When aftermarket triple clamps first appeared in the early 1990s, they were bought for the sole purpose of enhancing the appearance of your ride. No one gave it much more thought than that; after all, who cares what it does as long as it looks good, right? Then Answer Racing developed the ProTaper handlebar. It drastically cut down on vibration transmitted from the motor to your hands and assisted in impact absorption. But this bar was larger than a standard handlebar and would not fit into a stock triple clamp. And then there's the whole revised fork-offset rage. Now there were plenty of reasons to buy a triple clamp.
And now here's another reason to buy one: Tru Technologies' Rich Truchinski, who once worked at Answer Racing, has developed the Ride Control Top Triple Clamp. This $299.95 clamp is designed to reduce engine vibration and assist in hard impacts. It's made of 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum and comes in a machined finish. The Ride Control Top Triple Clamp's four-point mounting system consists of two hard pivot points on the rear of the clamp and two rubber points on the front. The two points in the front have rubber bushings above and below the clamp; thus the bar clamp isn't just for impacts but also helps under acceleration. As an articulated bar clamp, it increases absorption capacity while reducing flex when turning or in the event of a fall. The Ride Control clamp weighs about the same as a stock rubber-mounted clamp and a little more than a solid one. It can be ordered with one of three rubber bushings--soft, medium or hard. The Ride Control also seems to help reduce arm-pump. Overall, this clamp works really well.
--Donnie Bales