F800gt

[32232]

And here's an older picture of the R1150R bars.

I tried risers, but thought the R bars had a tidier appearance. This is the one modification of the bunch that has made the bike way more comfortable for me. I have nerve damage in my right hand that was being aggravated by riding, and this has solved the problem. The F800's hardly vibrate at all, but somehow due to the harmonics of the R bars in this application, now there is zero perceived vibration in the grips. That is an added bonus to the more upright seating position.

[Ridealot]

The V35's were produced by Givi specifically to fit close to newer bikes. I'd say that there is a 1 - 1 1/2" gap at the most. The new Honda VFR OEM bags are actually V35's. Here's an older rear view of the bags also showing the cropped rear fender. It's a compromise between no fender like the F800S and the original ST "billboard".

Excellent ! Those bags look great. Its weird how now the Givi's look good and the stock bags are the ones that make the bikes look like a pregnant Hippo.

The handlebars do look much better without having the risers on there. About how much difference in hand placement does the R1150R bars make? I thought the stock bars needed to be about 2" farther back and maybe a little higher.

Now that your getting over your shyness, got anymore pic's

[32232]

This is an old picture that shows the stock ST bars and the GPS mounted. I'd say the R1150R bars have about 1 1/2" more rise, 1" more pullback and are 3" wider than the ST bars. The angle of both bars at the grips is identical. The new seating position leaves me just a slight forward lean with no weight on my hands.

By the way, for anybody contemplating risers or taller bars, the mirror extenders are a must: with the R1150 bars and stock mirrors I got a great view of my knuckles.

[32232]

This picture shows the Eastern Beaver Fuse / relay setup, under the faux gas tank. The three connections on the positive battery post are OEM wiring harness, fuse panel relay, and the one connected to the fused wire running diagonally to the lower left goes to a plug for the battery tender.

The fuse box has three switched terminals and one unswitched. I used the latter for the GPS so it stays on at gas stops etc. The relay takes its power from the BMW GPS power plug which is switched; it's on the right side of the air box.

To have a simpler place to attach ground wires I hammered a short length of 1/2" copper water pipe flat, drilled a hole in it and bent it into an 'L' bracket attached to the negative battery terminal. Now I can attach more ground wires without possibly disconnecting the battery and resetting the bike's computer systems.

[ANTMAN]

My main reservation in looking at the F800 was the factory luggage. Since 1984 I've had five new BMW's and this is the first one where I thought the aftermarket had better bags than BMW OEM. IMHO the factory bags for the F800's are too small, too complicated and unsightly.

.

IMHO you were right with "too small, too complicated" on the factory bags. I just changed from two k bikes after 19 years and 300,000 miles. I had intragal cases for trips and city cases for around town.
I think the new bags look great and attach very nicely but I think of them as two first aid kits. They come with liners but after you put the liners in you would have to split your supply of Band-Aids into half. One half in each side and maybe you could carry one pair of running socks.
On top of that I gave Ma' Lady the high side because not only is the left side smaller but every thing falls out when opened.
In spite of all that I love the new F800ST and will continue the ride two up on long trips.

[RWerksman]

Dave,

Did you have to do anything with the clutch or brake lines with the new set of bars?

And if you don't mind answering, how much did that set of bars run you?


Thanks.

[HOWFAST]

I did the opposite, replacing my R1200R bars with a pair of ST Bars, which ran about $175. The bars are pre-drilled for heated grips, and have nuts welded into the ends to receive bar-end weights. Problem was, the R tank is so bulbous and forward mounted that the ST bars banged the tank when fully turned, until I added two pairs of bar risers. The improvement was small, so I went back to stock after a few weeks. Grips and mirror mounts exchanged between the bars with no complications.

The R bars are about an inch wider in each direction, and about 1.5 to 2 inches higher in rise. I would be surprised if the stock lines reached comfortably.

-Howard

[jnslatky]

How much does the R1150R handlebars rise and setback the bars .