Hey Gang,
Been thing about replacing my 04 Heritage stock handlebars with the Cubby Wild1 518's. Just curious if anyone out there had any experiance with these particular bars, and how they felt on the road compared with the stock bars. Also, if they installed okay using all the stock cables, or will I need to get longer cables.

Thanks,
San Antonio Joe

 

I have a set of 518's in my garage waiting on back-ordered throttle and idle cables. Mine are going on a Fatboy and I'm hoping to have them installed by next weekend. I believe some of your Heritage cables are the same length as a Fatboy's and Wild1 gave me different opinions on lengths. One guy said stock would work, but suggested to go 2" longer on everything but the clutch cable. The guy I ordered from said to definitely go 4" longer for everything. I went with a 4" increase on the brake line and throttle cables and 2" longer on the clutch. When I get everything on, I'll let you know how it all fits.

 

Thanks Bigbender, I believe your right about the cable lenghts being the same on FB and heritage. I'll be interested in seeing how your install went using longer cables. I was hoping to get away with factory cables, but I'll wait and see.

 

I have 518's on my 04 Heritage and love um. I was able to use the stock wiring. It was a little tight but works just fine. It was the best thing I ever did to my bike. It improved the handleing and looks big time. Good Luck

 

Joe,
I'm sorry for not getting back sooner but the weather's nice and I don't get online much.

I got my Wild1 518's on a few weeks ago (pics below). It took me two evenings to get them on but the effort was worthwhile. Getting the bike dis-assembled, feeding the wires through the bars, and swapping out the switch housings takes time and if the HD shop says it will take eight hours, believe them. The throttle cable and brake line lengths I ordered were four inches longer than stock and I could have gone with two inch. I wouldn't want to use stock lengths for these. As you can see, I didn't get my clutch cable on yet but the original length will work well.

If you use a straight edge across the original Fatboy bars, the end of the grips are in line with the speedometer console mounting bolt. The 518's are 5 1/4" behind the bolt and at 5' 11" that's a little too far for me. They'd be perfect if they had two inches less pullback. They're a major improvement over the stock 1" bars though. I don't have to lean over any more and the seat is under my butt now instead of in front of me. These bars must weigh at least five times as much as the originals and all that extra mass does a lot to eliminate vibration. With the ISO grips added, my hands don't get numb at all anymore. If you have any other questions, let me know...

 

Hey BigBender,

Your bike looks great! I was on the phone with Wild1. I am trying to decide whether to go with the 501 Bars (8" drags) or the 518s you used. I need a little more height and pullback than stock. I may go with the 501s if I do a 2" tank lift.

Wild1 said I can go with stock cables with either bar. From your experience it sounds like a 2" over is best for brake, idle, and throttle....and clutch cable remains stock. Why is no change necessary for clutch?

Lastly, I would also like to change the front turn signals. Yours look great. What turn signals and mounting hardware did you use? I have a detachable shield that I haven't used yet but I mounted the hardware for it...the lower mount is where you moved your front turn signals. Do you know if I have to remove these lower mounts or is there hardware that will allow mounting both the detach windsheild and turn signals?

Much appreciated...

Al

 

Hello everybody,
new to this forum I0ve been wondering on the same question.
But you don't seem to consider that in order not to change the risers only large diameter (I cannot understand wheter OEM risers are 1-1/4" or 1-1/2") bars should be mounted. Not pretending to be smart here, but I'd love a flat track style bar and I couldn't find any with the large diameter.
Solutions?

 

Most chubby bars are still 1" in the riser area, specifically so you DON'T have to change risers. Also 1" in the grip area.

 

I put 518's on my 05 Heritage Classic and love'em! My brother-in-law helped me and it took up about 2 hours to do it. When I changed out the bars, I had the stock cables still on (pics show braided cables...love them too ) and I had to bend my stock front brake cable a little. Did not hinder the performance of braking. Feeding the wires through the bars was a snap. I ran some "jet-line" through them before the install. We unbolted the tank and lifted it up enough to get access to the wire plugs (one on each side of the tank) and just pushed the pins out to free up the cables. Put the 518's on while running the wires at the same time. Bolted/mounted everythingback up and we were done. Pics attached...


[IMG]local://upfiles/12661/970B45D956DE464F85737213F85065CE.jpg[/IMG]

 

Here's a different angle...

[IMG]local://upfiles/12661/8F9E4239BDD34CE182E8FD1A834DA7E3.jpg[/IMG]