BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Hi all,

New member, first post, etc. I was wondering if anyone's had any luck addressing the fugly fender/license plate bracket situation on their R12R.

Back when I rode rice, there was always the "Fender Eliminator" or a hacksaw, but the process on this bike doesn't appear as straight-forward.

Ideas/pics/links?

THANKS!

What fender? I see none looking at the back of the bike. I wish there was a bit more protection in the back so in wet weather we don't get a mud stripe up our backs.

Just a general comment - please don't consider it a flame - doing that sort of stuff on a German bike really doesn't do the bike justice. That's just my opinion - and perhaps BMW is reaching out to a more sport oriented image crowd.. but I'd find that sort of thing really out of place on a BMW.. more or less like making a chopper out of one. It's never looked right.

You must not understand what I'm talking about, Don. I am speaking only of the license plate bracket/fender that dangles down so far from the seat cowl.

Actually, I don't know what you're talking about? Maybe I'm just lost here.

Nice welcome there Don. It's always nice to have somebody preface an insult with a disclaimer.

I'm with mcavotta on this one, that bracket seems like a whole lot of ugly plastic simply to hold a license plate and a couple of reflectors. Apparently it's poor design isn't merely a matter of asthetics either (see recent post on license plate brackets.)

I'm on board mcavotta.
I wondered the same thing. In typical Teutonic fashion the Germans have taken a simple bracket with two bolts to hang your license plate from, and over engineered it to the point where it's almost un-usable. Or maybe they decided that the rear of the bike was a good place to hang a piece of ugly.

Right now I'm looking at having to spend $300 for a rear wheel Hugger to prevent mud, rain and etc from splashing all over the place, but that will have to be after the after market seat to replace the one the bike came with. Obviously the seat was designed by a female engineer because any guy that sits there and runs a tank of gas out without getting off will tell you there is a problem (IMHO,etc,etc)

mcavotta wrote:You must not understand what I'm talking about, Don. I am speaking only of the license plate bracket/fender that dangles down so far from the seat cowl.

What you said was "fugly fender/license plate bracket situation on their R12R" - So you're correct - I don't understand what you're talking about - there is no "fugly fender".. actually - there is no fender.

Actually, I don't know what you're talking about? Maybe I'm just lost here.

I suspect what we have here is a failure to communicate (Cool Hand Luke..)

If you mean the oddball bracket BMW came up with to mount the license plate - it's wacky, but it works. Since it includes the lock mechanism for the rear seat, I don't see any easy way of replacing it with something else - and there is no place in that area to mount a simple metal bracket and the required license plate light.

Mounting the plate to the bracket is a PITA - but doable, and luckily nothing that needs doing very often.

I saw you suggested taking a hacksaw to it - so I assumed (bad on me perhaps) that you were thinking of using the method used by street-racers who ride Japanese sport bikes of hacking off the license plate light and mounting and simply tie-wrapping the plate to the underside of the bike above the rear tire - and sometimes including some mechanism to allow the plate to flip up so it can't be read. Given the message you posted - referring to "rice" - that was my assumption.

If that's not it - what were you thinking of doing? I'm curious..

Karamazov wrote:Nice welcome there Don. It's always nice to have somebody preface an insult with a disclaimer.

What part of "That's just my opinion" didn't you understand. If I intended to insult someone, it's very intentional and very obvious.

I'm with mcavotta on this one, that bracket seems like a whole lot of ugly plastic simply to hold a license plate and a couple of reflectors. Apparently it's poor design isn't merely a matter of asthetics either (see recent post on license plate brackets.)

Well - just like you - I have an opinion - and while the use of the bracket is a PITA - for me it's a one time thing. Once the plate is mounted it's going to stay there until I sell the bike. The bracket (if you actually look at it) isn't simply to hold the plate and a couple of reflectors. It also holds the license plate light and the lock for the seat. It's not a trivial exercise to engineer something that might replace it AND look better (IMHO), and my OPINION is that since I can't see it while I'm riding, it really doesn't matter at all to me. I'd prefer it was bigger since I do ride in the rain and it's gonna leave a nice mud stripe right up the bike and my back.

Looked at the PiratesLair one - if it's worth $48 + shipping to you to reduce the size and you can forgo the two reflectors..

http://piratesk12site.net/EvoSplate.htm

Looks like it's an answer you might like.

Yeah butt the one on the Pirate's Lair website is for the R1200R with the muffler on th RIGHT side.

Handsome Jim wrote:Yeah butt the one on the Pirate's Lair website is for the R1200R with the muffler on th RIGHT side.

I have found that alot of the stuff the Pirate offers for the R1200R fits on our bikes too.
I was looking at a K1200R this weekend at the Rocket City Rally in Huntsville Ala. and found myself wishing that out teutonic masters had given the R1200R the same instrument cluster as the K1200R.
I think it is much less ugly.
Mark

deilenberger wrote:Looked at the PiratesLair one - if it's worth $48 + shipping to you to reduce the size and you can forgo the two reflectors..

http://piratesk12site.net/EvoSplate.htm

Looks like it's an answer you might like.

Yes, this is exactly what I was talking about. Thanks!

I looked at mine this morning. The dealer just used the bottom holes. No problem.