ATVPT

Jody has pulled all the stops by bringing his ATV, Lucille up to Rox Speed FX standards, which are pretty high. Jody has installed Rox Risers, Bars, Hand Guards, and a Bar Pad ( for great looks and safety, because we know Lucille likes big air.)

Product Review

Product:               ROX Risers / Universal Solex handle bars / PowerMadd Hand Guards / ROX dash mount.

Test Duration:    Installed on 02-09-2006

Odometer:          over 100 miles

Tested By:         Jody Robinson

Machine:             Suzuki Twin Peaks 700 (Kawasaki Prairie)

Review Date:       03-02-2006

      Changing handle bars isn’t something that most utility riders think about doing to their quad.  That is something that is usually only done by sport riders and racers.  In reality, this should probably be one of the first mods done to a stock quad.  After all, bars are the connection between you and your quad, and stock machines were setup for the masses.  They are a compromise at best and often, uncomfortable. The thin steel stocker bars are weak and it doesn’t take much to bend or break them. 

      Two key improvements can be made by changing the bars; the “degrees of sweep” and the “rise”.   The degrees of sweep or D.O.S. of most stock utility handlebars are very high.  To understand this, stand up on the foot pegs, lean forward over the bars and look down.  Chances are the outer ends of the bars are bent back toward you.  My stock bars were bent back so much, that it made the quad hard to steer, especially if my machine was loaded down.  My wrists would fatigue from being in this uncomfortable and unnatural position after time.  To fix this, I needed some new bars that had a lower D.O.S.  (The closer the handgrip sections of the bars are to being in a straight line, the lower the degree of sweep.)

      The rise is simply the vertical distance from the steering stem to the grips.  This is usually controlled by selecting the handlebar with the desired amount of rise.  In general, you will find that most bars with a low degree of sweep are made for sport quads or bikes and have a low amount of rise, usually between 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches.  Trouble is, most big utility quads need lots of rise.  Mine has about 6 ¾” in stock form. That’s were the risers come in.  They make up the difference and let you get to your comfort zone, wherever that may be.  You are really only limited by the amount of slack present in the control cables.  Mine can accommodate up to 7 ¼” of total rise with the stock cables.  Measure yours before shopping.  All machines aren’t created equal from the factory, even though they may come off the same assembly line.  If you like the aggressive feel of a sport quad, choose a bar with lower amounts of rise and position them inline with the steering stem (when viewed from the side).  If you like to ride more relaxed, look for a bar and riser combination with lost of rise and lean them back toward you.  I craved the comfort and more aggressive positioning that the bars on my motocross bike gave me, so this is what I did to get that feel on my big utility.

HANDLEBAR RISERS:  Rox 3 ½” Pivoting riser

      The Rox Risers are the heart of this project.  This is what allows you to mount up the bar of your choice.  You control the angle of the risers by simply tightening the steering stem clamps when you orient them where you want.  You have similar adjustment between the top riser clamps and handlebars as well.  This gives you a nice wide range to set the bars wherever you want them to be.  Much better than the bars putting you where they want you to be!

      There are several pivoting riser heights to choose from; 2”, 2 ¼”, 2 ½”, and 3 ½”.  You can also pick your handlebar clamp diameter.  You are not limited to a standard 7/8” diameter bar anymore!  Just select the riser designated for 1 1/8” diameter “fat” bars.

      Rounding out your riser choices are the non pivoting, block-type risers, and the trick anti-vibration risers.  Both of these types will work with standard steering stem clamps.

      If you want to add a dash mount panel, be sure and order the special extended top handlebar clamps.  More on this in the Dash panel section below.

HANDLEBARS:     Universal Solex CR-HI

      The Universal bars are well made and look good.  The one I chose was the Solex CR-HI with 2 3/8” rise.  It is a fat bar design, which is 1 1/8” in diameter at the clamps but taper out to the industry standard of 7/8” for mounting up your stock controls.  Made from KINESIUM, an Aluminum/Titanium alloy, they are shoot-peened and then finished off with dark grey anodizing.  The wall thickness at the bar ends is over 3/16” so they should be very tough indeed.  The low 16 degrees of sweep of these bars position your wrists in a much more natural, comfortable position.  They also reduced the force required to steer considerably.  Also noteworthy is the attention to detail.  Universal bars have a nice etched alignment indicator in the center of the bars to help center them in the clamps, the bars include a high end, very dense but soft bar pad with a black and grey cover sporting the Universal logo.

HANDGUARDS:     PowerMadd Star Series

      These hand guards are so unique that I was skeptical of their strength when I first saw them.  At a race last weekend, a quad was involved in a crash that broke the stock handlebars in two pieces.  The PowerMadd hand guards that were on them held up and will be used again another day.  That’s more than I can say for those weak stock bars!

      They fasten inboard of the grip thru a billet aluminum arm and set screw.  This places the guard far enough out in front of the controls to enable operation of the Front diff lock and parking break levers.  In the winter, they gave me enough room to squeeze in a set of cold weather handlebar mitts.  They also act as a primary barrier that keeps snow and mud off the front of the mitts and helped keep them dry.  For the summer, I can remove the snap-in cover plates and let the wind in.  They are adjustable up and down by simply loosening the set screw and rotating the arm.  Side to side adjustment is made by choosing where the arm mounts to the tab on the guards.  There are several places that they can mount giving you side to side flexibility even if the arm location is fixed on the handlebars.

      I have not installed them on a stock Prairie / Twin Peaks, but a friend of mine has.  They were a very tight fit but can be done.  It required trimming a small notch in the handlebar plastic.

DASH MOUNT and BAR PAD:     by Rox

      When you remove the standard handlebar setup on a Prairie or Twin Peaks, you also loose the place to put your LED display or dash.  Rox offers a dash mount which makes for a nice custom touch to your handlebar set-up.  It is machined aluminum and comes pre-drilled for the 3 bolt pattern specific to the Kawasaki/Suzuki display.  It mounts to the Rox Riser top handlebar clamps which have extensions solely for that purpose.  Other models are available. 

      They also offer a nice rounded bar pad with the Rox logo available in different colors for the finishing touch.

INSTALLATION NOTES:

      The PowerMadd Hand guards are a tight squeeze on the Twin Peaks/Prairie machines, but they can be used with a few modifications.  The control housing for the thumb throttle/4wd switch takes up a lot of real estate on the bars.  I had to remove a spacer tab from the front brake housing with a Dremel tool to have enough room.  There still isn’t enough room to install a standard set of slip on grips because the outside ½” will be unsupported.  The solution is to use the 120mm long clamp on grips from ODI (see the reviews on the ODI grips for more information).  They are rigid enough to be unsupported for a short distance.  To re-center the bars, I loosened the clamps and slid them to the left ¼”.  With a bar pad installed, you can’t visually detect that the bars are shifted, and they feel natural.

      One other installation note worth mentioning is that the thumb throttle housing has a small anti-rotation pin that requires a hole in the bottom of the handlebar.  Prior to drilling the hole, reattach all of the controls on the bars and align everything into the desired position. Sit on the machine and get a feel for it first, then drill the hole 1/16” oversize to give you some wiggle room.  The Universal bars were so thick that the hole did not go all the way thru, but still allowed the housing to seat properly.

      CAUTION!  Resist the temptation for an immediate test ride.  Make sure the cables are not in a bind and the bars turn freely thru the full range of suspension travel.  Check the front brake line for tension with the quad jacked up and the front suspension unloaded.  If the throttle cable gets stretched, this can cause a dangerous situation.  The quad may accelerate by merely turning the handlebars.  Check this by cranking the quad and turning the bars side to side while in neutral.  If it revs up, readjust the throttle cable tension. If you need more slack, reposition or adjust the controls.

FIELD TEST:

      I could tell an immediate difference before I pushed the start button.  Seating position with this combo shifts the rider forward, into a slightly more aggressive stance, which is where I prefer to be.  I fired up the quad and ran around a few tight obstacles.  The feel was precise and more sensitive to input.   Steering has been redefined thru better leverage and wrist position.  It takes a little getting used to at first because it is much easier to steer.  I found myself over-correcting because I was used to the old heavy feeling, poor position of the old bars.  The old mindset faded after a few minutes and I welcomed the new feel.

      After putting in over 100 miles, on the snow covered trails of West Virginia, I can confirm that this set-up has indeed extended seat time and greatly reduced wrist fatigue.  Arm pump was not a problem after 10 miles or so of hard, aggressive riding, as it sometimes was before.

      When we loaded up to come home, I hopped on a friend of mine’s identical quad with the stock bar setup to pull it on the trailer.  I couldn’t believe the difference.  This mod is now near the top of my list of things to do first on a quad, right up there with replacing the stock wheels and tires.

PROS:

ü      More precise feel

ü      Easier Steering

ü      More Comfortable

ü      Custom fit seating position and posture

ü      Adjustable

ü      Good looks

CONS:

¨      Risers made with inch size fasteners.  If you own a metric machine, you need to add a standard 3/16” hex to your toolbox.

¨      The dash display wires are exposed.  A cover or number plate would be good here.

¨      Hand guards and controls compete for space on some machines.

      The Rox risers allow the rider to position the bars where you want and they look good doing it.

      The Universal Handle bars are strong, light, and comfortable.  Much better than Stock bars.

      PowerMadd combines good looks, flexibility, and toughness in their hand guards.

      Rox puts the finishing touch on the package with a custom dash mount.

All components in this review are Highly Recommended for ALL Quads.

Enter here to purchase Rox products.

Rox can also be reached via email at sales@roxspeedfx.com 

Or by telephone at 218-326-1794,  fax at 218-327-1006 (8 AM and 4:30 PM CST)