Need some advice on Trike fit

[Booggerbe]

Using 2+2 bars

I would like to no if you have to change your cables or wires to use the 2+2 bars. Anyone no if i will have to . Thanks . Booggerbe

 

[Fearless]

I would like to no if you have to change your cables or wires to use the 2+2 bars. Anyone no if i will have to . Thanks . Booggerbe

you will need a longer Clutch cable I used a +6 all other wires and brake hoses were good. I do not know about the Road glide faring if batwing bars fit if that is what you are planning. Good luck Fred

 

[DK Custom Products]

Hi guys.

Now that I have some time and miles on my Triglide I would like to see if I can make it fit me better. I realize this is a very subjective topic so maybe there is no answer to my question except spending the money to try things out. I'm hoping that maybe some of you can steer me in the right direction.

View attachment 46715

This is a picture of me on my trike (the day after I got it ). It demonstrates my riding position pretty well. While riding straight, I'm leaned slightly forward with my arms almost straight. When I turn I have to lean forward. I have the Harley Adjustable Backrest on it now. It's in the farthest forward position but my back doesn't touch it. Seat and bars are stock.

One of my goals is to go on some long trips. I've only been on fairly short ones so far. I have no aches and pains or stiffness from this riding position but I think on a longer ride I will.

So, my question is where should I start? I'm afraid I'm going to blow a bunch of money on things I don't need or don't help. I once read a post (I think it was from Kevin of DK) that said to sit on the trike, close your eyes and place your hands in a comfortable position. This is where your hands should be while on the bars. This is a great idea but, since this is my first real, long term motorcycle, I really don't know what a good, comfortable position is for me yet. Are there guidelines to help figure this out?

Any advice you smart, experienced trike riders could give me would be great . Thanks in advance.

Carol,

Your body knows...you don't need to have any long time experience.

Sit in your seat, close your eyes, lean back against your back-rest (move around a bit and get into the most comfortable position), put your feet where they are most comfortable, with your eyes still closed, lift your hands off your lap and put them in front of you, move them around a bit, eyes still closed, then stop and hold them where they are most comfortable.

Have a friend with you who can "mark" the spot where you stopped.

Open your eyes.

Do this 4 or 5 times. Chance are good that out of 5 times your hands will end up in the same spot at least 3-4 of the times. This is because your body knows where your shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists are most comfortable.

Now you will know where your handlebar grips need to be. As noted in this thread, for many folks this ends up being met by using the 2+2 bars....but you want to make sure they will work for you before spending the time & money on them.

Here is a report on the "Comfort Triangle" that may be helpful. LINKY

Kevin

 

[Jack Klarich]

ALL good advice here, u have a hydraulic clutch, u may get by not having to change the clutch and brake lines with a handle bar change. Typically u can go up 2 to 4 inch rise or pull back with out having to change ur wires or hydraulic lines, Keep in mind HD and a lot of after market and shops want to sell u these things, They IMO want to line their pockets. Case in point, My last @ home Sporty build, I put STREETBOB HD mini [Factory Apes} on with out changing lines or wires. That said ALL bikes are NOT the same, Choose wisely and do ask a lot of questions. I always told my children to ask a lot of questions LOL . Now I wish I didn't, My son became ALMOST an Anarchist. :Angel:

 

[TGCarol]

Thanks for the info guys.

Hi Jack. I plan on asking a lot of questions. That has never been a problem for me .

Hi Kevin. Thanks for the info and the link. I went out to the garage and tried it out this morning and my hands tend to go right where the Wide Sweepers would be. A little higher, a little closer and a little wider than my stock bars. I will try this several more times before I make a final decision.

The next thing will be to find a place to install them for me. I will first go and talk to my dealer. I have had all of my work done there so far and they all seem to be really good guys but if they quote me a price close to $1000, I just won't pay that. There are a couple of independent shops in town that were suggested to me by bikers I've met in my travels. Each have guys that are certified to work on Harleys. I want to go and check out the shops and talk to them before I trust them with my Trike.

Does anyone know of a specific YouTube video that shows someone installing similar bars on their Harley? I've done searches but can't seem to find one that's useful. I would like to have some knowledge of what will be done to install my bars before I go and talk to the techs.

Thanks again everyone. Best site ever :clapping:

 

[Jack Klarich]

https://www.fixmyhog.com/

Carol, Check this out

 

[DK Custom Products]

Hi Jack. I plan on asking a lot of questions. That has never been a problem for me .

Hi Kevin. Thanks for the info and the link. I went out to the garage and tried it out this morning and my hands tend to go right where the Wide Sweepers would be. A little higher, a little closer and a little wider than my stock bars. I will try this several more times before I make a final decision.

The next thing will be to find a place to install them for me. I will first go and talk to my dealer. I have had all of my work done there so far and they all seem to be really good guys but if they quote me a price close to $1000, I just won't pay that. There are a couple of independent shops in town that were suggested to me by bikers I've met in my travels. Each have guys that are certified to work on Harleys. I want to go and check out the shops and talk to them before I trust them with my Trike.

Does anyone know of a specific YouTube video that shows someone installing similar bars on their Harley? I've done searches but can't seem to find one that's useful. I would like to have some knowledge of what will be done to install my bars before I go and talk to the techs.

Thanks again everyone. Best site ever :clapping:

Hi Carol,

For all the work we do on our bikes and trikes, even building them from the frame up....on my two handlebars that I have put on the Tri-Glides, I paid the dealership to do it. My reasoning is that because it is under warranty, and all the electrics on the handlebars are some of the most common warranty issues, I want to maintain my warranty coverage. I'm pretty sure my memory is serving me correctly when I say that I had Southern Thunder do both of them, and it was right around $600. That included everything but the actual bars. (cables, wires, lines, TBW extension and labor)

On both TG's I have had multiple warranty work done on the handlebar controls. Pretty sure if I had done it myself it would have been easier for them to say (possibly correctly) that I pinched a wire, or ???, when doing the work. As it was, they did the work, and then when there was a problem, they fixed it with no cost to me.

Kevin

btw, when you get your wider bars on, I think you will like how much easier it is to steer.

 

[TGCarol]

Thanks Kevin. Good to know. I really like my dealer. I plan to head over there on Saturday and get some suggestions and a quote. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be a reasonable price.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

I'm crossing my fingers that it will be a reasonable price.

My dealer quoted my $800 labor plus the cost of the bars. And anything else I needed.

 

[Zammy]

Carol, I went with the H-D 2" pull back bars, total cost including the bars was in the neighborhood of $300-350 at my dealer. With the Harley bars there are no additional cables or wires needed. When I told my service guy what some of the folks paid to get them changed out he cringed, said they were getting taken for a ride and not on their machine. Maybe I got lucky with an honest dealer.

 

[Recycledteen]

Carol, I am with Zammy on this one. The only difference was I used the Kromewerks +2 Bars which only moved back 2" and did not raise the 2" everyone else has been using. I have shorter arms and am 5'8" and it seems this helped me plus not having the extra height helped my hands from going to sleep. I had a small rise handlebar on my FLHTC and I noticed hand problems so when I changed the trike bars, I just went with the pullback only. Also all the wires went back into place.

Have you tried readjusting the bars closer to you by leaning them back a bit?

Also on the seat, I have the Mustang seat #76033 Touring seat and it moved me towards the bars just a bit and is a firmer seat. Of course you need to remember when changing the seat, that can also effect the position your hands are in on the bars too.

Here is a fitment chart on seats:

http://www.mustangseats.com/Mustang/Motorcycle-Seats-101-Overview

 

[TGCarol]

Thanks Fuzzy and Gary

It really seems like you did get lucky with an honest dealer Gary. I hope I get a similar price but I haven't found any HD bars that would fit the way I want. I guess the closest would be the mini apes. I think they will be too high though. Also, I don't think they are wider than the stock ones. :Shrug:

I started checking out the Wild 1 Chubby Bagger Low bars. Anyone have these?

 

[TGCarol]

Carol, I am with Zammy on this one. The only difference was I used the Kromewerks +2 Bars which only moved back 2" and did not raise the 2" everyone else has been using. I have shorter arms and am 5'8" and it seems this helped me plus not having the extra height helped my hands from going to sleep. I had a small rise handlebar on my FLHTC and I noticed hand problems so when I changed the trike bars, I just went with the pullback only. Also all the wires went back into place.

Have you tried readjusting the bars closer to you by leaning them back a bit?

Also on the seat, I have the Mustang seat #76033 Touring seat and it moved me towards the bars just a bit and is a firmer seat. Of course you need to remember when changing the seat, that can also effect the position your hands are in on the bars too.

Here is a fitment chart on seats:

http://www.mustangseats.com/Mustang/Motorcycle-Seats-101-Overview

Thank Rick. I thought about rotating the bars so they are closer but unfortunately, that would make them lower as well. I don't much like reaching so far forward and down. When I close my eyes and place my hands where they would be comfortable, they are always closer, higher and slightly wider as well.

I'm OK with my seat. I have a sheepskin on it so it's more comfortable When I do get around to replacing it, I would like to keep my seating position the same. My legs and foot controls are comfortable. My husband has a Mustang seat on his Street Glide. It's beautiful and he says it's way more comfortable than the stock one.

Thanks for your reply :clapping:

 

[Fearless]

Straighter grip angle

Remember Carol the wide sweepers are a little straighter on the grip. A little straighter worked really well for me because of my right wrist being damaged in crash years ago. Just a little reminder the narrow bars are close to OEM bars for angle of grip, but you don't really gain any leverage they are not wider just sayin. fred

 

[TGCarol]

Hi guys

I went to my Harley dealer Saturday for a "Fit Assessment". Not surprisingly they suggested the HD Bagger Reach handlebars. They had a bike there with them installed so I got to try them. They were very comfortable. They put the grips closer to me but not higher. That seemed OK. My hands were behind the faring, and they were much more comfortable than stock. They told me there would be no extensions needed of any kind but they still quoted me $600 including the bars. Wow. :xzqxz: I think I'm going to call around and see if I can get a better price. $600 is better than I thought but still a lot.

 

[Jack Klarich]

I went to my Harley dealer Saturday for a "Fit Assessment". Not surprisingly they suggested the HD Bagger Reach handlebars. They had a bike there with them installed so I got to try them. They were very comfortable. They put the grips closer to me but not higher. That seemed OK. My hands were behind the faring, and they were much more comfortable than stock. They told me there would be no extensions needed of any kind but they still quoted me $600 including the bars. Wow. :xzqxz: I think I'm going to call around and see if I can get a better price. $600 is better than I thought but still a lot.

Carol, look here first:

HD will tell u blah blah , it costs this much

Most of it is NOT true

IMO if ur handy with a wrench U can do this urself

I have changed a lot of bikes without ALL the baloney from HD the last bike was a 99 Sporty, I custom fabbed a Streetbob Mustang Solo Seat and my original Apes on her Sporty with common shop tools and nus and bolts I had Good Luck and don't let them scare U

 

[Fearless]

I went to my Harley dealer Saturday for a "Fit Assessment". Not surprisingly they suggested the HD Bagger Reach handlebars. They had a bike there with them installed so I got to try them. They were very comfortable. They put the grips closer to me but not higher. That seemed OK. My hands were behind the faring, and they were much more comfortable than stock. They told me there would be no extensions needed of any kind but they still quoted me $600 including the bars. Wow. :xzqxz: I think I'm going to call around and see if I can get a better price. $600 is better than I thought but still a lot.

Carol just to let you know I did mine for less than $225 three years ago and included the price of a used shop manual. I had never seen inside a batwing faring before I changed the bars. If Hubster changes Oil in vehicles he is up to this project. It is not rocket science just time consuming there are a ton of videos out there for instruction. And really no specialty tools needed. You go the route you feel best these bars and pricing only have to satisfy one person you. Good luck on your choice. Ride safe Fred

 

[TGCarol]

Thanks guys.

The hubster and I sat down and watched a very detailed video on changing handlebars. He's a super smart guy but has zero experience with wrenching save oil changes on his truck. We both decided to let the experts handle it.

I tried calling another dealer for a second quote but their service dept. is closed on Mondays. I'll try again today.

I really appreciate all the help from you thoughtful and very knowledgeable people. :clapping:This truly is special place and the best site ever .

 

[1dn5up]

Bar Replacing

The only scary part was the throtle wire conecter removal in order to feed into the bars. Clutch cable was rerouted outside of the fairing. Make sure lock to lock distance clears fuel tank. After the third beer , secure bar clamp and wire ty in fairing and reassemble. Just time consuming.

2x2 wide sweepers gave me the extra turning leverage as wellas the elbow bend for comfort.

 

[rhino 2]

Thanks guys.

The hubster and I sat down and watched a very detailed video on changing handlebars. He's a super smart guy but has zero experience with wrenching save oil changes on his truck. We both decided to let the experts handle it.

I tried calling another dealer for a second quote but their service dept. is closed on Mondays. I'll try again today.

I really appreciate all the help from you thoughtful and very knowledgeable people. :clapping:This truly is special place and the best site ever .

At one time i would do everything my self, Now just small stuff, like floor board extenders ' And only on a rain day...

At this stage of my life my time is worth more than what a dealer charges....

I use to do all my oil changes on my truck, And the Wife's car, Now its easy just to go to a quick change place and in 15 minuets be done with it....Even the oil change on my Tri-Glide, I let my dealer do them....