2018+ Softail Models Breakout

Helibars on my Heritage

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Old 05-21-2024, 08:04 PM
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Default Helibars on my Heritage

What a pain in the ***, and honestly, I'm not too impressed so far.
Helibars are uber adjustable, which is what I wanted to play with, to dial in the fit for me.
Spent time on the phone and emails with them to make sure they'd fit and getting dimensions.
Well, lets just say things ain't all they were supposed to be.
The bars are several inches smaller in width then they are supposed to be.
They are also several inches taller than they are supposed to be.
So, in spite of assurances I wouldn't need them, I did need extensions for the wires, the clutch cable, and the brake line.
They don't fit the bike very well, because the master cylinder and clutch cable hit the bars, greatly limiting adjustment.

Helibars have these nifty safety lugs that limit the range of adjustment. The big claim for these lugs is they'll hold the bars should a tightening clamp come loose while riding. I've already broken one just moving the bars around to adjust them.

So right now, the grips are further back, which helps me lean back and sit up straight. But it also means steering leverage is reduced by the narrower width, and with the bars back like this, it's more tiller like. So I'm more comfortable rolling down the road, but less stable and comfortable basically everywhere else.

A picture of where I'm at, at the moment:


If you're curious, this is what the stock bars were like:


Wish I would have put in more work on buying oem Harley cables and brake lines. These are the aftermarket 12" ape clutch cable and brake line, Grr. Clutch cable is too long, the brake line too short:


Fitting that brake line was a fiasco, because the line is a piece of crap. That's the last time I ever buy something from CableKits.com. The banjo is too large, so you have to carefully center it and the washers on the master cylinder by hand. The threaded end is fully powdercoated, screwing up the threads and the fitting itself. They didn't align the fittings on the ends, so you have to twist things to get them to fit.

So in the end...eh. I'm not pleased, but it's not awful. It does help me sit up straighter, and that's good. But I'm far less stable and confident in parking lots and gravel and such, and that sucks.
Hell of a lot of money for a pretty mediocre result.

 
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berfatboy114 (06-08-2024)
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Old 05-21-2024, 08:10 PM
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That really sucks.
I really wanted something like this but they didn't seemed to make one for my bike.
I went with Arlen Ness modular clamps, and Magnum Shielding lines. They both ended up working great.
 
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Old 05-22-2024, 07:41 AM
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When I purchased my used 19 Heritage I knew the drag handlebars had to go. They felt awful and I knew they were going to be awful before I sat on the bike in the showroom. Personally I got lucky. I had all the measurements from my mini apes on 02 Wide Glide and wanted to replicate that setup. I tried to do the research ahead of time on here and online, but there are just too many variables and vendors just do provide all the information you need to make a good decision. Again, I had my measurements and I spent over an hour with the parts guy at the dealership to determine what would work for me. Luckily he understood what I was looking for and he nailed it! The other nice part was that were 3 other 2018+ Heritage bikes there that day and had all different bars. It was a "Goldilocks" kind of situation.

My point is you MUST sit on bikes and try them out and talk to ask many people who "know their stuff" (or think they do) as possible. It is funny how bikes and setups can be so similar but yet are so different.

Before

After. Carilini 14" Menace

 
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Old 05-22-2024, 09:14 PM
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Sorry to hear they are not working for you. I can tell you, they would not work for me either. I love apes and have had them on several bikes, but those just don’t pass the eye test. My recommendation would be to buy a set of 12” apes and pull those off and sell them.
 
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Old 05-22-2024, 09:16 PM
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KST Pioneers. Adjustable, and a much fatter look.
 
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Old 05-22-2024, 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted by gonemad
KST Pioneers. Adjustable, and a much fatter look.
I wanted to get KST Pathfinders for my fat boy, but they don't make an 8inch or rise, or I would have absolutely got them. 10 is too high for me.
 
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Old 05-23-2024, 07:37 AM
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I've run similar adjustables to the KST bars, but they only have one axis of rotation, which often puts the grips at a downward angle that I don't really like. Well, two if you include the handlebar mount itself. Helibars allow multiple angle adjustments, which let me rotate the grips upwards or downwards, as well in and out. They just don't work on this bike well. And yea, they are ugly. I can live with ugly as long as it's effective. So far...these aren't pleasing me much. The previous generation was a better bar for the Heritage. And, of course, I figured this all out just after the satisfaction guarantee period expired. 😤

Think I'm also going to need to switch back to the Reach seat, and figure out a way to make that more comfortable under my butt. That seat scoots me forward 2-3 inches, which is a tremendous help. Then I don't need the handlebar grips to come back so far from the steering head. That helps greatly with control as I'm pivoting the bars and not "sweeping" them. With the stock bars it's still a bit of a reach to them, my arms are almost completely straight. So perhaps I can get enough change with a careful riser change.

The fun of fine tuning a bike to fit.
 
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Old 05-23-2024, 07:49 AM
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Originally Posted by FranBunnyFFXII
I wanted to get KST Pathfinders for my fat boy, but they don't make an 8inch or rise, or I would have absolutely got them. 10 is too high for me.
I know we are talking two different bikes, but 10” was nearly stock height on a '22 Road Glide, so I had to go to 12”. Meaning, as usual, I had to install two different sets of bars to get it right for me.
 
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Old 05-25-2024, 09:18 AM
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Bummer. They look pretty cool, though.
 
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Old 05-29-2024, 01:45 PM
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A lot of riding, while carrying allen wrenches, to adjust this Helibar over and over again. I accidentally found a...not bad positioning. Not where I was expecting to be either. When did I start to eschew higher handgrip positions?



I like the lower grip position. I'm far more confident in parking lot type maneuvers, and more confident in turns than I am with a higher grip. It also seems to be helping my back. Yesterday, that was about 8-hours of riding. My hands were a little numb, I was tired, but my back wasn't raising the dickens with me like it usually does after a long ride on the stock bars.


By no means am I done fiddling. Conversations with Helibars are still ongoing regarding the sizes of the pieces on this bar. Especially the pipes the grips and controls mount on. The left side is ok, but the right side fouls the master cylinder, limiting the heck out of positioning, and not in a good way. So if I can get a set of these that are 1-1/2" longer on both sides, I'd gladly try them out for Helibars, and myself. I do like the comparative narrowness of these bars, but I can definitely feel the lack of stability and confidence from their narrowness. Slow speed parade walking isn't as easy.

Having noticed that the stock handlebar riser, if reversed, should pull the bars forward a good inch or a bit more, I'm also going to try that. In part to help compensate for the length of the bars and the resulting "sweep" of the handgrips when turning the wheel, vs a "pivot" if the handgrips were closer to the steering head.

 


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