So I got mine in Feb 2018 with 1 km on the odo after waiting from Oct 2017 when I placed my order:
Specc'ed it with ASC, heated grips and alarm, so basic stuff.
She looked like this:
Just like all others….
Then I bought the single seater stuff, including a flat aluminium hump:
Next stage was Rizoma: black Eccentrico mirrors, black front Club indicators and rear black Club S indicators/lights, PT706B plate holder, right chassis plug. A bit of Wünderlich, with the stand extender and spikes and front fork and paralever sliders and a bit of BMW with black valve covers and matching black plastic protectors.
In the mean time I also got the BMW soft black side bags that I use to go shopping for groceries as well as BMW radiator cowlings in brushed aluminium.
Last week I painted the hump, snorkel cover, throttle body cover and ignition cover in black storm metallic from RS Motorbike Paints.
Today a lovely package showed up and inside there were a BMW machined handlebar clamp, BMW brushed aluminium side covers and the lovely BMW adjustable footrests as well as the rear footrests for when my son is riding pillion..
I started with the handlebar cover, and used tie-wraps to secure the handlebar before I removed it:
Love it, it’s in plain sight while riding. I disguised the heinous “By Roland Sands Design” with 3M black tape. Might end up painting altogether. I would get more of these parts if it wasn’t for that intrusive branding. The belt cover looks great but that stupid branding…. I would never buy, as it can’t be disguised.
Then the footrests. First remove the original ones:
In plain sight, the Rizoma plug. Can’t understand why BMW put in a plastic cover on the left and then left the bolts visible on the right. And the hole itself, looks as if it’s half painted only. Ridiculous.
Apply a new footrest:
Removing the pins that hold the microswitch to the old footrest was a pain. Had I known, I would have bought a new microswitch. Again, the instructions are ridiculous: they say to “remove the pins using an appropriate tool”, yeah right. That’s impossible, I had to surgically drill their heads to then slide the microswitch through the beheaded pins.
The other side:
In both photos, they are already set to my taste: full down (cramps…) and slightly back to stay away from my trousers when I put my feet down on traffic lights.
And in compliance with Euro4, they fold!:
Then for the brushed side covers. The rear holders come in a really weird colour, more or less white. Another stupid design choice so I painted them black storm metallic but didn’t apply clear coat, left it satin as it is a great match for the frame:
Hardware is ready:
In this photo all the bits have the per instructions thick protective tape. I had to remove that tape from the front brackets otherwise they wouldn’t fit in the frame. I don’t think they actually test run these instructions…
And here is the left, easiest one:
The front brackets disappear under the hose but the rear ones are very visible, particularly if left in their original, whitish weird colour. Like this, in black, they’re passable.
On the right, that was another story, and again it seems the parts are made for another bike: the outer (visible) rear bracket would not fir, because there is a solder seam right where it would go.
So, some cutting was required:
The weird thing in the forefront is a vacuum cleaner tube to suck the shavings.
End product:
Tomorrow I’ll try to do some under the sun shots and will post them here.
Next mod: Puig chassis plugs to hide and protect some of the recessed bolt heads. I will apply a layer of vaseline before I plug them for extra corrosion protection.
Then I’m considering the BMW brake and clutch machined levers and the single Akra. Let’s see….
