Hello everyone. I just picked up an 87' Electra Glide Police. The handlebars have quite a bit of forward and backward movement. In other words they are loose. I'm not overly concerned, as I plan on going through the bike thoroughly. But when I came across it while checking the bike, I made it aware to the owner I had to noticed "these will need fixed." To which he replied, "No, I was told the police models are supposed to have handlebar play so that they don't fatigue the office being on the bike all day." I thought to myself, well... ok, I think I could see that but still a little odd. I have never heard of this. Either way, wrong or right, I'm probably still going to tighten them up.

Everyone, your thoughts?

 

Harley handlebars are rubber mounted. But they don't move a huge amount. If they are so loose that you can't push the bike by the bars, there is definitely a problem. The rubber isolators do go bad and I have replaced mine with the poly bushings. Huge improvement. Also check the bar clamp bolts for tightness. If it has been ridden for a while with loose bar clamps you may have worn knurling on the bars which may need to be remedied before they will really tighten up. As to the "special" feature for police bikes...no, not really. Lol