I posted the question below in the Softail section and have recieved zero responses. Did not think it was that tough a question. Figured someone must have been down this road.
Maybe they saw the pic of my EVO and I am being shunned.
Anyway thought someone over here may be able to shed some light on it.

"I have a friend considering purchasing a new FB Lo.
She is on the short side and is concerned about the reach to the handle bars.
My questions would be is there enough room in the wiring harnes to accomodate pull back risers of any type that will help her out.
She is good with the foot controls and reaching the ground okay but as I said the bars appear to be an issue.
Dealer is quoting over $1000.00 plus to make a change so I am assuming he has to be including a new harness.
Am I wrong?"

Thanks,
Bucaman..

 

There isn't a lot of leeway in the newer bikes wiring so she may have issues. The dealer quote would likely include extending the wiring.

Extended wiring kits are available on EBay for cheap and the ones that include the switches already fitted (but not the bodies) will save a lot of work.

Sometimes you can get a little slack by pulling the square plastic covers off each side of the frame top rail at the steering head and fiddling the connectors and wires about inside the frame.

You can take the switchgear off and test various hand positions but I doubt the dealer will allow that.

You can buy the correct connectors and make up an extender harness that sist in the frame too so I wouldn't let it put her off buying the bike.....anyway, after doing a few hundred miles on it her arms will have stretched.....

 

1000 bucks thats a bar change. Shold be able to pull the bars towards her if she can reach every thing else. Id go to a differnt dealer.

 

Having owned Harleys since the 70s and ridden quite a few demo bikes I have found that almost all of them, including the ones I have bought, have the bars set too high. I am not very tall and it is as if the one chap on the production line who installs every Harley handlebar is about 6 foot 6" tall!

It is just possible that by adjusting the stock bars your friend may find she can reach them OK. I would expect a dealer to help her get comfortable and adjust the bars for free! The bars rotate in their clamps and a small adjustment where they are clamped can have quite a significant affect at the grips. Well worth trying out, before spending extra cash.

 

If its "NEW" walk away from the dealer if they wont help her out with trying to adjust bars for her.
If they are like that now....Not someplace i would be buying anything. Make sure they know she IS going to buy a bike.... Good Luck!!!

 

Another thing you could look into is having the seat re-cut by Mean City Cycle, a sponsor on this forum. They could recut the seat and move her forward and even lower her more if need be. They do great work. http://www.meancitycycles.com

 

Good suggestion. Any seat is going to cost a fraction of that set of new bars. Even Harley has some short-reach seats in its range, IIRC. That dealer is not doing a lot to help a lady out, by the sound of it!

There was a short period when my favourite dealer had a bike in the showroom with plug and play alternative bars, seats etc, so customers could try out different set-ups, but I see it has gone now. It was called a 'fit centre' or something like it and was a factory initiative. So any dealer knows the drill and should be making a special effort, especially for the petite - and gross for that matter!

 

Things are MUCH calmer in here..............feel free to ask away.........

 

"Back in the day" everyone found that the stock wiring, cables, hoses would work with about 2-3" over bars. If just repositioning the existing bars back some isn't enough, a slightly llonger bar would probably work just fine if you play with the positioning on stuff.

 

I think the bike in question has pullback drag bars and there is no way to rotate them back like mini apes.