16” Fat Ape Handlebars for my Breakout, but...
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10-13-2017 | 07:46 PM
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Tourer
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From: US
16” Fat Ape Handlebars for my Breakout, but...
Next week the ‘18 Breakout is going in for some mods (Stage I & II among them, yay!) and at the top of my eagerly anticipated mod list are the 16” Fat Ape Handlebars (HD Part # 55857-10B). I’m tall, so I got the forward controls plus Tallboy seat for a total of 5” more leg... room... I guess. The final tall-accommodating piece will be the apes.
Today I checked them out at the dealership and held them in place and they’re going to be perfect. My hands will be at a very comfortable height, well below shoulders. But there’s one issue, which I’ll get to, after sharing some observations:
1) They don’t look radically high. I imagined them looking crazier but they aren’t. They’re going to look great. And they have a nice shape to them. Looking forward to sharing a pic once they’re mounted.
2) These things are HEAVY METAL! I mean they’re a massive piece of steel. My bike will be slower once they’re mounted. Good thing I’m getting the torque cam. And they’ll certainly never bend. Very sturdy bars.
3) They must reuse my riser because of the digital gauge, rather than use the shorter one that comes with. That’s good though, because right now the riser is chrome and the Handlebars are black, and I want it to stay that way. The kit has both black bars and riser. And just to mention, the current taller riser will not make it too tall. Height is going to be perfect.
So the big “but” is.. the black finish on the Handlebars is yuck. It is some eggshell-finish spray paint finish that belongs on a tractor. It doen’t match the black powder coat finish of the stock bars, the frame, or every other black part on the bike. I just can’t install these bars this way.
Sooo... they’re going out for powder coating and it will take a couple more weeks before they go on. Darn! Oh well.
I also held-up the black short-reach handlebars today just to check them out. I confirmed that the apes are the better choice for me. However, the short-reach bars have a matching power coat finish to the bike and look like a very high quality part made by HD for these bikes. These apes don’t look like an HD Part. They’re certainly sturdy to say the least, and they’ll look the part once powder coated, but it’s surprising I have to go through this. I don’t see any bikes on the showroom floor that these bars would match. I don’t get it.
Oh well. A few more weeks and a few more dollars and I’ll finally have my apes. And my bike will be uniquely mine, as it should be.
TGIF!
Today I checked them out at the dealership and held them in place and they’re going to be perfect. My hands will be at a very comfortable height, well below shoulders. But there’s one issue, which I’ll get to, after sharing some observations:
1) They don’t look radically high. I imagined them looking crazier but they aren’t. They’re going to look great. And they have a nice shape to them. Looking forward to sharing a pic once they’re mounted.
2) These things are HEAVY METAL! I mean they’re a massive piece of steel. My bike will be slower once they’re mounted. Good thing I’m getting the torque cam. And they’ll certainly never bend. Very sturdy bars.
3) They must reuse my riser because of the digital gauge, rather than use the shorter one that comes with. That’s good though, because right now the riser is chrome and the Handlebars are black, and I want it to stay that way. The kit has both black bars and riser. And just to mention, the current taller riser will not make it too tall. Height is going to be perfect.
So the big “but” is.. the black finish on the Handlebars is yuck. It is some eggshell-finish spray paint finish that belongs on a tractor. It doen’t match the black powder coat finish of the stock bars, the frame, or every other black part on the bike. I just can’t install these bars this way.
Sooo... they’re going out for powder coating and it will take a couple more weeks before they go on. Darn! Oh well.
I also held-up the black short-reach handlebars today just to check them out. I confirmed that the apes are the better choice for me. However, the short-reach bars have a matching power coat finish to the bike and look like a very high quality part made by HD for these bikes. These apes don’t look like an HD Part. They’re certainly sturdy to say the least, and they’ll look the part once powder coated, but it’s surprising I have to go through this. I don’t see any bikes on the showroom floor that these bars would match. I don’t get it.
Oh well. A few more weeks and a few more dollars and I’ll finally have my apes. And my bike will be uniquely mine, as it should be.
TGIF!
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