Clark

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Subject: RE: Handlebar question

Author: rccla-@comcast.net

Date: Jul 8, 2003, 8:09 PM

Post ID: 1713690866

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