{"id":16484,"date":"2021-11-13T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=16484"},"modified":"2021-11-13T17:30:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T22:30:00","slug":"harleys-new-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=16484","title":{"rendered":"Harley’s New Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I mentioned on this blog that I bought a Harley-Davidson Softail Slim<\/a> in March and took delivery in May.<\/p>\n

I have not mentioned, though, that when I rode the bike this summer, I had major…
\n
\n…pain and numbness in my right hand and wrist every time I rode it more than about a half-hour.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the stock bars were not a good fit. I thought I bought replacement bars when I bought the bike, but apparently those bars were not installed and I was not charged for them. However, my dealership rep never explained any of that to me.<\/p>\n

The stock bars are pretty much straight across. They required me to lean forward, which after about a half-hour, my lower back began to hurt. What was worse is that I lost all feeling in my right hand due to the angle the stock bars put my wrist into.<\/p>\n

A doctor told me that the condition was carpal tunnel syndrome, which is:<\/p>\n

a painful condition of the hand and fingers caused by compression of a major nerve where it passes over the carpal bones through a passage at the front of the wrist, alongside the flexor tendons of the hand. It is is characterized by sensations of tingling, numbness, or burning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have never had carpal tunnel and didn’t want it to get worse. I knew this situation could be fixed, so I began searching and asking around. <\/p>\n

On the advice of a good friend who is an experienced training motorcycle police officer, I searched and found the appropriate bars that would provide a higher rise (more upright so I can sit up straight) and longer reach (which adjusts the angle of my wrist when holding the motorcycle’s bars) and also would not void the warranty. (That’s why I couldn’t use off-brand bars. <\/p>\n

Trouble is — Harley-Davidson sources most, if not all, of their parts in China. 2021 is the year of severe “supply chain delays,” and my new bars were caught up in that.<\/p>\n

I ordered the new bars in June, but was told “a few more weeks” every time I checked on the status.<\/p>\n

Finally after returning from my motorcycle trip out west<\/a> in mid-September, I called the dealership from which I had placed the order for the new bars and was told, “oh, they’re on back order until May 2022.”<\/p>\n

WTF? And they didn’t even call me?<\/p>\n

After pitching a fit, I was given the names and phone numbers of four Harley dealerships in the U.S. that “might” have the bars I required in stock. On my second call, I found them at a dealership in California.<\/p>\n

I placed an order and had the bars shipped to my home in mid-October.<\/p>\n

Then I brought them with me to the dealership where I had arranged service. <\/p>\n

Two weeks later (more parts were needed that they didn’t know about until they worked on the bike), the bike was done! Yay! Finally!<\/p>\n

A friend picked me up and drove me to this distantly-located dealership to pick up my bike. The 40-mile ride home was sweet — no pain, no numbness. I knew it could be fixed! Here I am just as I arrived home:\"\"And… just as the bottom fell out of the thermometer. “BHD” won’t be riding the “HD” probably until Spring. Alas, at least this problem is resolved.<\/p>\n

Life is short: ride on … and without pain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I mentioned on this blog that I bought a Harley-Davidson Softail Slim in March and took delivery in May. I have not mentioned, though, that when I rode the bike this summer, I had major…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harley-davidson-motorcycle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}