Bars, grips, Throttlemeister--and an intro

[Freightdawg]

Let me start with the intro. I saw (and fell in love with) my first R1100RT 5 years ago. Last Thursday I finally got my very own (thank you eBay). It's a 1998 R1100RT with a little over 48K. OK, it WAS a little over 48K. I'll probably roll over 49K tomorrow. She's black, she's beautiful, and she still hasn't told me her name.

Anyway, I was all excited when I got home from work today and found my Throttlemeister had already arrived. Went out to the sauna-er-garage to install only to find neither bar-end fit. Inner diameter was too small. Now I'm trying to find out if they sent me the wrong Throttlemeister or if the previous owner put on some sort of aftermarket bars. The bike does not have stock grips. They're kind of a spongy, soft--whatever--that are too small for my paws. I've e-mailed the previous owner but haven't heard back.

Also, I was looking at beemerboneyard and saw bars listed for heated grips. Are there really different bars for heated and non-heated grips? My bike doesn't have them and I would like to add them (beemerboneyard had a pair of heated grips). Can anyone tell me what the diameter of stock bars is at the tip?

Glad to find this forum and looking forward to getting some help. Hoping some day to return the favor.

Thanks.

Jeff

[pinecone]

Can't speak specifically to the RT, but on my R I found out (the hard way) after purchasing a factory heated grip kit that my stock bars were not hollow - nowhere to run the wires. At the time there was nothing available used so I waited all winter for Chicago BMW to get them from Deutschland and they cost me an arm & a leg. I don't regret the purchase because I got a good deal on the kit (40% off) and they are pretty sweet, but still it sucked when I found out I had to buy new bars.

[daytonaredeye]

I bought a set of Throttlemeister "Cruise Control" bar ends last year from Sierra BMW (a link I picked up on this board) for my R1100R. I based my purchase on two issues: 1) I wanted equivalent of cruise control for long distance riding and 2) my stock bar ends were beginning to rust; Installation and function were both, fortunately, successful. I do rmemeber when installing them, I found the one for the right side (throttle side) fit perfectly but that the left handlebar base seemed too fat - couldn't get the Throttlemeister left bar end seemed too small to slide on. Then I found that there was some type of plastic sleeve on the bar itself. I ended up having to saw/cut the plastic sleeve off and then the Throttlemeister bar slid on with a perfect fit. I've included a link to the Throttlemeister I bought. It didn't come with installation instructions, and I ain't no mechanic, so installation was a learning experience; I ended up discussing my confusion on installation with someone at Seirra BMW via email

http://www.sierrabmwonline.com/throttle ... p-942.html

Good luck,

[Freightdawg]

Thanks to you both. I pulled the bar ends off and it looks like I could feed wire down the right side but not the left. I have an appointment next week for the 48k service/inspection. I'll be sure to ask them if I can add the heated grips.

As for the plastic sleeve, I'd seen that in the instructions, but when I looked at and felt the bar, it sure seemed like it was solid bar. I was wrong. I got the plastic cut off and it fit perfectly. Job done in less than 15 min (and that included searching for a screw I dropped on the garage floor). Can't wait to go to work this morning. HOLY CRAP! Did I just say that?

Thanks, again.

Jeff

[pinecone]

When I ordered the hollow bars, the parts guy & I were looking at the fiche, trying to see what else I might need and I purchased one of those plastic sleeve just in case. But now it's sitting in a box because I have no idea what it's for. Possibly to cover the slot on the bar if you don't have the heated grip wires running into it? Freightdawg, don't feel bad about dropping a screw, I do that all the time. Luckily there's a hardware store within 500 feet of my house.

Here's how my old bars looked when I realized there was nowhere to run the wires:


And a new bar with the wires running through:


I'm using the same end weights, but it seems like there should be something covering that slot if you look between the grip and the weight, but I have no idea what that would be as that plastic sleeve doesn't fit with the wires in place: