Topic: what are the pros and cons of clubman bars on a 750 f3?

[lostmykeys]

 I picked up a set of these yeserday while in Salt Lake.Just curious what you guys think of them.

[shinyribs]

I love mine. No,they are not the most comfortable thing ever.Yes,your palms may get sore until you are used to them. But you can always get cushy grips.I like the forward leaning position myself and have no plans to remove mine on my cafe type bike. The new bike I am building will have super bike bars. The clubmans are not the nightmare that some will say they are,but after 200 miles or so I am ready to get off the bike for the day. If you tour-ride or just like to log a bunch of miles they may not be for you,but in the mountains and in town I like the fell of being up on the bars.Like you are really in control.

[Rigid]

Pros: look cool, riding position offers less wind resistance
Cons:  back and wrist pain, lack of ability to inhale with even a modest gut, natural position for head while riding gives a view of the road 2 inches in front of the front tire, screams, " I want a cafe bike but just have these darn bars"
Clip-ons down behind the headlight and rear sets will really get you into racing position.  I prefer the euro clubmans which are just very low regular bars.

[Grabcon]

I had them on mine and they killed my back. Not fun. I went to a euro superbike bar. They are great, still a little down, not to much pressure on the hands. Allow for good handling. I can easily do a couple hunderd miles in a day without issues. Never have really tried to do more than that in this bike.

If you squeeze with your thighs and tighten your abdomen you can take the pressure off the hands. Yes right!

[Geeto67]

not all clubman bars are created equal. width, rise, and drop all vary depending on brand. the original design of clubmans was to fit small euro twins and singles in the 50's and 60's and to meet spec in a racing class. from the word go they were kind of a cheat.  on SOHC4s you need to be mindful of clubman rash - these are dents in the tank because of an improperly installed clubman bar. I see it a lot on F bikes - it is a sign of pure hackery and will only tell people you have no idea what you are doing with bikes.

remember the bars, seat, and pegs are all one system connected by the rider. a change to one affects all and usually requires more radical changes the lower you go.

to me they don't even look cool anymore, they just look like a compromise. If you don't have the foot peg position to match, i.e. rearsets, then you are just wasting your time. even if it isn't short term "painful" (like you have "gotten used to it") you aren't doing your back or wrists any long term favors. 

provided the ones you bought will even fit a Japanese fat four cylinder, you may not be happy with them. Plus I don't know how committed you are to changing your riding position for a set of $15 bars. most people aren't. Honestly, if you aren't going to spend for the clip-on, rearset, seat setup tayloring it specifically to you then why bother? the only thing you are going to get out of clubmans is heavier steering (which you may think feels "more precise" but that has more to do with the width of the bars than how low they are).

a superbike bar gets it name from ama superbike racing. Like the clubman it was designed to "cheat" a rule in a specific racing class. Racers of big jap fours in the 70's and 80's needed a wide bar to really hustle those big heavy suckers around the track and something that offered more leverage with the stock seat (usually shaved) and modified peg position. The upside is that they also work well with the stock pegs and seat. sometimes a smaller super low bar isn't the gateway to performance - sometimes just more leverage is.