Just got my pro taper bars in cr high and looking to narrow them up. What is the best way to cut the bar?

 

Measure, tape, hacksaw! My recommendation is to be conservative when cutting. A little goes a long way, so to speak. I've seen friends cut up to 2 inches off each side and then they never could get comfortable on longer rides and had to scrap the bars.

 

I have used a small plumber's pipe cutter they'd use on copper and small steel pipe. I'll be using them again when I cut down the Renthals on the 250 shortly.



$4.99 at Harbor Freight.

 

+1 on going conservative. I cut some short, back in the day, and afterward there wasn't room for the grips , perches, and switches. I had to go buy a second set of bars. Wow did that suck! In any case, measure how much real estate your grips etc take up, then cut.
Dan

 

D

Dan, hard to believe you did that. I know you had to find a decent use for that short bar later.

 

TNC , I know you are just laughing AT me, but I'll humor you with a response.

Honestly , I don't remember what i did with the short bars. I think I gave them to a buddy that put them on a hill-climb bike he was building.

The bars I replaced the "too short" bars with were on my old "85" KLR, and when i got the KLX in 2008 I put them on it. They are Renthals, but I don't know what bend. I think I ended up taking an inch off each end way back when. When I started riding my Husqvarna I got last year, the bars felt really wide, and I had a harder time squeezing between some of the trees. I plan on cutting the huskies bars down.

 

Don't cut the bar just yet, ride the bike some with the bar full width for a while.

 

That little pipe cutter from harbor freight works great. I bought some protaper klx110 bars for my bw80 and they were too wide. The bar cutter is easy to use and makes perfect cuts.

 

I have the protaper wood low and I love them in tight woods! Those bars are 1" shorter, so only 1/2" less on each side, and I don't think I would go any shorter than that.

 

Atv bars usually have the rise more abrupt so the area for grips perches signal switches is greater.