Slipping Handlebars
 

Well, i took my bike out for a ride for the first time a couple weeks ago and found something that freaked me out a bit while i was ridin.

I was mergin onto the highway, when i was adjusting my body to kick the pig and it felt like my handlebars moved. didn't think too much about it, but when i was merging, i gripped the bars and got set to pass a truck when, Yup those sumbiches moved.

got it home, back out the bolts, bolted it back down. grabbed the bars with one hand and moved them again. Pulled the top clamp off and the bars are not knurled.

Anyone know of a fix for this, or am i just gonna need new bars?

and the cheaper the better

Mmmm...

New bike? Old bike?
Which bike/risers?
Stock or aftermarket bars?

etc etc etc.

Are the bars grooved where the rubbing is happening? When I was kid I'd wrap emery cloth around the bars--rough side out--when I'd strip the bars on my stingray. worked like a charm!.... I didn't cruze at 80mph on my stingray, buy new bars!!

My bad, guess i did forget a few things.

2006 street bob
16" apes came on the bike when i bought it. They do feel cheezy tho, and i could not find markings on them.
stock riser

Ya know, that cloth idea came to my head too from when i was a kid, lol, and no.

Cut some aluminum strips out of a beer can and wrap it around the bars and torque em down.

I was thinkin about tryin some type of spacer, didnt even thunk about a beer can, got plenty of those. Thanks!

If you have a two piece top clamp you can cut it so the label shows if you want to get crazy.... Nice thin aluminum, easy to work with.

i have the carlini`s and they do not come kurled, but i bought there risers which have set screws you put a little red stuff on them and they do not move period, so i don`t know what kind of risers you have but if you can get a set with screws cheaper than going bars, do you know the brand name if so call them h.d shop here charges 40 bucks to kurl bars there is a actual tool for that

Couple things I have done in the past that worked well-

Used a dremel and made my own "knurling" ... worked great.

An easier way...get a piece of inner tube and put it between the bar and the clamp. It won't slip.

With apes, make sure you have a one piece top clamp...apes get a lot more stress at the clamp...if it is a two piece top clamp set up the bars are gonna want to fail eventually.


Kevin

I recently ordered a set of non knurled bars. I have not received them yet. But here is the thread I started asking similar questions regarding the installation.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-...questions.html

Cheers,

Tom

I had Renthal aluminum bars on my CR 250R. The were not knurled like the factory bars. The directions said to take an emery strip and sand the bottom half and the top half of the bar clamps completely smooth. It also said to radius the edges of the clamps so that there were no sharp edges that could cut into the handlebars and reduce the clamping area. Essentially by making everything smooth you are just increasing the clamping area. The bars never moved on me following these directions. If the bars clamps have marks in them from knurled bars and the bars are smooth with no knurling I think you can see how the clamping area is reduced resulting in slipping bars. I think I would try this before sticking anything in there to try and tighten them up. Cut strips from a beer can...really!?...LOL.

Tech23

Shouldn't need anything in there to stop the slipping, sounds like your clamp is worn.

You could have the bars knurled. I used to have a hand knuler that would do the trick. Check with a local machine shop to see if they can do this for you.

If the beer can trick does not work (that is too funny and brilliant), cut a piece of copper tubing in half with a hack saw. Anyone that has had apes 16+ for any length of time, regardless of the risers and the bars, has experienced slippage. Mine normally slip when I hit a really hard pot-hole/bump at road speeds or if I hit a suden gust of wind like the 25+ MPH headwind I rode in coming back from Daytona this year. Just part of being in the BIG APE club.

ZEROFIVEFOUR: thanks for the link, guess i was searchin for the wrong terms.

and thanks everyone else, appreciate it

I hate to disagree with a sponsor, but this is just not 100% true. It depends on the quality of the bars, I have run 2 piece clamps on apes for years without a problem. The size of the clamps will also have an effect, the small stock ones are not ideal, that's for sure.

I would also try poly bushings...

What worked for me and my 16" Burly Apes was Locktite Red. I applied a little bit on both top and bottom of the knurled area on the bars and clamped it down to the proper spec, then let it dry for a few and I have not had the bars slip since. I even marked the bars to see if there was any and nothing.

cut some small strips of Emry cloth, (can be found at any hardware store) works great i have done it a TON of times now... helps grab the bar and prevent it from sliding... had it on my old bar set up for years! did it on a customer bike 2 nights ago as well... works great!

8541hog, thank you for the clarification, I should have been more clear.

A few years ago the Motor Company issued a service bulletin regarding apes and the small stock two piece top clamps, stating that because of the leverage exerted on apes there was a tendency to metal fatigue and possible breakage of the handlebars between the two clamps over a period of time.

They recommended that their one piece top clamp be used when installing apes.

As you state, there are many larger two piece top clamps that may do the job just fine.

Kevin

Dont mean to hijak the thread...so your telling me I should look into changing out the stock clamps on my streetbob? I dont need my bars falling off or anything.

I use a center punch and put raised dimples on the bar in the clamp area. That combined with a piece of thin rubber (bike inner tube) between the bottom riser and the bar and you'll be good to go.

I would carefully rough up the surface of the top clamp and risers area and the bar area where it contacts the clamp reassemble it and see if that helps. Rough it up, not remove material.

I personally would not put anything in between the clamp and the bars, this could easily lead to the same problem and if this needs to be done then I would question the clamp or the manufacture of the bars. If you need more clamping force then you could sand down the face of the "risers" a little to reduce the radius, but this should lead you to just replacing them.

If you look on the top one piece clamp there are two small stand offs cast into it and those need to contact the lower riser to start so with the one piece top clamp make sure you snug down the lower bolts so the clamp contacts the risers first and then torque the upper bolts and then the lower bolts.

Personally I would not run a bar that was not Knurled and I could care less who the manufacturer was, simply a cost saving operation throwing safety out the window. Both my '07 and '09 stock bars were knurled, '06 was not? Seems to me there was a recall or service bulletin on the '06 bars breaking?? The OP was not clear on whether the bars are OE?

This sounds like false security to me. Of course the problem with tall apes is the amount of leverage at the grips. Have you tested how the Loctite will hold in a hard braking/panic stop situation?

I found the suggestion on the forums here when I was having trouble, and the bars have been on the bike almost a year and in all types if on road situations. With no slippage at all. I used loctite red which holds very tight.

Since I'm no machinist, would it be possible to take the bars in question to a local machine shop and let them knurl them? I'm not 100% sure of how that process is performed, but worth a suggestion.

Also, you could use a center punch to create some basic knurling to allow the top clamp something to bite into. Ya know, when you c-punch it usually causes material to push up creating a sort of rim. I know it's not a lot of material but it may just be enough.

The knurling is done, usually on a lathe, before the bends are put into the bars.

Another easy fix would be to put an alignment mak on the bars and risers, pull the top clamp, drill a small hole through the bars (carefully, don't wanna nick wires) into the riser and insert a roll pin to hold the bars in that position. Once the clamp is back, you'll never know its there.

Okay, try this stuff. Check some bicycle websites for stuff made by Ritchey. It is a red gel with microspheres suspended that is used to reduce the torque requirements for slipping handlebars. worked on my roadbike (bicycle). It is gritty and can scratch surfaces, so becareful when cleaning any excess. Even wiping with a rag will leave scratches. It is not a glue.

few fixes for this out there, use a hole punch and make your own by drilling a hole then punching out a bit, or as posted elsewhere drill a small indentation in the riser and place a ball bearing in there and torque it down on that, or do the same thing and insert a high tensile split pin (also drilling the hole in the bars).

I myself don't have knurled bars and don't worry about it that much I would prefer my apes gave way if I ever went of the front in an accident I know a few guys that have been hurt quite bad, cause their apes didn't move and the apes and their body took all of the impact in the crash,

Dang! You just said what I was going to say, about the center punch dimpling. Just wrap some masking tape around the adjacent area that you don't want to dimple and have away with the hammer and punch in between the tape. This will do more than knurls because it will effectively increase the bar diameter around each dimple. You can do the same thing with the clamps where they contact the bar.

Dimpling them can cause stress risers or even cracks and break, especially if they are the OE Stainless Steel bars.

One Piece Clamp?
 

Does anyone know if they make one ( a one piece top clamp) for mine? It's an '09 Street Bob with those piece-of-sh*t integrated clamps (built-in to the top trees. My 14" Burly's did not come knurled, my clamps aren't knurled and they slip everytime I hit a bad bump.

BBWWWWHHhAAAAhHAAA :icon_photo:

Make sure it's not just the rubber bushings flexing. I freaked at first until I realized there was nothing to worry about. I imagine the rubber bushings are to absorb some vibration before reaching your hands. You can get the poly bushings that won't flex like that.

Any one piece top clamp should work as long as the bars stepdown to 1" otherwise you'll need a top clamp to fit 1.25" bars.

Thanks SC. Didn't mean to hijack the thread....

Hello, I have read through all of the suggestions, just wondering if high strength Loctite applied to the clamping area would work. If done right would be invisible and permanent, while still allowing for removal in the future.