04 Road King Custom. Service manual does not mention removing the cables, but it seems to me that they may interfere. Especially the clutch cable as it is stiffer than the throttle/idle. The bike has 10 inch mini apes and I kept the OEM cables. They are long enough, but tighter than they would be on stock bars. For those of you who are going to tell me that the swing test is useless, what do you recommend as an alternative?

 

get the front wheel off of the ground and safe so it won't fall over...grab the front wheel and pull and push it to see if there is any play in the bearing also do the same with it turned right and left (you may need someone to shake it while you look at the steering head area), there should be no play...next try and move the front end up and down in the steering head, this can be done by just raising the front end slightly off of the ground and then pulling down on the front frame down tubes until the front end/tire hits the floor again there should be no play...if there is tighten the bearings a little and do a fall away test ...

 

I'm one of the guys that think the fall away test is useless, but if you do decide to do it, you will need to remove the cables. Anything that connects the handlebars to the chassis will keep you from getting a free swing of the fork. Hardest part may then be making sure your bike is perfectly level, side-to-side, while up on the lift.