Conrats on the new bike!

Take a gander at these.

Very comfortable for me.

 

The stock bars suck, I put WC 518's on mine, much better positioning.The stock seat sucks too, so after the bars and the addition of a Mustang 2-piece seat with riders backrest.....500 mile runs are no problem anymore.

 

The heritage bars were the best 48 dollars I spent on my Road King.

 

At least I am not the only one who feels the stock bars bite. I am a short armed guy so I may have to shop a bit for the right ones.

 

Congrats, I got the beach bars, but you have to try some out for yourself.

 

When 'heritage bars' are commonly mentionedas a replacement for the stock RK bars is there a particular year or some other gauge as to which heritage bar to get or is it justthat a heritage bar is a heritage bar period doesn't matter year or anything else?
Will any year heritage bar fit my '02 RK?

Tom

 

Congratulations of your new Road King, the most versatile bike in the touring family. I didn't like the stock handlebars on my 97 Road King either, (made my wrists, arms, shoulders & back ache) so I switched to the Heritage Classic bars for about $100.00 plus installation. I find the bar to be very comfortable andwill allow you to lean back on the open road, but it does set high and manuvering an 800 pound bike around can put a lot of extra pressure/leverage on the bar causing it to work loose;I don't seem to have as much control making sharp turnsat slower speeds in town & on parking lots as I did with the stock bars, so I'm planning on switching again. After doing much research on this forum I've found that many riders prefer the Chubby's 508 or 518 handlebars, (depending on their height and sleeve length) so I will probably go with the 518 bar and hope it will be as comfortable as the Heritage and give me the amount of control that I need for making slow sharp turns.
If anyone reading this post has the Chubby's 518 bar and could comment on it for comfort and especially manuverability I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

Check out the RK chrome high bars,put a set on mine and they work
great for me. All stock cables will fit.

 

I am not sureif there are different types or does year model matter. I just went to the parts desk and asked for Heritage bars for an 07. I didn't have to replace or move any cables or wiring. I pulled the bars down lower than on a heritage, and it gave me more control and is still very comfortable. They were only 48 bucks and it took about an hour to install. Someday in the future I would like to buy some chubby's that are the same length and shape, and run the wires inside for the cleaner look.

 

First: CONGRATS. I love my Marhsmallow bike! I'm sure you'll get a lot of great miles out of yours.
I guess bars are pretty personal. When I went shopping I was convinced the RK Custom was the bike for me. 5 miles into the test ride, I turned around and brought it back to continue looking. Wrists aching badly from the beach bars disappointed me greatly.
Like you, though I'm not satisfied with the stock RK bars. I've been researching and reading here and the two choices already mentioned are where I'm going too. I'm leaning toward the WO518s myself. Good luck!