Harley Davidson Handlebars

A handlebar swap on a Harley is rarely just a handlebar. Change the bar and you often change how far the clutch cable, throttle cable and front brake line have to reach, whether the switch wiring still fits, and on some Touring models, whether you need a wiring harness as well as a cable. Work that out before you order. It's cheaper that way.

Handlebars for sale here run from stock replacement bars up to Mini-Ape and Fat Mini-Ape conversions, at 10% off RRP with free UK delivery available.

Does fairing type affect which handlebars fit?

On a Street Glide or Electra Glide, the fairing is bolted to the fork and turns with the handlebars: screen, headlight and instrument cluster move together. A Road Glide's fairing is bolted to the frame instead, so it stays still when the bars turn and its weight loads the frame, not the bars. That's why our Batwing bars are tagged to fit Electra Glide and Street Glide only, and our Road Glide bars are tagged to fit Road Glide only. One bar here is the exception, and it's an older one: Harley-Davidson lists the Road King / Road Glide Tallboy (55954-00) for '96 to '07 Road Kings and '02 to '07 Road Glides. No bar on this page is tagged for both a Road Glide and a Street Glide or Electra Glide. The cable and wiring path through the two fairings isn't the same job.

Chizeled bars are a genuine Harley-Davidson style, not a misspelling of "chiselled" on our own tags. They're cast, not bent and welded, with removable Bar & Shield plugs built in specifically to make internal wiring easier.

What a taller or wider bar pulls in with it

Depending on the swap, that can mean:

• a longer clutch cable, throttle cable or front brake line, if the bar sits higher, wider or further back
• a wiring harness, on 2014-on Touring bars wired inside the handlebar instead of along it
• a firmer riser bushing, once the bar's tall enough to put real load through the risers

How much cable you need depends on the bike and the bar. There isn't one number that covers every model and year. Harley-Davidson's own listings say as much. The Road King / Road Glide Tallboy page says "Many models require no additional cables or hoses for installation". The Batwing Mini-Ape page says "All models require separate purchase of additional components for installation". Both point at Harley-Davidson's Handlebar Installation Requirements document for the exact list. Ask the parts desk to check the length against your actual bike, rather than guess from a forum thread.

We already stock the parts a Mini-Ape conversion typically needs. Our own 37000041A cable assembly and 46688-11 brake line are both on this page for exactly that reason. Need something longer than either covers? That's a conversation for the parts desk, not a guess from a catalogue photo. Two more things from Harley-Davidson's own listings for the Batwing Mini-Ape (57474-11, 57485-11): '09 to '13 Street Glides and any bike with fairing-mounted mirrors need handlebar-mounted mirrors and fairing plugs as well, and the bar does not fit with stock heated grips. It's not only the tall bars, either. The Reach Handlebar (55801263) for the Nightster is listed with its own brake line for the RH975, and "Some models may require separate purchase of brakeline."

2014-on Touring bars carry their own trap

From the 2014 model year, Harley routed the Touring handlebar's switch wiring inside the bar instead of along it. Swap the bar on one of these and cable length isn't the only issue any more. You also need a pre-wired replacement bar, or an extension harness wired into the stock loom. It's the same internally-wired-bar issue that catches people out fitting heated grips, and it's worth checking before the old bar comes off, not after.

A full-lock check that has nothing to do with height

Go tall enough with ape hangers and the stock rubber riser bushings aren't really up to the extra load. A firmer polyurethane bushing is the usual fix, and we stock the kits for Dyna and Softail (56165-03) and for FLT-Touring bars (56298-03A) alongside the handlebars themselves. Turn the bars to full lock before you commit to a wider or more pulled-back bar. The MOT inspection manual lists "handlebar fouling on the fuel tank or bodywork on full lock" as a Major defect on any model. It has nothing to do with height. It has everything to do with clearance, and whether the bar or its switch housing can still swing lock-to-lock without touching the tank.

Is there a UK law on handlebar height?

Some US states set a maximum handlebar height. The UK doesn't, and there's no safety case behind the American rule to import anyway. What a UK MOT actually checks is simpler: with the bike's weight on the wheels, the tester grasps the grips and checks for movement at the grips, the clamps, and the handlebar and fork yokes themselves. A handlebar that's insecure, cracked, corroded or missing a grip fails. Height doesn't come into it.

Fitting it yourself

A basic swap on a bike with cable-operated controls and no fairing can be a short job. Add a front brake line, wiring routed inside the bar, or a fairing that has to come off and go back on, and that job gets longer fast. Most people book it in at that point, instead of doing it on the drive.

People ask this exact question about specific bars, not handlebars in general. Owners fitting our own Batwing Tallboy (55800591) have asked in public forums whether they'd need to reposition their grips or replace cables, and nobody in the thread had a confirmed answer. A fairing, its wiring loom and its year of manufacture all affect that answer, so a bar chart off a website only gets you so far. Ask us first.

Everything on this page sits within the wider Harley-Davidson parts range we carry. If a bar needs something we haven't listed here, that's the next place to look.