Ape Hangers: How High is Too High and Other Monkey Business

by Karl Borum (Kbore)

Ape hanger handle bars are one of those subjective things: either you love ’em or you hate ’em.  Apes just require a certain attitude.

If you love the look and attitude, but are unsure of the performance aspects, turn your attention to the study by the Head of the Human Factors Department, Highway Safety Research Institute at the University of Michigan. Okay fine, this study was done with bicycles, not motorcycles, but still there’s much to glean.

Entitled “The Relationship Of Bicycle Maneuverability To Handlebar Configuration”, the 1974 study says that when compared to standard height handle bars or race bars “…high rise handlebars showed a slight performance edge with tasks requiring the greatest amount of maneuverability.”  This was particularly true with figure eights and slalom tasks. Comparing motorcycles to bicycles may seem like monkey business, but maneuverability is quite similar between a bicycle and a motorcycle.

Since you’ve decided your performance won’t suffer, now you have to determine just what is the right height for your apes?  Manufacturer’s handle bar height specifications will yield different “body” heights on different bikes.  A 12″ ape hanger on a Harley Fat Boy is just short of shoulder high, while the same bar on a Road King, with the same rider, is sternum high.  That is due to seating positions of different bikes. 

Many riders considering apes are fearful that they will lose maneuverability and hence, are too conservative with their height estimation.  A good rule of thumb if you fall into the overly conservative category is to add two inches to what you think is high enough.

If you swap your stock bars with apes, you can realistically expect to change both throttle cables (or Electronic Throttle Control extension cable id, so equipped), brake line(s), clutch cable and wire extensions for the hand control harnesses. Given that this is an expensive proposition, it is better to go too high (which seems rare) than to be too conservative and go too low.  You can go to a lower bar without lengthening cable, but you can seldom go higher.

If you make the switch to apes, you may be in for some extra comfort as well.  Harley riders have some very common reasons for switching from stock handle bars to ape hangers:

• Stock bars are uncomfortable

• Neck and shoulder blade pain issues

• Numbness in lower arms and wrists

• Unable to ride long distances

Human factors expert Dr. Alex Stedmond of the UK Center for Motorcycle Ergonomics agrees.  While studying motorcycle ergonomics, he found that body part discomfort due to neck, shoulders, upper arms and lower arms were ranked highest by riders. 

This seems to be no surprise to Harley-Davidson MoCo either.  Marketing copy from the Motor Company frequently reads “Revised- Improved- optimized- enhanced”.   It’s been an ongoing design effort for years.  Yet riders making the switch to ape hangers, even mini-monkey bars, report greatly reduced discomfort and longer saddle time without a negative effect on handling or slow cornering.

So what are you waiting for? Shout off in the Forums and let us know why you’re for or against ape hangers.