I'm short and tend to hunch over and push on the handlebars which causes some wrist pain.

To determine if slightly higher 14 handlebars would relieve some of the wrist discomfort I made some spacers that raised my bars about 5/8 of an inch.

I felt no difference whatsoever; the wrist discomfort remained the same.

Sounds like you may need to do a bit of abdominal work.Grip with your knees,take the pressure off your wrists.Another 1/2 inch may be all your need physically to change the angle of your torso.(so you're not leaning on the bars).

take a few long trips with the risers the wind blast on your chest will take alot of weight of your wrist.Also I thing the real Heli risers move the bars up and back so they might feel better than what you made.Blue07 makes two good points I know thats not some thing you would worry about as much on a touring type bike. Ride it for a bit you will get use to it

I think ZZ is sitting on a bar stool moving his hands down on a kid's tricycle. Looks like you need to cut the seat down. Park the seat against the wall. Stick a cushion over the frame. Take it for a slow ride you don't damage the family jewels. See if the numb goes away with the higher bars now.

Hub: I think ZZ is sitting on a bar stool moving his hands down on a kid's tricycle. Looks like you need to cut the seat down. Park the seat against the wall. Stick a cushion over the frame. Take it for a slow ride you don't damage the family jewels. See if the numb goes away with the higher bars now.

A lower seat would compensate for my short legs.

willidx4: take a few long trips with the risers the wind blast on your chest will take alot of weight of your wrist.Also I thing the real Heli risers move the bars up and back so they might feel better than what you made.Blue07 makes two good points I know thats not some thing you would worry about as much on a touring type bike. Ride it for a bit you will get use to it

I bought a tube bender so I can fabricate some handlebars.
I can make some risers too.
One of these days I'll make them to suit ME.

* Last updated by: DZINURZZ on 7/13/2010 @ 2:13 PM *

Don't lock your elbows, just bend them a little to take the weight with your abs instead of your arms.

Advice to "grip the tank with" is good for short hauls, but tensing any part of your body on 300, 400 mile rides is a quick way to end up sore or worse.

Relaxed is the way to go.

I've found my LSL setup is very relaxing. The bike still handles great, I just am sitting in a relaxed position. So I get less tired at the end of a long day riding. This is why I liked my ZX11 so much, she wasn't a racebike-wannabe like the ZX14.

Kawasaki messed up the ergonomics on the ZX14 big time. It isn't going to be raced except maybe on a drag strip. So who needs a racer's tuck on such a machine. The older big dogs had more relaxed handlebars on them, and we had just as much fun on them as you can have hunched over on the ZX14 without the soreness or being tired after riding all day, sun up to dusk.

Of course, K didn't bring the Concours grips up or back enough either. Nobody I know with one, which is about 20 or so of them) wants to learn forward at all. Almost all complain.

Before you kids say "it doesn't bother me", it didn't bother me 30 years ago either. I was doing nines with a street legal Z1 which had rearsets and clipons in the mid 70s. I rode that bike all the way to the south tip of Florida from Ft. Benning, Georgia once. And it didn't bother me.

But I would have been a lot more comfortable if I had left the stock handlebars alone.

I bought a tube bender so I can fabricate some handlebars.
I can make some risers too.
One of these days I'll make them to suit ME.

Thats cool but you will need a new Triple Tree and custom length brake line also for those bars. A simple solution might be the LSL setup like someone mentioned. Sportbike trackgear has the entire setup for $464

Sportbike track gear

* Last updated by: willidx4 on 7/14/2010 @ 10:45 AM *

willidx4: Thats cool but you will need a new Triple Tree and custom length brake line also for those bars. A simple solution might be the LSL setup like someone mentioned. Sportbike trackgear has the entire setup for $464

I'll be able to use my OEM triple tree.
I haven't figured out how I want to make the longer throttle cable(s) setup.
I've put off changing to braided stainless front brake lines; when the new bars are dimensioned I'll know the correct length for the new brake lines.

Does raising the bars not make the bike want to lift the front wheel easier when accelerating? Maybe the guys who have raised the bars could tell, cause I have thought of doing that, but I do not want the front wheel to lift.