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I'm thinking about beach bars on my Heritage. Probably 36". I like the way they look, but I'm a new rider and don't know how they will feel and ride compared to stock. Who has them and do you like them? How about modification to wiring, cables, risers, etc? Thanks in advance, Todd
I'm not sure I like the mini-apes on my new Heritage and am thinking of going to more of a beach style bar as well. I've put about 350 miles on the bike this week and I find that after 30 or os miles I get a tingling in my hands. Lowering the bars will probably help, but I'm not sure which set to look at.
How about it ... what have some of the rest of you done? Are the bars on the Fatboy a good option if you want to lower the rise but not lose the reach?
You should notice a big difference in how easier it is to manouver the bike with wider bars. I went from the stock bars on my 07 Fatty to street slammers.
Better for me cutting lanes and moving around stationary cagers as they are narrower.
The extra leverage of a wider bar does make a difference. I found that as the bars got wider the higher my elbows become in the riding position - this makes for tight Traps (shoulders) and my fingers got really numb.
The beach bars appear to "open" my palm a little flatter toward the road and I notice there was less tension in the 3rd and 4th fingers.
That's my take but as you will read there are so many factors due our physical composition that makes the choice of bars probably one of the most discussed forum topics.
I've got 19,840 miles on my '05 Heritage. I rode the first 2000 miles with the bars in the factory position and I felt stretched and didn't feel I had full control. Iadjusted the handlebars bars back and down about a few inches to where they felt comfortable and have had them there ever since. I works for me and I didn't have to change cables, hoses or wiring and I don't get tingling in the hands.
Get the Beach bars Todd. Your gonna love the look and the ride as well. As far as the wiring goes I changed it because I wanted the steel braided lines to give it a clean look.
I think it also important how tall you are . beach bars aint for the vertically challenged.
put them on myself , braided lines etc ....sure you can never get between cars in traffic but v. comfy.
grzly
I ended up going with the 36" beach bars. I started installing them today. I'm running the wires inside the bar to clean things up. Its a bit of work but will be worth it in the end. I was able to use all the original cables and tweak the steel brake line to fit perfectly. I haven't gotten to ride it yet but it sure is looking good. Thanks for the help and comments, Todd
I have had my heritage for 4 years, and had the same problem with the bars, until a friend surgested pulling the bars towards me, so I moved the bars about 5" closer, I justslightly loosed the bars sat on the bike and pulled them back until they were comfortable,this made a hell of alot of difference, and it seems very popular with heritage riders here in the UK
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