Hi guys,

bought myself a set of black 17" Z apes for my bob.  Was always planning on installing them myself, but just out of curiousity I called a HD dealer to suss out how much they would charge to install them for me.  If they were reasonably priced I could have saved myself some hassles.  How optimistic was I!!!!!  We clearly live in a world of snakes and sharks and possibly idiots who pay ridiculous prices for simple things so these company's can justify charging so much.  Anyway, they quoted me $1200.  $500 for parts and $700 for labour.

Obviously I wont be going down that path in a hurry.  I would just like to ask you guys what length cables I should buy?  Stock apes are 11" so should I just get 6" over? or should I get them a bit longer to have some extra play?  Does anyone know the standard length of the street bob cables?  I have read the DIY ape hangers install in this forum and found it very informative.  How do you go about extending the wires?  Does HD sell an extended loom off the shelf that you can just plug in? or do you have to extend the wires one by one?

I obviously haven't done this before but there is no way I'm paying 1200 bucks for some joker to do it.  I'm sure with some patience and some good advice I'll be able to get it done at a fraction of the cost.

One last question, if the bars are not predrilled and indented, is it still possible to run internal wiring? or will the wires bulge out too much when putting the controls on?

P.S. If your thinking I am a mad man for putting 17" apes on my bob, well the reason is that I am 6'3" with a long reach and have found that the stock bars, although not totally uncomfortable, I find myself crouching over them and it just looks silly.  And drag bars would be even worse.  So big apes it is!

What's their labour rate? From memory the last time I got a service t'was about 100 bucks an hour.

$700 = 7 hours at $100/hour ???

7 hours to fit bars?????

my point exactly

thanks crasher. when doing the brake line, do you totally ditch the factory line or do you just replace the top part that goes from the trees to the lever?

One last question, if the bars are not predrilled and indented, is it still possible to run internal wiring? or will the wires bulge out too much when putting the controls on?

thats guna make it a REAL hard 4 you , if theres no dimples there probly jap bars , hds need the dimple due to the way the wires come outa the switch housings,

you could make it work if ya can cut away a hole for the wires to come outa  rough n ready

or you could have a hole drilled under the switch housing so the wires go straight inside the bars , it would be a tight fit and im realy not sure if u could work it with the normal thick wiring loom, at a minimum you would need to shirk wrap the wireing loom wires without the black covering that is over the wirers real tight

NOTHINK IS IMPOSIBLE IF UR REAL KEEN

should I just go into HD to get the cables or can anyone reccomend a place in Melbourne?

thanks crasher. I've already snipped the wires so its no big deal. I'm happy to just extend the wires and make sure I have enough slack on em to go through the bars. So to sum it all up I need;

8" over clutch cable
8" over throttle cables
10" over one piece brake line

correct?

I have fitted a few sets of 16" bars to Fat Bobs latley and the wiring didnt need extending as there was enough length stuck up inside the frame, the clutch cable was 74" and fitted perfectly, can't remember what the rest were.

yeah after re measuring, it seems mine are almost 18" and i want to hide the wires so I had to cut them.

 there nice looking bars  be well worth the work to make them fit

got the internal wiring done today. Its not that hard at all. The bars are mounted and tommorrow I will be connecting the wires to the loom and tidying it all up. Also, got onto an ebay seller/company who will set me up with all the cables I need all in stainless braided for US$225 delivered. I think thats a brilliant price and more realistic. Sorry, but HD can go F themselves on this one.

hi Kiwi, I paid 225 coz 350 cheaper than what I got quoted at harley. I'm happy with the price as all three cables are made to the exact length i need. As far as the size of the apes are concerned I have no idea. I haven't even bothered to look that up. If cops have nothing better to do than to pull me over because my bars are 2 inches too high then they have a lot more mental issues than I do and they should be dealt with via a taiser gun to the anal region. I understand your concern though as your trying to get your bike registered here. If its any help to you, if you find out that this law is in effect I am more than happy to lend you my stock gear to get you through the rwc. I got the stock mini apes (11") and the necessary cables and brake line. You can bring your bike round and we'll do it if you like. My 1973 Toyota once got put off the road because I didn't have a padded centre steering wheel. The sports wheel that I had on their was 100 times better quality and safer than the standard plastic item which still had no padded centre, but they didn't care. I said "my vehicle never came out with a padded centre steering wheel" he said "I dont care, put the standard one back on". If they want to ruin your day they will find any excuse to do so. A friend of mine got pulled over and they inspected his car. In vic they need to find 3 defective items on your vehicle in order to give you a canary(unroadworthy notice). The only found 2 on my friends car. While he was speaking to one of the officers, the second officer went around the to the back of the car and smashed the tail light with his torch. And then proceeded to say" thats 3". So yeah, if they want to they'll find a reason. I just do what I want these days. I wont let them destroy the enjoyment I get from my vehicles by worrying and restricting what I do. As long as the mods look neat and in good taste and you dont lurk around the wrong areas at the wrong times you should be fine.

here's my bike so far....

standard oem black risers are on their way to complete the picture. The only problem that I have found with these bars is that once I put the harley controls on, there is a bit of overhang of the stock grips. I dont know how people overcome this problem but I reckon if I just get metal grips that would solve the problem of the left rubber grip flexing because there is no bar inside it for about an inch and a half. I have my eyes on some Billy Lane items that look tasty