Have you used this?
www.garagejournal.com
I have not. I've just seen it on their website before. For me, I don't have enough area to justify that type of handle as it only takes a few minutes of touch up after mowing.
I'll only buy a string trimmer with a bicycle bar. Haven't used one with a conventional handle in well over 20 years.As mentioned above, a shoulder strap or harness will do far more to relieve your back than a single grip will. Add a "bicycle handlebar" (what Stihl calls it) to it and you'll be even happier and in less pain.
****. I'd forgotten about that sink rim seal AND it's time to check the forklift battery water again.... Gotta remember to not take pictures against that door!
I went down this rabbit hole before and priced out replacing the D handle with a bicycle handle on my trimmer (Stihl Kombi), it would have been cheaper to buy a whole new trimmer just for grass!!As mentioned above, a shoulder strap or harness will do far more to relieve your back than a single grip will. Add a "bicycle handlebar" (what Stihl calls it) to it and you'll be even happier and in less pain.
****. I'd forgotten about that sink rim seal AND it's time to check the forklift battery water again.... Gotta remember to not take pictures against that door!
My problem wasn’t the weight on my arms and wrists. It’s that at 6’4” tall the angle the trimmer head engaged the ground was nowhere close to parallel, so to compensate I leaned forward. Hence the Darwin’s grip images of bent back cavemen.
I have the same problem with non parallel heads. I wish they made shafts or trimmers for tall people. Like a custom bendable curved shaft for trimmers. I also bought 2 knockoff Darwin grips from Amazon. It helps some.
No, it would totally **** to have a bike handle tiller. I've had a Stihl bicycle handle trimmer (gave it to a good friend who needed it more than me), and own a few Kombi machines. The bicycle handle is fantastic for string trimming, and probably brush cutting, but doesn't lend itself to much else. It lets you hover the trimmer head at a height and counter the cutting torque with the handles, but you have very little vertical control authority. Every single time the tiller tines contact the ground, they'll kick right back up in the air, and you'd be relying entirely on your wrist strength to keep the tiller cutting into earth. I had (and sold) the tiller attachment for my Kombi, and found it took too much effort to keep the tines cutting even when I could lean on the D handle.
A tilt/swivel head would be a godsend for us vertically-challenged folks, too. I have an area up front of the pub where I have to trim the verge of a road with a fence right at the bottom. Trying to get the head parallel to the ground without falling into the fence... I can think of things I'd rather be doing....
I have a tiller attachment and use it 3-4 hours a year. Yes it kicks a bit but i find it quite manageable for my raised garden and flower beds full of good topsoil. Much more kicks on hard pack clay or unimproved ground.
That red quick release lever broke the first 5 minutes. They drilled it full of holes to make it weaker. I replaced mine with a solid M6x1.0x45mm stainless steel bolt with two washers and the matching nylon insert lock nut. I got rid of the spring too. I'm not going to be adjusting the thing. It's a set it and forget type thing.
Funny--I'm taking the Allen screws out of our Stihl handle bars and replacing them with knobs so I can easily adjust it for height and slope.
That's a whole different animal that handlebar trimmer.
