I looked at a 03 fatboy last week that a individual had up for sale, the bike was in really good condition and had 16,000 miles on it, I noticed the handelbars moved a little without much effort, I should have asked about when I had the chance but I didn't, I know some guys with apehangers that are taller then allowed loosen the risers to look legal if they pull them down, but I dont think thats what was going on on that bike, My question is does anyone know of any setup where the handelbars move back and forth 3 to 5 inches?

 

That sounds dangerous to me. But it should be a simple fix, just tighten the bolts. I would ask the seller about it.

 

Uh - NO!

 

Yeah, that's not good. But a simple fix. I found a used beach bar for less than $20 to try out. Sadly, I couldn't get them to tighten down. Ended up using a punch on them where they sit in the riser to make the metal stick up. That worked a bit, but I could still get movement. I then got some 0.5mm brass and made a shim. Works like a charm.

 

Perhaps just a bit more information from you would help. Are you saying the bars can be pushed and pulled forward and backward and they rotate into a new position while clamped in the riser or are you saying the bars don't move in the riser but rather the riser itself is rocking back and forth as it sits on the upper bracket/clamp?

It's pretty common for higher bars to move if the rubber bushings are still in the upper clamp, even when the bushings are new you'll get movement, once the rubber fails it's complete slop in the bars. You can change out the bushings for poly bushings or better yet, solid bushings easily if the problem is movement at the riser/upper clamp.

 

yep, this !

 

A little wiggle with apes is acceptable but definitely NOT 3-4 inches. That will get you killed in a hurry.

 

I appreciate all the help, I have tried to get a hold of the seller but he hasn't returned my call, and it's been bugging me, worn out dampeners (or something like that) is probably causing the movement, the bars felt normal if I pushed against them they would come down a little if i pulled on them but would stop after 3 or 4 inches and felt normal in that position, I think there was a couple of bushings that moved under the clamp but I've never seen a setup like that before, I used to have a 08 rocker c that came with dragbars the seller installed, the more I tightened the risers the looser they felt, tried wrapping rubber around the bars but that only worked for about a month, finally got new risers and new bars no problems afterwards, but the bike I'm asking about didn't feel like that, The movement was only in a certain area then stopped, the rocker I used to have would move untill it was on the tank it felt like it was loose. Anyways thanks everyone for your help

 

I've got 16's on my Springer and there isn't any movement/slippage where the bars connect to the risers plus I asked my Indy to torque all 4 bolts on the clamps to make sure that everything was the same. I have 4" risers with poly bushings and the risers are approximately 1/8th of an inch off the triple trees and there is a slight back and forth movement there but nothing like you described on the bike you looked at. The taller bars will flex back and forth a little, depending on how tall they are but as far as I am concerned, they shouldn't slip at all where they are clamped to the risers.