I just bought a 2017 Road Glide. New to the touring family of bikes. Came from a Wide Glide. Lots of room on the wide glide, but on the Road Glide I feel cramped. I have checked out "tall boy" seats and handlebars. Im 6'1

I was curious what is the best bang for the buck here. As far as I see it I can try 4 things:
1. rotate stock bars forward (cheapest)
2. replace with "tall boy" seat
3. replace bars with a better bend profile, getting my arms forward
4. combination of 3 and 4

I see a lot of guys replacing bars, and replacing seats. I replaced the seat on almost all my biles, but mostly just for comfort, not for creating more room.

A lot of options on bars, not really that into the tall Ape's. RSD has some cool bars, also checked out LA choppers. Just not sure which way to go.

Seeing that Im looking at $400+ for the seat and the bars individually, which one will give me the most space?

Thanks

 

1. is free! Try first. Funnily enough, being much shorter than you, I couldn't help thinking my bike had been built by a gorilla - with very long arms, as the bars were so far away. Adjusting them transformed my comfort and ride quality. Do one thing at a time, rather than a 'big bang'.

 

After you adjust the handlebars, if you still want to try better seat get a used cop seat - it sits you up properly and is so, so comfortable. There's one for sale in the classified forum for only $99

 

I know this is heretical, but I think you need apes.

 

What size Apes would be good?

 

Its very subjective. 12.5 or 14s, but you need to do whats best for you.

Try to sit on some bikes with apes.

Whatever you do, do not let cable length dictate what bars you buy - get the most comfortable bars, and the required cables/wires.

Techniques like this are often helpful:

 

This is a great video for determining what bars to get when you find the comfortable position. I guess my question would be, for longer rides is it uncomfortable to have bars that are "high" I see that alot with apes, and always wondered if its uncomfortable for longer rides. I have a cross country ride coming up.

 

Not uncomfortable on long rides. At least for me anyway, couldnt do long rides without apes. I suppose above a certain height it would be a problem, but with any size bars, your hands need a break, thats what cruise control is for.

 

I am 6'7" rode WGs for the last 20 years or so and just moved to a 2017 RGU. The first thing I did was go with 12" bars, most folks would say at my height I need 14-16 inch bars. However I like my bars at about chest level, my WG has mini apes on 2" risers and that was the position I want the bars on the RGU. 12" fit the bill for me. What it did was get the bars higher above my knees than the position of stock bars while putting my hands in the position I am used to for years on my WGs.

The next thing I did was get the Kuryakyn footboard spacers that move the boards out 3/4 inch. This made more room on the boards bt allowing me to use more of the width of the boards. Many will go with the Tallboys kit that also move the boards forward 1". My thinking and it worked out great was that when cruising my toes hang off the front of the boards about 1" for a comfortable cruising position. Moving the boards forward 1" would not accomplish anything but having the boards under the ends of my toes and require that I trim the bottom of my lowers to accommodate them. With boots on it really makes no difference to me if 1" of my toes is hanging off the end or on the boards. At about $35 the Kury spacers are approx $150 less than the Tall boy set up.

Next I went for the Mustang Super Touring seat that put the driver back
1 3/4". I ran Mustang seats for the last 15 years on WGs and they work excellent for me so I stayed with the comfort I know and trust. Getting my butt back almost 2" gave me the room I needed.

I have only rode this set up about two weeks and around 1000 miles, my longest day has only been just shy of 300 miles with the longest stretch in the saddle without stopping around 160 miles. While I have not put it to the true test on and extended trip at this point I feel I have it dialed in where I want it from a comfort standpoint.

Here is a pic with the above set up to give you an idea of looks

 

That is awesome info. I am now leaning towards 12-13 Apes, I like the Yaffe ones. Question about the Foot Board relocation. Does that ever get in the way of getting your foot down at a stop?