Well here we are in the spring of 2008. Hello everyone!!!! I hope all is well…..Seems the posting has been somewhat slow so I thought I would throw out a thread for us FXR2 FXR3 and FXR4 owners….detailing a recent modification done to my 1999 FXR2.
Last summer right before Sturgis I made another modification to my 2002 Road King Classic (the endless search so it seems for the “perfect” road king handle bar, rolling my eyes, but this time I think I nailed it) which had to do with handle bars. I decided upon the Wild One Chubby 10” Mini Apes. These bars have a 10” end rise and a 36” width. After spending nearly 1,600 miles over several days with the new handle bars I was quite ecstatic about finally finding a set of bars that I feel comfortable with! The only reason I have referenced the RKC’s modification is simply because as you can imagine after spending several days on one particular bike and getting use to the dynamics of the ride and then after returning and only a couple of days later to go out into my garage and jump on my 1999 FXR2 and take it out for a ride, what a “shock” I felt in terms of the handle bar differences in terms of “width”. As most of us owners of the FXR2 model are aware of our stock HD handle bars HD# 56473-98 are only 28” in width. YIKES!!!! LOL… pretty narrow….Of course if you own no other bike you have nothing as a reference point so 28” is no big deal….However….
When I first acquired my FXR2 I thought the stock bars were fine, initially everything seemed copasetic..….but I have a buddy who owns an FXR3 and he kept trying to share with me how I would probably not really like the “performance” of the handle bars due to the lack of width which really references elements of leverage especially while attempting to negotiate corners through out our local canyons where I ride. Of course after only a few runs and then trading bikes amongst ourselves (FXR2 vs FXR3)….with two major differences being of course the 19” wheel that the FXR3 has vs the 21” of the FXR2 as well as the width of the bars (he actually runs an already modified handle bar on his FXR3 which is approximately 31” in width) I very much understood after taking on a few “canyon corners” what he was trying to help me understand. There is such little leverage available with narrower bars vs a wider bar. (Which by the way logically follows what I now have with my RKC handle bar width of 36” compared to the roughly 32” I was running prior to that modification, and given the “bigger” bike feel of “Classic”, it even seems more pronounced…..)
At the time of purchasing my FXR2, I was also in possession of a 2003 Low Rider (FXDL) and the stock handle bars on that bike was an HD# 56081-01 which were 30” wide, since I knew how I felt with them while riding the FXDL, I decided to purchase the FXDL stock bar and place it on my FXR2 basically gaining 2 inches of width. This was a very easy install as no modification of cables inclusive of the throttle, idle, clutch, or brake line cable were needed. This resulted in what I felt was a great improvement and had I of course not modified my RKC handle bar as mentioned above I would have been still using the stock FXDL handle bar on my FXR2, however the amount of difference I felt between my RKC with the wild one 10” Mini Apes having 36” of width compared to the FXDL bars having only 30” of width on the FXR2 was simply not satisfactory to me. There just was too much difference between the two bikes. It just seemed really so odd to me that I knew I had to do something about the width of my FXR2 handle bars to help my mind with this huge discrepancy. I know most of you are thinking….it shouldn’t be that big of deal (the differences between the two bikes) after all you are obviously not riding them at the same time and there are always a number of differences between any two bikes…so what’s the big deal….well all I can tell you is I found my mind always wandering about the “odd” feeling I was having that it was actually disrupting my focus while even riding the FXR2…which is not a safe situation and prior to my adding the wild one’s on my RKC I certainly wasn’t experiencing any penetrating differences in the bikes while riding either bike….so this was something seemingly of importance…as I said very odd…..Anyway….
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Topic: 1999 FXR2 Arresting Red~~> Handle Bar & Front PM Brake Caliper Modification (Read 25393 times)