That is gonna leave a dent...But you will enjoy I am sure man. Post some pics when you get it back.

 

Saw the title of this thread and the first thing I thought was $25/hr but if you want a real wrench to work on your bike it's at least $80/hr.

 

I am currently running 12's on my bike now. I paid guy 350 (Houston) to have them put on in 2010. I have a set of 16's that I have had for almost 6 months waiting to put them on. I along with another forum member or going to tackle this in October. As much as I don't want a 2 day affair, I also do not want to she'll out 480 to get the job done. That was the best quote I have had here in DFW 8hrs labor @ 60 hr. Chit saving the 480 will cover the new cables, bushings and give him a couple of dollars for the help.

 

I've changed my handle bars on my 2011 RKC twice. First time to Heritage bars then 12" apes. The second time I had to do the cable the brake line and wires. I did it all myself, I saved money and became "one with the bike". I did my own brake line bleeding, it's not necessary to take it to the dealer for the front/middle line.

 

When I saw the title of the post "labor rate for new apes" the first thing I thought of was "labor rape for new apes", but $360 to install new bars (on a batwing bike) is a good deal. Some places will charge you $1500. If you have never done it before it will take all day, two days for some to complete, if you have the money, go for it.

 

I just did the same thing today. There are no big surprises in changing out the bars. The only trick i can think of is the taking care of the rear brake switch. While i had them off i added heated grips too.

 

Just a heads up; when you receive the bars/cables and all that comes with, inspect them VERY VERY carefully. I know, and have read about many pissed off HCC customers. I have no personal experience with their products, but that is a direct result of all the bad press I've heard about them. (i.e. low quality chinese parts, parts out of specs, or just plain wrong specs, chrome flaking, and bad customer service) In fact, I've seen a bike with the HCC apes/cables package and lets just say I immediately judged them to be sub par. For all the aforementioned reasons, I won't buy from them.

The search section is your friend. There are many a thread on this forum containing more complaints than praise for HCC.

 

Sounds like a dam good price to me.

 

To be honest the dude I spoke with on the phone @ HCC was pretty unfriendly. I tried to overlook it though because everyone has their bad days. I went ahead and ordered the cyclesmiths because I know they are good quality bars. I was told that the cables are motion pro. I will need to buy a front brake line separate because I have a single sided rotor. (PM wheels). I have read the mixed reviews and most seem to have been from quite a while back. IDK guess I will find out soon enough.

 

Hey hopefully in your case, you don't have any issues and you end up with good quality stuff. I just didn't want to see you spend all that money and end up unhappy with the results. I'm shopping around for apes myself for my ultra. I've been reading all the threads I can about em and asking every biker I see what he has, and how he likes them. So far have the field narrowed down to Santee 11's, Yaffe MBB's, or Wild 1's. Just have to decide what height I'm going with after I pick one them. I'm going to do the install myself this winter. I'll be watching for your follow up thread after the install. Good luck and ride safe.