replacement handle bars

[gothbiker]

It's a lot easier than you think. Drill 2 holes for the wires to come out, cut the ends off the old bars, about 4 inches, with an angle grinder, carefully cut the outside off, just leaving the centre part where the rubber part is, now grind the old bar end so it just fits in to the new bars, interference fit. Make sure the bar ends (the old bars) are the right angle, now tap in with a hammer so they won't move again, they're only fitted for the handguards, now have fun fitting the heated grip wires through the bars.
Sounds long, only took 3 hours start to finish.
Feel free to pm me for any advice.

 

[gothbiker]

It's a lot easier than you think. Drill 2 holes for the wires to come out, cut the ends off the old bars, about 4 inches, with an angle grinder, carefully cut the outside off, just leaving the centre part where the rubber part is, now grind the old bar end so it just fits in to the new bars, interference fit. Make sure the bar ends (the old bars) are the right angle, now tap in with a hammer so they won't move again, they're only fitted for the handguards, now have fun fitting the heated grip wires through the bars.
Sounds long, only took 3 hours start to finish.
Feel free to pm me for any advice.

 

[Comfy Old Boots]

Put Renthal Fatbars on mine too, muuuuch improved and little or no extra vibes through the bars.

Before and after photo

nice

 

[Comfy Old Boots]

It's a lot easier than you think. Drill 2 holes for the wires to come out, cut the ends off the old bars, about 4 inches, with an angle grinder, carefully cut the outside off, just leaving the centre part where the rubber part was, now grind the old bar end so it just fits in to the new bars, interference fit. Make sure the bar ends (the old bars) are the right angle, now tap in with a hammer so they won't move again, they're only fitted for the handguards, now have fun fitting the heated grip wires through the bars.
Sounds long, only took 3 hours start to finish.
Feel free to pm me for any advice.

sorry to edit you but do you mean?

It's a lot easier than you think. Drill 2 holes for the wires to come out, cut the ends off the old bars, about 4 inches, with an angle grinder, carefully cut the outside off, just leaving the centre part where the rubber part is, now grind the old bar end so it just fits in to the new bars, interference fit. Make sure the bar ends (the old bars) are the right angle, now tap in with a hammer so they won't move again, they're only fitted for the handguards, now have fun fitting the heated grip wires through the bars.
Sounds long, only took 3 hours start to finish.
Feel free to pm me for any advice.

can you elaborate? BMW bars are not available as new at the moment unless I'm mistaken. Like the look of those renthals.

the original bars look like mine in reverse.

 

[davegs]

heated grips

Wiring made easy, get a thin bit of welding rod or steel wire, poke it throught the new hole. tie wires on the end when it comes out and pull them through.
Piece of cake take five mins.
Dave GS

 

[CHANGELING]

Well I removed the rubber grips very carefully from over the heated elements, peeled, unwound and cut the factory "masking tape" from the plastic tube that it sits on. It is brown and wrapped in a spiral, reversed the direction and covered the whole mess with 2 layers of normal masking tape followed by the rubber grips with a couple of spots of superglue on the edges. Then I added a tiny cable tie to each one at the inboard end as strain relief. They are no way as hot as before but they never solved the icy thumb problem in the cold either. I mainly use them when I am too lazy to change my summer gloves at this time of year.
I had to do this as the fatbars I used have a solid plastic inner so I couldn't drill and pull the wires through.

They're still going strong too!

 

[MikeO]

One problem with fitting one piece ali bars is that the BMW heated grips become almost completely ineffective. The original bars have the grips mounted on a separate metal sleeve, which means that the grips only heat themselves and that sleeve up. Fitting one piece bars means that the entire handlebar operates as a heat sink. My heated grips on 'High' are less effective than them being set at 'Low' on standard bars.

That said, fitting Ricky Bars was one of the best things I've done to my bike - and I've had them on for 100k miles or so...

 

[Comfy Old Boots]

I presume you all have/had handling problems with the original bars? I've dropped the bike heavily a number of times and have been trying to get happy with the front end simce getting a whallop of a heavy force to the front. Do the bars Make that much of a difference? Great thread btw. Some smart, fit looking bar arrangements on offer in here.

Not bothered by the heat loss though the bars. Question is, which ones are best?

 

[Comfy Old Boots]

Btw Mike, love the compass!

 

[Mike F]

One for Carl and his very nice looking bar job....

I bought Twinwalls rather than Fatbars.

Cant fit the standard BMW handguards - Outside is OK (using expanding bolts), its just the inside fitting near the brace, tho it will ziptie of course!

Did the standard hand guard fittings go straight on the fat bars?

Also, how did you handle the heated grip wiring. and getting the end weights etc back in? Toby's expanding bolts mean the wires cant come out the end, what did you do?

 

[Mike F]

So, got my £40 eBay Twinwalls on this weekend. And a more crashable plastic 22L tank off an 1110, too.

Word of advice if you are thinking of doing the bars. Make sure you really want to....

- Gave up on BMW heated grips, bought a pair of Oxford Prods Sports grips off ebay £40.

- Was able to wire them into standard wiring and use BMW heated grip switch. Seem to heat up ok (only tested round block tho').

- There was a post about using cable shrink wrap for insulating the aluminium bars to minimise the increased heat loss thu' alloy. Bought it but no chance, not enough tolerance on the Oxford grips.

- Used Toby's idea of expanding rawl bolts and 100mm M8 coutersunk cap head bolts, very good, £5.

- Used Pro Taper Clamps (7/8th to 28mm bar clamp converter) from MD Racing £20.

- Haven't resolved using BMW hand guards, unless just zip tie-ing them on instead of using the 7/8th" inner clamps - not really a long term option. Might have an option on some used bark busters that should go on OK (£not known yet).

So all in likely to be about £150. Expensive for a used set of bars!

Cant wait to crash and test em out!

As part off this escapade I have a set of standard 7/8 Renthals with cross brace that will retain existing BMW hand guards and if you are not worried about heated grips pretty well go straight on. £25 +Postage, £27.50 with 2 lengths of the cable shrink, PM me if interested.

 

[Comfy Old Boots]

Based on this thread and another like it, I've decided to buy a set of r1150r bars. I'm quite partial to my heated grips and they seem like the ideal solution. Top info from yet again

 

[gothbiker]

It is really easy to fit renthal bars, simply cut the end off your old bars and grind the end to fit the new ones, interference fit, knock it in with a hammer, all bolts together like standard, it is easy took myself 3hrs with basic hand tools and a grinder.
Can't upload photos off my mobile phone. Dj

 

[Mike F]

Yep I did mean to respond to you on this....

- I dont have a grinder handy, tho I guess I could get my hands on one if I wanted to. Its not in your average tool kit!

- But really its the whole idea of an interference fit. I use the beemer off road and whilst I know its not often circumstances allow (ie competition / private ground / the middle of nowhere with good visibility and absolutely no-one around to take offence) I'll hit 60+ mph stood up on bumpy ground. I just dont want to think about what happens next if the bars fail....

So really my challenge was to get Renthals on in their entirety with all the benefits that go with them.

I am very pleased with where I got to. The bars are more comfy seated, could do with more height when stood up but I doubt I will add risers tho', are slimmer thru traffic on my London commute and no vibration issues despite losing the BMW bar end weights). Plus being Twinwalls we all know they are STRONG.

I am just bidding on GS1200 hand guards on fleabay (well at least a left hand side one - does anyone have a right?), and I hope they'll go straight on (the 1200's have fat bars, right? Need to check that really).

finally, those 7/8ths standard Renthals I have are still available and will go straight on with either no heated grips or Oxfords / aftermarket.

PM me if interested (not you GB, obviously).