'05 1200RT 1,500 Mile Fly Ride. Question on bolts that hold handle bars on M8? (Never ridden one so looking for all kinds of help too)

[Tooofast]

Sooooo. After selling my GS, my KTM 990 and 690 over the last 6 months to pay for the new house projects I realized life without a bike is no life at all. With budget constraints being what they are, I searched ADV rider for bike and ran across a high mileage 1200RT that was priced right and in Colorado about 1,500 miles from where I now live in TN. I had always liked the idea of a RT as they look so cool and with the dreams of a epic fly ride dancing in my head the deal was done.  Reality set in and I got a few days off work and a cheep ticket to Steam Boat Springs and my thoughts stated to work out the route back to eastern TN in 4 days. This lead me to my real my real question,  mounting a GPS to the bike. With only a few hours before when I land and have to leave to get back I wont have a lot of time and currently there is no mount on the bike.  Looking around I got my hands on a Ram ball mount with that in includes three M8 bolts.55mm, 60,, and 65mm. Where I am going with this is are the bars held on my M8's and does anyone know the length?  my plan is just to mount it there for for trip and work out something more premiant later.

 

Also the current owner said the rear power outlet works but the front does not, any thoughts on why one would and one would not work? With those question out of the way. I'm all ears as to any advice one has on a route from Steam Boat Springs to Chattanooga TN or anything else. 

Thanks in advance!

 

Dave

[dirtrider]

Afternoon Dave

 

3 bolts on each side are M 8mmX30mm, one on each side is slightly longer. It looks to be about 10mm longer but I don't want to remove one just to measure. (most don't use that longer bolt hole to mount the ball anyway as it is outboard).

 

On the front power port, no way to know but they are usually just unplugged as it needs to be unplugged to remove the L/H side Tupperware. 

[Tooofast]

Fantastic., Thanks D.R. I'll get a few shorter ones to take with me. I'll also ask the seller to check the wiring to the socket.  One less thing to worry about, well two less things really!  

Thanks again 

Dave

[lkraus]

This Ram ball was on my bike when I bought it, the bolt is definitely longer than necessary. The bolt holes on the upper fork bridge are through holes, and the bottom side is a bit recessed, so any extra length sticking out is not a problem. 

 

The parts fiche diagram does kind of show a longer bolt, but it is "grayed out", the text listing shows eight of the M8x30, and the long bolt is not listed, so .

 

Take the bolt that gives you at least 30mm below the mount. 

 

Congrats on the "new" bike!

[dirtrider]

38 minutes ago, lkraus said:

 

The parts fiche diagram does kind of show a longer bolt, but it is "grayed out", the text listing shows eight of the M8x30, and the long bolt is not listed, so .

 

Afternoon Larry/Tooofast

 

Go look at a hexhead 1200RT.

 

The 2 bar bolts pictured below sit higher than the other 6 bolts so those 2 bolts are longer. 

 

But it is possible that BMW now just services those with the shorter 30mm bolts & they just don't have very much thread engagement.

 

I would remove those bolts from my 1200RT & measure them for length but I just have cut-off (15mm long) dummy bolts glued in those two holes with my bars spaced up with .015" thin washers & a thicker "O" ring. (that in conjunction with heavier bar end weights turns the bars into tuned absorber bars reducing handlebar buzz). The 2010-2013 1200RT only used 3 bar attaching bolts on each side. 

 

 

[lkraus]

 

40 minutes ago, dirtrider said:

...But it is possible that BMW now just services those with the shorter 30mm bolts & they just don't have as much thread engagement.

 

 

They probably realized that 9 engaged threads are adequate on one bolt out of four when the others engage 12. Somebody probably got a raise by reducing the number of inventory items and saving a penny.  For the Camheads, he secured a promotion by eliminating the fourth bolt altogether.

[Tooofast]

Thanks for the info. the GPS ball comes with a 3 different length bolts so I think I am in good shape. Bobs BMW delivered the power connector today so with just a little work when i get there i should be ready to go. The seller has very kindly offerd to put me up for the evening to reduce the chance of me running into a deer or elk riding at night though the mounts of Colorado.  Thanks again for all the advice, i'll keep you updated on my progress! 

Cheers

Dave

[Tooofast]

Just an updated it worked like a champ.