Newbie with R1100s

willem_dafoe · Post by **willem_dafoe** » Thu May 29, 2014 8:51 am

Hello to all, enjoying the stuff on here and thought some might be able to help.
Just bought a nice yellow and black R1100s and want to get a few things for it, would like to know best options.
First a bagster tank cover and tank bag, the correct colour of course??
Second a carbon belly pan, and a carbon mudguard extender?
Also what's the deal with the exhaust and chip performance options? How many more horses can you get, and is it worth the effort?
Look forward to some replies and banter!

Liam[/img]

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Thu May 29, 2014 9:04 am

Hi Liam - welcome to our little corner of the www

Pipe'n'chips? Cheapest option to start with is to replace the cat (mid) section with either a Laser or Remus pipe and stick with the standard silencers. Just doing this will make the bike more responsive, and perhaps add a little bit of power plus it will sound a bit fruitier. Thing is, the boxer motor is never going to be a real powerhouse unless some pretty serious work is done, and that involves dropping in different cams & having head work done etc.

What does make a big, immediate difference is swapping to some decent quality suspension, especially if the originals are tired. The bike handles very nicely as standard, and can be made to be excellent with some decent shocks.

willem_dafoe · Post by **willem_dafoe** » Thu May 29, 2014 9:38 am

Thanks for the reply,

Does this do away with the cat?

What suspension would you recomend?

Where's the best place to get these things?

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Thu May 29, 2014 9:51 am

1. You're welcome
2. Yes it does
3. Loads to choose from - I use a Nitron shock on my Blackbird and it's excellent, good value too (<£400 for a rear). There's Ohlins or course (v v expensive), Wilbers (just as good but cheaper).
4. Probably best to do a search for retailers - MCTechnics in Suffolk deal in many different makes I think, for example.

Phil K · Post by **Phil K** » Thu May 29, 2014 10:14 am

Hello and welcome!

Don't forget a K & N air filter will help spin the motor a bit quicker

Phil

McBoxer · Post by **McBoxer** » Thu May 29, 2014 7:58 pm

Welcome on board. Loved you in Platoon, by the way - great film!

eyore · Post by **eyore** » Thu May 29, 2014 8:34 pm

Hi and welcome.

Blackal · Post by **Blackal** » Thu May 29, 2014 8:44 pm

Welcome along Liam..........

Carbon Bellypan? Have you checked how much those cost?

Do a search for fibreglass bellypans on here - they are a more cost-effective alternative.

Al

tanneman · Post by **tanneman** » Thu May 29, 2014 11:16 pm

Hi and welcome.

Forget about the carbon belly pan for the moment. It is ridiculously expensive, over £2000 the last time I looked. A dealer in the UK was selling their old stock on ebay and it was up for 2500 of your English pounds in BCR colours obviously. That was a while back and its a bit like snake milk to find a descent one. The fiberglass ones on ebay makes more sense. Do a search on here for the bracket dimensions.

Performance wise. The Y-piece should be the first step. That gets rid of the cat. K&N air filter makes the bike run leaner than what it is already. Not worth it unless you do the full Laser exhaust and chip thing or other form of enriching the mixture. Other options are Staintune from Aus, Remus and Van der Linde. Read Very expensive (Laser), Expensive, ok but heavier than other makes, Rare like hens teeth (more like virgins in house of ill repute). There is a myriad of engine mods to be done to extract the best of it but unless you really want to build the fastest 11S and is prepared to spend about £4000 (for all new parts) it is not worth it. The 11S boxer motor is expensive to tune. It would be cheaper to buy an 11S with that bits on and change it over to your bike and then sell the spare 11S. Or just buy an R1200S, you do not know yet how true this advice is.

On the suspension front not much you can do. The best is Ohlins but that would set you back £1800 or more for a front and rear shock. The downside is that it will only have damping adjustment on the front (I think preload also), remote adjustable damping at the rear and preload. But at least you can select the spring according to your riding style and weight plus you can set the shock length. Nitron and Wilbers is good. All the aftermarket bits are serviceable, service every 2 years I think. MCT did some rework for Damoace on his standard shocks. Good enough for time being according to him. Bare in mind that we, Damo and me, use the bikes for track days to good effect.

Some guys have raised the rear with a Verholen adjustable torque arm to quicken the steering. Winger from here (banned now) or Chris Canning (same guy) on pelican (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/bmw-r110 ... ech-forum/) swears by it. Only problem is it makes a tall bike even taller. I have done the motoyoto mod on my telelever and it transformed the steering, going by the verdict the result is the same but the motoyoyo mod is final and not reversible whereby you can adjust the Verholen to your taste. Much easier to tip the bike into the corner even at high speeds on track. Of course to make it handle even better apart from your newly added Ohlins you can add the Dymag wheels. Another £2000+.

As for tank bags and stuff. I've never been a fan of Baglux but they do a set for the 11S. Have a look at the tank bags that clip on to a fitting on the fuel filler cap, SW Motech and such. The egg shaped BMW tank bag for the 11S is not to bad either. In its extended capacity it is a bit too high for my liking. I have used it a fair few times when riding to a track day. The only pain is having to remove it when filling the fuel tank but a lot less hassle than the 1200GSA tank bag.

Ok, the long and short of it is that you bought the bike to ride on the road. Keep it as standard as possible for you will not get your money back when you sell it on. Best thing to do if you want to do anything to it as follows, Y-piece, suspension rework (about £500 at MCT), new tyres, bellypan if you want to, spit and polish to keep it neat.

And

By the way Platoon is one of my favorite movies. I'm a big fan.

dave the german · Post by **dave the german** » Fri May 30, 2014 3:31 am

Welcome. Regarding bellypans, check out Ricambi Weiss - mine was a tad under £50 inc postage from Germany. Out of curiosity, I weighed the carbon fibre belly pan and the fibreglass belly pan - the fibreglass one came out 30grams heavier and when I priced a carbon bellypan at the dealers it was £1600. I do know where there is a used one which could really do with a lick of paint and he has already refused £400

willem_dafoe · Post by **willem_dafoe** » Fri May 30, 2014 8:37 am

Wow guys lots of information, thank you all. I can see that it's not straighforward to add a new exhaust and expect 5% more power so I'm going to live with it for the time being.
Suspension seems tricky too so will leave alone.
Belly pan, well a fibreglass part will do all I want, so that's a yes. I noticed the one on ebay comes without fixings?? Are there holes in the frame or is there a trick I've missed here? I have a paint shop friend who will make a nice job of the colour so I'm into this mod.
Panniers, I didn't mention panniers? What's the consensus on the big black BMW panniers? They look useful, but rather cumbersome?
And I loved the film platoon so much my first email address was willem dafoe back in the early 90s and it's stuck. Apologies for that!
One more question, what's different about the Boxer Cup bikes apart from the mehusive price tag?

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Fri May 30, 2014 8:52 am

willem_dafoe wrote: One more question, what's different about the Boxer Cup bikes apart from the mehusive price tag?

Paint, plus a couple of carbon goodies. Some magazines said it had 'an extra 10bhp' yadda yadda which is complete tripe.

I like the BCR's, the colour schemes look good, but I'd buy a (much) cheaper non-BCR and add lots of tasty bits like pipe/shocks etc.

Blackal · Post by **Blackal** » Fri May 30, 2014 8:56 am

You would need to make a mount for the bellypan (and lose the centrestand).

Dimensions for the mount, and some ideas are in this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=15771&highlight=stainless

If you renew your air filter with a K&N panel filter (or Val Singleton one - do a search on "singleton") and get rid of the cat-converter.........

you could always go down the route of Lennies Rocket Sprockets.

They advance the valve timing (was it 9deg?) which will give a bigger mid-range wallop, without consumption increase.

A search for "Rocket" or "Sprockets" will cough up the information.

Al

dave the german · Post by **dave the german** » Fri May 30, 2014 12:24 pm

Check the "for sale" section - some cheap panniers there. Seller gives an honest appraisal of them but hey they won't be on the bike all the time

dave the german · Post by **dave the german** » Fri May 30, 2014 12:25 pm

Gromit wrote:
willem_dafoe wrote: One more question, what's different about the Boxer Cup bikes apart from the mehusive price tag?
Paint, plus a couple of carbon goodies. Some magazines said it had 'an extra 10bhp' yadda yadda which is complete tripe.

I like the BCR's, the colour schemes look good, but I'd buy a (much) cheaper non-BCR and add lots of tasty bits like pipe/shocks etc.

This months Classic MCM still mentions the extra 10% - this myth has run some time now!