Handlebars

[94c4]

What's your take on this guys?

I want to put a Dyna Wideglide handlebar on my FXST.
The Wide Glide stock handlebars have an Ape hangerish look without being to radical.
Is the triple tree width the same on the two models?
Do you rekon I will be ok with the stock cables?

Has anybody done this?
Thanks

[jockeyshift]

94c4,

I haven't done this myself from a Dyna to a Softail, but you may have to extend some of your cables. You may get by with your stock clutch and throttle cables if it isn't more than two or three inches higher than what you have now. Electrical cables may have to be rerouted meaning you may not have to cut and splice for extra length. Brake lines... well you may have to get longer ones as these are usually "hard metal" lines with rubber at the top and the bottom. Not much flexibility there.

Not sure how to answer your question about the triple tree width. Are you asking about the width between the risers? If so then the answer is yes, they are the same, 3 1/2 inches. The Springer has a wider width between the risers and that is 5 inches.

As you can see by the picture (avatar) I have done this by putting on 20" apes on my FXSTS with 6" risers. I had to buy everything longer.

Hope this helps,

[94c4]

Thanks Jockey.

By triple tree width I mean the distance between the two elements of the front fork (those two tubes going down from the triple tree to the wheel axle).
The Wide Glide handlebar has a base width of 10" whilst the FXST handlebar has a width of 8.5" and I was wandering if there was a reason.

I would put the handlebar straight on the top element of the triple tree with 1" straight risers.
Considering that the FXST has 6" pullback risers I should gain some lenght there.
The difference in rise between stock FXST and Wide Glide handlebar is 4.5 inches in favour of the Wide Glide.

[jockeyshift]

I think the width of the down tubes are the same on both the Wide Glide and the Softail. (not %100 positive though)

As far as the width of the bar at the base, it makes no difference. You can get these in any width. It's just a cosmetic thing. Ape style bars are generally wider at the base than buckhorns.

Sounds like you will gain 1/2 inch by setting it up with the 1 inch risers, so you may not have to do anything with the cables. That would be easier to work with also.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

[effle18]

Jockey,
I'm thinking about prutting 18" apes on my Springer, is there anything special with the handlebars I need to look out for? Also you have 20" apes with 6" risers? I have Dog bones for risers which I think are around 6" and I was afraid another 18" would be too much, but if you've got 20" it must no be too bad?

[jockeyshift]

effle18,

I am in no way promoting the company where I bought the bars, but there are better pictures of my bike at http://www.wild1inc.com/571cm.html

I personally like the looks of dog bones myself, but when I looked into it, dog bones were not an option because the 6" looked like they would hit the dash if the "joint" was facing the dash. It may work if they are facing away but I don't know how good it would look.

As long as you use a 1" diameter bar you will not have to change the top part of the tree. The risers on a springer are 5 inches apart whereas other HD's are 3 1/2 inches apart. If you buy the fatter bars (1 1/4 diameter) you will have to buy the adapter from Arlen Ness to convert the top part of the tree so it moves the riser in to 3 1/2 inches. if you use 1 inch bars the knurls that are cut into the bars will not match up with the risers and it will be harder to keep the bars from slipping. On the 16" bars that I had prior to the 20"'s I placed a small piece of sand paper between the bar and riser to reduce the slipping.

Of course you will need all new cables, brake lines and extend the wiring harness.

As far as comfort, I love it. I rode from the mountains of NC to Myrtle Beach with no problems.

Regards

[effle18]

Jockey,
What a sweet looking springer!!! I dig the jockey shift, open primary and apes.
My dogbones clear the dash so I should be cool there, and your right about the space between them with stock bars, the ones I have on there now don't line up perfectly but they don't slip either. I think I will do this. I found some bars I like but they are 1", I would really like 1.25" or even 1.50" but they would be more of a pain to switch, because of the risers.
Here is a link to my dogbones. I was going to put it directly in here but I didn't want to mess with resizing it. Thanks for your help.

http://manifestation.org/~ill/fs/upload2/HD5.JPG

[jockeyshift]

effle18,

Thanks for the comments. Bones look awesome on your springer!! The reason that I was unable to use the dog bones was because the piece to replace the top part of the tree actually brings the risers back an inch. This would cause the bones to hit the dash. If they made them 8" I would have done it.