Removed the bars as I was doing another job at the same time, but may have been able to feed in the covers under the loosened bars. On the 1200LC you definitely remove the bars as the long bolts into the OEM head covers re replaced, but on the 1250 the bolts securing the Machine Art covers are quite short.
I OEM covers on my GS, took them off to fit to the GSA and theyd marked the cam covers quite badly, had to leave them on the bike when i chopped it in. Bit annoying that,