I just bought a set of 14" PY Bagger bars for my RK. Hopefully Harley will have everything completed tomorrow. I'll post up some pics once it's done.

I'm 6'1 and I had 16" apes before but they seemed a little low but I came from riding a Rigid Bobber with Apes. The RK forced me to lean the 16" apes back to clear the windshield. I bought a DragonFly fairing (currently in the paint shop) so that's why I went with the Bagger bars instead of the Monkey bars. Trying to get the drips further forward.

Before:

 

I have 16" and love them. I am 6' tall and they have my arms level with my shoulders. Not higher, Not lower.

 

That's pretty much what I keep thinking. I had 16's before . How are all these people running 12" bars and still being level with there shoulders? Are they Midgets??

 

FINALLY,,,,

I read throught this whole thread waiting for someone to post why they think this. Not just IMO. Give reasons like, your height would be nice to know.


Great info, but most of the posts do not include that vital information.

 

I would be interested in 10" also for a 08 Ultra. (Guess we will find out if those who bought 10s and wish they had bought 12s, really want to do something about it!!!)

I know several who put Heritage Classic bars on their Ultras, anybody know how much difference there is between the 10" Monkey bars and the Heritage bars???

 

Agree..

If any of you want to sell a set of 10" in black for a streetglide, send me a PM.

 

I would think that anyone wanting to switch from 10's to 12's would have to hate the 10's an awful lot. Reason being labor. If you do it yourself it's apparently a horrible PIA and if you pay someone you are paying through the nose. Not to mention the wiring kits and cables that were not needed with the 10's.

My 10's are on order (damn it feels good to say that!) and I already predict that I will wish I did 12's for comfort AND glad I did 10's b/c of how the look relative to the batwing. As I sad earlier I am about 6 foot. Assuming they feel better than stock bars I think I will be happy. If I find out otherwise I will be on here selling some 10's real soon.

To think outside the box for a second, it is too bad I can't raise the whole batwing an inch or two so I could have higher bars without them sticking out so far above.

 

Planning on going with 10" myself. Want to try to keep my hands behind the faring.

 

Scribed

 

Everybody is different. What is good for one 200 lb 6 ft person may not be for another 200 lb 6 footer.

But there is a simple little test you can do.

First your bike needs to be in its normal riding attitude. Use a jack, blocks or whatever is available to you.

Next you need to know the measurements of the bars you have.

An extra person with a ruler or tape measure. Rulers are quicker.

Now sit on the bike. If you have hwy pegs put one foot on the hwy peg and the other on the floor board. This will neutralize you riding position between the two.

Now close your eyes and wiggle around to you feel comfortable on the seat.

Now with your eyes still closed put your arms and hands out in front of you with your hands open and find that position that everything is comfortable.

Now that second person comes into play. Without opening your eyes tell them to take the measurements.

First Measurement. Distance from the top of the grip to the center of you first knuckle. (Rise)

Second Measurement. From the front of grip on a level plane to the first knuckle. (Pull Back)

Third measurement. Distance from outside to outside of your hands at the knuckles. (Width)

Open your eyes and see where your hands are.

You’re not done yet, take a rest and do it two more times. One with both feet on the boards and one with both feet on the hwy pegs.

Now average the numbers from the three tests and add them to the known number of your current handle bars.

This should give you the best set of numbers for the handle bars you need.

One Other Trick. When you find a set of handle bars that match your needs check the manufactures web site and see how they measure their bars and using the way they measure there bars, measures your current bars and see if the number still match up.

One other factor to consider is wrist angle.

This is best done with two yard sticks. With the bike as above and you sitting on it. Do the eyes closed thing again but this time have one of the yard sticks in your hand and hold it as if it were the grip of your handlebar. The second person holds the second yard stick across the front of the handlebars and lightly pull your yardstick down to meet the other at the center between the handlebars. Now either clamp the two yard stick together or draw line on both sides so they can be put back together off the bike.

The angle between the two yard sticks is the wrist angle.

All these measurements should get you pretty close to the perfect set of handle bars.