"Clubman's" are a tragic compromise of "Form over Function" that became popular in Britain (the scene of many, many tragedies) in the 1960's with greasy haired youths who would rattle around on "oil distributors" made by motorcycle companies long since extinct.
The one (and only) benefit of Clubmans being that you didn't have to find replacements for the full length headlight ears, as you did with "clip on" bars. As far as "comfort" goes, (a word not usually used in the same sentence as "clubmans") as an exercise, while you're sitting at your computer, with your back straight, look up at the roof directly above you, and hold that pose for say, 5 hours, and that'll give you a good idea of what it's like riding for about one hour with clubmans. (seasonally adjusted, of course) It's hard enough to look at anything but your fuel cap after awhile, let alone swallow....... I've always believed that back and neck braces should be mandatory accessories for clubman owners.
Apart from the ridiculous seating position, most riders choose clubmans because they're reasonably inept mechanically, so they don't think all that much about the cable excesses that they'll end up with when they go from a 4 or 6 inch bar rise to a -2 or even worse, (as I've seen on this site) so they end up with a foot or so of cable preceding the bike, which not only looks silly, it can be downright dangerous. Don't get me started on master cylinders with hoses bent at unnatural angles that won't bleed properly, and lose half their contents whenever the cap is removed.
Americans, while not necessarily being as creative as the Brits, are good at injecting a little common sense into any argument, so they invented the "Superbike Bar" as was used on the famous "Wes Cooley" Suzuki GS1000 race bike, and the Yoshimura/Moriwaki Kawasaki and Suzuki race bikes (by this stage Honda had all but given up on winning racers against Kawasaki and Suzuki in the latter half of the 1970's) which was a neat 1 or 2 inch rise narrow-ish bar that gave the rider a much more comfortable seating position, and better leverage than the competition, to haul these big heavy beasts around a racetrack.
These bars are attractive too, in the mandatory matt black, I've also got an original "Wes Cooley Replica" Suzuki GS1000S in my garage, and in my opinion, it's still probably the best bike of the 1970's. (even though mine was the very last of the production run, made in 1981)
Daniel's bike is adorned with the Raask "Laverda Jota" replica bars, which are quite probably the best compromise available, and (particularly on a Jota) the best looking bars ever made for a motorcycle. I must buy another pair and shorten the centre's like Daniel has done, Raask intentionally made the centre bar longer to accommodate a wider variety of bikes, making them look a tad "goofy", so Daniel has brought them back to the way Messers Laverda originally intended them. Well done! Cheers, Terry.
