Okay so I traded my softail in a few weeks ago on this '14 FXDB. Been wanting to do a "NorCal style" bike for along time now and finally pulled the trigger. Got into a bit of a time crunch to make the Laughlin River Run in time to get this bike all back together hit my break-in period so I can give it a good tune before I leave. Not gonna mention in names here but we'll say some of the more popular brands out there have less than expected customer service. I did not build my own because with work and everything else going on I didn't have any time to build my own set so an order was placed with a bar company... Found on the westcoast... somewhere. Almost a month later i'm still apart in the garage and barless. Could have built them myself at this point being busy and all... So big thanks to my Dad whom owns his own Custom Fab shop. I called him like any son in need of a quick favor does LOL and VOILA!!! He built me these to my own specs and were done the next day. We also did the riser mounts a tad different than you'll find. These bars are rigid mounted but still utilize the dampening of the bushings. Worked out awesome. Less vibes than the factory bars and don't budge a pinch! Love the rigid feel. This is my second bike I've done rigid mounted bars and I don't think I'll ever go back. He's thinking about putting some bars into production and see where that goes since these made a nice little prototype for example of what you can custom order. Here's a few pic's of my bike and bars so far.

Here's my Dad's shop contact info if anyone likes these or wants any custom work done.

Ben - Toolpath Machine
702-643-9979 - Shop
702-250-2016 - Cell

P.S. To anyone wondering these are 14" tall from the tree to the TOP of the handlebars

 

very nice man!

 

Very cool- you should offer some on ebay too.

 

Thanks guys. Ebay is a good idea. I'll tell him to just go ahead and make a few sets up and start there. I'm sure they'll sell.

 

Looks good. Why that gap at the end of the controls? Maybe trim the ends down so the perches sit flush with that edge? As far as going into business on them, that's a tricky area man. I've got friends that do small runs of bars and their biggest worry is liability. Especially with bars. Not like foot pegs or coil brackets, one of those breaks the bike is still maneuverable. Bars go..and **** hits the fan pretty quickly. I like how he did the exits for the wires, looks super clean.

 

Those are nice! He does not mind hittin him up to discuss a set?

 

Good questions, and I'm glad this was pointed out. I should have clarified.

The Gap... Because he's in vegas and I'm in phoenix and did specs over the phone after we've both worked all day. I just measured up what I wanted and called him and gave him those specs and threw an extra 1/4" to play it safe. My bike isn't a show bike so I don't care. I wanted safer than sorry because they had to show up and HAD to work. So the gap is my "fault" but I was expecting it. I did 8" from bar end and only needed 7-3/4". Again he built them to my specs so anybody can have what they want. Yes, I could trim the ends if I wanted. Will I? No. I don't care that much.

Liability. Another good point. I get what you're saying but not sure if you're realize that most of these bar "manufacturers" use mild steel like 1018 which is sh!tty material. I don't understand making bars with cheap steel when it's just dollars more to use quality stuff. Mine I had him use DOM seemless 1-1/4" (.125 wall) which is superior to Mild Steel by a long shot. He wanted to do chromoly or stainless which are both great options and best for durability. Overkill? Yes. Awesome? Yes. DOM enough? Yes. DOM in this diameter is MORE than enough for durability and about stronger than most anything you're going to find off the shelf from typical bar builders. DOM tubing good enough for a quality bar? Absolutely. Trust me if you broke a set of these it's because you got side swiped by a Semi. You'd have bigger fish to fry then broken handle bars lol.

Also he's done work for NASA more than one time. He's got parts floating around in space so handlesbars are a pretty easy task to tackle as far as liability. He's got background from building ground up Streetrods clear to working in the Aerospace industry. Bars... he's got this.

By all means give him a call. That's why I put the number there!! He likes doing custom work for bikes and hotrods or whatever so yeah. The business is welcome.



Thanks everyone for the compliments!

 

Didn't realize he was in Vegas. I'll have to roll by one day and check out the operation. And just so you know, I wasn't knocking his work or the design. Just was curious about that gap is all. .125 wall is way more than 90% of bar manufacturers are running, so no worries there. I've got a pair of cheapo super bars from custom chrome that I bent after coming down a little hard from an accidental wheelie.. folded the right side bar end down and creased at the bend. I should complain to Custom Chrome and have the 80yr old Taiwanese slave laborer that made them fired.

 

Yeah no offense taken buddy. I didn't take it that way at all. .125 wall we used for two reasons. Strong and makes it easy to sleeve the bars for the perches with 1" tube. Win Win.

I had a set of Khrome Werks apes on my Softail and had them rigid mounted and if you got into the brakes real hard they'd bend over quite a bit. Hated that feeling. Hit a few potholes that I thought one half was going to come off in my hand, so yeah I'm with ya on the Fakeniese crap metal built by sweetshop laborers lol.

 

Oh yeah I'm sure he'd be fine with you checkin' the shop out. He's normally there by himself so he'd probably be happy to show you around his man cave lol. Check his Street Rod out while you're there. If you're any type of car enthusiast you'll dig his car he's got now. Deuce Roadster with a Blown/Stroked Hemi in it. Don't have any pics or I'd share. Here's a few pics of my latest truck I had that he built. He did the Rec Tube Chassis and up. All of the 4-bars/Panhard are custom, bracketry, Gas Cap, Horn Cover, grill struts, Shift ****, Steering Column, Exhaust brackets, Receiver Insert (Yes it is tow capable!) etc etc etc... pretty much everything you see there. He's crafty!