just ordered me some new bars. they have the knurling though. that trip was great man. glad you did it. you are still young to go out on adventures like that. I am in my 60's and you will always have those memories. don't be someone who says they had wished they had done this or that. live your dream. life is only a vapor in the grand scheme of time. grab hold of it and you are doing that. good for you. take care my friend. good stuff.
Joe...loved the music montage at the end with the written commentary I really hope you do a trip summary like that it would be a great vid. One thing that I discovered with bar slippage was the bolts on the risers tend to get loose over time. I had a problem with bars loosening on my Nightster after I adjusted the position and my solution was to use some blue loctite on the rider bolts, torque them down a bit more than specs and it resolved my issues. The bars stayed tight the bolts stayed tight and nothing got loose or slipped after that. Glad the solution that Maxwell offered up worked for you.
Awesome, glad that worked for you! I had a ton of problems with bar slippage, and my bars actuality had knurling! And I am not an aggressive rider, I just ride. One bar was a Z bar and the other were the Harley brand bars that actually came on my 1200 custom. After all the problems with the Z bars slipping and not finding a comfortable and stable adjustment point, I went back to the stock bars and put taller risers and switched the speedometer mount to do a type of moto bar. These too started slipping. I tried a bunch of things to stop it but to no avail. Even with the knurling the bars would slip. At the end they even pulled the riser bolts out of the riser with the riser threading when I was moving the bike in the garage! I start moving the bike and I hear a loud pop and the bars are completely loose! At that point I said enough was enough these are not going to work and are to dangerous. Luckily this last thing happened during winter and my bike was down for the season. I immediately did some shopping and bought the Lucky Daves Lucky 13 T-bars in 13". They give me the height I wanted and are completely solid. Now both of the other bars were steel and the riser was aluminum as was the top clamp. I can of understand why Biltwell says the steel on steel wont slip, I almost went that route when I was getting rid of the old setup. However after all the trouble I went through I just couldn't trust that style of setup. I found the bars for me on my current bike but if I ever got another bike I may try it again. Just go with all steel next time. I am never going to mess with different metals for the bars and risers again that was too sketchy for me!
Nice tip Joe, I'll definitely use that if I ever put my Chumps back on my bike, I do miss them but got so spooked when they moved down bout four inches after hitting a pot hole. I put a set of XR 1200 bars on & am liking them for now but being the tinkerer that I am, the Chumps will be reinstalled soon!
I have the Biltwell 12" handlebars and they loosen up while riding on highway. Maybe due to the vibrations, not sure. I have currently put aluminium strips and that has helped a bit but has increased the vibrations in the bars. I am planning to add the strips again along with cloth tape to increase the diameter. Let's see how it goes. Harley tech suggested to torque them to the higher side if the torque range. Biltwell really need to start knurling the bars as these cause an issue. Also the knurling will help efficiently centering the bar.
GoPro in the mouth for the handywork shot. Talk about simple and effective. How did you not manage to drool all over the camera thought? I hold a tool in my mouth for a few seconds and it's like cracked open on the faucet.
There may be a shot of drool in this video that you missed. 🤣 That's the absolute best POV angle. GoPro actually makes a mouth mount that looks something similar to a boxer's mouth guard with a GoPro attachment sticking out of your mouth.
I have the Chumps and added a 2" riser. The riser material holds better than the stock HD triple tree. I overtorqued by a few pounds (about 22) and never had a problem. I need to take the bar off to swap to Progressive fork springs. I'll keep my eyes on the bar and try the screen protector if I notice any slipping.
I bet those risers look great on your Superlow! The Chumps' slippage was so frustrating. I know of a few other Sporty riders that had the same issue and gave up on the Chumps. There's just something about the Harley triple tree and those bars. But, man, that screen kit did the trick and it was only about $5 at Home Depot.
What an awesome video....I have the tracker bars on my bike....what I did "before I saw your video" was I made checkering with a dremel on them..took a while....lets see if that works...also I torqued the bolts to 25 ft lbs I know that's more but the factory torque specs seemed to low.... That route 66 ride 👍 Ride safe🇺🇸
A friend of mine had the same issue with a set of Biltwell bars. We used a hammer with a center punch to make small impressions all around the area of the bars where the risers would clamp to. That solved the problem. No slipping after that.
If any handlebar moves it's because the clamp is bottoming out before it has a chance to get a firm grip on the bars. Shims, friction tape, set screws, knurling the bars and such are all workarounds. Just fix the problem by machining the clamps so that they don't bottom out.
Most riders don't have access to this equipment and taking the clamps into a machinist requires taking the triple tree off. That's not an easy or inexpensive solution for most riders. Knurled bars solves this issue just fine and it's much less expensive. I've never had a knurled bar slip. Handlebar manufacturers should just spend the money and make their bars knurled. Buuut, the screen I used in this video worked perfectly. 4500 miles along the route 66 trip and they didn't slip once.
@@GreatEgret 'Machining' is a loose term... you can easily take the cap(s) off, sand them and get the same results. Knurling is never necessary when your clamps are properly spaced and function as intended. In fact knurling reduces the overall contact area between bar and clamp and is the reason why a lot of manufacturers don't knurl their handelbars.
I had Zeds on Baron risers and they never worked loose. I tightened to infinity. A molecule could not fit between the steel. Did you have to get longer cables and brake lines, etc? Oh, you answered that below.
Man, I should have just cranked on them and let the torque spec gods be damned! Yeah, the brake line swap was pretty easy even with ABS. Those Zeds are pretty sweet looking.
It’s a window screen repair kit. It adds friction between the bars and the clamp so they, in theory, don’t slip. I heated it so it would shrink to size. Here is a link to the exact kit I used: amzn.to/3Jt90Ih
This solution was my last hope. It worked for about 8 months and then started slipping again. Some riders go a few ft/lbs over spec, but I was never comfortable with that. I'd suggest a new handlebar that has knurling at the contact points.
I found my bike on the ground about a week ago, and when I rode it today I noticed my handle bars were not aligned because both mirrors are facing lower to the ground were I can’t see the traffic behind me. Is this normal? Or did something brake? Bars are stock from factory
Without looking at your bike, I can't know for certain, but it sounds like the bars probably just got shifted down slightly. Just loosen the bolts, realign the bars back up slightly, and set your mirrors.
You can't go higher than the stock handlebar without needing to change the brake line. I'd say the 8" Chumps are the limit on the stock clutch cable. The throttle cables are pretty long. You could easily go up to a 12" bar with them.
@@GreatEgret Ok thanks man! Im planning on a trip from Nashville to The tail of the dragon here soon and im getting my iron 883 how i want it before I go.
I get asked this so often that I created a playlist just for these bars. By "wires" do you mean the electrical wires for the lights? Nope, you can use stock. If you meant the throttle cables, the answer is still nope, you can use stock. If you mean the clutch cable...same answer. If you mean the brake lines, this is where you'll get into trouble. I had to change my front brake line.
Cables, no. Both the stock clutch and throttle cables are long enough for the 8" Chumps. I did, however, have to change the front brake line because it was too short. It was a bit of a challenge because I have ABS, but I was able to do it myself No way was I going to pay $400 for the dealership to do it. Check out the other videos I have on the Chumps for more information on this. Thanks for watching, man.
This is probably the question I get asked the most on this channel and if you look in the comments you might find the answer: clutch cable no, brake line yes. I have ABS, so I needed to get a new modulator.
Thanks for watching, my friend! I get this question a lot. So much that I created a series on it. Three other videos cover this. Definitely check out the 3000-mile review video if you're thinking about the Chumps. I did not need to change the idle and throttle cables. They are long enough, but the brake line I needed to change. Here's the chumps playlist: Biltwell Chumps: ua-cam.com/play/PLRA7CrqQbaWI_9-yUBbR0GLkg7lm5kZfi.html
just ordered me some new bars. they have the knurling though. that trip was great man. glad you did it. you are still young to go out on adventures like that. I am in my 60's and you will always have those memories. don't be someone who says they had wished they had done this or that. live your dream. life is only a vapor in the grand scheme of time. grab hold of it and you are doing that. good for you. take care my friend. good stuff.
Joe...loved the music montage at the end with the written commentary I really hope you do a trip summary like that it would be a great vid. One thing that I discovered with bar slippage was the bolts on the risers tend to get loose over time. I had a problem with bars loosening on my Nightster after I adjusted the position and my solution was to use some blue loctite on the rider bolts, torque them down a bit more than specs and it resolved my issues. The bars stayed tight the bolts stayed tight and nothing got loose or slipped after that. Glad the solution that Maxwell offered up worked for you.
Thanks man. The montage It came about by accident after Gremlins ate my audio. I'm glad it worked out. A post-trip summary is definitely needed.
Awesome, glad that worked for you! I had a ton of problems with bar slippage, and my bars actuality had knurling! And I am not an aggressive rider, I just ride. One bar was a Z bar and the other were the Harley brand bars that actually came on my 1200 custom. After all the problems with the Z bars slipping and not finding a comfortable and stable adjustment point, I went back to the stock bars and put taller risers and switched the speedometer mount to do a type of moto bar. These too started slipping. I tried a bunch of things to stop it but to no avail. Even with the knurling the bars would slip. At the end they even pulled the riser bolts out of the riser with the riser threading when I was moving the bike in the garage! I start moving the bike and I hear a loud pop and the bars are completely loose! At that point I said enough was enough these are not going to work and are to dangerous. Luckily this last thing happened during winter and my bike was down for the season. I immediately did some shopping and bought the Lucky Daves Lucky 13 T-bars in 13". They give me the height I wanted and are completely solid. Now both of the other bars were steel and the riser was aluminum as was the top clamp. I can of understand why Biltwell says the steel on steel wont slip, I almost went that route when I was getting rid of the old setup. However after all the trouble I went through I just couldn't trust that style of setup. I found the bars for me on my current bike but if I ever got another bike I may try it again. Just go with all steel next time. I am never going to mess with different metals for the bars and risers again that was too sketchy for me!
Nice tip Joe, I'll definitely use that if I ever put my Chumps back on my bike, I do miss them but got so spooked when they moved down bout four inches after hitting a pot hole. I put a set of XR 1200 bars on & am liking them for now but being the tinkerer that I am, the Chumps will be reinstalled soon!
I have the Biltwell 12" handlebars and they loosen up while riding on highway. Maybe due to the vibrations, not sure. I have currently put aluminium strips and that has helped a bit but has increased the vibrations in the bars. I am planning to add the strips again along with cloth tape to increase the diameter. Let's see how it goes. Harley tech suggested to torque them to the higher side if the torque range. Biltwell really need to start knurling the bars as these cause an issue. Also the knurling will help efficiently centering the bar.
GoPro in the mouth for the handywork shot. Talk about simple and effective. How did you not manage to drool all over the camera thought? I hold a tool in my mouth for a few seconds and it's like cracked open on the faucet.
There may be a shot of drool in this video that you missed. 🤣 That's the absolute best POV angle. GoPro actually makes a mouth mount that looks something similar to a boxer's mouth guard with a GoPro attachment sticking out of your mouth.
Thanks man, Biltwell Frisco bars. They move a bit sometimes, I’ll be getting me some screen.
Awesome, man. Yeah, the screen really does the trick!
I have the Chumps and added a 2" riser. The riser material holds better than the stock HD triple tree. I overtorqued by a few pounds (about 22) and never had a problem. I need to take the bar off to swap to Progressive fork springs. I'll keep my eyes on the bar and try the screen protector if I notice any slipping.
I bet those risers look great on your Superlow! The Chumps' slippage was so frustrating. I know of a few other Sporty riders that had the same issue and gave up on the Chumps. There's just something about the Harley triple tree and those bars. But, man, that screen kit did the trick and it was only about $5 at Home Depot.
I have the same bars, I put blue lock tight on the 4 bolts, cranked them down and never had a problem.
Congrats. You're one of the lucky ones. Everyone else that I've talked to has has this same issue with the Chumps.
@@GreatEgret I don't torque my bolts by the way
What an awesome video....I have the tracker bars on my bike....what I did "before I saw your video" was I made checkering with a dremel on them..took a while....lets see if that works...also I torqued the bolts to 25 ft lbs I know that's more but the factory torque specs seemed to low....
That route 66 ride 👍 Ride safe🇺🇸
Thanks, man! Have your bars held in place torqued over spec?
@@GreatEgret Ya so far so good, "25 ft lbs" I took a 300 mile trip in October no issues...
5:00 yeah we saw that… lol
Hahaha! That look says it all!
HD has a flush mount gas cap looks great and would work well with your tank bag
I really need to get that. It look better without the tank bag and work a lot better with.
Not sure if I will ever put different bars on my Sport Glide. Pretty comfy as is, but never say never!
That bike is so perfect the way it it is! It's designed to chop away at the miles.
Yeah I like my stock bars too
Oh, fuse tape! Good idea, man!
Hate that the Emory cloth didn’t work, but that is great info on the screen kit!!!!
Oh, man! It worked so well! I was so happy the entire trip. I hope you're doing well, my friend!
Nice.....glad it worked they really need to come out with a top clamp that has a set screw maybe....👍
That's a pretty good idea. It would look cleaner too.
A friend of mine had the same issue with a set of Biltwell bars. We used a hammer with a center punch to make small impressions all around the area of the bars where the risers would clamp to. That solved the problem. No slipping after that.
That's a good idea. My last resort was to take it to a machinist and have them do the knurling for me.
If any handlebar moves it's because the clamp is bottoming out before it has a chance to get a firm grip on the bars. Shims, friction tape, set screws, knurling the bars and such are all workarounds. Just fix the problem by machining the clamps so that they don't bottom out.
Most riders don't have access to this equipment and taking the clamps into a machinist requires taking the triple tree off. That's not an easy or inexpensive solution for most riders. Knurled bars solves this issue just fine and it's much less expensive. I've never had a knurled bar slip. Handlebar manufacturers should just spend the money and make their bars knurled. Buuut, the screen I used in this video worked perfectly. 4500 miles along the route 66 trip and they didn't slip once.
@@GreatEgret 'Machining' is a loose term... you can easily take the cap(s) off, sand them and get the same results. Knurling is never necessary when your clamps are properly spaced and function as intended. In fact knurling reduces the overall contact area between bar and clamp and is the reason why a lot of manufacturers don't knurl their handelbars.
Meh, screen is cheap, easy, and most importantly, it works.
very good bars, best choice for this bike,
They are good bars. Super comfortable and once I got them to stop slipping they become even better!
883 iron with chumps. They're slipping like yours. Correct torque specs. I'll try your remedy, thanks for the research and for sharing..
That’s awesome, man! Mine never slipped again after doing this. 👍
I had Zeds on Baron risers and they never worked loose. I tightened to infinity. A molecule could not fit between the steel. Did you have to get longer cables and brake lines, etc? Oh, you answered that below.
Man, I should have just cranked on them and let the torque spec gods be damned!
Yeah, the brake line swap was pretty easy even with ABS. Those Zeds are pretty sweet looking.
Hi what is the material that you are using and heating on thothe bars please? Steve UK.
It’s a window screen repair kit. It adds friction between the bars and the clamp so they, in theory, don’t slip. I heated it so it would shrink to size. Here is a link to the exact kit I used: amzn.to/3Jt90Ih
if im going to replace my stock handlebar on my sportster with biltwell chumps should i also buy new cables?
You'll need to replace the front brake line, but you can keep your stock clutch and throttle cables.
Have tried what you suggested, still the biltwell handle is slipping. Any other solution in mind?
This solution was my last hope. It worked for about 8 months and then started slipping again. Some riders go a few ft/lbs over spec, but I was never comfortable with that. I'd suggest a new handlebar that has knurling at the contact points.
Hi Why are you purchased this item can you please share a link
The link is in the description. Here it is again: amzn.to/3FnExKx
I found my bike on the ground about a week ago, and when I rode it today I noticed my handle bars were not aligned because both mirrors are facing lower to the ground were I can’t see the traffic behind me. Is this normal? Or did something brake? Bars are stock from factory
Without looking at your bike, I can't know for certain, but it sounds like the bars probably just got shifted down slightly. Just loosen the bolts, realign the bars back up slightly, and set your mirrors.
Do you know how tall you can have your handlebars without having to extend the wires and brake lines?
You can't go higher than the stock handlebar without needing to change the brake line. I'd say the 8" Chumps are the limit on the stock clutch cable. The throttle cables are pretty long. You could easily go up to a 12" bar with them.
@@GreatEgret Ok thanks man! Im planning on a trip from Nashville to The tail of the dragon here soon and im getting my iron 883 how i want it before I go.
Did you change lines?
Break lines? Yes. Clutch and throttle are the original.
Cool
Did you have to extend any of the wiring for those bars? I'm wanting to put those on my 883.
I get asked this so often that I created a playlist just for these bars. By "wires" do you mean the electrical wires for the lights? Nope, you can use stock. If you meant the throttle cables, the answer is still nope, you can use stock. If you mean the clutch cable...same answer. If you mean the brake lines, this is where you'll get into trouble. I had to change my front brake line.
@@GreatEgret Thanks. Be safe.
You too, man!
Did you wind up having to change out any cables when installing the chumps? Thinking about picking up a set for my '19 883
Cables, no. Both the stock clutch and throttle cables are long enough for the 8" Chumps. I did, however, have to change the front brake line because it was too short. It was a bit of a challenge because I have ABS, but I was able to do it myself No way was I going to pay $400 for the dealership to do it. Check out the other videos I have on the Chumps for more information on this. Thanks for watching, man.
@@GreatEgret thanks for the heads up, I've heard that a lot
No problem. Let me know how it goes if you go with the Chumps.
Did you have to extend your brake and clutch cables to install these?
This is probably the question I get asked the most on this channel and if you look in the comments you might find the answer: clutch cable no, brake line yes. I have ABS, so I needed to get a new modulator.
@@GreatEgret ok that’s what I thought. Thanks brother. Great video!
Thanks, man! I have four other Videos on the Chumps if you’re still on the fence about them.
Were the stock 883 cables long enough for the Chump Bars?
Thanks for watching, my friend! I get this question a lot. So much that I created a series on it. Three other videos cover this. Definitely check out the 3000-mile review video if you're thinking about the Chumps. I did not need to change the idle and throttle cables. They are long enough, but the brake line I needed to change.
Here's the chumps playlist: Biltwell Chumps: ua-cam.com/play/PLRA7CrqQbaWI_9-yUBbR0GLkg7lm5kZfi.html
Yes all you need is a new brake line.
What kind of windshield are you using??
That is the Memphis Shades Del Rey. I have a pretty good review video. Check it out: ua-cam.com/video/JhZBzF_SGgA/v-deo.html
Thanks 🇺🇸
Looks like you’re having fun.
Ride Safe. 🦅🦅
Thanks, man. I'm having tons of fun! Thanks for watching!!
they should have just put knurling on them in the first place to stop wasting people's time or risking their safety
100% agree. The messed up thing is the metric version has the knurling!!