Try these guys. HeliBars® Honda Handlebars and Risers | HeliBars They don't list the CBR250 but they make great stuff. Send them an email from this address and request that they make higher bars. I bet they listen. There are a lot of CBR250s out there.
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I have no affiliation with the organization in the link I supplied - but I bet if you sent them an email they'll answer your questions
Bill
Sorry to bother you with unnecessary questions. Let me ask them directly.I have no affiliation with the organization in the link I supplied - but I bet if you sent them an email they'll answer your questions
Bill
Thanks for the pointers!
Jalva (and others interested inthe Driven bars): I've had a set for a few months, so I'll add in my personal take. I didn't get any photos of them, but they're pretty standard looking without any grips.
Forward: I'm 5'8", 125-135lbs, 33 inch inseam (just to give a body perspective).
Ride Position
The Driven clipons certainly do push you up a bit since I think they offer the highest risers of all clipon manufacturers that make a clipon for the CBR. But for me -- subjectively of course -- I found this riding position worse and more painful than the stock bars. I tried a few variations, running the clipons at a stock angle, pushed forward, and pulled back. All with the vertical angle flat and 10 degrees down. The best setup for me in terms of bike feel was at a stock angle or a little forward and the bars pushed 10 degrees down on the vertical. But, for daily driving, that was a bit awkward and still didn't like the feel of the bike all that much. I set them back to a flat position and stock angle which was best for a daily driver setup. However, I found that while this did push me up into a more vertical riding position, to remain comfortable with my back I had to lock my arms and put my weight on my wrists. If I didn't lock my arms I was bent over more but not enough, which just stressed my core muscles more than the stock position. I basically had difficulty finding a position that provided the required nimbleness on the arms yet didn't overwork my core.
Controls
The bars aren't predrilled, so you'll have to drill holes for the "locking" pins in the control modules, or dremel the pins off. Or you can just have a gap and duct tape over
The stock clutch and brake lines are long enough to work, but not ideally. I had to remove the lower triple clamp clip for the brakes to get enough slack. The clutch was mostly OK, though was at it's limit. I didn't dig through the farings and frame to see if there were any cable retention bits to remove. I also had to angle the levers down a bit more than I would have liked. So the stock cables/controls would work, though longer aftermarket ones would be better.
Bike Control/Feel
In a straight (0 degree) vertical position I didn't quite feel like my inputs were translating fully into the bike. Feedback was vague, and I felt like there was a lot of wasted effort in my steering. Not understeer or anything, but more like I was just pushing at air. At a fully down veritcal position, some of this was resolved, but no matter what the bike wasn't as nimble or responsive as it was with the stock clipons. I just flipped back onto the stock clipons tonight after finally getting in my OEM replacement, and the bike is so much more nimble and responsive than with the Driven risers. Road and bike feel are translated with much greater accuracy so I didn't feel so disconnected while riding. Though no matter what, if you wind up increasing the height it's going to change the handling characteristics anyway.
Issues
The single biggest issue I ran into was windscreen clearance. Unless I angled the bars down vertically to their max and drastically lowered the brake lever, the brake reservior would clip the windscreen on a left-lock turn. Since the stock windscreen has a lip, it would then catch on this lip coming out of a left-lock. This meant slow speed U-turns and the like were difficult to impossible due to the unexpected catching of the reservior. If you increased your radius and didn't lock, then it probably wouldn't be an issue. Likewise, locking the handlebars required me to force the reservior under the windscreen. On a right-lock, the clutch lever usually prevented a full lock, or if the lever was out of the way the control module would bang against the screen. I lost count of how many times I turned on my brights accidentally while sharp turning from a stop or into/out of a parking space.
I'm not sure if any of the aftermarket windscreens would solve this. The impact points are pretty low down the stock screen, so you'd have to cut off a good 2"-3" of the screen or cut "pockets" for the controls to clear. A windscreen or modification that swept the screen up at a higher angle would help, too.
Note that I didn't get the driven brake resevior clamp. I'm not sure how/if that'd make a difference. I also don't know anyone else with the bike, so I can't compare to see if my windscreen happens to be askew or something.
Another big issue I ran in to was that the clipons would refuse to stay horizontally flat. I countersteer with pushing primarily, and this often resulted in the bar going down from 0 degrees to it's max 10 degree down angle. And since countersteering resulted in pushing, I'd start into the corner only to have the bar suddenly drop out from under me. When I was back stable, I'd then have to yank it back up. I tightened the bolts to the point of nearly stripping them, and even cut off a little of the bolt just in case it was bottoming out. The only thing that stopped this was a judicious amount of locktite just under and around the surface of the bolt.
Other niggles: the included bar caps fell out within a week. After running these for two months not even in the rain, the right bar started to show signs of corrosion (might have come from the corroded nut for the bar weight I installed).
Other Notes
Something to keep in mind if you change your ride height is how your noggin' is giong to be positioned into the wind coming off the screen. For me, this put the wind smack dab in the middle of my eyes.
Summary
The Driven bars really aren't good at all if you're not planning on doing other mods, or you are just looking for a more standard-like seating position. If they didn't wind up clipping the windscreen and randomly fall down without being glued into position, I'd say they'd be OK for the highest riding position. Keep in mind your body size and preferences will also come into play. Also, a lot of aftermarket clipons are manufactured with racing in mind and to be pretty universal.
Personally, if I were looking to get some extra height, I'd get the Woodcraft risers with the max height. They're a smidgen shorter than the Driven, but that should provide just the right amount of reduction to gain clearance for all stock body parts, controls, and cables.
Alternatively, you can look at buying some triple clamp standard bar clamps and drilling holes in the clamp. After this, you can change from clipons to a standard bar that pushes up and back, giving you more ride height and clearing the stock windscreen as well. Though you'd certainly have to get aftermarket cables in this case (clutch and brake).
Forward: I'm 5'8", 125-135lbs, 33 inch inseam (just to give a body perspective).
Ride Position
The Driven clipons certainly do push you up a bit since I think they offer the highest risers of all clipon manufacturers that make a clipon for the CBR. But for me -- subjectively of course -- I found this riding position worse and more painful than the stock bars. I tried a few variations, running the clipons at a stock angle, pushed forward, and pulled back. All with the vertical angle flat and 10 degrees down. The best setup for me in terms of bike feel was at a stock angle or a little forward and the bars pushed 10 degrees down on the vertical. But, for daily driving, that was a bit awkward and still didn't like the feel of the bike all that much. I set them back to a flat position and stock angle which was best for a daily driver setup. However, I found that while this did push me up into a more vertical riding position, to remain comfortable with my back I had to lock my arms and put my weight on my wrists. If I didn't lock my arms I was bent over more but not enough, which just stressed my core muscles more than the stock position. I basically had difficulty finding a position that provided the required nimbleness on the arms yet didn't overwork my core.
Controls
The bars aren't predrilled, so you'll have to drill holes for the "locking" pins in the control modules, or dremel the pins off. Or you can just have a gap and duct tape over
The stock clutch and brake lines are long enough to work, but not ideally. I had to remove the lower triple clamp clip for the brakes to get enough slack. The clutch was mostly OK, though was at it's limit. I didn't dig through the farings and frame to see if there were any cable retention bits to remove. I also had to angle the levers down a bit more than I would have liked. So the stock cables/controls would work, though longer aftermarket ones would be better.
Bike Control/Feel
In a straight (0 degree) vertical position I didn't quite feel like my inputs were translating fully into the bike. Feedback was vague, and I felt like there was a lot of wasted effort in my steering. Not understeer or anything, but more like I was just pushing at air. At a fully down veritcal position, some of this was resolved, but no matter what the bike wasn't as nimble or responsive as it was with the stock clipons. I just flipped back onto the stock clipons tonight after finally getting in my OEM replacement, and the bike is so much more nimble and responsive than with the Driven risers. Road and bike feel are translated with much greater accuracy so I didn't feel so disconnected while riding. Though no matter what, if you wind up increasing the height it's going to change the handling characteristics anyway.
Issues
The single biggest issue I ran into was windscreen clearance. Unless I angled the bars down vertically to their max and drastically lowered the brake lever, the brake reservior would clip the windscreen on a left-lock turn. Since the stock windscreen has a lip, it would then catch on this lip coming out of a left-lock. This meant slow speed U-turns and the like were difficult to impossible due to the unexpected catching of the reservior. If you increased your radius and didn't lock, then it probably wouldn't be an issue. Likewise, locking the handlebars required me to force the reservior under the windscreen. On a right-lock, the clutch lever usually prevented a full lock, or if the lever was out of the way the control module would bang against the screen. I lost count of how many times I turned on my brights accidentally while sharp turning from a stop or into/out of a parking space.
I'm not sure if any of the aftermarket windscreens would solve this. The impact points are pretty low down the stock screen, so you'd have to cut off a good 2"-3" of the screen or cut "pockets" for the controls to clear. A windscreen or modification that swept the screen up at a higher angle would help, too.
Note that I didn't get the driven brake resevior clamp. I'm not sure how/if that'd make a difference. I also don't know anyone else with the bike, so I can't compare to see if my windscreen happens to be askew or something.
Another big issue I ran in to was that the clipons would refuse to stay horizontally flat. I countersteer with pushing primarily, and this often resulted in the bar going down from 0 degrees to it's max 10 degree down angle. And since countersteering resulted in pushing, I'd start into the corner only to have the bar suddenly drop out from under me. When I was back stable, I'd then have to yank it back up. I tightened the bolts to the point of nearly stripping them, and even cut off a little of the bolt just in case it was bottoming out. The only thing that stopped this was a judicious amount of locktite just under and around the surface of the bolt.
Other niggles: the included bar caps fell out within a week. After running these for two months not even in the rain, the right bar started to show signs of corrosion (might have come from the corroded nut for the bar weight I installed).
Other Notes
Something to keep in mind if you change your ride height is how your noggin' is giong to be positioned into the wind coming off the screen. For me, this put the wind smack dab in the middle of my eyes.
Summary
The Driven bars really aren't good at all if you're not planning on doing other mods, or you are just looking for a more standard-like seating position. If they didn't wind up clipping the windscreen and randomly fall down without being glued into position, I'd say they'd be OK for the highest riding position. Keep in mind your body size and preferences will also come into play. Also, a lot of aftermarket clipons are manufactured with racing in mind and to be pretty universal.
Personally, if I were looking to get some extra height, I'd get the Woodcraft risers with the max height. They're a smidgen shorter than the Driven, but that should provide just the right amount of reduction to gain clearance for all stock body parts, controls, and cables.
Alternatively, you can look at buying some triple clamp standard bar clamps and drilling holes in the clamp. After this, you can change from clipons to a standard bar that pushes up and back, giving you more ride height and clearing the stock windscreen as well. Though you'd certainly have to get aftermarket cables in this case (clutch and brake).
Kyle, thanks a ton for your detailed feedback, its very helpful. Let me spend sometime digesting all of it
One question: I am assuming that the clip-ons are installed so that the handlebars are between the forks and the windshield. Can we move it the other way so that the bars are between the forks and the tank? Dont know if I was able to express myself clearly but this would involve turning the clamps of the clip-ons by 180 degrees. This should also move the bars closer aiding the upright position without having to stretch for it. Should also resolve the issue with the bars hitting the windscreen. Not sure if there is enough clearance between the tank and the bars.
Any thoughts?
Apologies; I was out and about for a while doing a little touring and visiting some friends, so this is the first chance I've had to get back on the forums.Kyle, thanks a ton for your detailed feedback, its very helpful. Let me spend sometime digesting all of it
One question: I am assuming that the clip-ons are installed so that the handlebars are between the forks and the windshield. Can we move it the other way so that the bars are between the forks and the tank? Dont know if I was able to express myself clearly but this would involve turning the clamps of the clip-ons by 180 degrees. This should also move the bars closer aiding the upright position without having to stretch for it. Should also resolve the issue with the bars hitting the windscreen. Not sure if there is enough clearance between the tank and the bars.
Any thoughts?
I *think* I'm following your question -- turn the clipons so the riser portion is to the inside of the clamp/forks vice the normal outside? It could be done since the Driven risers don't have the nubs that the stock clipons do, but you would run into tank clearance issues. Even with the clipons in a normal position, I seem to recall getting my thumb stuck on a full lock with thicker gloves. It'd avoid "catching" the windscreen, but you'd be hitting the tank pretty quick. If you don't mind an increased turning radius at low speeds, it should be fine. Once you're into countersteering territory, you should still have enough clearance. The risers just aren't tall enough to fully clear the tank over the top, if you will.
Keep in mind I'm going by memory since I've removed the Driven clipons a while ago (like the D3 grips, though). If I can get some time, I might be able to double check the tank clearance since I haven't put the clipons into storage yet.
Thank you sir, your advice is taken and I am keeping my stock bars. At least for now
2
These look perfect for my idea of converting a crashed CBR250R into a dual sport bike!
Thank you for your detailed analysis of the Driven item, kamikazekyle. I think I'm going to keep my stock bars on my new bike!
With regard to the Hurricane kit: with the standard clamp I could source a set of these very cool bars from S.E. Asia. Infinite adjustability, it seems.
On a Honda Ruckus (set low)
Link to Racing Boy website
On materials it only says "alloy", not specifying type. But it also says they only weigh 1.932kg (4+lbs).
Click on either image for a larger version.
Word is that they only cost @$100USD in Malaysia and @$200 in Viet Nam!
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