Boxerworks.com

Hello all. Just wanted to post about my handlebar experience. Just installed Renthal aluminum bars on my 1994 R100R M. Bars fit controls without a problem and really look great. These bars measure between 22.08mm and 22.12mm. I was looking for a slightly higher bar with a little more pull back. I know I've seen some posts about what bars will fit the BMW controls and clamps. The only thing I can recommend is that it is very important to file off all the knurling on the clutch side before you attempt to fit them. The knurling will mess up the inside of the clamps if you don't do this and wont fit. Also the stock bar end weights will not fit as the wall thickness is different.

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade (especially out of ignorance) but I get very nervous about aluminum handlebars. Back in the 'olden days' I was passionate about motocross. My ride then was a '69 Husky 360 MX. As with racers of everything everywhere I bent on making my ride the best it could be. And bike weight was a huge factor (at least in my perception). Then one day, while in the Dallas Husqvarna shop I spied a set of Magura bars on the wall. But what really caught my attention was that the bars were made of aluminum! Saving, say a half pound, of weight was 'huge' (in today's parlance)!

The bars weren't 'billed' as racing bars, but they were of the same shape and bend that I was currently using on my Husky. How else/where else on a race bike can you drop half a pound or so of weight!

Cutting to the chase I was racing my 'buds' on an impromptu course on a plot of unknown land. (Hey! it was owned by somebody I didn't know; but nobody ever came along and told us that we couldn't play there.) Oops, I forgot for a moment that I was cutting to the chase.

Well, the bars broke, not from a crash but simply from the pressure of my arms in the heat of battle!

How could this be, I wondered, brushing myself off and mildly outraged. Thinking it was a fluke I went back to the shop and bought another set of the same Magura bars.

After I rather quickly broke the second set I returned to my steel Magura MX bars. I had (finally) learned a lesson. I hadn't codified the lesson, but I damned sure was through with aluminum bars.

Ken

Most MX bikes today use aluminum bars. Big difference from what was available 45 years ago.

I agree that the metal in the new aluminum bars is far superior to those available years ago.

Still, there are many other options. BMW has used many other bars throughout the years, from the flat narrow bar of the RS to the low bar of the S to higher bars for a /7.

When I first bought my Mystic, it came with a higher, wider bar than stock. I bought the original bar with the heated grips. Changing bars or using risers are easy changes to make your bike the way you'd like.