Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Old age

So apparently I'm getting old.  Well, at least that is what one other Concours owner (who may or may not live in Ashhurst) said when I told him I'd made the purchase described below...

While I may be getting old (although I don't appear to be catching up to a certain Ashhurst Connie pilot), I am also getting used to the comfort of the Tenere's riding position.  It is slightly more roomy and also has a more upright riding position.

I can't do much about the legroom.  There are people out there that have lowered their foot pegs but that is not an option as I have been known to give them the occasional shine up on the road and I do not want to be doing this on every second corner.

Oops...
So that leaves me with playing with the handlebar area.  To give me a slightly more upright riding position and to hopefully offer more comfort to my arms, back and shoulders I decided to try a set of bar risers.


There were plenty of options on E-Bay and I had a bit of a hunt around before settling on a set of 50mm jobbies.


As you can see they came with some longer bolts but I also have my GPS mount bolted to the handle bar mounts so I bought another 4 slightly longer bolts just in case.


On my initial attempt at installing I decided that I didn't like how much pressure they were placing on the brake and clutch lines so I found someone with some engineering skill how was able to take 10mm of each riser.

Once that was done it was time to fit.  This was a pretty simple job and the risers even had a thread tapped into them to allow the repositioning of the brake/clutch lines so that there was enough slack in them.  Shaving off that 10mm also meant that I didn't need those flash stainless bolts I bought either.


40mm!



So they're on now and I've only really ridden the bike around 50km with them on so no decent distance to test comfort but I can say that they haven't had any detrimental effect on comfort or handling.  Swapping from the Connie to the Tenere (just with the bikes on their main stands) demonstrated a pretty similar feel with the only really noticeable difference being the width of the bars - the S10 having the wider jobbies.

I'd better plan in a decent pootle...

15 comments:

  1. You know you are officially OLD when you have to buy bar risers....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew I could rely on you for some kind, caring support....





      Incidentally, the 2nd comment to this post was from a spammer pushing a certain little pill...

      Delete
  2. Old age my left buttock....ergonomics are ergonomics and anything that aids during the longer rides, is a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am with Dom, comfort is king and I have risers on my TW200. How much of a rise did you go for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 40mm total. Looking forward to testing them soon...

      Delete
    2. That isn't bad. I think the Rok risers I have on the TW are 50 mm.

      Delete
    3. Well, I 'spose it's a little bike eh? Might need a little more lift to make it seem bigger...


      ;)

      Delete
  4. Man up you people

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, we read your blog too man...I guess we'll never see you opting for comfort related farkles or even a bike with a seat?

      Delete
    2. I'm here all day if you need some friendly advice....

      Delete
  5. Risers are one of my first modifications. Old or not, comfort is critical - but I am old.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too right, but it can be a bit tricky deciding what exactly you need eh?

      Delete