Hey guys, looking for a bit of advice or at the very least some ideas...

I want to change my bars, but can't decide between three options:

Clip Ons, Dirt bike bars or drag bars.

I think the first two would look the coolest. I wanted to know if anyone has found a 1" dirtbike bar anywhere? Most common bar diameter seems to be 7/8 or 1-1/8. Will either of these sizes work with the nightster controls?

Another question to anyone who has changed their bars: How do you deal with the wires coming from the right hand controls? The stock bars are equipped with fancy little notches so that the wire slips nicely underneath the clamp, but most bars prob dont have this. Are guys cutting the clamp itself, or the housing that holds the start switch? If so, where on the piece and how are you cutting/notching it? And is there an issue getting water inside?

I tried flipping my bars last night and ran into this prob... I dont currently have the tools in my garage to cut metal so its gonna have to wait. Oh and whats the general consensus on changing throttle cable lengths/brake lines to accommodate shorter/lower bars?

Thanks guys! Hope this sparks some good chat...

 

Just writing this to get my thread back on the first page!

 

If you want to run the stock control switches you are going tohabe to find bars that are 1 inch all over or in the area the switches attach. You would be surprised just how many bars there are out there with dimples for the switch housings. You could always carefully cut your own dimples. I ran drag bars for a season and used all the cables. Loved them for going a few miles but hated them if I had to be on itmore than an hour, so I switched to 14 inch narrow glide apes. The bike is much more ridable for me now.

I think motordrum has clip-ons on his nightster. It looks pretty awesome. If I were to do this I would get longer fork tubes so I could slide them a couple inches up through the trees to put the clip-ons a little higher up. Mid controls are also a must to be comfortable with these things I would say.

 

i think clipons look great on sportsters - but it is a commited riding position to say the least

for regular bars, you can run 7/8 or 1-1/8 bars if you change your risers. Then you can use control adapters (basically pvc sleeves) to mount your stock hd controls to those bars. look at joker machine - they make them. I had a pair of aluminum sleeves made by family machine shop so I could run my controls on a set of renthal bars (1-1/8) but the control sections of those are stil 7/8ths.

or even better (and many more options to be had) change controls over to 7/8th - it opens up a whole new world.

or get a custom bar made from someone like rock chops in 1 inch to match style.

 

heres the basic setup i am runnin on my dyna - kind of a crappy pic, but its a renthal bar, stock controls, and a joker machineriser.


if you want to run internal wires, drill the bar and debur. And if you want to route wires outside, you can 'widdle' some of the material under the control perch on each side

 

Sweet setup!

 

Hey blackmopar, when you said:

"I had a pair of aluminum sleeves made by family machine shop so I could run my controls on a set of renthal bars (1-1/8) but the control sections of those are stil 7/8ths."

So the hand control section is 1-1/8 and the riser clamp area is 7/8??? Do I have this right? When you say aluminum sleeves, is that for the throttle tube as well? Its probably pretty easy to make, I'll just drink a beer... cut said beer can into sections and see if it clamps.

Thanks!

PS, would you get 7/8 controls from HD or are there good generic aftermarket options?

 

If you want some low, superbike-style bars, go to your H-D dealer and order bars for a Night Rod Special. You can get them in either black or polished stainless steel, and they will fit with no problems. Here are the stainless ones on my bike: