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Hi.

I am thinking of buying a hugger for my rear Wheel. I have eyes on a hand made Carbon hugger on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-R1100S-CARBON ... dZViewItem

Can anyone tell me if this is a good thing to buy? Does it save you from cleaning the rear suspension, or is it only "bling".

Kind regards

SVA

SVA,

First of all welcome to the site, hope you enjoy your stay.

This hugger fits on to the rear shock and I think is similar to the Pyramid Plastic one.

I would say that the Ilmberger hugger is the best you can get, it look really good and is very useful.

I am sure that Nigel Wood (Sandbar) will help you out with a purchase of one.

Andrew

Thanks. I have the 5,5" rear wheel, and I could imagine that the hugger on Ebay is only for the stock wheel. But the ebay seller probably know this.

And to answer the othe half of your question, without a hugger your shock won't last long.

I also use an Ilmberger.
If you fit one, a) remember to remove the small plastic OE shock cover (otherwise you get a hole in the hugger and b) dont overtighten the brake caliper bolts it mounts on, or you could strip the threads.

harry.

?

I have the Ilmberger one, and the plastic thingie on the shock is still there. It is nowhere near the hugger, nor does it ever touch. Maybe its because I have the taller sports suspension, but I don't see any reason whatsoever to remove it.

throttlemeister wrote:?

..........but I don't see any reason whatsoever to remove it.

Apart from the instructions from the manufacturer.

Remember, the bevel drive pivots so what you see when stationary is not what is happening when you are moving along.

sandbar

In my humble opinion, Mr Sandbar sells a wonderful product and delivers exemplorary service.

No he did not pay me to say this - I just speak as I find.

I have one of the huggers similar to that on ebay. Its ok, does the job in keeping crap off the shock. If I had the choice, ne, if I had the money i'd go for the ilmberger.

I think/hope it would help keep the crap off the exhaust better, and it looks cooler

anything is way better than nothing

sandbar wrote:

throttlemeister wrote:?

..........but I don't see any reason whatsoever to remove it.

Apart from the instructions from the manufacturer.

Remember, the bevel drive pivots so what you see when stationary is not what is happening when you are moving along.

sandbar

I don't recall it saying to remove it in my instructions, and when I said it didn't touch, I mean it don't touch. As in after a few thousand miles, there is no trace of contact when inspecting the hugger. The Staintune exhaust did leave traces on it on the side though.

Mind you, I don't know about the normal shock, but on the sports shock the plastic thingie is so tight against the spring and shock body, if the hugger touches that, it will most definately touch the shock too if it were removed. Stationary, the hugger is more than an inch away from the shock. Too bad I don't have a picture to illustrate.

Will try to make a pic later about the stuff mounted, but:



if the hugger touches that, it will most definitely hit the shock too when removed. Since the plastic is softer than the steel of the spring, I doubt this it's worse off now.

EDIT:
Since the sports shock is 1) longer and 2) has a shorter spring (don't as me how I know) than the normal shock, it is very likely the removal is only nessesary on the normal spring as the position to the hugger is completely different.

throttlemeister wrote:it is very likely the removal is only nessesary on the normal spring as the position to the hugger is completely different.

My non-sport bike came fitted with an Ilmberger hugger, and a lovely thing it is to behold. But I still have the original shock protector fitted and there's no indication that it's ever touched the hugger. I ran the bike standard for.....oooo, at least a month after I bought it and the hugger was unmarked (the previous owner had done about 4k miles with the hugger fitted). I now have a GS torque arm so I guess clearance is improved further but in my experience there's no need to remove the original shock protector.

Mine's a 2002 model - maybe the factory changed the design of the shock protector at some stage to bring it closer to the spring and therefore further from the tyre/hugger?

Could be, mine's a 2003.

SVA,

I've got an '05 SS with 5.5" rear wheel and have one of these ebay jobs fitted. I agree with JohnL - it does the job, but probably isn't quite as good as the Ilmberger. It all comes down to how much you're willing to spend.

It was a little fiddly to fit, not least because the pre-drilled holes didn't quite line up, but I didn't need to remove the rear wheel.

From an aesthetic point of view, it sits quite high above the rear tyre as opposed to hugging it, but it doesn't seem to flap around and it's made the rear / underneath of the bike far easier to keep clean.

All in all, a good budget alternative I'd say.

Mark

Ps I removed the small plastic OE shield prior to fitting