Here's how to install the gorgeous stainless steel Touratech crashbars for the BMW R1200GS. My kit came with all the hardware sealed in a plastic bag along with a one-page instruction sheet in German. I did a rough translation using Altavista's Babel Fish and then rewrote it into better English. But don't worry -- TouraTech-USA now ships these crashbars with both German and English directions.
The good news is that these crashbars mount incredibly easily. I think it took me about 20 minutes, including time to take some photos. Of course that's with all the tools at hand, and having read the directions enough times to have them memorized. Everything lines up perfectly and no bending or prying is necessary. What a pleasure after fighting for over an hour to mount some Hepco & Becker crashbars on my old R1100GS -- what a pain that was...
Note: It is apparently necessary to remove or at least seriously loosen the Touratech crashbars in order to remove the valve covers. I'm going to do a valve adjust in a few days, and will take some photos documenting what must be done in that case...
The tools you will need include the following:
- Torque wrench
- 13mm box wrench
- 8mm hex (Allen) socket
- 6mm hex (Allen) socket
- 5mm hex (Allen) socket
- 5mm Allen wrench
- Torx T-30 socket
- 10mm deep socket
- socket wrench extension
The above photo shows the two halves loosely bolted together with all the parts in the proper place. All the hardware is also stainess steel, with the exception of the two long aluminum spacers.
The only tricky part is properly orienting the hardware that attaches the lower ends of the crashbar to the engine. The photo above shows the proper assembly for the left and right sides, respectively. The longer spacer, and longer 10mm hex capscrew go on the right side half of the crashbar, as shown.
If you're using this Webpage as instructions for your own installation, I suggest reading through it completely at least twice before starting. It will save you time and make for fewer mistakes.
The German directions say to start by assembling the lower parts as shown in the two small photos above. I thought it would be easier to start by mounting the lower lug to the left side as shown above. I was wrong. You can do it that way, but it's a bit tricky to get the nuts on the 8mm bolts -- particularly if the engine is still warm! I suggest doing it the Touratech way.
Next for me was (first for you will be) to remove the screw shown near the red arrow in the above photo. It's a Torx T-30, the only Torx bolt you have to deal with in this installation.
The part of the crashbar that mounts where you just removed the T-30 screw comes very close to the large gray oil line (which the screw holds on). On my bike, there was enough clearance, but some owners report that the crashbar can touch the oil line and possibly wear through it.
There were two "extra" small washers. By placing those two washers on that upper LH bolt between the crash bar and the motor, the washers serve to shim out the crash bar to a reasonable distance from the oil pipe. Problem solved.
The yellow arrow in the photo above points to where I used a bench grinder to remove the sharp edge on a friend's TouraTech crashbars before we mounted them. Just as a precaution. You might want to do the same. If you don't have a grinder, a bastard file will work as well, maybe better -- but it will be slower.
The next step I did was to install (loosely) the left half of the crashbar. You'll likely install it with the lower lug loosely bolted in place. I attached the top first, replacing the Torx bolt with the supplied 6mm hex cap screw.
Then I installed the two 8mm hex cap screws on the lower edge of the crashbar. Everything gets attached loosely until all bolts are in place. Repeat for the right side of the bike (where you don't have a Torx bolt to remove).
The final step is to tighten the bolts to the proper torque. I started with the 6mm bolts at the top most end, then I tightened the two 6mm bolts holding the two halves together (right in front of the alternator cover). I figured that the lower mounts had the most "slop" in them, and so I did them last. It worked out well.
Here are the torque values:
- 10mm bolts (thru aluminum spacers) -- 25Nm (18 ft-lbs)
- 8mm bolts -- 19Nm (14 ft-lbs)
- 6mm bolts into engine -- 9Nm (6.5 ft-lbs)
- 6mm bolts with nuts -- 10Nm (7 ft-lbs)
When you're finished you should only have one part left over -- the T-30 Torx bolt you removed from the oil line.
And here's the finished product! Don't forget to re-torque the bolts after you've taken a short ride. The job isn't properly done until you've re-torqued the bolts.
A nice side benefit is that you can rest your heels on the crashbars to give your legs a different position for a few minutes when on a long ride. Between that and standing up often, you can make your legs (and your butt) much happier...
| Millimeters | Inches | Where measured |
|---|---|---|
| 25mm | 1" | how far crashbars extend beyond the cylinder |
| 797mm | 31 3/8" | width of Touratech crashbars when mounted |
| 819mm | 32 1/4" | width of BMW saddlebags in narrowest configuration |
| 952mm | 37 1/2" | width of stock handlebars with BMW handguards |
Post-installation shots
The following are photos taken by request from roadracer on ADVrider.com, showing how the bars look from 3 different angles:
This picture shows how the bars block a straight shot at the lower leading valve cover bolt. See note below re: valve adjustment.
Valve Adjustment
I found that contrary to Touratech's claim, it is necessary to loosen the crash bars a bit in order to remove the valve covers to do a valve adjust. Simply loosen the lower mounts on each side, and there might be just enough room to wiggle the valve covers off. If not, then loosening the two small Allen bolts that hold the two sides together may be necessary. In either case, it takes just a few extra minutes.
Copyright © 2005-2006, by H. Marc Lewis. All rights reserved.