I went to Urban Custom Bikes in Fife, WA this afternoon and had a long chat with the owner, Jeremy. He sat me on his bagger, which has 12" Yaffe Bagger Bars, and I was very surprised to realize how low my hands were...significantly below my shoulders. Seeing all the photos of bikes with apes is really an optical illusion without someone sitting on the bike...the bars always seem to look much higher than they really are. Anyhow, Jeremy has a lot of experience with this topic and convinced me I need 14" bars...he really likes Carlini over a lot of other brands, including Wild1 (he didn't speak poorly of Wild1's quality, but said Carlini is even better). He said a set of 14" Carlinis would be perfect for me at my height (5'11") even with the added 1-1/2" in height Carlini's seem to have. He was 100% confident that if I went with 12" bars I'd regret it. Now all I have to do is figure out which Carlini bars I want, which I know is gonna take me forever!

 

I just ordered the 12" Carlini Flying Apes...will reply back as to whether they work out (fingers crossed). Anyone have any idea what cable lengths I'll need for these bars?

 

year and model of your bike?

 

2005 Softail Deluxe (1-1/2" Wild1 Risers)

 

I'm using Magnum Shielding +8 cables on my 05 Springer Classic with 14" Gangster Apes on springer risers.
The Gangsters a pretty true to size and the risers add about 1 1/2" to the total hight.

Your 12" Flying Apes are about 1 1/2" taller than advertised bringing them with your risers within a 1/2" of my setup.

You can make more precise measurements by mocking up the bars when they come in. But it sucks having to wait on parts twice.

https://www.magnumshielding.com

 

I just got a reply from Wild1 to my inquiry about cable lengths for their 14" apes on 1-1/2" risers for my bike. They said +6 on the clutch and +8 on the throttle, idle, and brake. I'm guessing that would work just fine on the 12" Flying Apes, since they're really more like 13-1/2".

 

Those look awesome Emdog! how tall are you if you don't mind me asking. I'm 5'9 and just ordered the 14" gangsters and hope I didn't go to tall.

 

I am 6'. The 12's put my hands almost perfectly level with my shoulders, which I like. But I think the 14's "look" better and the Carlini curve is more obvious with the 14's. Think you'll be happy.