I have two Bear takedown risers. Both are about a year old. The grips are drastically different. On the A riser my index finger is actually higher than the shelf. On the B riser this isn't so. If you hold them side by side the difference is obvious. I called Bear and was told it might be that the A riser is shorter or it may be that there is some freehand shaping performed and therefore there can be differences. I would think there should be consistency when it comes to something like that. I have not shot the A riser in a long time and bought it before the B riser. It wasn't until recently that I started shooting both of them. I usually shoot longbows. What do you Bear experts say?

No expert here. I have experienced the same difference between the risers I have. I'm was told that's from the hand work that goes into them. This also lets you hand pick a riser if looking at them in person. Adjusting to them isn't much of a problem for me.

I picked up an A and B riser once and the grips were completely different. I also picked up 3 different Black Widows, all 3 with asbell grips and all 3 felt different.

I think when there is any hand shaping there will always be some differences. A machine only goes so far until a craftsman hands take over.

Whoever shaped this A riser grip is a savey dude

Nothing to worry about. Yes the final product is hand shaped so nothing will be Identical. Not only that you are not comparing apples to apples you have an A riser that your comparing against a B riser. If you are unhappy with either one please send the one you favor the least to me I will take care of it for you.

I thought Bears were production bows and Widows were shaped with CNC?!? Now I'm really confused :-)

Yes, they can vary from one riser to the next. It just depends on who shaped them that day at the factory.

All of the risers are rough shaped with a duplicator that follows a master pattern, however there's still a lot of material left on the rough blank after it comes off the duplicator.

The final shaping is all hand guided on belt and drum sanders, so the finished product will vary a little from one to the next.

This is what a roughed out Bear B riser looks like from the factory after it's roughed out and the overlays are glued on (before the sockets are installed).

As you can see, it's far from being ready to put the finish on.

There's still quite a bit of shaping and sanding left to do on it.

A bowyer finishes the grip to fit his hand. They could hire all bowyers with the same type grip and the same size hands,lol.

Ya, but that would probably be against some sort of labor discrimination law.

They could put a hand tracing on the back of the job application that says...

"Your hand has to be at least this big in order to work here." ...lol

Mr. Stout is almost a broken record on here reminding people that you need to shoot any bow before buying...I have bought a lot of bows that I did not try before I bought them but I am not the least bit picky about grip configuration fully believing that I can learn to shoot just about anything with some time and effort...the bottom line is if you are fussy about grip feel, at least with a wood riser bow, you need to only buy bows that you have been able to shoot before buying

DDave

1970 A & B Yup their different too so Nothing New There dosent bother Me in the Least Love them both the Same LoL !!!

I wish there was a place within a reasonable distance where I could try out some of the Bear bows. The only way for me to see one is pay a deposit and order one. No one around here stocks any higher end Bear bows. The picture Rooty posted looks exactly like my A riser. The shelf on my B riser is no where near as close to my hand when gripping the bow. I like the way the A riser feels, but when I shoot the bow the fletching grazes my knuckle. It doesn't seem to effect the accuracy though. Is that normal when your hand is that close to the shelf? The arrow is spined correctly. I did my due diligence bare shaft tuning the bow.

That's what they make drum sanders for. I've even radiused the mag risers they work fine.

Cameron and I are firm believers that a shelf like that is ideal for an intuitive shooter...I have had a few bows like that by Gharing, Robertson and Kempf...if you think about it there are many selfbow shooters who use their bow hand as the arrow rest so it can be done...Fred Bear would even cut the arrow rest off his production bows so he could shoot off his hand...luckily the first time I ever cut my bow hand with fletching I was shooting with a bowyer friend who shoots that way a lot...he told me that simply dotting the fletching with glue is not enough...you need to take some sort of round metal object, I use a centerpunch, and roll out the leading edge before dotting it...if you really want to take away any concern simply wear a light glove on that hand when shooting that bow...I like a golf glove in that situation...in the long run you could very well find yourself preferring the A riser

DDave

I went to buy a type 1 A handle that was new in the box a few years back. The man had 2 of em in his climate controlled room to choose from. They were like night and day when it came to the grip. One had nicer wood but I took the grip.

Grip discrimination?

Rooty, That savvy dude didn't count on you wearing a glove. One of the first things I look for when I pick up a bow.

Bowmania

The 2011-2012 bubinga risers are shaped like the Green Stripes of the early 80's (thin S shaped grip, low thin shelf). The new two tones have lost that look, and are now closer to the Type 1 style (not exact, but close). I liked the solid Bubinga Riser better, so I picked up a used Red Glass riser and sold my new two tone.

Tom

Tom I think you are on to something. My close to the hand A riser is a bubinga riser. My B riser with the higher shelf is a two tone.

I wish Bear would come out with a Fred Bear Edition Take Down. One that is a copy of Mr. Bear's personal bow. Also, I thought a Green and Black two-tone Future Wood TD would look great too.

Tom

Tom, But I'm not a lefty;)

I just returned from the K-Zoo Expo yesterday. I had a talk with Steve Dalp form Bear Archery about the Takedown Risers. Steve stated that the two employees that have been shaping the Takedowns for the past 20 and 30 years retired about a year ago. This makes sense as to why the new risers are on the bulky side.

Tom

That's what make them custom bows?

I was there yesterday as well. I was too busy gawking at the new phenolic super Ks to ask about the riser. So it sounds like the current risers will be like my two tone. BTW they said a nine month wait for the new super K. They were beautiful bows.

I had 2 greenstripe B risers, I sold one the reason being is GRIP they are beautiful but in the end it is about hand fit IMO. I don't want to get used to a grip and make do, if a bow doesn't fit my grip I wont shoot it as often or I will sell it. Simple as that.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here