Narrowing Handlebars

[200smk]

For those of you that have narrowed the ProTapers.....how did you do it?

Did you have to put new warmers on? Can you just cut off an inch on each side without doing anything with the warmers?

Thanks.

 

[S.Diddy]

Not sure why you would want to narrow your bars, but I can for sure tell you to NOT cut the hand warmers. That will make them not work anymore. You can if you are VERY careful heat them up with a blow dryer/heat gun etc, peel them off gently and re-apply them, sometimes I put some electrical tape around the ends and once in the middle upon re-applying. Again though with how narrow these bars are stock, imo I would not cut them, it will not benefit you when charging thru any sort of chop or cruddy conditions.

 

[rotax]

I also find the stock Pro Tapers a bit too wide...
But have never considered cutting them... but maybe theres enough there to make that work.

 

[TRS]

Blow the grips off using your air compressor. Run the sled with the heaters on high, they will peel off and you can reuse them, but be careful. I cut over an inch off each side on mine. I used an after market throttle block. Used a pipe cutter.

 

[RMK935VA]

You can only cut between 3/8" and 1/2" off of each side without impacting the throttle block. With that said, 1" makes a big difference. I cut my bars and put ODI grips on without the hooks which are a major pain in the butt in my opinion. I also had to put new heater elements on mine after the narrowing of the Pro-Tapers.

 

[Snowriver]

cut mine 1/2 " and its a major difference.
Be careful and with the heater elements and you can reuse them.

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

Narrowing those bars is a great idea, it improves the ergos of that sled a bunch. Take a good look at your throttle block before trimming and measure the distance between the block and the bend, this will show you how much you can trim. I've always used new handwarmers after modding or changing bars.

 

[jakey-boy]

Went with the rsi bars cut as narrow as possible. 2.5 inches lower & couple inches narrower than stock makes the sled feel amazing! No regrets at all.

 

[APEX SUPER]

Do you have any idea if more people are changing handle bars out? The pro taper seem awkward .

 

[FCR112]

I think my plan for this season is cutting 1/2" off both ends, corking, and some fatter odi locking grips on the stockers... I agree that on long days the pro tapers are a little goofy stock.

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

I also changed to the lower and narrower RSI's. Making the change took me from feeling totally awkward to perfectly comfortable.