BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

Greeting all, I noticed as I was building a 2021 RT on the web site that you can choose a handlebar at $0 cost instead of the cast aluminum Handlebar Assembly. The old school bars look good but what is the difference? What potentially would be the pro's and con's between the two. My last RT had the cast type handle bars but the new 2021 has me wanting to go old school. What do you think?

Obvious Pro's would be the opportunity to change to a much wider assortment of aftermarket bars rather then being restricted to billet bar-backs. Another would be to have more handlebar space to mount cellphones, second GPS, Sena Intercom remotes, radar detectors, cameras etc.


I cannot see any Con's.

Pro:  For tours, I used to rotate old school bars backward so that I could lean against my pack. It seems all of the sports tourers are like your Grandma:  "Sit up straight!!"  Saved me a lot of back pain on a long day, and allows you to vary your seating position to spare you butt and leg pain.  It'd also allow you to clamp on old school mirrors;  the fairing mirrors suck.


Cons:  Old bars could rotate up or down in a fall, impacting the expensive bits like the dashboard instruments, fairing or windshield.  But, in a static fall especially, standard bars ([size=78%]if they extend out far enough) [/size][size=78%] might save your fairing or your leg.  In a higher speed fall, the standard aluminum bars might just snap off leaving you stranded, whereas the old bars might absorb the impact by that rotation.  I'd go for it.[/size]

Strangely, the UK configurator shows a cost of £200 for tubular bars.