Guy guys. I just upgraded from my 883 iron to a 2015 FXSB. It is bone stock so have a few quick questions that I wasn't able to get solid answers for using the old google:

Anyone know the stock riser height? I keep seeing people talking about going to 1.75" risers but the risers currently on my bike look like they are at least 3". I've never messed around with handlebar parts before so I may just need to update my vocabulary here...

Are these safe: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-HANDLE...ec6bb9&vxp=mtr

It seem like EVERYONE sells fake 1 1/4" handlebars... I've only found a couple actual 1.25" handlebars anywhere oneline and it is starting to annoy me. If these things are safe I can just get what I want and make it work.

I see lots of talk of "surgically" removing the cats using a saw. Is there a way to just remove the fiberglass packing? Does that do much for me? I can see the stuff staring me in the face when I look down the pipe

Otherwise, does anyone know which years and models have parts that are directly interchangable? Most of the sites say things wont fit my bike when I'm 99% sure they will and the sites just haven't listed them in their "fitment" lists yet....

Those are the biggies... I just need to get a better handlebar on it ASAP because I have a 5 hour ride coming up in a month and the drag bars are not good on my back. Thanks

 

The second day I bought my BO I removed the baffels. Drill out the 3 rivets on the very back of the muffler, the baffel just pulls right out. You can do this with the back pipe while its still on the bike, the front one is easier if you remove the muffler and do it on a bench. At this point you have the option of just removing the fiberglass and putting it back in that way, or leaving it out completly. Not sure what it woul sound like with just the fiberglass out. I left my baffels completly out for about a week before I put on V&H pipes.

Oh, and if you want to pay H-D prices they sell a "reduced reach" bar for the BO, but it seems to only come in chrome.

 

Thanks. HD already got enough of my money. I'm more interested in saving some. I just bought the LA choppers hefty bar, looks comparable to the flanders bar that people have been talking about. Might still try to put it on some higher risers too in order to lift the tank some (I like to be able to see the heads on my bikes) but the bar itself should make longer trips better.

 

Congrats on the BO and welcome to the Sof tail forum

 

When people are talking about going to "1.75 inch risers" they are talking about putting on spacers in addition to the current risers- you can find them all over ebay- they add a little more height and a little closer reach to avoid some of the clamshell effect of the drag bars.

These pictured are the 1.75" spacers, powder coated black.

 

THANKS! I was pretty confused about that.... Do you by chance know the size of the stock risers? I'm thinking about making a run to the bike shop tomorrow morning to get a few parts. I found some 5.5-6" risers with and without extra pullback that I'm thinking about doing if the overall height is about the same as stock + extensions

I'd also like to do the whole mess in black if possible. Does anyone sell a gauge housing like the FXSB has in black? Otherwise I may end up piecing more things together. Is that a BO in the picture?

 

That's a BO in the picture. Once you go past 1.75" you need to extend all the cables on the BO. Even HD's "reduced reach" bars require new cabling (My dealer quoted me $1K for the whole changeover). I tried 1.5" spacers at first, but it still felt to me like I was riding a rice rocket, so I went with HD's "Mini Apes" and Magnum Black Pearl cables. Apes are just what the BO needs. Also, the speedo housing comes with HD's kit because it includes replacement risers.

 

I'm going to try to do it without spacers by just getting new longer risers. I can't find the exact size of the stock risers though. They look to be about 4". I'll talk to the guys at the shop today and see if they know.

Did you swap out your tree clamps for black ones? I prefer that look. Is the swap difficult? I wouldn't imagine that you have to really disassemble the forks to do it. I appreciate the help!

 

Yep, stock risers are described on HD Catalog as 4" height and 1,15" pullback.
Good luck in finding new risers as it seems not so easy to find longer ones with adequate pullback fitting the 1,25" handlebar and top speedo clamp...

 

I've been eyeballing these guys

http://www.jpcycles.com/product/127-092

and these

http://www.jpcycles.com/product/127-091

If the stock risers are 4" with a 1.15 (do you mean 1 1/2? the pullback looks visually like more than 15/100's inches) pullback and the rake is 35*, each inch of "rise" gives you 0.57" of pullback. So the 6" straight risers would actually come toward you 1.14" while also being 2*0.82" = 1.64" taller. Basically your final hand position is ~1.5" directly above where the stock risers had you.

The 5.5" guys I listed are harder to calculate but they should be a little closer (pullback) while not being as tall in the final position. But only slightly.

For these I'd have to use a nut/bolt combo since there aren't threads in the risers themselves to mount the stock top clamp plate that holds the speedo, but I don't think that should be a huge issue. If I have to go with a smaller gauge bolt I just pony up for hardened metals to make sure the strength is there.

If I'm missing anything that would make this not work, though, I'd appreciate the input because this is all theoretical until I get the parts in and realize that I dun screwed up...