How many inches long....

... are your handlebar weights?

I bought a cruise control from Wunderlich last year. When it arrived, and I tried to fit it, it looked like this;


The difference between the existing handlebar weight, and the new cruise control;




I asked Wunderlich to confirm if they would fit, as I couldnt figure it out. If I tried to push the handguard to the bar end, it would push it out of shape. Also the cruise control ends are very light, compared to the original weights. Isnt there a good reason for the weights being heavy?

After much email to and froing with Wunderlich, I asked them to send me a photo of a Dakar with the cruise control fitted. They sent me this;



didnt clear things up for me!

I forgot about it, cruise control went on the shelf, and was forgotten about.
After looking for the receipt for my screen for insurance claim last week, I noticed how much I paid for the cruise control, and thought Id get back to Wunderlich about the problem.

They sent this photo back;


Again, no cruise control in the photo, but I can see that the handlebar weights on this 650 are much shorter than mine. Wunderlichs responses are less than helpful to say the least. Their catalogue shows the cruise control suitable for the Dakar. It says you need a spacer to make it fit with the original hand protectors.

So what I was hoping was to know what length handlebar weights are on your 650? Im guessing the Dakars all have the longer weights (3inches long)
and the regular 650GS have shorter ones? (about 1 inch long)

Would it take from the handling of the bike if I put on shorter weights which are a lot lighter?

Are Cruise controls even worth the effort? If not, Ill post it up for sale here if anyone wants it.

Cheaper, easier to fit and all round better bet:-

Throttle-Rocker

Whoops! Should look more carefully, you already have:-



Then why not go the whole hog?

I have the longer weights on mine. When winter comes I fit St. Eptoes muffs but I've found that the weights tend to stick out too far and make the muffs quite awkward so I take the weights off and just use a pair of M6 bolts with a couple of nuts and washers to fix the handguards. I've never really noticed much of a diffference in day-to-day use. Motorway use might be a different matter. If you know any machinists they might be able to take a few mm of your weights to accomodate the cruise control gizmo.

Aside from the M6 Toll, are there any roads left in the UK where a 'Cruise control' is of any benefit at all

Orla

When L's 650 GS arrived it did not have bar end weights or hand guards fitted so I ordered up all the bits and the weights are the same as you have fitted not the shorter ones.

Had a look over on the Wunderlich section of BMW Bike Bits and it seems you will need to use one of their Pro Sports bar ends to balance out the other side, these are shorter and lighter than the original.

As you can't move the hand guards further along the bar as they are designed to sit on top of the brake and clutch reservoirs I take it you just have to bend them in more to allow for the shorter weight.

As for why the originals are so heavy it's because the weight will dampen out vibrations through the bars from the engine, not sure how much of an effect it really has but that's the theory and I see the line Wunderlich use on their shorter and lighter versions is "Feel the "good vibrations" of the 650 cylinder."



Hope this helps.

Thanks for your help guys.

Aside from the M6 Toll, are there any roads left in the UK where a 'Cruise control' is of any benefit at all

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Im not sure - I'm in Ireland, and to be honest I dont think there is much need here either. Although Ive never got to try it out to see if it would be useful

As Boundless says, the throttle rocker is a very simple alternative, and I have found that it cures the sore wrist I get from driving any distance. Although Ive spotted a few references on this site to the fact they may be dangerous.

As you can't move the hand guards further along the bar as they are designed to sit on top of the brake and clutch reservoirs I take it you just have to bend them in more to allow for the shorter weight.

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I've tried this, but it is too far to bend the handguards. They end up being squeezed out of shape.

To be honest, I think Id rather the benefit of the dampening effect of the heavier longer weights, than the benefit of the cruise control, and will probably put them up for sale here if Wunderlich wont take them back.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

If you read the Wunderlich description of the cruise controll it says that you need a spacer, which they can supply for use with BMW handguards.

Hi Sue,
Yes I bought the spacer that they recommend on the Wunderlich site.
Is this the one you mean? (sorry the photo is a bit blurry!)


It still doesnt make up the length of the original weights.
Do you have the cruise control Sue? Or do you have information on it that might help me out?

Thanks

i think it has something to do with the heated grips...
if you look at the pic of the yellow/silver GS, it doesn't have heated grips & to me the grip seems a bit longer (??) (its appears to have the standard hand guards & shorter weights, so you'd assume the grip must be longer)

I resently lost one of the weights off my handle bars & when i phoned BMW for a replacment the asked if i had headed grips.

so i think the the grip of the bar for heated grips is shorter than the none heated one & the cruise control seems to be have been designed for the non heated grips!

sorry, it doesn't really solve your problem but Winderlich might understand the problem...

HTH

Thanks Mark,

I think you might have hit the nail on the head there. Do you have heated grips? If not, would you mind measuring the length of your grips for me?
Or if anyone else could, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi Dakar Gal,

I suggest that you take the original weight and the cruise control along to a local engineering shop.

They will be able to produce a new spacer, or machine down your existing one to suit. They may be able to increase the diameter of a new item so that the total weight is the same as the original.

I'd be surprised if they charged very much, it will only take them 10 minutes or so. There may even be some talented Tosser with a workshop living in striking distance of you.

Just a thought and please don't take offence, try and think about how hard you are gripping the throttle, sometimes folk just tense up without realising it and you end up with a death grip on the bars and a sore wrist. On long runs I deliberately move all of my limbs, stand on the pegs and shake my arms and elbows regularly to make sure I'm not getting tense.

A lot of it can be down to how grippy your gloves are as well. I use kangaroo palmed gloves from Frank Thomas, cheap as chips, wear well and grip so well on my 1150GS that I hardly need to grip at all, just rest my hand on the bar.

Hi Packer,

Dont know where I would get someone to do this - but good idea. Although, if I could figure out what type of bike this cruise control would fit, I might just sell it to a suitable 650 owner.

You definately have a point about being tense. Particularly after a long ride, or if Im cold, I can feel tension - especially in left arm. I conciously try to relax it, shake it out etc, but within a few seconds can feel tension building up again. Pains in wrist have been solved by the throttle rocker. Just rest the heel of your palm on it to hold open.

The sort of people that would do the mods for you are generally referred to as machine shops, or possibly precision engineers, but they tend to be small business units and don't appear in web searches much.

You could try calling the local colleges and have a chat to them - they might know someone or they might even sort it out for you themselves if you ask nicely.

Dakar Gal said:

Hi Packer,

Dont know where I would get someone to do this - but good idea. Although, if I could figure out what type of bike this cruise control would fit, I might just sell it to a suitable 650 owner.

You definately have a point about being tense. Particularly after a long ride, or if Im cold, I can feel tension - especially in left arm. I conciously try to relax it, shake it out etc, but within a few seconds can feel tension building up again. Pains in wrist have been solved by the throttle rocker. Just rest the heel of your palm on it to hold open.

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You're aware of a problem so it's half solved already. Try singing to yourself, the most relaxing songs that you enjoy The worst that can happen is you don't stop singing when you stop at junctions and all the people stare as they cross the road. Guess how I know Even worse (possibly) I like John Denver songs although I have to say they constitute a very small part of my musical interests.

If you haven't already, and at the further risk of offending you, (Droopy Dick; if you read this I'm sorry about the use of comma's followed by the word and) do an advanced training course as the higher the level of skill you achieve the more relaxed you become when riding.

For a new bar end weight? Try asking everyone that you know or meet, " Do you know anyone who has a lathe". You'd be amazed how many people have a lathe tucked away in a shed or garage. That and a bit of skill in using it plus a bit of steel bar if you don't want to banjo the original weight is all that's needed. Many lathe owners will be old geezers, a smile from you will have the job half done

I'd happily do it for you except for the small matter that I don't have a lathe and would need to practise as I haven't used one for 36 years