I installed 13" apes with 1 inch Custom Chrome Riser back in March, I went on a rode trip this past weekend in Yosemite and noticed my bars started having some play in them and they started rolling back. I paniced for a quick second then pulled over to examine the problem. One of the risers had cracked on the side exposing the threads. Im not sure how this happened, i dont think it was from over torquing it as we only hand tightened them. Im strong but not that strong or it was made with some very weak metal. Curious if anybody has ever had this happen or knows what may have caused this other than just a defect riser. It had me down for a couple of hours. No Harley shop or Motorcycle shop around for miles, stuck in a small town of500 to 1,000 people. We went to several gas stations looking for some help to find none. Finally stopped at a Shell staion that had a repair shop that really didnt have the parts or the knowledge to do much of any kind of repair, but he knew the mechanic at the County School Bus RepairYard rode Harleys and he might be able to help us. So i tighted up one side of the risers with no bolts on the other side and rode to the Bus Yard. Luckily Tom the mechanic had some brotherly Harley love for me and helped me out. He drilled the broke riser bolt hole all the way through and tapped it out. He also happened to have 2 longer bolts to go through and he got me on my way. If it wasn't for Tom i would still be stuck at Mono Lake. Thanks Tom. Im just curious if anybody has had this happen? Is this a common problem with aftermarket risers? Thanks Scott

 

Never heard of that happening before, at a guess and without being able to see the actual break I would have to guess that your just"lucky" and got ariser that had a casting flaw in it.
If I were you I would take a really good closeup picture of the break and send it in an e-mail to the maker. Odds are if they have any kind of customer service they will very quickly send you a new set with a request to return the old ones for a more detailed examination.

 

Were you using the stock rubber bushings for the risers? When I first put apes on my bike, I left the stock bushings on and they just couldn't handle the torque that the taller bars placed on them. They allowed the risers to move just a little bit which resulted in a twisting motion on my bars. The bars ended up cracking apart in between the risers. I am suprised that your riser broke, even if it was under those conditions, but I would definitely suggest getting polyuerethane bushings just in case.

 

That's quite a story. I'd say you were really lucky to find that Harley dude.
You may need to check out Harley's roadside assitance program for the future.
I'm glad you made it home alright.

 

If it cracked just at the top of the drilled/threaded hole Spike95 is most likely right about thebushings.Cracking in that place is an indication of afatigue crack probably caused byvibration of the handlebars. Check the broken edge, if it looks a little like a crystal and its right at the end of the original hole, you found the cause of your problem.
Drilling and threading a deeper mounting hole (all the way through) using a longer, stronger grade 8mounting bolt that reaches all the way to the top along with some blue lock-tite and poly bushings will put the entire loading on the much stronger bolt and revent anything like that from everhappening again.

 

Wow scary, anyway over tightening the risers would most likely strip the threads not crack the riser. For that to happen it would have to be a manufacturing flaw. I don’t know if the were cast, forged, or machined from solid butin any case, there had to be a crack in the part from the casting or forging, before you installed it and the use of the riser resulted in its failure. I have also seen stress cracks in steel round stock therefore, even if it was machined from solid, the blank stock could have been fault.

 

Thanks for your support guys!! There are several possible reasons that could have caused this so Im gonna get rid of all those reasons this time around. Thanks again.

 

I put on a set of pullback risers on my bike and found the OE bolts were to long(1.5"). So I tried an pair of 1" long bolts. Seemed to be ok but it cracked right at the thread line. The 1" bolts did not go deep enough. The proper length is 1.25" long which is hard to get. I bought a set of HD chrome bolts and trimmed 1/4 inch of all of them. Made sure the threads in the next NEW pair of risers was clean and had no burrs. After that it worked great. Good luck.

 

Greybeard,I believe that is was caused my problem. AltoughI installed a new set today and upon installation they cracked again. I didnt even have the bolts tight, the bars were still able to be moved back and forth and they cracked, cheap metal.Instead of leaving me stranded in Yosemite this time it left me in San Jose, had to leave the bike there. Thats the worst part.So my new theory is to stay away from Custom Chrome. Im going to the stealership tommorrow to get some Fatboy risers. Hopefully i'll be back on the road in time for the Hollister Run. Scott

 

Damn, sounds like they are making them from an investment casting and not machined from aforging or billet materialif they arecracking that easy.