Making Motorcycle Spacers – Tech
One of the beautiful aspects of a stock or custom bike is the ability to fit the handlebars of your choice for looks and comfort. With that said and the daily increase in handlebar styles coming on the market, you would think there is a set of bars that are perfect for your application, and for 99 percent of riders, there is the perfect set of bars. But there are exceptions, and a couple of us here on staff fit into that short list of exceptions. Let’s face the facts: Until you ride your bike with a set of bars, you won’t be able to know for sure they are the ones for you.
We found a set of bars that had all the right contours and bends, but the one aspect that needed a slight tweak was the height. This modification is easy to accomplish by using a set of longer mounting bolts and spacers, placed under the handlebar risers. For normal Harley-Davidson risers, a piece of 1-inch-diameter aluminum bar stock (drilled through to a 1/2-inch diameter and cut to the needed length) accompanied by a set of 1/2-inch-diameter coarse-thread grade-8 bolts, 1 inch longer then the spacers is the easy cure for height adjustment. Half-inch coarse-thread riser bolts have been the norm, but be safe; take an old riser bolt to the store when you shop for new ones to insure you have the correct thread.