A WÜDO bar-end replacement

On most stock US model BMW RS's the bars are adjustable forward & back, about 0.8" (2cm), and can be rotated inward and outward perhaps 6 degrees. To accommodate this rather unique feature, a substantial amount of parts are required, as compared to a tubular bar system.

Here's the system - there's a simple top triple clamp (no lower), rubber dampers, crossbar, bar-ends, etc. As all the parts are rather beefy to withstand flexing and/or accidents, they're quite heavy in weight. Please note that the (probably Europe-only) non-ergonomic system consists of a special tubular bar that mounts in place of the crossbar, underneath the triple clamp, and has pretty much exactly the same angles as the adjustable system set up in the centers of it's range.

Well, I guess a fair amount of people didn't like the bar position, because soon after the bike was introduced, along came the bar-risers, which are a block meant to be fitted under the bar-end stem and the crossbar platform. This rather nicely made version was sold by Freemans.

Here the block is in place ... but for me didn't cure the dislike, which was again the down-slope of the bar-ends.If you use the block method it's probably best to also change out the front brake hose with one from a GS, as the stock one is just a tad too short with the blocks mounted. You can also try re-routing the hose behind the right-hand fork tube.

Ok, here's where the course turns, in rather an expensive direction. As the R1100R and R1100RT models became more available, so did aftermarket tubular bar adapters for these models, but not for the RS.I had occasionally read of a company in Germany, WÜDO, who made fancy stuff for BMW bikes, but not any particulars. Finally I found that WÜDO had a website, listing the availability of a catalog, for the princely sum of about $25US.I have to admit, sending blind for a catalog whose contents were unknown was troubling, but at that point I was ready to sell the bike (at quite a loss) if a solution for the bar situation could not be found

At around the same time, I received a catalog from Bob's BMW, listing a few WÜDO parts, including what at that time seemed the holy grail solution to the bar problem, a replacement bar-end that allowed vertical rotation (i.e. flatten the bars) - a picture of it is farther down the page.The design is somewhat similar to the way a bicycle handlebar stem grips the handlebar, is billet machined (every bike needs at least one piece), and has a unique pinned hex-head screw.A large pile of money was committed to the VISA card, and "the order" from Bob's BMW was on it's way.

Upon arrival, it took about 2 hours to install the new bare-ends, difficulties were some tiny roll-pins related to the bar-end weights, the heated grip wiring, that's about it.I decided to leave off the bar-back blocks.After a preliminary ball-park alignment of the bar-ends (up and flat), time for a ride. This was early March, so I had a winter windscreen mounted, a Parabellum.

Oh boy, a couple problems right off ... The mirror stalks were hitting the windscreen near full turning lock, and the bars seemed way farther forward than normal.After returning home, I refitted the stock BMW windscreen - at least the mirror stalks cleared.

When you rotate the bar-ends "up" vertically the mirrors come up (and inward) as well, so not only do you loose some visibility (shoulder shots), the mirrors will hit aftermarket windscreens (probably Aeroflow as well as the Parabellum). I should have foreseen this …Why the bars seemed so far forward is troubling me as well. Well, that's easy to figure out, it's because of the way the WÜDO pivot point is designed - it moves the bar-end forward about 1" (2.54cm).

Back on go the bar-back blocks, some more tweaking of the bar-end positioning (rotated back), anything at this point to get the bars is roughly the same front-to-back distance, and to aid the mirrors clearing the winter windscreen again.And no, the parts can't be simply reversed (left on right), as the clutch cable interferes with the pivot point.

Well, ok, now at least the bike is rideable for longer distances, that was the point of this expensive exercise after all. But aspects are gnawing at me. My commute is in very heavy traffic and I don't like the reduced visibility of the mirrors, they still hit the windscreen at the extremes, and on top of that there's now even more Rube Goldberg garbage in the handlebar "system".I start toying with the idea of drilling a few holes in the stock top triple clamp in order to adapt some old airhead tubular bar blocks, but it just doesn't seem feasible, mechanical issues. Meanwhile, did I say that I had after all sent for the WÜDO catalog, and it had finally come, and ...Continued

Or if not, thanks for reading - Back to the first page

2009 - please note, I no longer own the motorcycle this modification was made on - the mods were made in 1997, and I sold the bike in 2003. Though many R1100/1150RS owners have visited this site, I only heard of one other owner using the Rairotec part.

P.S. It looks like Cascade BMW (who ran www.wudo.com) has dropped the website.