Now this is a proper BMW Oilhead
- Thread starter JohnnyBoxer
- Start date
Inspiration for the HP2, 4 years later
Was that the year they snapped the Paralever arm? Looking at that photo you can understand how it happened - it does look a bit vulnerable!
Did they?
Got a link ?
Remember Gauloises, a forum member years ago who had an 1150 replica .
John Deacon and the R900RR…? (I know there were other riders, but there was only one JD 
)
)
Jimmy Lewis, the American ….was pretty quickJohn Deacon and the R900RR…? (I know there were other riders, but there was only one JD
But only one JD as you say & rode with JD once or twice, in UK
Never rode with JD but the panniers are my tribute, like the Gaston Rahier autograph on the beak. 2 giants of the GS world…
Lovely
JD was a nice gent, down to earth and a good rider on a big bike
He was fast, very fast
I read/heard something that the reason the R1200GS has the Paralever arm mounted over the left side (as opposed to under the right side) of the swingarm was because one of the Dakar bikes snapped a Paralever arm. The BMW engineers apparantly stated that "it would never happen again", and redesigned the swing-arm to keep the Paralever arm out of harms way.
This was some years ago (20 years ago - when the 1200GS first came out), and may have come from a salesman.....
Last edited:
I smell BS from a salesman
Funnily enough after the 1150’s they kept the driveshaft on the right with all the air/oil cooled 1200’s from 2004-2012, however they did put the arm above the driveshaft as opposed to below it on 1150’s
They only swapped to the left side on the WC 1200’s from 2013 onwards when they completely reconfigured the Boxer engine and put the clutch at front of engine
Yes - the side swap didn't happen until later (my mistake on that part).
Hi Paul, what’s that torsion bar off under the swingarm ?
It’s an aftermarket adjustable arm, I can’t remember who made them, it was a long long time ago - wunderlich ?
Neil’s right. It’s an aftermarket adjustable be that’s set to the shortest it can be. It brings the FD further underneath, shortens the wheelbase by a little and raises the rear by a little, but it does a great job of lining up the rear UJ too. Combined with the 17” front wheel, the steering becomes even sharper.
I’ve no idea what make it is as I got it secondhand, here on UKGSer, after finding my billet z-tech one split almost in two.
Hope you did'nt rub a hole in your jacket with that packsafe netting PY.
Very nice picture by the way; i love to see em loaded and ready for action
Thanks guys, I’ve the 17 inch conversion I’ll do some research see if you can still get them.
This was the billet one I’d had previously… Clamped up, it was fine, but I noticed it looked odd and removed it. There was no way it was going back on there. The lacquer had flaked off so the bare alloy was able corrode from below where I couldn’t see it.
Found them on Motorworks £417.
I think so. Either then or TT and was quite ugly if I remember correctly.
There were also a lot of independent shops creating their own versions of adjustable ones.
I had this:
