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~ It's all about the comfort!

HeliBars Blog

Tag Archives: Motorcycle Handlebars

Customer Feedback from Daytona Bike Week – March 2014

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by cindyeddy in Events and Rallies, Harley Davidson, Horizon

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Tags

adjustable handlebars, adjustable motorcycle handlebars, Comfort, Control, helibars, horizon, Motorcycle Handlebars, performance

One of our rituals at the rallies is to ask our customers to come back and see us, and sign our “autograph book”. We invite them to let us know what they like (or don’t like!) about their HeliBars. Here are some of the comments from customers who came back to visit us in March during Daytona Bike Week…

March 7, 2014:  Just got my second set for my 2014 Ultra Limited. First pair was last year on my Road King. These bars are awesome. I can’t imagine owning a bike without them. You guys are great. Tony is awesome 2 times!                  Doug,  IL

March 8, 2014: One year later (we installed ours at Daytona Bike Week 2013) and 15000 miles later…We LOVE them – my wife’s 2004 FLTR and my 2013 FLTRU. What a difference. Handling, comfort, no back pain after a long ride. Thank you for the bars!               Tom & Jodi, FL

March 9, 2014: 6 months later. Didn’t need to ride but 6 mins. to know this was the best thing I had done to a motorcycle in 50 years of riding. Fabulous, awesome, well worth the money. Don’t delay! Get yours now.                                        Paul, GA

March 10, 2014: 2 years and many miles later, we wouldn’t trade these bars for anything. We have two bikes with these, RoadGlide & ElectraGlide Classic. HeliBars improve both handling and rider comfort. Thank you so much for this high quality product. We are also happy to tell anyone who notices our handlebars to get the bars on their bikes. You will never regret your purchase. They are worth every cent!                                                                                                                                              Tom & Vicki, OH

March 11, 2014: This is my third set of bars. I had them on a 2005 Ultra, 2012 Ultra, and today a new 2014 Street Glide. By far the most comfortable bars and riding position for long haul mileage comfort. I have ridden over 100,000 miles with these bars, and by far they are the Best.                                                                                                                                                                             Al & Claire, MA

Performance Shouldn’t Be Painful: It should be fun!

14 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by helibarsblog in Helibars - Other Handlebars, Uncategorized

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Tags

adjustable motorcycle handlebars, Comfort, Control, Motorcycle Handlebars, performance

For years we have used the above tag line “Peformance Shouldn’t Be Painful” and we really do mean it.  Sport bikes, sport touring bikes, cruisers shouldn’t be painful they should make you want to take to the open road not just for a 10 minute jaunt but a cruise towards the Horizon.  That is why we produce HeliBars, and have been for 26 years.  What we address are the same things that are outlined in the article below.  Enjoy the read:

Handlebars – Body Position

They’re Not Just for Steering!
From the May, 2008 issue of Motorcycle Cruiser
By John Vaughan-Chaldy

Most of us recognize the importance of at least a perfunctory visual check of our machines before we set out for a scoot, but what many riders forget is that it’s just as important to check your body position, too.  Out on a one-lane country road 30 minuted into your ride is not the ideal time to be wondering, “Uh, why are my hands tingling? Why are my shoulders tight?  And damn it, why does my neck ache?”

But that’s often how it goes with riders.  Many of us simply don’t acknowledge the obvious things-such as the body-to-motorcycle relationship-until it’s too late.

In a nutshell, my doc said every part of the body affects the other parts:  Fingers affect the wrist, which affects the elbow, which affects the shoulders and so on.  Just think of those “Dry Bones” lyrics and you’ll get the point:  “With the finger bone connected to the hand bone, the hand bone connected to the arm bone…”

That first line is one all riders should memorize:  A motorcyclist’s main connection points to his bike are his fingers.  And it’s no wonder that when most of us ride, those points are usually being tweaked in some very malevolent ways.  The doctor mentioned the following parts as being especially vulnerable:

Wrists:  They’re often turned to odd angles so the fingers can grip the bar.  This puts pressure on the median nerve in the wrist/forearm (carpal tunnel), causing numbness and fatigue.

Elbows:  These are usually extended up and away from the rider’s torso and rotated out from the bike, which places stress on the ulnar nerve, or “funny bone”

Shoulders:  They’re being constantly flexed and rotated from holding the elbows up, which often exacerbates tendonitis in the rotator cuffs, causing aches and fatigue.  Most riders also reach forward to grip the handlebars, rolling the shoulders.  This adds flex to the trapenzius muscle, placing strain on the base of the neck and between the shoulder blades.

Trapezius and Neck:  Rotating the shoulders means the large group of neck muscles that control spine position flexing.  Constantly working these muscles creates discomfort in the neck and alters the upper spine’s alignment.  This realignment can also affect the lumbar area of the spine, resulting in lower back pain.

It seems if you experience two or more of those symptoms (like tingling and/or aches) then your position of control is incorrect.  The POC is where the contact point of your body meets the control point of your bike, i.e., where your hands grip the handlebar.  So after I broke down all the fancy medical phrases into layman’s terms, I was left with these crucial bits of advice:

  1. My wrists shouldn’t twist and should stay as straight as possible in relation to the forearm.
  2. Elbows should point down as much as possible and hang rather than be held up.
  3. Shoulders need to be relaxed and dropped rather than suspended or flexed when riding.
  4. My reach should be reduced so I don’t roll or lift my shoulders to grab the handlebar.
  5. I should steer with my arms, not my neck, shoulders or back.

The most effective way to correct all my body’s tweaked biomechanics was through the handlebar.

HeliBars Review: TrackDayMag.com

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by helibarsblog in BMW, Helibars - Other Handlebars, HeliBars FAQs, Uncategorized

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Tags

BMw, helibars, Motorcycle Handlebars, performance, S1000RR, track performance, TracStar

Heli-Bars on a Track Bike?

postdateiconThursday, 30 May 2013 20:58 | postauthoriconWritten by Morris “Mo” Maduro | Print

We see if comfortable equals fast

What are they?

Heli-Bars is a well known company which specializes in producing motorcycle handlebars that are more comfortable than stock.  Their emphasis has been primarily on making machines more suitable for long distance riding but now they also feature a line called TracStar, which is aimed at the sportbike crowd.  The big question when testing a product like this is obvious.  Does improving street comfort come at the expense of racetrack efficiency?

Heli_bar_instructionsInstallation

The installation of these bars was very straightforward. In fact, this is listed as a direct stock replacement, which means that no other parts should be necessary to do the install.  We found this to be absolutely true.  A glossy color spread of instructions is included.  There are very accurate photos of each step of the process, along with supporting text.  There were no surprises and the entire job from parking to riding the bike took less than ninety minutes.  We recommend following their instructions to the letter, including the one about placing/stuffing a rag around the work area.  Besides protecting from scratches, this step may help you to avoid having to remove body work to retrieve a screw if you happen to drop one at the wrong spot.  Our installation time does not include a trip to the hardware store, where we bought a 36 mm socket for the triple clamp bolt and a small #8 Torx bit that was thin enough along its stem to fit into a severely recessed hole.

What they do

The normal way of making a sportbike more comfortable involves bar risers, which are essentially lifting blocks for the handlebars.  This has always seemed contradictory, since a lot of engineering gets violated when you move the handlebars to a different location.  The Heli Bars kit for the BMW S1000RR attacks the problem a different way, by setting the downward slope of the clip-ons at a shallower angle.  These bars made the position feel closer to that of a sport touring riding position while maintaining the look and feel of a sport bike.  In fact, experienced riders would not immediately recognize that these are aftermarket bars, especially since the mounting points and manufacturing style are identical to the OEM pieces.  Compared to the very steep angle of the stock bars, the modified slope of the Heli-Bars results in a bar end that is a full two inches higher than stock.  That two inches is enough to make a significant difference.  The results are a more upright riding position and a more natural position of the hand and forearm.

Street testing

To test the bike with the new bars, we conducted before and after riding sessions over the same one hour loop, Heli_bar_vs_stockwhich included surface streets, highway miles and twisties.  The first thing noticed was increased confidence when maneuvering on surface streets around congested traffic.  This was the result of both the added leverage and the slightly more upright position.  The second  obvious improvement was that the bars promoted a proper riding position, putting the forearms closer to parallel with the ground and the elbows at about the same height as the hands.  Once into the curves, flicking the bike into a corner was definitely easier and the bars engendered more confidence going around blind turns.  The result was that Heli-Bars encouraged a faster pace through curves, high speed sweepers and switchback on-ramps.  As you would expect, highway comfort was vastly improved. S1000RR riders regularly complain that their hands and wrists get numb within about 20 minutes of riding.  (Which incidentally, is the length of an average trackday session.)  We too had experienced this with the stock pieces but that numbness did not occur when riding with the Heli-Bars.  The noticed improvement in street comfort alone would have been enough to justify switching to these bars but we still had a track test to perform.

Track Testing

Autobahn Country Club, in Joliet, Illinois, was where we conducted the track portion of this review.  The Full Course at this facility has 23 turns so there was plenty of opportunity to experience the bars in a variety of different cornering situations.  We’d ridden here a few months previously with the stock bars, which provided a frame of reference for comparison.  On the track we noticed that it felt much more natural to drape our outside Heli_bar_vs_stock_2arm over the gas tank. It was also easier to experiment with different entry points, as the added leverage of the Heli-Bars provided extra confidence when flicking the bike into turns.  Switchback transitions were also made with less effort. The pavement was wet for a few of these sessions, giving us the opportunity to see how the bars performed in catching a slide. Even at this extreme, the Heli-Bars were very predictable and showed no tendency to make us overcorrect.  In fact, there was nowhere on the track that we found ourselves wishing we had the original-equipment bars.

For both road and track use, these Heli-Bars proved their worth.  In every environment, the big BMW was a more comfortable and better behaved motorcycle.  This $319.00 improvement quite literally transformed the bike’s ergonomics, making it much nicer to live with no matter what environment it was used in or how aggressively it was ridden.  Here at TrackdayMag.com, we’re used to sacrificing comfort to get better performance.  In this case, much to our surprise, it was upping our comfort level that increased performance!

HeliBars = Life Saver

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by helibarsblog in Helibars - Other Handlebars, Kawasaki, Uncategorized

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Tags

adjustable handlebars, adjustable motorcycle handlebars, Concours 14, Kawasaki, Mesa Police Department, Motorcycle Handlebars

Here at HeliBars we often hear moving tales of how our product has “saved” the day by allowing riders to ride longer.  To be more passionate about their sport.  To feel the wind whipping by them as they hit the open road.  Some as they enter their golden years of 70, 80 and beyond.  Others as they hit the open road for the first time.  It’s heart warming to hear their stories.

This story brought our hearts to our throats and tears to our eyes and we want to share it with you.  Please allow us to introduce to you Officer Jamie Bernau of the Mesa Police Department Traffic Unit.  Below is an email we received from Officer Bernau on April 8th:

“I just wanted to give you an update. Some good news, some bad. The bars I had on my police motorcycle did an excellent job. The other two officers that are testing them praise them as well. I love the bars and I have on my own personal motorcycle.
Unfortunately, back on Feb. 16th, I was involved in a serious on-duty collision with a motor vehicle. The other driver was being inattentive and pulled into the roadway, directly in front of my path. I struck the vehicle head on and was launched from my motorcycle 49 feet. I lost consciousness and tumbled an additional 59 feet on the ground. I sustained an “open book” pelvic fracture, broken right foot, right hand, and some road rash to my face, legs, and hands. I underwent surgery and was in the hospital for two weeks. I’m currently bound to a wheel chair and will have a long recovery.
The investigators on scene noticed the HeliBars rotated to the front and collapsed. They also believed the bars helped me catapult from the motorcycle. My motorcycle was engulfed in flames from the impact.
Currently, Probity Cycle is in the process of building a replacement PD bike. It will be a few months until I can get back on the bike, but I would like to have the same handle bars available when I’m back on duty.
Sincerely,
Officer Jamie Bernau
Mesa Police Department
Traffic Unit”
Officer Bernau -1hospital photo 2 photo 3 photo 4

On the lookout for: More Motorcycles!

12 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by goddessoftheoffice in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

BMw, can am, Ducati, helibars, honda, Kawasaki, moto guzzi, Motorcycle Handlebars, Suzuki, triumph, yamaha

We are always looking for new motorcycles for R&D.  Don’t see your bike?  Live in the New England Area?  Call us 800-859-4642 or email us quality@HeliBars.com

If we use your bike you get the first production set for FREE.  Sweet deal right!?!  Also, if it’s Winter (like it is now) we will keep your baby safe and secure during those cold Winter months, keep the battery charged, stabilizer in the tank and ready to go when it’s time to pick it up.

Currently on the lookout for:

  • 2012 Kawasaki ZX14
  • 2012 BMW 1600 GTL/GT
  • 2012 Suzuki GSXR600 or 2012 GSXR750
  • 2012 Kawasaki Z1000

The New and Improved Website

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by cindyeddy in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

adjustable motorcycle handlebars, helibars, Motorcycle Handlebars

Welcome to the new HeliBars website!

Our goal was simple:
Make it all about You (our Customers) and make it FUN!

Some of the new features:

1. Product Finder – for a faster, more enjoyable shopping experience.

2. New Galleries with more Videos and Photos and lots more into.

3. Your Local Dealer Locator – so you know who sells HeliBars in your area   —and more!

We hope you enjoy our new website experience!

The first 25 customers who go to our new site and send us an email with “HAT” in the subject will get a free Heli hat! Be sure to leave us your mailing address…

Find out about exciting new HeliBar products by signing up for our newsletter today. We promise not to send you endless emails, unless you want us to!

HeliBars at Corbin Comfort Corner 2012

06 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by helibarsblog in Events and Rallies, Harley Davidson, Helibars - Other Handlebars, HeliBars History, Uncategorized

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Tags

adjustable motorcycle handlebars, helibars, Motorcycle Handlebars, Sturgis rally

Check out this video link:

HeliBars at Corbin Comfort Corner 2012

Heli Bars – it’s a beautiful thing!

22 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by cindyeddy in Events and Rallies, Harley Davidson, Horizon, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

adjustable motorcycle handlebars, daytona bike week, Harley Davidson, horizon, Motorcycle Handlebars

We meet so many nice people at Bike Week. When we’ve finished an install for a customer we ask them to come back and let us know how they like them.  We have an “autograph” book that’s been signed by lots of happy customers at different rallies over the years.

This week, we installed Horizon Rebel Heli Bars on Stephanie’s Nightster on Friday, March 9, in the rain. She came back a few days later with the following letter…

“3/13/12   While visiting the many vendors at Daytona 2012 Bike Week I happened upon the manufacturers of the Heli Bars. Suffering with many pain issues while riding, I decided to stop and give them a listen. I am a transplant recipient who has undergone several surgeries, one of which was having 24 lbs of kidneys surgically removed from my flank area, along with other pain issues I have to deal with resulting from the kidney disease, so you can only imagine the nerve damage and pain on a daily basis, especially when riding. I love riding my bike but after 15 short minutes the burning sensation in my flank area is so incredible that I can barely stand it, which is what prompted me to give the Heli Bars a trial run. This by the way is awesome that this wonderful company would allow me to try them before making a full commitment. I was a little hesitant about swapping my Sportsters stock handlebars for a set of Heli Bars. I was thinking that they would take away from the old style look of my bike and the fact that my bike is all black with little to no chrome. But sure enough they had black bars which made my bike look even sweeter. The salesman had me convinced that my comfort level would be much better, so I decided to give it a try.

To my amazement the comfort level was so incredible; it was as though I was riding on the back of my bike instead of at the controls. I rode 15 minutes to test out my back pain, none, then 30, than an hour, absolutely none, I was amazed. I found no discomfort with my two rotator cuff injuries & neck discomfort, so I’m thinking this is just too damn good to be true, and I wondered, can different handle bars make all that difference? A Heli Bar representative was asking me if I would be interested in writing a testimonial regarding how I felt about their product, but I couldn’t do it until I was sure about The Long Ride. Also, I had noticed an immediate difference with the feel of my seat since the installation, so I wondered how the Heli Bars would affect old injuries from my fractured hip and broken tailbone. So I went on a day trip, and rode 5 ½ hours. My lower back, hip, tailbone butt hurt so bad that it was everything I had to make it back to the Heli Bar people at the rally. I found that prior to my Heli Bar installation my seat was seated improperly, and after its adjustment my seat was too close to the Heli Bars. A minor adjustment of the bars and it was a perfect fit. The nice Heli Bar Boys instructed me on how to make any future adjustments, if so needed, with a common hex took and a simple tweak that even a girly girl such as me can do. So to answer my own question “yes” Handle – woops – I mean Heli Bars – can make all the difference (o:

So to sum up my experience –

From the moment that I leaned into my first turn it was as if my bike and I had become one, and with every turn thereafter, we had become the road.

The Heli Bar – It’s a beautiful thing!

Peace, Love, God Bless & Safe Riding

Stephanie K., Baltimore, MD”

Thank you Stephanie, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Hope you continue to enjoy riding in the best of Health!

HeliBars-25 years of Comfort without Compromise (part 3)

26 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by cindyeddy in HeliBars History

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Tags

America's Best, corbin, helibars, honda, Honda v-4 sport touring association, Maine made, Motorcycle Handlebars, v-45 sabre

We were saddened to learn recently that Dana Sawyer, the founder of the Honda V-4 Sport Touring Association passed away last summer. Dana was a great guy who carried out his vision in 1982 to bring together like-minded motorcycle enthusiasts who shared his passion for the new Honda V-4 motorcycles. There are those who credit Dana with coining the term “sport-touring” motorcycles. The V-4 HSTA organization grew to include all sport-touring motorcycle enthusiasts, and it continues today as the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association.

RIP Dana.

Continuing our history…after he bought his 1982 V-45 Sabre, Harry spent lots of time getting together and talking with Dana and other Sabre owners about the attributes and deficiencies of the bike, as motorcyclists are prone to do when they’re not riding. These conversations led him to do some tinkering with the handlebar position to make it more sporty.

This review was from the V-Fourum, Official Newsletter of the         Honda V-4 Sport Touring Association, December, 1983:

“Harry Eddy’s modified low handlebars…Harry’s bars are a tremendous improvement over the stock bars! They do NOT require extreme forward lean. The quality of workmanship is impeccable and the finish first-rate! The bars (about 2 ½” lower than stock) come with stainless steel adjustment adapters. Cost for members is $79.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling ($95 a set plus $5.00 shipping for non-members). Prior to February 1st, members may have their bars modified for $65.00 plus $5.00 shipping. No modifications needed to install; they work particularly well with the Corbin Canyon solo seat (and the double bucket touring seat, for that matter). Make check payable to Heli Modified; the bars will be modified within 48 hours, and returned by U.P.S. Allow one week for delivery time…”

Harry’s handlebar designs weren’t called HeliBars® until 1987, which is why we’re celebrating HeliBars 25th anniversary in 2012.

Prices sure have changed since 1983, but the innovative, customer-driven HeliBar designs that Harry and team continue to put into production has not changed. Our craftsmen and women at HeliBars takes pride in the impeccable quality of the workmanship that we produce in our shop in Maine, and with the guaranteed satisfaction that comes with  every HeliBars product that we ship.

 

Brought to you by Heli Modified, Inc.:  The Makers of HeliBars

HeliBars – 25 years of Comfort without Compromise (part 2)

16 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by cindyeddy in HeliBars History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

helibars, honda, Honda v-4 sport touring association, HSTA, Motorcycle Handlebars, Road Runner magazine, v-45 sabre

In 1982 Honda introduced their brand new sport bike, the V-45 Sabre with the revolutionary V4 liquid cooled engine.  Harry picked one up at Cycles 128 in March, 1982 and it was motorcycle love at first ride. It was very evident that Honda had created a motorcycle that people were passionate about, as Road Runner Magazine wrote in  November/December 2003:

“ It all started with a bike! In the case of Dana L. Sawyer, HSTA founder and member #0001, it was a 1982 Honda V-45 Sabre, which he enjoyed riding very much. Wondering if other people were having the same experience with this bike, he sent a short one-paragraph letter to the editors of motorcycle magazines. A stack of replies arrived in his mailbox with some enthusiasts asking for the foundation of a club. One of them was Dave Nicolson, a Texan who became member #0002 and assumed the duties of Vice President. Together, Sawyer and Nicolson formed the Honda V-4 Sport Touring Association.

They published their first newsletter in August 1982 with nine members counted in the HSTA fold.   That number climbed near 100 when the second newsletter was mailed in October 1982 (Harry was member #48).  The initial members’ meeting was held during Daytona Bike Week in 1983. For the May issue in 1983, the club counted 296 members in 44 states and three foreign countries. The first National Rally was held June 13-16, 1983 at Prairie Creek near Rogers, Arkansas, attended by 100 people, including folks from American Honda and Honda R&D…”

Harry and I, along with his cousin Chris, and our kids – 8 year old Aaron, 5 year old Dara and 3 year old Lana – attended, but I’m pretty sure they only counted Harry as one of the 100 attendees. Our 3 week road trip was an adventure!

At that time Heli Modified had a contract with Fomac of Wilmington to build the first 120 frames for the Avatar 2000, a unique recumbent bicycle. In his spare time Harry rode his Sabre lots of miles, and he began to identify what he could change to make it truly his own custom fit motorcycle – the process which would lead to the creation of the “Inter-Sabre”- which will be the subject of my next entry.

25 years of HeliBars-Comfort Without Compromise- will be continued…

Brought to you by Heli Modified, Inc.:  The Makers of HeliBars

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