Trimming half an inch off of ends of handlebars - OK or nay?

Howdy,

Got my WRR a month ago and I've got one dilemma - no room in the garage so she has to go in the basement. And wouldn't you know it's about an inch too wide to fit nicely through the door.

Right now I'm buttering the bar ends/mirrors and twisting it through gracefully but I'd love to trim half an inch or so off the ends of the bars to make it go in and out less painfully.

Unfortunately this is my first bike since 1985 and my first dirt ride since I was on a Honda Trail 90 so I don't have any idea whether this is smart or umday.

Any thoughts on this, good or bad?

Thanks,

Rob.

Go for it.

Mine are at 29.5" but not because of limited space in my garage. You will get used to this quickly. I do this to every bike I own because we have a lot of tight trails.

Do it, lots of folks cut down bars because of personal preference.

The only issue you're going to run into is on the throttle side. The stock assembly has a dimple that coincides with a hole in the stock bars. You'll either have to drill a new hole in the bars or remove the dimple.

Cut my OEM bars 3/4 on each side. Not for space.... I think mine are also about 29.5"

1) The narrower bars bring the straight line from my shoulders to my wrists more in-line when standing.

2) When not standing the angle of my wrists to my forearms are more in-line. (IOW my elbows are more at a 90 degree angle).

The benefit (to my ergos) are both better control ( more leverage strength) as well as less forearm fatigues (Arm pump).

Not that I know, but there's probably an analogy to arm wrestling positioning somehow.

I'll have to do a little 'vestigatin to see how much I want to take off. X-, that makes sense about cutting them off to match my shoulder position.

Gonna be in the 40's and ho-hum here this weekend so I can trim the bars and work on lowering the bike a bit.

Thanks guys for the good replies!

I cut an inch of each end. Makes it much narrower, can have higher bars & stuff still fits, & it still handles fine.