Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

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Boxer800
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Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2016 10:09 pm

Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by Boxer800 »

Hi just wondering if anyone can recommend a type or website selling after market front brake and clutch levers and a twin pull throttle to suit a 1985 R80 with 7/8 (22mm) handle bars. I am currently customizing my bike into a scrambler.Thanks.
0m3nc0w
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by 0m3nc0w »

Boxer800 wrote:Hi just wondering if anyone can recommend a type or website selling after market front brake and clutch levers and a twin pull throttle to suit a 1985 R80 with 7/8 (22mm) handle bars. I am currently customizing my bike into a scrambler.Thanks.
BMW does not utilize 7/8" bars, they are 22mm. 7/8" bars will not allow BMW perches to slide on unless you pry open your controls with a screwdriver which will likely cause micro stress fractures and ultimately break. The other alternative is to grind the handlebars. I learned this the hard way by being told by handlebar manufacturers "don't worry 7/8" is the same as 22mm". Well I have 3 pairs of handlebars in the corner of my garage that don't fit my BMW controls... I finally ordered a pair of 22mm Fehling bars from Germany.

Using 7/8" controls on actual BMW 22mm handlebars will require you tighten them down so hard they may fracture depending on what material they are made of.

I would suggest converting to 7/8" by using a drum sander attachment on a Dremel and carefully adjusting the contact area on your risers to ensure they aren't too tight (leaving a space at the top and the bottom). This is assuming you have your OEM risers). There are plenty of 7/8" aftermarket risers out there to choose from, you will be hard pressed to find 22mm aftermarket ones.
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Duane Ausherman
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by Duane Ausherman »

very good advice.
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sprints@pldi.net
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by sprints@pldi.net »

I can easily machine your handlebar clamps out to 7/8 but you would still have a problem with all your perch parts
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Airbear
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by Airbear »

Boxer800 wrote:Hi just wondering if anyone can recommend a type or website selling after market front brake and clutch levers and a twin pull throttle to suit a 1985 R80 with 7/8 (22mm) handle bars. I am currently customizing my bike into a scrambler.Thanks.
Welcome aboard, Boxer800. I note that folks are giving you advice without addressing your question. You are after different controls to suit your custom build. Most of us stick with the original controls. My advice is to ask Mr Google some pertinent questions.
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Ken in Oklahoma
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by Ken in Oklahoma »

Airbear wrote:
Boxer800 wrote:Hi just wondering if anyone can recommend a type or website selling after market front brake and clutch levers and a twin pull throttle to suit a 1985 R80 with 7/8 (22mm) handle bars. I am currently customizing my bike into a scrambler.Thanks.
Welcome aboard, Boxer800. I note that folks are giving you advice without addressing your question. You are after different controls to suit your custom build. Most of us stick with the original controls. My advice is to ask Mr Google some pertinent questions.
I guess a lot would depend upon just what is a scrambler bar? When someone says 'scrambler' I think of old school low-ish and wide-ish bars, as seen on brit-bike scramblers back in the day. 'Low' lets you get your weight forward with your body C/G moved forward a bit (you don't want wheelies). 'Wide' gives you mechanical advantage against bumps and such that want to twist the forks even as you're trying to keep the forks pointed forward. Scrambler bars are not the high MX bars with the brace in the middle often seen on dirt bike or dual purpose bikes. When MX'ing you are often as not standing, and if you sit it is only for a moment.

My first thought for 22mm scrambles bars would be 'S' bike bars, perhaps with extensions 'pounded' into the bar ends.

Having said that, 'scrambler bars' are very much in the eye of the beholder.

Ken
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Boxer800
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by Boxer800 »

Thanks Airbear, and thanks everyone else for the help. Ive off loaded all the original controls, levers and throttle. Ive fitted a set of new after market 22mm handle bars to the bike which fit snug into the original clamps. I am completely re-wiring the controls using Motogadget gear. I am at the stage of the build of needing to source a front brake lever assembly to suit the original Brembo twin disks and a clutch lever assembly as well as a twin pull throttle. Ive been googling a bit but no luck as yet.
Any help on web sites supplying these parts to suit our bikes would be great, Thanks.
0m3nc0w
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by 0m3nc0w »

Boxer800 wrote:Thanks Airbear, and thanks everyone else for the help. Ive off loaded all the original controls, levers and throttle. Ive fitted a set of new after market 22mm handle bars to the bike which fit snug into the original clamps. I am completely re-wiring the controls using Motogadget gear. I am at the stage of the build of needing to source a front brake lever assembly to suit the original Brembo twin disks and a clutch lever assembly as well as a twin pull throttle. Ive been googling a bit but no luck as yet.
Any help on web sites supplying these parts to suit our bikes would be great, Thanks.
I think no one is offering links to controls that will fit 22mm bars because there aren't any. Very few manufacturers use 22mm so there is no market for sales. You can get 7/8" controls to fit by taking your handlebars to a machinist and having them "knurl" your bars right where the new controls clamp on (where the tightening bolt is), then a couple strips of heavy (commercial) aluminum foil wrapped around the knurled area will give the controls something to grip on. This fix will be invisible if done carefully and should be safe as long as you test it good by trying to spin the control perch pretty hard to verify good traction.

With 7/8" your choices will be virtually unlimited.
0m3nc0w
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by 0m3nc0w »

One option I should mention is to contact Fehling, who makes actual 22mm handlebars to fit BMW bikes and ask them for a list of companies that offer controls/perches for their 22mm bars. You can email them at:

info@fehling.de

Here is their English website:

http://www.fehling.de/index.php?content ... 67104eacc0
Seth
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Re: Handle bar levers and throttle suggestions?

Post by Seth »

How about drilling out the bar rises to support 7/8" bars, and then a master cylinder with the appropriate bores to match the calipers. Most clutch levers will work. BMW has both single and dual throttle cables. Old Triumph Bonnevilles had dual cable throttles, so you can try using one of them. Cables are pretty easy to make up.
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