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Hell no! Love my 16's! Gotta have decent upper body strength though.
Is that because you are required to "muscle" the bike thru turns more or merely because of the holding up your arms for extended periods of time? Or some other reason?
Is that because you are required to "muscle" the bike thru turns more or merely because of the holding up your arms for extended periods of time? Or some other reason?
Super low speeds you do have to force the bars a little. Cornering at speed is a breeze with apes.
Is that because you are required to "muscle" the bike thru turns more or merely because of the holding up your arms for extended periods of time? Or some other reason?
Wind fatigue I imagine. Seen friends ditch the apes due to a sore neck and sore back. Apes take the corners just fine. No muscling anything. 16's put my hands just below my shoulders. Very comfortable.
I have 14" Apes, on 1.5" risers + 1" riser extensions, on Reaper, and my only regret was not going with 16"ers without the extensions. That said, the 14"ers on the risers + extensions are comfy enough for me that I've been running them for about 10 years and don't feel the need to change them to 16s.
I have them on my rigid, the height is nice, 14 or 16 can't recall, but the angle of the bar at throttle end sucks. I need something a bit straighter. They do put you up in the wind, but that's not always a bad thing. I often have a 1000 mile weekend run done with this bike, and since it is a rigid with a spring seat and apes, I'm always looking to tweak it a bit for comfort.
seat angle has a lot to do with how comfortable the apes are too. higher bars put you at a comfort disadvantage if you often feel like you're being pushed backwards or sliding down the seat.
yeah, i don't know what having decent upper body straighten has to do with it. i have a frozen shoulder and 4 screws in my back is why i can't do it anymore
I might be one of the older people on here that have apes on their bikes so I'll try and help you out a little. I have 16" apes with 4" risers on my 05 Springer. I've had them on my bike for around 10-11 years. I've ridden to Sturgis and when I got back, I'd logged in around 3000 miles in 3 weeks. I've done several 400+ mile days also with this same set up. While riding, my apes come just slightly above my shoulders. I didn't want to put a shield on my Springer so I opted for a back rest instead. One of my runs, when I want to train for a longer ride is called the Columbia Gorge. It is on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. It can be very windy from where I live and most of the way to Portland. On the way over, the wind can be very strong and I've found that when I lean back on my back rest, that I can cruise down the Gorge without any issues to my arms, shoulders and back. When I get back from that run, I've gone around 440 miles. Granted apes aren't for everybody and not everybody is in the same physical shape but for me, I can honestly say that when I get back from this run, my upper body isn't the least bit tired. Also, to put this all into perspective for you, I turned 66 in Janurary and as soon as the weather gets warmer here, I plan on making that run again and probably more than once. Hope this helped you out a little.
Springer, I'm not sure where you're from but I've made that Columbia Gorge run twice myself (start in Kitsap County). Once on the Washington side and once on the Oregon side. That Washington side run is Windy. As. Hell. And cold even in June!
It was actually that run that made me wonder if apes might be more comfortable. The thing I like about the current setup is that I can shift my arm position a couple of different ways. I'd hate to get a setup where I'm stuck in one position. On those 400+ days I gotta move around some!
I tried 14 and then 16 in apes on my road king. Tried the 16s for about a month (1700 miles). Then tried the 14s for two months (right around 4000 miles). The 16s were actually painful for me, causing pain between my shoulder blades if I was on the bike for any longer than about a half an hour at a time. The 14s weren't acutely painful but they did leave me tired after riding. I like to ride for six or seven hours (sometimes longer) on a nice summer day and the posture just left me a lot more spent than the conventional bars did.
Obviously, everyone's different and I refuse to generalize for everyone. I have friends that like apes and friends that don't. Just in my small circle of friends it seems like the guys who don't like apes are the guys that tend to ride a little longer - not necessarily more miles per year mind you, but definitely longer stints in the saddle.
I really wish it'd be cheaper and easier to test out different ape heights and seat combinations on a given bike.
14" on stock risers, 2" forward controls for the Train. I'm 6'1", with the stock seat my hands are just below shoulder level. As comfortable as a Softail can get, have done several 1000 mile days. Windshield helps out a lot at highway speeds. Learning curve is more parking lot speeds, and the curve is short. Small front\rear adjustments make for big difference.
Love them.
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That said, the 14"ers on the risers + extensions are comfy enough for me that I've been running them for about 10 years and don't feel the need to change them to 16s.
