Trying out different handlebar risers on my Triumph Scrambler 400 X

I have been spoilt by very upright and relaxed posture on my earlier bikes and wanted something similar on the 400X.

BHPian nasirkaka recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hi, I have done much tinkering with the handlebar position on the 400X.

To begin with, the bike does not necessarily need a handlebar riser as the handlebar position is good enough for off-road recommended "attack Position" even while standing and riding. In this position, the upper body is slightly bent forward and the chin is on top of the handlebar. At max, some rotation of handlebar maybe required to achieve this attack position posture.

But that is all theory. In reality, different rider's requirements differ. I have been spoilt by very upright and relaxed posture on my earlier bikes and wanted something similar on the 400X. I never got the Carbon racing riser, but got the Zana riser.

This Zana riser is a pull back type where it raises and also brings back the handlebar position. This position feels good while sitting and riding but while standing and riding, the handlebar feels too close to the body, especially on inclines. If we try and over-rotate the handlebar away from the body, the control switches, levers, etc start fouling with respect to their position on ther handlebar. For eg, the clutch lever when pressed with starting hitting the light flash switch. I was not too happy with this position mainly as standing and riding was not satisfactory.

While working on these trials, I found out the Zana riser could also be turned by 180 degrees and used, as shown in this diagram. Fig.A is standard handlebar. Fig.B is with zana handlebar the way it is intended to be used. Fig.C is zana Handlebar rotated and used. I installed the risers like Fig.C and it worked better than Fig.A for my requirement. But the handlebar was too high now and not really ideal for sitting and riding. Standing and riding was comfortable here. Again not completely satisfied.

So I installed 2" Rox pivot riser. Zana risers are around 1.5" and that itself is just about ok for the cable lengths. The Rox is relatively taller and cable length could be slight hindrance. I have also realised that different 400X have slight difference in their cable length slacks. My bike has a bit more leeway compared to some other 400X I have seen. With some adjustment made to the clutch cable, I could manage to install the Rox risers. Rox being a dual pivot riser gives us ulmost flexibility.

After a lot of trial at various angles & positions and also switching between Rox and Zana a few times, I eventually settled for this position. As we can see, the Rox riser if forward rotates to a large entent. This helps create extra room for standing and riding and also raises the handlebar by about 1.5". I sort of found this as best balance between comfort while seated and also while standing and riding. Cables and controls are just about fine. Clutch cable required some adjustement using plastic cable ties but there was no re-routing done. Overall, I am happy with this setting.

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