Fill the oil and put some gas in the tank. Don’t fill it just yet. You only need about a gallon or so. Turn the
petcock on reserve and you are ready to find out if you did it all correctly.
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This is the finished product. But it doesn’t end there….
After a few miles the customer decided he didn’t like the way the handlebars felt. This often happens
with bikes and customers. What looks good at the time may just not seem to fit right or be comfortable.
Having another set of bars in stock, we opted to try a different bend before making any other changes.
I happened to have the set of Wild 1 “Chubby” Springer drag style Tee-bars with the built-in dampeners
I had written about in my column some time back.
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The Paughco springer uses 1/2” x 20 fine threads in the
top. The standard Harley springer uses 5/8” x 18 threads.
The Chubby bars being made for Harley replacements are
the 5/8” thread so the holes in the top of the springer tubes
had to be drilled out and re-tapped. Easy if you have the right
tools, which I didn’t. I had the drill so I bought a tap at NAPA and proceeded with the install.
It is extremely important to drill and tap the holes straight. Cross threading the bars would not be an
easy fix at all and once it’s done, it’s too late. Take your time.
