Hi Rex, With the police bars my back got sore between my shoulder blades. My theory is that the angle of my hands/wrists/arms with the police bars was pushing my shoulder blades together and straining muscles in that area. If you look at the pics on the Moto Guzzi Classics site, both the Special and Police bars look like they angle your hands at more than a 50* angle (lots of pullback) whereas the civilian bars are much less severe, probably around 30*. The police bars were probably designed more for good control at "patrol speed" and for relatively short distances. The civilian bars seem more suited to extended periods in the saddle. For me the most comfortable bikes I've had didn't always have the greatest seats (Morini 500 Strada and 350K2) but had bars with moderate pullback and leaned me forward about 15* with the pegs almost directly under my hips. YMMV. Cheers,
Charlie
Rex Clark <rccla-@comcast.net> wrote:
Hi Cam,
I just talked to Josh at Moto Guzzi Classics. It seems that their website has the bars reversed. What they list as the "Special" bars on their website is actually the "Police" bars and vice-versa. They weren't aware of the mistake until I inquired about it. Hope this helps.
Rex
I now realize I have the "Special" bars on my police bike too. Wonder if that was an option when new. Mark, what's the deal?
rccla-@comcast.net wrote:
Hi Paul,
Well I just went out and checked after looking at Mark's website. My back doesn't have either the civilian bars or the police bars. I have the third option which he calls special bars. No doubt about it. I don't know whether thoise were original to my bike or not. Thanks for helping.
Rex
Rex,
Look at this link to Marks website and you can see the difference in the
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.