Rollbars

If you are looking for safety, I would check out the Hard Dog rollbars. They have a wide selection and make very high-quality units, including a braced and functional dual-hoop bar.

 Pat

This is better called a "style bar". It's cosmetic only, and in my opinion is a danger in itself. As another poster suggested, look at a true roll bar. However, these present a hazard to the head of the occupants unless a helmet is worn. The chances of being rear ended and striking the bar with your noggin are greater than rolling the car.

Very true, though that will depend a lot on where your head sits in relation to the rollbar. I can see a side-impact throwing your head sideways into the bar, but a hard side-impact in a miata is probably not going to have good results no matter what.

FWIW, that nice-looking "padded" leather rollbar cover that Hard Dog offers feels like it will do next to nothing for impact protection.

You will have to wrap the metal near your head in ugly and heavy foam to get any real protection against hitting the rollbar with your unhelmeted noggin.

Pat

Never heard of them, and I spent a lot of hours researching roll bars. It sounds to me like it was designed for looks.

I've got one of those. It's great. The side-braced model even allows a glass rear window to lay down. Installing is a good solid weekend's work, but take your time -- it's worth it.

pws wrote on 08/25/06 06:48:

That's what the rollbar padding from Hard Dog is. Thick, heavy foam. The cover (vinyl, btw) is just there to hide the ugliness... There are double-hoop real rollbars out there, btw., from Hard Dog and from Boss Frog (I have a Hard Dog Deuce.)

-Joe

good point. plus some bars interfere with the path of the seat or seat back, some interfere with zip and no-zip glass window tops, some interfere with hard tops... the cheap stuff, and stuff on ebay fall into these categories (hence why the ebay sellers are so terse in their descriptions - with the exception of the guy at frenzybars.com who sells on ebay but admits they are only style bars, not safety bars). poke around this hard dog site and see which models might fit your needs and have a look at the installation instructions to see if you are up for the task...

Flying Miata lists a vinyl cover and a leather cover. The vinyl one is $80.00 and the leather one is $120.00. As far as padding for the cover, this is from their web site:

"Leather wrap for roll bars. Stylish! Now includes custom formed padding to protect your head."

False advertising? My first statement was that the padding for the covers does almost nothing, but it is hard to believe that Flying Miata would sell two identical products for such a large price difference if they were both vinyl.

Pat

I saw the picture, it is absolutely incredible that you are both alive and able to talk about it.

Pat

pws wrote on 08/25/06 08:18:

Hmm, I stand corrected on the leather cover. That seems to be a new offering from Hard Dog:

cover is of course only working with padding. It won't even fit on a rollbarwithout padding. In that respect, the advertising you point to is indeed a bitmisleading. The padding is manufactured by this company: I don't have personal experience about the effectiveness of the padding(and I am not eager to have such an experience), it certainly is better thanhaving the metal exposed directly.

-Joe

You don't check Flying Miata for new products at least once a week? What's wrong with you? :-)

I agree, especially if it is the same as the vinyl one on my rollbar. That is a formed piece of material, it feels like rubber. I wouldn't call it padding.

Total agreement on both counts.

Pat

Hook up with a local Miata club. Chances are good you can get a lot of help with the install of a real rollbar.

The club in my area installed my Hard Dog Duece for $50 -- I barely got my hands dirty!

If no one else said it, stay away from "style bars".

And piggy-backing on Fred's message ( hi Fred, I see you're awake now!) check at

for a local club.

Iva & Belle.) '90B Classic Red.) #3 winkin' Miata