Electra Glide 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.
Which fairing you've got matters more than which model
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. Nothing crosses that line. 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. Riders moving to around 3.5 inches of riser height report no cable change needed, then running out of slack not far beyond that; others fitting 10 to 12-inch ape hangers to a Street Glide say the same thing from the other direction: sometimes the stock cable reroutes, sometimes it won't reach at all. 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.
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.
There's no 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.