I'm just going through the process of fitting some renthal bars to my 1100, and thought I'd share it with you in case you want to do the same.
First off, why would I want to? Mainly because the standard bars bend or sweep too far back for me. Look at the line of my knuckles vs the line of the bar. This makes them really uncomfortable after a couple of hours riding
So what's the problem with fitting Renthals? Well they're easy to fit, but it's difficult to sort out the wiring for the original BMW heated grips. It has to exit the bar end through a slot, and the bar end weights & hand guards fix into a threaded part of the bar. Not a problem for you 1200 owners though ....
So how to overcome it? This is by no means original thought - others have done it successfully. Take your bars, and a deep breath, and cut the ends off them so you get the circled part.
Better still, get someone else to cut the ends off their bars and send them to you! Thanks Tobers
You end up with these:
You'll find they're made of a centre core held tightly in the outer sleeve by a couple of rubber bushes. "Persuade" them out. You can then cut off the rubber bushes with a stanley knife, which leaves a "crosscut" pattern underneath. This is important for later. Take the core parts to your local engineering shop and get them to turn them down - but only as far as the crosscut pattern nearest the bar end (you can see it in the pic below) - so they fit inside the bars. You get these (cost me a tenner):
Then select your Renthals:
I got mine from B&C Express - about £35.00
When you slide the bar ends into the bars you get something like this:
Once you've aligned the bar ends correctly with the cut out segment upwards, you can press, persuade or hammer the bar ends into the renthals, until there is no more of the black cross-cut pattern showing. They form a pretty tight fit.
More later when I've completed the next steps ...
Nin
First off, why would I want to? Mainly because the standard bars bend or sweep too far back for me. Look at the line of my knuckles vs the line of the bar. This makes them really uncomfortable after a couple of hours riding
So what's the problem with fitting Renthals? Well they're easy to fit, but it's difficult to sort out the wiring for the original BMW heated grips. It has to exit the bar end through a slot, and the bar end weights & hand guards fix into a threaded part of the bar. Not a problem for you 1200 owners though ....
So how to overcome it? This is by no means original thought - others have done it successfully. Take your bars, and a deep breath, and cut the ends off them so you get the circled part.
Better still, get someone else to cut the ends off their bars and send them to you! Thanks Tobers
You end up with these:
You'll find they're made of a centre core held tightly in the outer sleeve by a couple of rubber bushes. "Persuade" them out. You can then cut off the rubber bushes with a stanley knife, which leaves a "crosscut" pattern underneath. This is important for later. Take the core parts to your local engineering shop and get them to turn them down - but only as far as the crosscut pattern nearest the bar end (you can see it in the pic below) - so they fit inside the bars. You get these (cost me a tenner):
Then select your Renthals:
I got mine from B&C Express - about £35.00
When you slide the bar ends into the bars you get something like this:
Once you've aligned the bar ends correctly with the cut out segment upwards, you can press, persuade or hammer the bar ends into the renthals, until there is no more of the black cross-cut pattern showing. They form a pretty tight fit.
More later when I've completed the next steps ...
Nin
(Which I'm really not keen to do!)
