Came across a diawa megaforce bailcaster with a twiching bar. The bar apparently reels six inches. Any experience or thoughts on this?

I just serviced one this week. The twitching bar uses a A/R bearing just like the main shaft and it was rusted/corroded causing sticking. The rest of the reel is pretty unrefined. The twitch gear is 5:1 to the main gear (5 twitches = 1 full turn of crank). Bottom line is the twitch bar is gimmicky and the over all quality of the reel is on Daiwa's lower end, which isn't horrible.

Thanks for the insight. I'll look elsewhere for a reel. I think a mettle is in my future.

Thanks for the insight. I'll look elsewhere for a reel. I think a mettle is in my future.

 

I had one of the older Megaforce reels.  I personally liked the twitch bar for fishing plastics, and if the reel had a metal frame I'd still be using it.  Unfortunately the frame is graphite and the flexing caused the clutch to wear out in less than a year.  Pity—I really liked that reel.

 

If you look around, you might be able to find a used Daiwa Viento for fairly cheap.  It was the predecessor to the Megaforce and had a metal frame and handle-side plate, and MSRP was $200.  It's been discontinued for several years now, and they pop up from time to time on the auction site or on fishing sale forums.