Why?! Oh why?!!!

[Gliderjohn]

The photo is a stock one. Today as I was leaving a flying event a H-D bike rode by me. It was the same version as you see in the stock photo, beautiful and totally stock looking except...it had shoulder high, narrow tubed apes. Why would one even consider doing that to this model?



GliderJohn

[Beowulf]

I cannot for the life of me understand the appeal of ape hangers. Im shallow when it comes to motorcycles and looks matter to me. But looks or comfort wise i can't get down with ape hangers on anything.

[Pizza Guzzi]

Personally I struggle to understand why ape hangers even exist - to each their own though I suppose.

Glenn

[oldbike54]

 Heck , I couldn't even ride the Bassa with the bar setup that was on it , no idea why anyone would effectively disable a motorbike .

 Dusty

[John A]

They are used by people who understand what it looks like in a full on panic stop when the leverage from the tall bars create beautiful custom effects that you just can't get any other way.
In other words,  they fold over.

[bad Chad]

Heck , I couldn't even ride the Bassa with the bar setup that was on it , no idea why anyone would effectively disable a motorbike .

 Dusty

Maybe that’s a bit of it?  I found the stock setup on a Bassa very comfortable.

[oldbike54]

Maybe that’s a bit of it?  I found the stock setup on a Bassa very comfortable.

 This one wasn't stock , 8" billet bar risers that came back about an inch , with almost beach bars . Hands were up around my ears .

 Dusty

[chuck peterson]

No words...

[slopokes]

What —- no streamers ?😢

[Guzzistajohn]

I like the ape hangers I installed on LeMans, I get a good bug collection every time I ride in a wife beater t shirt and it looks really tough with my tatoos.

[Zoom Zoom]

John, what if you get a stink bug in your arm pits? That's like a double whammy.

John Henry

[Lannis]

Come to think of it, I don't even know when and why ape-hangers started.

I don't think anyone would argue that they're more functional, or that they improve one's ability to control the motorcycle.

I've seen people riding on the highway at 85 miles an hour with them, but it HAS to be harder and more uncomfortable than riding with stock or lower bars.

The only remaining reason, then, is that people think that it LOOKS tough somehow, or makes someone LOOK LIKE they are some motorcycle gang criminal, on their days off from being an auditor for PriceWaterhouse.

I'll admit that clip-ons make someone look committed (even if they're not) because there's some possible performance-enhancement behind it.    But has anyone here (or anyone you know) ever thought that shoulder-high or higher apehangers look anything but stupid (hence the term "ape")?

We may never figure it out.

Lannis

[Ncdan]

I’m sorry for my strong opinion on this issue but I think it is a pathetic thing to do to any type of motorcycle and makes the rider look like a monkey humping a football !!!

[Guzzistajohn]

John, what if you get a stink bug in your arm pits? That's like a double whammy.

John Henry

   Saves on deodorant (Guzzi Content) 

[oldbike54]

I’m sorry for my strong opinion on this issue but I think it is a pathetic thing to do to any type of motorcycle and makes the rider look like a monkey humping a football !!!

 OK , there is no way that is comfortable  I kinda like the traditional chopper ethos , but putting those bars and extreme forward controls on a stock HD does not a chopper make . My old panhead chopper riding buddy Darrel "Hollywood" Hiatt would disapprove of such nonsense

 Dusty

[brider]

Search "Easy Rider" using any method you want to see why apes are cool. Hard to really argue that Peter Fonda riding that chopper with the wind in his hair, wearing those uber-cool Ray Bans is NOT the epitome of 60's cool. Granted, the chopper geometry adds to the coolness, and HIS apes are shorter in height than many you see on the road now, but today's versions are just trying to cash in on that look.

Can't argue that they're not a crash or sudden-death waiting to happen, but I have always thought they were cool-looking.

[s1120]

Search "Easy Rider" using any method you want to see why apes are cool. Hard to really argue that Peter Fonda riding that chopper with the wind in his hair, wearing those uber-cool Ray Bans is NOT the epitome of 60's cool. Granted, the chopper geometry adds to the coolness, and HIS apes are shorter in height than many you see on the road now, but today's versions are just trying to cash in on that look.

Can't argue that they're not a crash or sudden-death waiting to happen, but I have always thought they were cool-looking.

I think the Billy bike was a nicer ride!

[Sasquatch Jim]

 The Billy Bike was a better bike, and he lived longer.  Well, about two minutes longer anyway.

[Matt Story]

My theory on ape hangers is that at base it is a subconscious animal display behavior.  Think birds of paradise mating dance, the advantage a large buck has showing off his large rack, or the mass of a dominant silver back gorilla.  Large size or audacious display portrays power or demands 'look at me'.  Loud pipes go right along with it. 

[Guzzistajohn]

My theory on ape hangers is that at base it is a subconscious animal display behavior.  Think birds of paradise mating dance, the advantage a large buck has showing off his large rack, or the mass of a dominant silver back gorilla.  Large size or audacious display portrays power or demands 'look at me'.  Loud pipes go right along with it.

Hmmmm, what does that make the rider of a quiet bike that looks for secluded places??

[oldbike54]

Hmmmm, what does that make the rider of a quiet bike that looks for secluded places??

 Secure in their personhood ?


 Dusty

[Penderic]

Dont even think about it!!

[Penderic]

Only a silly ape would do that!


Not me! I'm a chimp.

[John A]

I’m sorry for my strong opinion on this issue but I think it is a pathetic thing to do to any type of motorcycle and makes the rider look like a monkey humping a football !!!

Deb and I were going to a National in Sylvan Grove, KS.  we were on a deserted two lane state hiway, keeping our speed in check so we wouldn't have to talk to a grouchy state patrol when that guy blew by us,  arms way in the air. It still sticks in my mind, how fast he could go with no control.  impressive is one term

[Guzzistajohn]

Secure in their personhood ?


 Dusty

I'll take that.

[frozengoose]

Back in the day I rode a friends HD with those tall, for me, ape hangers. When he asked how I liked it, I think I said something like "well it sure keeps your arm pits cool". Crazy way to ride, but there you go.

Here's my favorite pic on this...

[kirby1923]

Back in the 60s' the tall bars, (later named ape hangers) were sort of a fad. A protest to the world.

I once shared a parking space at a motel 6 with a guy on a Pan with some of the tallest I'd ever seen, well over the shoulders.
When we were packing to go in the am I had chance to ask him about his ride and...why the tall bars??!!
He was about my age and told me that as far as he was concerned THAT is the way a motorcycle should look.

How many of us say the same thing about sport bike ass in the air(etc.) and clip-ons? Its got to look a certain way to appeal. Regardless of what I could say (didn't' even try) It wouldn't have changed his mind.

When I quizzed him about the where he was headed and he gave me some destination about 600 miles distant and when I asked him how far he thought would get on that day and he proudly announced "at least 200 miles" 'cause this hands kept falling to sleep and getting numb requiring a break..

Hey to each his own, I didn't have the words but to say good luck!

[Jim Rich]

Peter Fonda is everywhere, I passed him today while out on the 750, he did not wave back, alas I had no apes.

[redrider90]

In Chicago in the early 60's when I was a young teen I remember a group of guys in our neighborhood put car steering wheels on their bikes. Whether it was a Chicago thing or just a group in my area I do not know but I have clear memories of seeing those guys sans handlebars replace by automobile steering wheels. Years later after I started riding I ofter wondered how they counter steered those bikes.

[Rick in WNY]

Ape hangers as we know them got started in World War I. Seems that sending messages via a "Dispatch Rider" was more reliable and more secure than using other methods. However, seems some of the enemy sympathizers or outright enemy combatants wanted to peek at what these folks were carrying. For the riders, speed was their only real security, so they rode as rapidly as possible. However, they tended to ride along the same route... carrying messages... one something of a schedule. So those who wanted to intercept them started using a simple device... a piece of wire strung across the road... about neck high for a man on a motorcycle. It worked quite well in regards to making him stop and share the contents of his message case. Well, the rider never seemed to complain much anyways... likely due to that whole head/body separation thing.

Once word got around to what was happening, some ingenious individual decided that the easy way to solve this was to extend the handlebars to go up above the riders' head. This way the wire was either snapped by the bars with no injury to the rider, or simply pushed up out of the way and the rider continued on, again, unbothered.

After the wars end, a lot of dispatch riders came home to the US and started working on bikes. Having become comfortable with higher bars, and liking the distinction they provided, they replicated those battlefield modifications. And the rest... is history.