Rockster Handlebar - ugh !

[sykospain]

To my mind, the OEM bar is far too wide and puts the wrists at an odd half-dingle angle leading to strain and tiredness on a long run. Produces a sort of 'elbows-out' posture that's not comfortable. My bike already has risers fitted, but they don't alleviate the problem I have.
Has anybody swapped out their Rockster OEM bar ? Any complications with cable lengths, etc. in the conversion ?

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab21 ... c7r0o8.jpg

[sweatmark]

We've had board members use R1150GS handlebar, R1150R Roadster bar (kirby, IIRC), and aftermarket - which requires some trickery to use OE bar end weights and heated grips, or improvise.

I agree that the Rockster handlebar bend is uncomfortable, especially in my shoulders during multi-day rides. I'm using 25mm risers (not pull-backs) to help a bit, might raise the bar another 10mm.

[kirby]

To my mind, the OEM bar is far too wide and puts the wrists at an odd half-dingle angle leading to strain and tiredness on a long run. Produces a sort of 'elbows-out' posture that's not comfortable. My bike already has risers fitted, but they don't alleviate the problem I have.
Has anybody swapped out their Rockster OEM bar ? Any complications with cable lengths, etc. in the conversion ?

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab21 ... c7r0o8.jpg

In '04 when I bought my rock as a fluke really as the dealer had it on the showroom floor for 4 months and couldn't sell it!!(orange county CA one of if not the largest and oldest BMW dealer in SoCal).

I made an offer and he excepted to get rid of it. I was riding a K1200RS at the time and had a 1100 GS also.

Long story short...I really got to like the thing except for that damn BAR!!! Its too flat and becomes very uncomfortable when traveling.
Ordered up a stock R bar and fitted...made the bike perfect. No mods required just the swap out. I have never liked the GS bar either for really long droning on the road so the R1150R stock one is t*ts! (and the 4" or so rise on the R1150R bar is welcome as well).

If you ride long distance you will not regret it and its also good on a curvy road and a track day because of the leverage.

My .02

:-)

[sykospain]

Thanks kirby - when you say "stock" R bar as a replacement, which one do you mean ?
Is it Part # 32717656652 as in this foto ?

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab21 ... uzuvmk.png

The R models I've had / seen pix of, seem to have two alloy mouldings, left and right, bolted onto a diffeent headstock...

I've been very satisfied in the past several years with the service offered on used parts by Motorworks in Meltham Bridge, Yorkshire. Tha' knows, lad, ey-yup.
But they suggested that the R bar is twin alloy mouldings, like I had on my R850R and subsequent R1100R.
I'm therefore puzzled, or "pooth-ledd" as they say here.
And you're spot-on regarding how hard Rocksters were to shift out of the showroom back in the late 80s and 90s. Strange really, when you think the Rockster is the direct precursor of the R Nine-T which is still selling like the proverbial hot cakes....
AL in s.e. Spain

[kirby]

I don't have the part # but I remember it was a R1150R stock bar in '04. The picture looks pretty much the one. I ordered it at the dealer on the first service at about 1000 miles. Its the only time its been to a dealer.
You won't be sorry it is quite good.

Pricy but + quality and all fits!



I have been looking to getting a place in Spain (maybe Catalan) and spend my later years there (1/2 year?). Un known but possible or south France.



:-)

[sykospain]

Thanks again kirby - MW in Yokkshurr have a 2nd hand one in good nick for only £55 = ca. 72 bucks.
If you're thinking about a place in Spain, now's the time to invest. There's a deal of panic selling going on at the moment with the Brits taking fright about their uncertain future following the disastrous vote to leave the EU - a move led mainly by the pathetic Little Englanders. Their attitude was typified by a famous Daily Torygraph headline some years ago:
"Dense Fog in the Channel - Continent cut off."
That says it all - not "UK cut off" , but the reverse. As I say, pathetic.

[kirby]

Good luck with the bar, I remember it to be without any mods and it has been great.
Thanks for the tip! I was over prowling around recently and it seems to be a buyers market!

cheers!

[sykospain]

Next time you're "prowling", look us up - [email protected]

[kirby]

Will do, thanks!

[sykospain]

Hah ! Everything comes to he who waits....
After two days roaming listlessly all over the web looking for a how-to for changing out the awful Rockster handlebar,  I finally, at last, thank Goodness, stumbled across a lovely little silent video by Manfred Hornig, the German spares supplier specialising in bespoke fittings for our bikes.
In it, he's plugging for 12 watchable minutes his fancy conversion kit - 400 bucks - for changing over the dippy-down clip-on bars on an old R1100S to a straight-ish type single bar like the Rockster and the OEM roadster bar. Showing in careful clear detail how the control levers, switchgear, throttle grips, etc., are all removed and replaced on a different bar.
So I've trimmed it down to 5 minutes, passing on the detail of the conversion kit from clip-ons to single bar, and now I know precisely and exactly what to do for my own straightforward conversion job. I've made it a 'private' video on Vimeo so as not to offend the guy too much, and the password is - watchthis
Hope somebody besides me finds it instructive...

https://vimeo.com/227105432

[Xdot]

This is probably a dead thread but I recently picked up a Rockster and agree completely about the terrible handlebar. I once owned an R1150R and found the ergos much better, and the only difference is the handlebar. After trolling eBay for a month I decided I wasn't going to find an R1150R handlebar used so I bit the bullet and bought a new one. Turns it into a different bike. And by that I mean, a comfortable bike. The swap is tedious but not really difficult. Hardest part is getting the zipties back where they need to be! Handles better, too.

[sykospain]

Yes, Xdot, when I did my bar-swap at Christmas over in the UK, I found that I couldn't use the existing bar-risers that had been under the awful Rockster straighter bar. The braided front-brake cable was too short due to the already raised and much more comfortable Roadster bar, which I got s/h luckily.

And when I tried to increase comfort by fitting GS-footpegs, there was a nightmare of mods needed : - longer rear-brake braided cable, different cylinder-piston from the back of the pedal, longer hose from the fluid reservoir, and on the side-stand side, a different position on the gear lever to connect to the gearshift's right-angled splined lever, a different location for the side-stand's metal loop 'cos you now can't get your heel on it to swing it out when you come to a stop. On the whole, a real PITA so don't be tempted. My footpegs conversion took 3 days...in a pro workshop with the aid of 2 expert mechanics advising me.... But it's now SO comfy ! !

[Xdot]

What did you use for the front brakeline? I'd like a little more length in mine.

[sykospain]

Hi Xdot - just got a local braided brake-line hose dealer to make up the same fittings on a longer length of braided. £12 which is about 20 bucks. I'll fit that when I get to the UK again for my second visit -
that's in a week or so. Obviously I'll have to bleed the front calipers, no matter how careful one is by lifting up the hose , plugging the ends with a golf tee, whatever.

[riceburner]

Have to admit I love it. It was one of the things that "made" the bike for me when I first test-rode it nearly 15 years ago.

FWIW I'm going to be selling my K12 as soon as I get offered a decent price for it and I'm going to find another Rockster.

[sykospain]

Saw a gorgeous K12 among the crowd at the Devil's Bridge Butty Bar bike-parking near Kirkby Lonsdale in the Lake District during the two warm days that blessed the UK's month of April.
An impressive machine, as tempting as a Rockster.