Actually, there's still plenty of room to get underneath it, and the extra foot sticking out to the side lets you hike out flatter once you're back there. The flexible elbow lets you swing it wherever you need: up, down, fore, aft. You can always just push it out of the way, if you don't need it.

But you're right about the "heft". I could have gone with the 1/2" conduit, but I liked the feel of the 3/4", since it matched the crossbar. The extra weight does tend to pull down on the tillers when they're raised, however.