I'm not knocking dealers to start this post off, but I had to share this. I almost laughed at the guy, and it doesn't seem right as I'm not sure WTH the "diamond Black" line items are, but this is what I got when I tried on some mini apes for size today when comparing the switchback bars. To be fair, the $310 is the mini ape kit, which includes new risers, plus all the rest as you see it. Needless to say I'll be learning to do this myself or use my local indy shop, but holy hell WTF man~ Talk about pricing people out of ownership.

 

The diamond black is black throttle/idle/and clutch cables.

It is a lot of work to do that especially with internally wired bars. But you picked the size that none of your stock stuff will fit.

That being said there is no way in hell I would spend 1700 to change bars. Get comfy and read your service manual. You can do it. Ask questions here.

And the most important things are having the right tools, and remembering to shim your grant brake lever before you disassemble everything.

 

yeah, for $1700 I'd learn, that's just mind-blowing to me.

 

I don't even NEED them run internally, just more comfortable riding position and new cables really. I do think 12" mini apes would be a good choice. Anyone else have other ideas in that ballpark shape/fit wise?

 

9 hours labor @ 100/HR... Rate's a bit high, but not exactly outrageous. Time is padded quite a bit. Would they bill actual time or stick to the quote?

Not that it matters. $100/HR for a bar swap is dumb. Put a junior tech on it at half that rate.

 

That seems outrageous. It is what it is though. Now you know why the bikes with all the "dealer added" options are so expensive. There's no way in hell that's a 9 hour job. That's the flat rate game. Everybody's gotta get theirs.

 

I would love to see how it would take someone 9 hours to do bars. Maybe with a few 1 hour lunch breaks in there. That's just flat out robbery.

 

If you're not running internal wires then the job is pretty straight forward. Without having to change cables and lines or run internal wiring, I can swap bars and risers in about 2 hours, working very slowly. Figure another hour for a clutch cable and another hour to swap brake lines max (at an amateur slow pace!). A good indy shop can probably bang it out much quicker if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. Good luck with your project.