For those who were curious about ND roll bars...

It appears Cusco has a solution. Neat.

I don't see any diagonals.

But I DO see a Hard Dog bar in our shop getting test-fitted. We've had their original ND design on our car for a while, but I had some tweaks that I wanted to test. We'll know if they worked in a few hours, and then it'll be available for sale.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

It's rather odd. There is an optional tie bar for a harness, and those weird little supports, but nothing immediately substantial. I'm just happy that something exists, even if it's simply a guideline for what's to come.

A legitimate solution is the ultimate goal, and I'm extremely pleased to hear that you're making it work. This could very well be the deciding factor for many interested enthusiasts.

Keep in mind, these are bolt-in bars for street cars.

Race cars aren't as difficult if you have a decent cage fabricator available and enough money in your account.

Blackbird Fabworx already has an SCCA/NASA legal roll-bar that retains softtop operation, IIRC.

Cusco? Wouldn't trust it. Take a look at some of their other stuff, like their Miata door bars, and tell me you would trust that to do anything.

G_Body_Man wrote: It appears Cusco has a solution. Neat.

It might be 'a' solution, but like most things Cusco, it's not the correct solution...would never put anything from Cusco that's safety related in a car that see's track duty - they don't seem to grasp the concept of proper triangulation and structure integrity... ever. Little known piece of information - Cusco cages are original designs by Salvador Dali in his unknown cubist faze that was short lived...

;)

Good news! The Hard Dog is a go. So it'll be up on our site soon along with pics.

Keith, does Mazda make all of the Miata/MX-5 vendors play nice, or is it just good business sense to work with Hard Dog versus developing your own Flyin' Miata rollbar?

Mazda has nothing to do with the Miata aftermarket. They'll put up with us, but they exert no control and don't officially support anyone. Our relationship with Mazda is personal with various Mazda personnel, not official.

We work with Hard Dog because Hard Dog makes very good roll bars. We've been dealing with them for decades (literally) and if we want a particular bar, they're good partners to work with. Bill and I are on a first name basis with Tom and Martha at Hard Dog, and I've slept on Tom's couch

You don't want me welding up your roll bars - we leave that to the pros. You may want me saying to Hard Dog "looks pretty good, but what do you think about moving this here so we can get another inch of height?" or saying "that seatbelt bracket is a bit tight for fitting the bolt". But even then, roll bars is all Hard Dog does so they're a lot better at designing them than we are.

Thanks for the response. I had a Hard Dog in one of my Miatas. If I ever get another one, the're the only company I'm going to look at for a solution.