Gs Handle Bars On A R80 St

[Camel15]

Anyone change the bars on an R80ST? I have recently de-mothballed it from a 14 yr. sleep and am thinking of a few minor changes. Does anyone have any for sale?

[mark1305]

I'm guessing you have the USA high bars on yours - and don't like them the way I didn't like mine.

Handlebars and ergos are vastly different for each rider. But here is what Ive tried on my ST... BTW, I'm 6'00" but with longish arms and long torso.

I tried low Euro bars from a /5. Too narrow and too low for that bike. Went back to the USA bars after a week.

I swapped a set of F650 GS bars onto my F650 Funduro to get the extra inch of rise before I got around to trying them on the R80 ST. I intended to try the Funduro bars (much like GS bars) on the ST.

But..... I lucked up and found some alloy Ducati M900 bars from an inmate on here. I had a M900 for about 6 years and liked the bend. So a few weeks ago I swapped them onto the ST while prepping it for the ride from central FL to the Old's Cool Spring Fling in east TN.

Pure heaven! For me, the perfect slight forward lean into the wind pressure, the same width as the USA high bars, perfect bend for my arms and wrists. And the new riding position made my butt more comfortable on the seat (with Airhawk cushion) for long rides. I also found that the new position led me to just naturally put my toes on the front pegs and my heels on the passenger pegs. Very much like having floorboards and a very comfortable position for my legs and feet. No more constant shifting around to flex my lower legs and ankles.

And the bars look good. They visually "fit" the bike.

YMMV, but I found the combo I like and will stick with it.

BTW, good on ya for resurrecting another old ST. They are truly one of the best airheads ever. And like many good bikes, under-appreciated in their short time.

Edit: I almost forgot, in summary to that rambling, I would try GS bars on the ST. They may be the perfect choice.

[Camel15]

I actually have some sort of after market bars i put on about 22 years ago. They were too thck so i had to grind them down but the feel is pretty good. i am jus ttrying to get bars that actuall fit the bike clamps better. Even though i ground down the area under the throttle i still think it rubs a bit and creates a slight resistnac eon the wrist twist.
the curent bars are about 30" wide with a rise of about 3"
do you know anyone with spare GS bars from an R100GS?
I tried loading apicture of them but cant figure out how to do it!

[squish]

I've got R80 or r100GS bars on my ST and it made a world of difference from the Rs bars the bike came with.

You will find that the the common 7/8 bar is just a little too big for the BMW controls BMW bars are something like 22mm.

I've been advised by people who's job is it to know things like this
You don't want to remove that much material from an aluminum bar,
And it might be ok to remove that much from a steel bar.

As long as the bar has that much material to remove.

You can get new BMW bars from BMW but they are plated in gold.
Last time I looked they were above $100 and that was well before the euro shot up against the dollar.

[mark1305]

If you need to source some new bars, check out BMW Hucky. He has several aftermarket bars in stock, including some Flanders and others. I saw several nice looking bends once when I rode down to his place to pick up some parts rather than having him mail them 70 miles up to me. Super nice guy to deal with and knows his BMWs (from Germany or Austria - can't recall for sure).
www.bmwhucky.com Hans Lowe, proprieter.

[Camel15]

Yeah, the grinding down did thin the metal quite a bit. it has worked for many miles but i want to get it done right now that i am restoring the bike. thanks for the lead on Hucky. i sent him an email. Let me knwo if you come across any used GS bars for the '88 to 'early 90's GS bikes