Motorcycle handlebars

Changing your motorcycle handlebars alters your riding position more than you might expect: a few millimetres of rise or width decide how much weight goes through your wrists and how easily you turn through traffic. Here you will find aluminium bars from Puig and Rizoma, in black, silver, red, gold or blue, to replace a bar bent in a spill or to tailor the bike to your build.

Straight or tapered: diameter comes first

A straight bar is 22 mm (7/8 in) all the way along, the size used on most nakeds, adventure bikes and scooters with a tubular bar. A tapered bar, often called a fat bar, is 28.6 mm in the centre, where the clamps grip it, and narrows to 22 mm at the ends, so your grips and switchgear stay the same. It is stiffer without needing a crossbar, but fitting one to a bike built for 22 mm needs 28.6 mm clamps, such as some of the Puig risers.

Rise and width

Puig makes its bars in several heights: a high bar sits you more upright, a low one tips you forward for a sportier stance. If in doubt, stay close to the stock measurement; and if you only want the bar higher or closer, risers, or Pullback risers that move it back, do the job without changing the bar. The ends of the Puig bars have an internal thread for 14 mm bar ends; cut the bar down to narrow it and you lose that thread, so you will need expanding bar ends instead.

Before you take the old bar off

• Cables and hoses: with a higher or wider bar, the clutch cable, throttle cables and brake hoses must reach without pulling tight at full lock.
• Clearance: turn the bars from lock to lock and check that nothing touches the tank, screen or fairing.
• Grips: the left one is usually glued and rarely comes off in one piece, so it is a good moment to fit new motorcycle grips.

For other bends, steel bars or the 25.4 mm (1 in) size used on many cruisers, have a look at the Highsider handlebars.