Terry, I feel that I have to reach for the bars. If I could move my seating position forward that would probably do the trick also. I have the backrest in th most forward position and I even installed it over the passenger grab rail (vs under the rail as per the instructions) since that also moves the backrest forward. Compared to my '07 ultra I sit farther back from the bars and seem to have to stretch more than I like. Plus I really like the look of the fatter bars. But the main thing is to get them a little farther back.
That just shows how different people's bodies are. As I said, if all things were perfect in the universe, I'd have mine back another inch, but I don't get any shoulder pain when riding, and that's the "test" for me. My neck gets stiff, but that happens no matter what with me. In fact, I had the backrest in it's most forward position when I first brought the bike home, but ended up moving it back a hole. Of course, I normally have on either a thick leather jacket that has kidney padding, or my newer Olympia 3/1 jacket that has a 1/2" thick back protector in it...both of those move me forward a bit I suppose.
I like the look of the fatter bars too. The 575's have a 13" pullback...the 517's have a 14.5" pullback, but not as much rise, and Jim's description of the wrist position sounds like they would suck...the 515's have the same rise as the 575, but 11.5" of pullback. Jim...with the 515's are you able to slant them back further to accomodate reach, or would the 12" Outlaws be better with regards to reach because you could angle them back a bit?