Riding question

[rgollar]

I got a 2000 kat 600cc and I notice when I drive for more than 20 minutes than my hands and arms feel tired. I have all my weight forward on this bike. I do not grip my handle bars tight at all so its not that. Im 5' 7" and 230lbs. I just feel like im leaning forword to much and have to lock my arms out straight. I was wondering if maybe raising my handle bars would help. I have been riding some form of motorcyle for the last 20yrs. This is the first bike that has done this to me. I have owned 2 harleys, one ninja, two hondas, and now this kat. I love riding this bike, but I keep hearing people say how comfy these bikes are. But Im not sure if I would want to ride this bike very far. I have had other bikes this style and never felt like all my weight was this hard on my hands and arms. Any suggestions to how maybe Im doing something wrong or a inhancement I could do to my bike as I really like this bike other wise. Thanks in advance

[Psycho1]

I have similar problems when I ride my 600 too far, but mine is more a problem with my back. I've been thinking about using the 750 mounts to raise the bars 1 1/2 inches. That should put me a little more upright making it a lot more comfortable on longer rides. I'm 6' around 180lbs

[HS2020]

riser kits will make you sit more up right. I find that If I am leaning to far forward My hands do the same thing. Then I realize what I am doing and just relax a little. Everything goes back to normal. You might also want to change out your hand grips. That can have an affect as well

[katana bob]

what you have to do (as with any sportbike) is use your back muscles to hold you up and get the weight off your hands. you can also try to slide forward on the seat more, but this may put more pressure on "the boys". you will have to do this conciously for a while, then it will become natural. i've ridden my bike to the dragon and back from nashville (spent about 12 hours in the saddle) and at the end of the day my arse and knees hurt but not really my hands or wrists.

[DreKat]

put on some gel grips and buy your self a good set of riding gloves. Are you squeezing the tank with your legs cause that helps me.

[slayergsxf1]

Exercise your arm muscles, push ups curls or whatever. I'm not saying your not in shape or anything but exercising the muscles in your hands wrists and forearms will help.. My right hand used to fall asleep alot, not just on the Kat but my other bikes as well. Moderate exercise helps.

[philwecksr]

What Bob said...

I don't think its as big of a deal to build up your arm muscles... Do some situps to strengthen your abs, do some exercises to strengthen your back muscles and use those to hold you up instead of your arms. Your arms should be loose so the bumps in the road don't translate to your body. Think of your arms as another shock absorber.

[cannondale]

So far the best mod ive done to help the same problem is a Corbin Seat. The saddle seems to have brought me forward and a little lower so now my seating position is more upright. Its not a drastic change, but a change none the less.

Also may want to send Tzortn a pm. He is selling risers. I ordered mine yesterday so once they get in i will let you know how they helped...

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=79343

[rgollar]

please let me know how the risers you ordered work. If you like them I will have to make me a set. Thank you all for the suggestion.

HS2020 I just notice that picture of your sister on the end of your message. Im sorry for your lost.

[ThAzKat]

OK, personal experience, tighten stomach muscles, yes, you have to think about doing this and breath with your chest so that the stomach stays tight. It works for me at 6'3" and a aggressive setup on the katana.(meaning= bike is lower in the front, forcing your weight forward)

[TheWrightKat]

when I start feeling like I am resting on my arms too much I tighten up my flabby abs and use core body muscles to hold me up. The only thing you need your arms for is because your hands can't reach the clutch throttle and brake if you didn't have them. At no point in time should your weight be on your arms (atleast this is how it was explained to me when I first started riding).

[Zepp]

You need to use your stomach and back muscles more to relieve the weight off your arms. Use your legs to squeeze the tank as well.

Also, you need to keep those arms relaxed with a loose but good grip on the bars. Pretend that you are holding a bird in your hands, tight enough so that it won't get away but loose enough so that you don't hurt or squeeze him.

[ThAzKat]

You need to use your stomach and back muscles more to relieve the weight off your arms. Use your legs to squeeze the tank as well.

Also, you need to keep those arms relaxed with a loose but good grip on the bars. Pretend that you are holding a bird in your hands, tight enough so that it won't get away but loose enough so that you don't hurt or squeeze him.

+ 1 on that, ride it like the steel horse it is. Use posture to your benifit here. pay attention to how you are on the bike. There are times on a ride that if the road is straight, I only have fingers on the throttle. a throttlemeiser or stop is nice to.

[The CyberPoet]

+1 on the corbin for most people. At 5'7", it may sit you low enough that the wind over the windshield won't be pushing up on your chest -- that wind-lift should (in the right seating position) unload your wrists at 45 mph and above...

What no one else has mentioned and goes a long way towards comfort is adjusting the position of the levers to your riding position. Having the levers even a degree or two off ideal means that you need to put the rest of yourself into an unnatural position to manipulate them correctly.

Do This:
place the bike on the centerstand.
Sit on the seat as upright as you can.
Place your arms out, hands straight to the arms, palms flat down.
Now lower your arms to put your hands on the bars, retaining this straight-wrist, flat-hand posture. If you fingers don't engage the levers at the same instant the palms engage the bars, the levers are off for you -- you need to move them so there is a straight line from your shoulder to your fingertips.
On the 98+ (and probably the pre-98's), the levers can only be rotated a small amount by loosening the bolt to the lever mount and rotating it. Use this as much as possible.
If the previous step doesn't give you adequate rotation, find the two plastic covers at the risers where the bar tubes mount, pop off the covers (fingernail) and loosen (but don't remove) the two bolts. Now rotate the entire bar (again, there is a small range of motion for the bar -- possibly 5 degrees total -- before hitting the screws).
between the two above steps you should be able to align the levers to any reasonable human's arms -- odds are if you can't meet the need with the rotations available from these two, you're inseam is too short to work on this bike anyway.

Note that any time you change the bar-to-seat configuration (changing seats/saddles, adding risers, etc.), you need to change that alignment again.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[cannondale]

please let me know how the risers you ordered work. If you like them I will have to make me a set.

Just got them installed. Was only able to ride a few miles due to nursing a back injury. They seem to make a noticable change. So far I think they will work out pretty well.
Like Cyber said I had to re-adjust the levers.
Problem I had before the Corbin was after a few hours I could no longer keep weight off the bars using my Core Muscles. After the Corbin I did not seem to get fatigued as quickly. ( After 3 plus hours I would start to get a little sore).
Like others said though. I myself posted on the site when I first started riding the kat with the same issues. Working on not resting on the bars helped more than anything "bolted" on would have. At that point I went from getting wore out after 1/2 hour, to, going 2 hours or so before agony set in.