Loosing some width

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I have been thinking about the city lids you can get for making panniers narrower, and managed to get a set from Fleabay, and also a set of K1600 panniers.

Now have a slimmer set of panniers, and the central locking works fine.

Just in the process of re-keying locks and will put them back in.

Still early days and may end up flogging the whole lot again, but wanted to see what difference it made.

https://www.motorcycleparts-hornig.com/BMW-K-1600-GT/Seats-Trunks-and-Bags/Suitcase-Flat-Lids.html
 

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Forgive my ignorance but do the flat pannier lids for the SE also fit the LE panniers or are they a different shape?
 
The current model (2014 on) RT is the same pannier as the K1600GT.

Earlier RTs had different panniers, not sure if they fit, suspect they don't.
 
I always thought the mirrors were wider than the panniers on the RT model if the mirrors will fit through a gap the panniers will ?
 
I agree entirely about the mirrors, and as they are at the same height as most car mirrors that's where it becomes a problem.
 
RT Width

Hi, just noticed this discussion and understood the RT (97' 1100) to be 900mm wide, which must be over the widest parts - is that correct ?
I understood the mirrors to were 'removable' which might let me get the machine through a side gate at home - does anyone know the width without the mirrors ?
I realise that the pannier and cylinder heads are the next physical 'sticky-out-bit' but removing those is a bit extreme ;-)
Shaun
 
Seems like a fantastic idea.
A friend of mine took 5 hours to return from the classic TT because he finds his RT difficult to lane-split ( filter) .
The rest of the group; GS, KTM etc took 2 hours.
 
Think your friend needs to learn the size of his bike then. I don't have an issue filtering, if the handle bars go through the rest of the bike will.
 
Not sure many here would find filtering on an RT as easy as a GS.
 
Didn't say it was easy, but not to the extent he was hours behind due to filtering, normally if there is enough room for a GS to get through with panniers, then a RT should manage unless its a really small gap.
 
So, the 2007 RT (which I have) is 90cm wide at the mirrors, but the panniers are just over 1m wide, so definitely wider than the mirrors.

I too bought 'city' lids for my previous Blue RT - they're only 8cm deep as opposed to the 16cm or so of the stock lids, so that reduces the bike's width at the panniers to about 84cm which, trust me, in central London traffic makes a BIG difference.

As stated above, the biggest issue in filtering with an RT is that your mirrors are at the same height as most cars. It's not often that I'm unable to filter, sure a sports bike will get through smaller gaps, but I do find that when I can't it's because I can't wiggle my mirrors through.... and frankly I'm never in THAT much of a hurry that I need bother trying!

I also used to ride an 1150 GS for years - Like the RT it's perfectly easy to filter with - but on the GS your handlebars are at the same height as most vans - on balance then, you'll more often be stopped from filtering on the RT as there's more cars than Vans about, but both are perfectly adept at filtering once you're used to the bike.

I'd never dissuade someone from riding an RT (or a GS) for a perceived lack of filtering ability. You get used to the size and shape of any bike.

Anyhoo... my RT City lids are sitting in a box now - I've got a silver RT now (long story!) and I no longer work in central London. On the odd occasion I do ride in I really only use the topbox to carry a laptop - I only now need my panniers when I go travelling, so I find I need the added space of the stock lids.

All that said, if I was riding in every day, I'd fit the city lids and keep the panniers on - it'd be good to have the luggage space and the narrower City lids are definitely easier to filter with.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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