OK, so this is not the typical Bars help thread. I've made my decision, and have a set of custom made Yaffe OEM Monkey Bars coming for my 2010 Fatboy Lo. (consequentially, any thoughts on the looks, we'll all know in a short bit, but..)

Original thought was to do the work myself and spend some time bonding with my bike, like i need to bond more than I already have. Anyway bars should be here today, would order cables and spend the weekend working on it.

Change: I am heading on a busines trip for 8 days and have two options now.

1) I can wait on the whole deal till I get back and still do it all myself, cheaply, over the course of the next few weeks due to cable ordering, business trip, needing some PC done and such.... OR.....
2) I can drop it off at the Harley shop in the moring, leave the country wednesday, and have the guys do the whole install and get the PC taken care of before I return end of next week.

Option 1 is the joy of doing it myself, and the sheer cost savings... Option 2 is the joy of having my bike when i get home, done, but at about 500 bucks lighter in the wallet. Hit me with your thoughts, i have 24 hours to make my decision. (Thanks all in advance for taking the time to inject your input).

 

Do it yourself when you get back.

 

Nothing like the pride that comes with doing a job yourself. Plus it leaves extra cash for more parts!

 

Doing mods to your bike is fun, but doing them yourself is funner You really can't compare the level of satisfaction in doing the mods yourself. Dropping a dime at the shop gets it done, but it's absent of pride.

 

Agree, yourself when you get back. I have been investing heavily in my mods since I got this bike but that is not all I have been investing in either. I have been dropping huge chunks of change on tools so I can do my own stuff. All my tools walked off since my boy and his buddies got thier dirt bikes and quads here a few years back. 1 by 1 my tools slowly vanished, I had to borrow a dang allan wrench to put my plates on!!! I am not an ace mechanic but I am a good and fast learner and like you said, bonding is a huge part of the Harley experiance. I think I will still pass on heavy internal mods for the time being but going to try to do the rest myself and learn as I go so 1 day I can start to do the heavy internal stuff! Good luck, you can't lose either way as long as it's yours and in your garage.

 

Yourself.

 

Do it yourself if you can. No one will care about the work on your bike the way you do.

The money you spend on the dealer doing the install can be put to more parts, or as my wife would appreciate, a weekend getaway.

Order the cables now, so they're here when you get back.

If you can, send out the parts for PC now, so they're ready when you get back.

 

Loosen your steering stem, check the front end at the airport and work on it yourself in the hotel in the evening.

In all seriousness, do the mods yourself when you get home. There are alot of opportunities for the meth monkies to screw something up on a job like that, especially if you are wiring the bars internally. The other good part of doing it yourself is that you get to spend a lot of time going over a lot of the systems on your bike that you don't usually tinker with.

If you do it yourself that first ride will be that much more enjoyable.

 

Did you ever finish? Curious to see the end result. I'm picking up the same bars for my 2010 FB Lo and could use any advice you have for the install.