Went to my local HD dealer and inquired how much it would cost to remove the stock bars from my 2012 Super Glide Cusom and replace them with some mini apes....... $1650. What the f...k?
They claim 8 hours labor and all new standard black cables.

Thinking of doing this myself..
Putting on the new apes should be simple, but how difficult would the new cables be to install and properly adjust?

 

I just did this last week because I was also quoted 8 hours of labor. It's really straight forward and not hard to do. Buy a service manual and you will be good to go.

 

I already have the service manual and will look into it. How long did it take you? New cables?

 

PM sent. I have HD mini apes and cables for sale. Take off's from my 12 WG.

 

I did it over a couple days but it took me a little less than 8 hours. Yea I did new cables and internally wired my new bars.

 

I have Z-bars on my bike. Now THAT is a bitch to wire internally! Those angles make it really hard to get the wires through. Ape hangers, not so much. It shouldn't be a hard job to do yourself.

Man those dealerships sure like their money eh?

 

you can get kits for around $399 that he wires are already installed in the bars with new clutch cable, brake line.
Or for $599 I think it is with the hand controls already finished all chrome if you want. Comes with everything.
Doing it your self is not really that hard just time consuming.
$1,650 is plain outrageous.

 

I just finished making my own 12in Z bar style bars I spent probably about 8 hours making them and about 2 hours to internally wire install and re-solder the wiring, My cables were long enough, so I didnt have to do much there, but I had to get a new brake line and bleed up the brakes again, to be fair a had a bitch of a time bleeding the brake which took about 2 hours. So about 4 hours all up for me.

 

Bars are not that hard to do, just takes patience and the ability to walk away when you get frustrated. Did they give you a cost breakdown of the estimate?

 

8 hours of labor is standard for the job. My dealer said that its coded , he said they have a labor manual to determine the amount of time a job should take. When I enquired about apes I was quoted 1540.00 parts and labor so 8 hours of that is labor. So basically they get about 640.00 to install them. Seems right in terms of the price of the parts I wanted plus cables etc, but................

Normally I say bah humbug and do it myself. But, I watched my brother put new bars , cables etc on his bike and mind you he is very mechanically inclined, it took about seven hours over two days time, there were many wrenches thrown at walls, lots of cursing and at one point he wished he'd let them do it.

In a nutshell he said that there were many little annoyances that he had issues with. When I change mine ill probably let the dealer do it. It looks and sounds easy but I get the idea there's more to it than ya think.

If your not patient nor very mechanically inclined it might be best to go that route.