I'm about to switch my bars on my Street Bob to 16" apes and I keep hearing that I need to use solid bushings on my stock risers. So, 2 questions. First, are the OEM bushings solid? I haven't pulled the risers yet but they look solid. Second, any brand of solid bushings y'all would recommend?

 

dump the OEM's and replace with polyurethane (just my .02)

 

Oems are way too soft. Had them on my 14s, get yourself some poly HD bushings. Nice and stiff without the vibrations of a solid bushing.

 

+1 on the poly. Stock is trash and solid is pretty abusive to the arms

 

+2 on the poly bushings. When I had 14" apes and stock bushings, they were very squishy. I replaced them with poly bushings when I went to 13" LD Lucky 13's. So much better.

 

I personally disagree with what most above have said. Poly bushings are great for anything under 16s. Once you hit 16s, I recommend going solid simply because it takes away all free play. But to answer your question, no OEMs are neither solid, nor poly....they are rubber

 

Thanks for the answer man.

So I've been reading solid = more vibration which shouldn't be a huge deal I guess. I'm 53 and I have arthritis but it's under control for the most part. It's probably a silly question but for those of you that have used both how much more vibration on a scale of 1-10 would you say? And really swapping the bushings out on an FXDB isn't a lot of work so I could start with solids and switch if I had to.

I was poking around and found these, https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/...-kit?rrec=true and these https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/...rley?rrec=true I like that they have the concealed bolt. Anyone have any experience with either one?

 

I'm a combat vet, 2 tours in Iraq, 2nd Batt...I've got arthritis up and down my back, amongst other injuries sustained....I cant give a scale rating, but I can tell ya it wasnt enough to bother me....and look at my pic, all I ride is apes....no lower than 16

 

I’m on my second Dyna w/ apes. Concur on the poly bushings. I noticed an increased vibe in 16” bars at idle on my old Superglide, and barely any difference at all with the 12” bars on my DWG, but it’s negligible when on the go on both rides. I’m upgrading to 16s next month and plan to keep the poly bushings.

 

Thanks for the input Braaaappchaser, makes me feel better about solid bushings.

My bars showed up today, so a few more parts and I can get'em on the bike! The pic is a pretty bad angle, makes 'em look tiny. They are 16"