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I tossed in the towel andsold my Indian and bought a 05 Road King. The handle bars feel like i'm on a crouch rocket and i'm too old for that. What should i put on it as for as height and pull back. I'm thinking about 12" and ? pullback.
a lot of people put heritage classic bars on the rk. I did and it made a huge improvement. not humped over anymore. as far as apehangers I don't have a clue, but there are plenty of guys on here that have them. oh yeah bout 50.00 for the heritage classic bars at the hd store
this is how I did it
Had a friend standing by
Got on the bike and put my arms and hands as where I wanted them for comfort
My friend measured the pull back and rise
Then went hunting
there are several sources for bars that will fit your bike other than HD
I did a google search and found the ones I wanted. I used the 1950 style beach bars, However I did cut 1 inch off the ends to get them more comfortable
You can and this may be your answer, change risers that will pull them closer to you and raise them to the height you need.
Hope this helps
jim
Stock WideGlide bars are "mini-apes" and will bolt right up on your RK w/o any cable or wiring challenges. I've been using them on RG's for years. I stumbled onto it because a buddy put some on his RK.
I just put the HD reduced reach bars on mine, they hide the wires and are much more comfortable. I couldn't stand the stock bars so I went with baby beach bars but they were a bitch in a parking lot or close quarters. I'm going to sell them, let me know if you think you might use them. The're on my bike in my sig below.
When your able to change the bars on your 08' go with the 502's by wild1. They take a little getting used to at parking lot speed, but worth every penny. No more neck/upper back issues.
There's tons of different bars out in the aftermarket world.. Ya just got to find one that suits your needs
I went with WILD 1's Chubby Bars WO508 ans installed the WO518's on my son's '05 - I like the way the WO518 fit better wrist possition felt more normal http://www.wild1inc.com/handlebars.html
A lot of people here like APEs and they look great on the King Also... Have used Wild 1's on a bunch of my Putts in the past and never had a problem with them..
One thing to consider when thinking replacement bars - are you going to have to also replace your cables & lines - doing this can add some $$$$ to the change-over...
Had the same problem with handlebars on my 97 Road King and ended up installing Heritage Classic Bars; they're very comfortable on the open road buta little hard for me navigate slow speed or shap turns in town. After doing a lengthly search on this forum, I found that a lot of Road King riders like theChubbys Wild One 518 Road KingII handlebars.Check out the Chubbys website and give them a call if you've got any questions; they won't make you buy a set of handlebars just to get some good advice. Good luck with your decision on whatever you decide to go with.
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