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Goofaroo wrote: The steel bars can bend even in just a minor tip-over as you seem to have found out. The aluminum bars are much more durable and capable of surviving some pretty large impacts. A set of aluminum hand guards will also add some strength.

I thought you want the bars to bend, to absorb some of the energy of the impact.

Btw, I have always used cheap steel bars, and I never bend 'em. Not sure why, but I crash all the time. Haha

terminatr wrote:

Goofaroo wrote: The steel bars can bend even in just a minor tip-over as you seem to have found out. The aluminum bars are much more durable and capable of surviving some pretty large impacts. A set of aluminum hand guards will also add some strength.

I thought you want the bars to bend, to absorb some of the energy of the impact.

Btw, I have always used cheap steel bars, and I never bend 'em. Not sure why, but I crash all the time. Haha

I agree with you here. A lot of people think the stronger the bar the better but I'd much rather bend a cheapo pair of $20 steel bars than break my bar mounts or triple tree.
I also have fallen countless times on steel bars with no issues so I wouldn't say they are easy to bend, just easier I guess.

terminatr wrote:

rbates9 wrote: I would never consider using the aluminum cones in place of the rubber. They are there for a reason. They reduce vibration and give flex to the bars in a crash.

+1.

My KLX-300 has solid mounts, and it twists the fork everytime the bike lay on the ground.

My KDX has never twisted the fork, and I crash it all the time. Rubber cones work!

With my stock front end the bars and the forks would twist, with the klx front end I haven't had any problems.

With the stock KDX front end and Renthal bars I bent a few bars but never twisted the forks. When I switched to the KX front end with cone mounted bars I bent a pair of bars and haven't twisted the forks.

If you had problems with twisting the forks before you probably didn't have them tight enough.

I ordered a set of Cones from Scott's. After learning more from this thread about handlebars etc, I checked out my original cones and from what I can see of them they are dry rotted.
So I figured I would make a little project and replace them. The set was only $20-25.
This looks like a pretty straight forward swap. Is there anything tricky I should know about? Any tips I might need?
Thanks alot.

replaced bars i was going to go renthal cr hi a familiar friend ,checked out options even enduro hi bars renthal BUT went for a compromise"the KDX Jimmy Button bars Renthal" and I am really stoked no riser dramas stand up riding is good as it gets , control & comfort ,KDX digs em great bars hybrid hi MX / Enduro. Risers can come with them but at 5ft 10" no need for me.

Well since the beginning of this thread I have made the switch to 1 1/8 bars. Got some extra cash so decided I'd give em a try. I went with pro taper contours in the cr hi bend (same as I was running before, really wanted the woods high but the local shop only had cr hi in stock. There really isn't much of a difference between the two). I got the rubber bar adaptors as opposed to the 7/8 to 1 1/8 adaptor. Really didn't want to raise the bars any higher and the rubber pro taper mounts are much beefier than stock, that and they are the same price. I like the look a lot. I've only got one ride and really can't feel a difference between my old 7/8 pro tapers. I'm sure they are stronger than the 7/8(though I hope to not find out).

The 1-1/8 do have a good look

Got my new Scott hard rubber cones in. It was a 30 minute job. The old cones were not dry rotted. They were fine. They just looked bad from the little bit that was exposed.
Anyways quick plug: The Scott cones fit perfect. they came with rubber bushings that go between the top and bottom cones. I thought they were too long(the bushings) but everything buttoned up and compressed down nicely. Perfectly even top and bottom, very snug.
I did away with the top and bottom cap covers. The Scott cones come form fitted with built in washers. The hole kit was 20 bucks.