exactly...if you like your bike ride it and enjoy it, i feel your bike is more of a bobber/cruiser old school style. nothing wrong with that, honestly i want a triumph thruxton, bmw dual sport, ducati, and a vespa. every bike has a different purpose. yes i said vespa just for smashing around down town and **** you know, parking on the sidewalk where ever i want.

now if your a thug, your green bike with apes could be called thug style.

 

"This thread is about sharing ideas to make our bikes take the pounding we can dish out. Everyone here wants to improve the handling and rideability of the bikes, not just make them look pretty in front of the local breakfast spot on Sundays."

I think this thug style is about looks as much as ride-ability. For instance. High handlebars screw the handling up by shifting body weight back. Lower bars put more of your body weight on the front tire, allowing you to hammer the corners way harder. But they do wheelie easier with high bars.

 

Agree. This is just as much of an image thing as any other Harley style going. 90% of the bikes in this thread are form over function. They're nice bikes, don't get me wrong, I follow the thread because once in a while a cool one pops up. This tall handlebar thing is comical. Its completely an image, maybe comfort if it really fits that particular rider. I put a little taller riser with my dx bars to help back pain, wish they could be lower. Anyone that knows anything about handling or riding a motorcycle fast realizes this is a complete joke. They're no different than apes, sometimes narrower in which case they would be even worse. Thats fine if it's the style you like, everyone likes something different, but you don't see guys with apes claiming they're for handling. My theory on it is some people wanted the tough guy hands in the air look of apes without saying they were apes, then the bandwagon started rollin and all these crockpot theories were devoloped. I can see the function on a stunt bike where you're constantly doing stand up wheelies and burnouts and it's easier having the bars right at your waist. Last time I checked you don't rail corners standing up..
Not to mention all the stock brakes, stock size slippery tires, stock shocks and stock motors. People think tall bars, a fairing and some black powder coat makes the bike functional ha! I don't care if it's 88 96 or 103, even with cams, a stock motor Harley is dangerously slow. I would literally be afraid to ride one daily. Most of these bikes would be mopped up by the scooters and mopeds companies are making now, I've seen it happen. The brakes that come on these things couldn't stop a bicycle. A 160 rear and 100/19 front tires are completely used up in the corners with stock 12" shocks, cracks me up seeing them on bikes with 13" + shocks and big dollar stabilizers. And metzelers are considered sticky

Sorry for all the butts that are gonna be hurt. This thread needed a reality check. No disrespect to the real bikes and riders in this thread.

 

This thread is getting retarded

 

No need to head toward a thread-lock boys. This thread is awesome and hasn't needed any mod-control in over 200 pages. The club bikes are cool, and it's fun to watch a new style-era develop on these pages. I, for one, would like to see it continue.

No question, the "club" concept is meant to be a "rider's" bike, but, like any other style-theme, some are more advanced than others. Yes, it's easy to add a fairing and tee-bars, but those items don't make a sport bike. Suspension, Sputhe/True-Track, brakes and power make for a real urban beast.

None of this stuff makes a rider. Just like any other bike, anyone can throw money into a build. The style doesn't define a rider.

PS. Sunday breakfast is about the only place I don't ride.

 

I don't think you understand the "function" I and some of the other posters here are referring to.

I spend 99% of my time on the freeway, about half of that time in heavy traffic. I don't need or want a canyon carver (which seems to be the function you're describing). The value I find in this thread, besides all the great looking bikes, is in the California-purpose built freeway surfing machines.

Taller bars are more comfortable for some people (you said it yourself).

As for handling, since switching from low drag bars, to my much narrower and taller z-bars (11" total rise), I have way more control for low speed maneuvering, which is important for lane-splitting at rush hour in SOCAL. Dodging truck mirrors and Soccer-mom piloted SUVs is much easier with narrower bars. My bike is MUCH more nimble that it was before AND my lower back doesn't hurt after my 30 mile commute anymore. I don't have T-bars because I don't like how they look, but I'm a convert on the benefits of their height and narrow width.

I want better brakes and stickier tires, too, but those upgrades are lower priority than the things that make my ride more stable and comfortable at 80-90mph on rain-grooved, sketchy super slabs with strong intermittent cross winds. I haven't come across any mopeds or scooters out there, so I'll take your word on how much faster they are than I am.

I'm not sure if your comments were directed at me or not...my butt doesn't seem to be hurting any more than normal. I just thought I'd clarify the "function" I'm referring to in this thread, which is not the same as yours.

Cheers.

 

agreed, got to have narrow taller bars here in CA for splitting. want those bars higher than most the car mirrors. im fortunate enough to have a nicely built 113ci, although to be honest you cant really use it when its bumper to bumper traffic, and your dodging cars left and right.

here in CA most ride everyday all year long, the guys from CA know what im talking about bumper to bumper dead stop. with dumb *** people switching lanes constantly

 

I'm not directing it at you at all. I totally understand changing things for the rider's comfort and what they want the bike to do. I know what you mean about the lower back. I'm talking about the guys that claim how much better tall narrow bars are for handling and that's what they put them on for. I'm just sick of the chit chat and bs and want to see more pics of cool dynas, regardless of the handlebars on them.

 

No one's saying these are the best, fastest bikes in the world, but they're being made the best they can be compared to a stock Harley (or as much as budget allows). I don't see how you can sit here and say a cammed up, tuned bike with a 106" and 2-1 Exhaust isn't an improvement over a stock 96 or 88. Sure other bikes are faster, but who gives a ****. We're having fun making our own bikes better.

As far as performance improvements, my exhaust was dragging in turns with stock shocks, now I've got 13.5" shocks and I don't scrape. Clearly a performance improvement as my lean angle has increased.

As far as T-bars, I don't think anyone's claiming that they're the best to run a police riding course and do figure 8's. They're narrower for lane splitting and being tall and straight out is for long distance comfort. I'm 6'1"- with the 10" stock mini apes I was hunched over and clacking mirrors. With 14" T-bars I sit up straight and can squeeze into tighter spaces and 99% of the time my bars are ABOVE the mirrors.

Fairings cut the wind blast down obviously. I think you misunderstood "performance" meaning only speed and stability. The way the bike performs with tall shocks, narrow bars, a fairing and dual disks up front is far greater than the stock **** parts.

 

All these are great improvements over stock. I didn't say they weren't, these bikes are a joke stock. I also destroyed my thunderheader with the stock shocks. I guess it's the way some people come across talking like they have a moto gp bike cause it's got tall bars and a fairing. Not saying everybody, I just see it a lot in here. It's hard to understand the tall narrow bars when there's not much traffic to lane split around here. Seems like everybody that sticks up for them is from cali, must be nasty traffic out there, I'd hate that. I probably do misunderstand people, and they probably misunderstand me. I've done everything I can on my budget to make my bike do everything better. I love it, but its not perfect and there's lots of bikes that would **** on it in every category. But it works pretty good for what it is. I just love dynas that are built to perform. I want to see more of them

Btw, I like what you've done with your street bob rather than the typical "bobber" route. Imo the street bob is the best late model dyna to start with. At first glance I thought yours was a dx, my favorite earlier dyna.