Dropping the fork legs

Scotsrick · Jul 27, 2021

I collect my new 2017 GS on Friday and one of the first things I have to do is fit Helibars. (Otherwise it won’t get through my gate)

I’m led to believe the cables need rerouted and it’s easier to drop the fork legs. Correct I assume?

What’s involved in this ( bearing in mind I’ve only had conventional forks before). Is it just a case of loosening the clamps and dropping them without touching the telelever at all? Probably easier to remove the front wheel and do them singly?

I know I could probably work it out when I see the bike but I’m really really keen and dying to get started.Waiting till Friday till I get the bike is killing me.

squibb34 · Jul 27, 2021

If this is an R1200GS, what exactly are you proposing to fit?

This is the front fork set-up ....... https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=0A61-USA-03-2017-K50-BMW-R_1200_GS_17_0A51,_0A61_&mg=31

If it's these, an expensive option, then they show an installation guide on the website: -

......... https://chainspeed.co.uk/shop-by-bi...able-handlebars-for-bmw-r1200gs-lc-hrat05101/

Scotsrick · Jul 27, 2021

Those are the bars I’m fitting. I managed to find a set a lot cheaper than those. Your pic looks like the fork legs simply slip out of everything which is good. So thanks for that. They just need dropped a few inches to get the cables round the other side. I’ve seen a thread somewhere that says the instructions aren’t quite comprehensive which was why I was asking.

M30SJM · Jul 27, 2021

If you put a support under the sump guard with the bike on the centre stand, you can simply loosen the yolks and drop the forks down, dont forget they dont have any springs or damper rods in them, it just a plain stantion.
Stu

Scotsrick · Jul 27, 2021

M30SJM said:
If you put a support under the sump guard with the bike on the centre stand, you can simply loosen the yolks and drop the forks down, dont forget they dont have any springs or damper rods in them, it just a plain stantion.
Stu

Ta.

That’s what I was sort of hoping.

shez1 · Jul 27, 2021

"Is it just a case of loosening the clamps and dropping them without touching the telelever at all? Probably easier to remove the front wheel and do them singly?"

Yes it is. No need to take the wheel out. Drop one at a time, the stanchion will compress enough to allow the cables to be re-routed.

CPJS · Jul 29, 2021

If you want to re-route cables around the top of the stantion sliders there is no need to support anything, just undo the nut under the black plastic cover at the top of the slider/fork and slide it down. Do one at a time otherwise you will have the bars flopping around independantly of the rest of the steering.

Scotsrick · Jul 31, 2021

Got the Helibars on. They are certainly narrower which should help my clearance problems and lots of adjustment for different positions.

It all went fine. Had to drop the fork legs to reroute the cables but it was easy.

I had to buy a set of torx screwdrivers as a couple of the screws were tricky and I didn’t have a number 8 torx anyway. Luckily the local hardware shop has a set at £4.97. Not brilliant quality but did the job.

Had a panic when the left hand controls didn’t work after it was assembled. I think I put tension on the wires trying it out before I got them rerouting right. I took them off again, wiggled the wires about and all was well again.

Dropping the fork legs

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