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I see in the myrtle beach police arrest records something I find ridiculous . At a recent bike rally the cops were stopping anyone on a motorcycle that had handlebars that appeared to be more than 15 inches higher than the seat height. This is some sort of local law. They were taking the people to jail for this and slapping a fat fine on them. This is what makes people hate cops. Unless the bars were obvious to be a real safety hazard they should have just given warnings....
Yeah, I was down there that week and evidently ape hangers are back in style, like a 1960s Roger Corman biker movie. They looked funny on bikes with fairings, you know, where the fairing is widens out for a particular width and rise of bar and now the guy has ape hangers sticking up way above the part of the fairing his grips are supposed to be behind. Serious lapse in tast, kind of the cycling version of white shoes and a white belt.
Last edited by Irishtom29; 05-31-2013 at 02:50 PM..
In a town nearby there is a large highway sign apon entering that says loud pipes and radios subject to fines. I don't know if they write tickets but I wouldn't want to try them.
There are so many laws on the books that a police man can really give someone what appears to be a hard time. Years ago a coworker driving a company truck was pulled over by a statey and giving a ticket for driving with his rear tire on the white line for too many miles?? Not speeding, not swerving, not from not using a indicator to swap lanes??
Weird.
I can see a cop taking a bad attitude with those high bars
Handlebar height laws are in a lot of places. Whether they enforce it or not is another story. When I rode, I used to check state and local laws and it seemed that shoulder height bars would never get you stopped, but bars above shoulder height would get you stopped.
Bars that are too low, or two high, are unsafe. The amount of strength needed to turn it one way or the other is optimum at shoulder height or a little lower. Yeah, before you say it doesn't take much to turn, put the bike in a rut, run off the road in mud, or start to lay the bike down and you'll agree. Also, in a crash, where do you want the handlebars as you try to exit the bike over the top?
I can understand the "to see if I can do it!" appeal of Ape Hangers. But for pure riding, they'd be horrible. Kinda like standing holding a sheet of drywall over your head for an hour.
I sat on an Iron with HD mini apes and I was surprised that it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I'm about 6' and my hands were about an inch or two below the top of my shoulder. I didn't test ride it though. It looked a lot like this.
I sat on an Iron with HD mini apes and I was surprised that it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I'm about 6' and my hands were about an inch or two below the top of my shoulder. I didn't test ride it though. It looked a lot like this.
I don't doubt that those could be perfectly comfortable. But when you get your hands higher than your head, it's not just about safety. Fatigue HAS to set it, and rapidly.
To be clear, I don't really care if a guy has handlebars he has to stand on his seat to reach. But I'm not riding a bike equipped like that!
I think they look stupid. But more importantly, I don't how you can effectively steer a bike in those extreme examples.
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