Got an estimate from the local hd stealer this morning to change out my beach bars to WO502 12.5" apes on my 03 RKC. 10 hours at $70/hour. I have seen posts saying they were quoted 4-6. I think I will wait until the end of the season and do them myself the next closest stealer is 2 hours away....

 

Best to shop around and maybe even explore some Indy Shops. A lot of their mechanics are better than some HD shops. Handlebar replacements are easy to do once you have done them before. I can change them out in under an hour now. That includes cables/lines and wires.

 

Do it yourself, if you are at least a little mechanically inclined it's not that hard.

 

No way it should take 10 hours.Total time was less than 8 to do mine, and that was having to remove faring caps and internal wiring (and open a couple beers). It was also the first time I did one on this bike. Pretty sure those guys have done a few and should be able to do it in half the time. I agree do it yourself.

 

I guess you're putting the wiring internal to the bars? That's really the only difficult part, snaking the wires through the bars. I did it with an old guitar E (6th) string. I taped up the end of each wire bundle so there weren't any protruding ends and so the bundles would be compact, ran the guitar string from the wire outlet between the risers through the bars and out through the inlet at the grips, taped the guitar wire (used Gorilla tape) to the wire bundles, and pulled the bundles back through, one at a time. (I had two on the right side, including the 'cruise' bundle, and one on the left side). (I put the eyelet end of the wire--the part that goes into the guitar bridge--to the bundle so the tape had something to hang on to). I used a little WD40 at the outlet, as needed, to help the bundle slide. The technique I used was to pull the wire with my left hand, and push the bundle with my right, wiggling, twisting, etc., as needed. (I covered the bars with a rag and clamped them in a vice on my bench, to keep the bars from sliding around). It wasn't easy. But it wasn't hard, either, if you know what I mean. Just took a few 'tricks' (if you want to call them that), and patience.

For 12.5" apes, it's going to be close whether you need extended wiring/cables, or not. If you don't then it's an easy deal. In either case, you'll remove your plugs, snake the wiring through the bars, then replace the plugs (make sure to note the pinouts). The Service Manual tells you how to remove/install the plug pins. (As someone else said, once you've done it once this is a piece-of-cake).

If you need extended wiring, chances are the extensions won't match the factory colors. Just make a chart with Factory Color next to the appropriate Extension Color so when you get to reassembly of the plugs you'll be straight on things. (If you get an extension kit that's color-matched, all the better. But if it's not, it's no show-stopper).

I did this with my Road King. I also added 14" apes to a Sporty and bought the Burly kit which included wire extensions, and clutch and brake cable (think the kit for the Sporty was 200 bucks).

My Indy quoted 4 hours for the RK bars at 60 per. It was a straight swap on the bars, no extensions--wiring or cables--needed. I elected to do it myself. It probably took longer than 4 hours, but when you deduct the breaks and stops for coffee, etc., it wasn't much longer.

My recommendation is you schedule this for a weekend you won't be riding. Budget a day, take your time so you won't get frustrated or have any deadline, and just work through it. If you have questions, post them on this board and someone will answer up...

Bottom line is, it all depends on what your time's worth to you, and what you enjoy doing. If you do the job yourself, you'll save money (all the labor), and you'll know how it was done--and where to look if there's a problem down the line.

Alan

 

do it yourself , wild1 has some great pointers on their web to help you

 

Too bad you didn't live closer...I would do it for less than half that. I've done my bars (on my ('08 & '09) 6 times. I also have 2 buddies waiting for me to fully recover from my surgery to do their apes.

 

The Indy shop I charges 10 hours to do a 107 build with cams. No way 10 for handle bar swap. Check around

 

I was going to wire internal that is how my beach bars are. I know I have longer than stock cables and wires for the beach bars as they are 36" wide 3 1/2 rise and 14 1/2 pull back. The WO502 are 36 1/2 wide 12 1/2 rise and 12" pull back. Would be nice if I did not have to change out cables...

 

If you need to extend the internal wiring and want to maintain the color coding at each end, just make two cuts. Yeah, it means twice the soldering, but in the end each end of the extension will match the OEM color coding. Could be helpful in troubleshooting down the road.