BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Talk about luck! Max BMW provided enough $100 Gift Cards so that each table had a winner at the Yankee Beemers Holiday Party. My wife changed from the seat I had selected for her so that she would be closer to her buds. Her seat held the winning $100.

Needless to say, my GS Handguards only cost me $72 and a trip to NH, always a pleasure. Thanks Max!

The BMW parts list prescibes two 12mm bolts and two brackets. Do not buy either. They will be of no use on your Roadster. You will need some stainless steel bits: two hex head cap screws 8 mm x 55 mm, four M8.4 mm fender washers (These from McMaster-Carr), and four 5/16 x 1-1/2 Fender Washers (Lowes). I tried a number of places to find torx or even allen head bolts in stainless, to no avail. You will also need some 1" by 1/8" aluminum bar stock, also Lowes, and a 5 mm bolt and nut.



Using an old bolt attach one of the large fender washers to an electric drill and run it against a grinding wheel or #10 bastard file to reduce the diameter slightly and provide a 45 degree angle to the edge. This will allow the washer to fit snugly against the hand guard. Do this to two washers.

Remove your windshield. Remove the bolt holding the left side handlebar weight. Don't drop it. Insert one of the new stainless steel bolts through a smaller fender washer, a larger (modified) fender washer and a smaller fender washer and through the end of the left guard. Add another large fender washer and screw the whole thing through the bar end weight and finger tighten.



Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, the left side mounts work on the left side, and the right side works with the addition of a small bracket you can make at home with a minimum of tools. The brackets consist of two pieces and are clearly marked "L" and "R".
Install the left side bracket, finger tight.



Install the right side bracket finger tight Notice that the bracket will not connect to the handguard. Using a piece of cardboaurd, cut out and fold a piece to make the connection, about 1" by 2" with about a 120 degree bend. Cut this out and trace it onto a piece of 1" aluminum bar stock. Holding the piece of stock in a vice, hammer it over to the desired angle. It will be better if you do too little and have to go back for a few extra blows than if you have to unbend it.

Holding the bent piece in place mark it for the holes in each end, one to attach to the bracket and one to attach to the handguard. I drilled the bracket end "just right" and the guard end a little tight. I forced abolt through thehole to thread it. These threads made assembly a little easier. I backed it up with a nut after. To finish the bracket sand lightly with some 220 sandpaper and coat it with clear nail polish (Walgreen's $2.49). It will blend in perfectly with the gray brackets.





With every thing finger tight you can adjust the two sides so they match and then tighten every thing up. Don't you think the BMW guards coordinate much better that the Barkbusters, etc? They do cost a little bit more, but the delta is not so great.



Bruce

Thanks for the posting Bruce ... I'm sold. Ya did good. The extra 70 or so dollars is a good deal. Did you get M&Ms with your handguards??? Is there a specific year of GS handguard to get?

Robert

The GS Hand Protector Set is part number 71607706209. I didn't buy the optional larger size upper sections. So far the basics work geat.

Happy Farkling

Bruce

PS No M&M's, I went to the store.

Bruce,

Thanks for the clear instructions and pictures!

Cheers,

David in Santa Cruz, CA

Wonderful write up, Bruce! I was a little intimidated by the GS handguard installation, particularly with having to fashion and extension to one of the brackets. Your report puts my mind at ease and is very straight forward and simple to follow. I think I might attempt this to see just how big a difference they make in cooler/wet weather. Thanks Bruce!

Thank you for the advice on installing these guards it was excellent. I installed mine today. the only thing I did different,
I made a special bar end bolt so that I could the gs aluminum washers. I counter sunk the stock bar end so the aluminum
washer fit. I made the bar end bolts using a stainless steel 1/2" flat head cap screw. I drilled a hole thru it .310 dia
this is smaller than the hex wrench size but the same size as the 8mm bolt needed for the threads in the end of the bars.
using the 8mm st st bolts 2 inches long i pushed it in the hole in the cap screw then welded them together. I will post pictures on the next post.

Looks excellent. I'm sure Harry C will pop in - he found flathead allen bolts that were the right size to use the GS washers on the original GS handguard installation. Had to cut the back of the GS washer down a bit (I used a belt-sander and just ground it down), but it looks "factory" when done. I believe Harry found the bolts at Home Depot or some other big-box store.

Information from the old post, information was correct a year ago:

Here's the answer to the GS hand guard quandary.
Looks better than the large head bolts and the fender washers IMHO.
They look RIGHT and bolt right in - no worries.



The bolts are stainless and you can order them from: http://www.mcmaster.com/
Part number: 92125A296
You have to order 10 for around $1 each

Installed the GS handguards today. Bought all the various washers and bolts or screws, at installation I discovered that the 8 x 55 mm bolts had the wrong threads (too many or not enough turns... my fault.) Also I had ordered the suggested bolts from McMasters. The bowl like washers specfic for the R1200GS hand guards came with the handguards. I used the bowl washers. Naturally the bowl washer were a perfect fit.
Fashioning the piece to make the connection for the right guard was almost as easy as putting the left guard on.
The hand guards are like my mirrors because I can move (rotate) them and like my mirrors they are steady.
I think the roatation is probably not good but causes no problem ... the hand guards are rock steady at 80 mph.... top speed for today.
A solution for a proper connection is close ... I'll find it. Some combination of flat washer between the GS bowl washer and the bar end weights.

Over all ... it was a piece of cake.... really easy.
Thanks Bruce,

Robert

Yet another method for mounting GS hand guards on the R1200R. After reading the posts I decided that I want to avoid using the GS inner mounting brackets as I found them bulky. The described new mounting option requires a bit of work, but nothing complicated. The result - I think - is rewarding.

The detailed method is described and pictured here http://lillin.hu/kepek/028_handguard/index.html

Nicely done and explained, Ferenc.

Nice job. Certainly very sanitary looking.

Also, the bike is a beautiful blue color. Snif.

Bruce

David, Bruce, thank you.

IMHO the Biarritz blue is one of the nicest colors BMW had through the years. Previously I owned an R1200RT, it was also Biarritz blue. I switched in December as I wanted a more nimble bike. The dealer had this well equipped Special Edition beauty lying around since June. It was not hard to get to a reasonable agreement and the bike became my Christmas present

Since then I managed to get about 300km on board and I am really happy with it. Easier to maneuver, nimbler, and also a lower seat position that for my height was a bonus. While the engine is the same as on the RT due to the weight difference it gives the impression that it is more powerful. Lastly the gearbox is also smoother than the one as I remember it from the RT.

Single pain that I have is the good old windshield story. I saw the immense amount of debate on this topic and decided to go with an 18" CeeBailey. As most of the others on the forum I got excellent wind protection combined with an unbearable roar in my ears. Now working on tilting the screen. Let's see where do I end up.

You scared me there with the pipe ribbon. I initially thought your fix would be a little cr@ppy looking. But the heat shrink idea was a treat! Nicely done

Thank you BigEasy.

I initially tried to use 2mm aluminum ribbon, but it proved to be to stiff to be formed. Then I tried various plastic sheets at hand, those proved to be much to elastic.

The benefit of the pipe ribbon is that it can be easily cut to the right size and later on it can be bent nicely. Layering gives the right stiffness and the heat shrink tube provides weather protection and a finish that is in line with the color of the hand guard's ABS material.

On eBay a chinese vendor is selling repro handguards. I bought a set for my GS figuring "how bad can they be?" Well, they're pretty darn good. It appears they took a genuine set and made molds from them and use a high grade plastic and good quality casting for the metal clamps. I was very impressed and I would bet if you set an OEM set next to these you couldn't tell the difference. As I recall, they were about $80 shipped. Seller: firedragonbros2009. I notice the only auctions they have at present list a price of $80 plus shipping, but when I bought mine (a month ago) they had two different auctions, one at $80, one at $60. I bought the $60 ones and was very happy. Shop around. I also noticed another seller with a $170 price (which is BMWs OEM list) and nowhere in their auction do they say they are NOT chinese manufactured. Just be careful!

Thanks for posting this thread. I've wanted/wondered how to get the gs handguards on my r1200r ('07). Anyone know if these would work with wunderlich throttle control? Cheers!

I'm using these
https://picasaweb.google.com/billstanho ... 4836798978

Wunderlich "clear protect" - avoids all the issues with throttle locks because they do not 'return' to the bar-ends. I run a Kaoko throttle lock - same principle as the Wunderlich, and obviously no issues with the 'guards.

I'm glad I waited for these ... I think the GS 'guards spoil the line of the bike (but then mine's so fussy with farkles I should porbably keep mum on aesthetics ... )