Rocking it Old School

[Warchild]

The 2nd generation BMW S1000XR is not a huge player in the Iron Butt community yet - only a handful of us use it for Long Distance work.

So... if you need specialty items like Aux Driving Lamps brackets... you are on your own. No aftermarket shop makes them - you have to do this yourself.

Driving Lights are actually an important safety item while blazing through the Nevada desert at night, if you're going to have a prayer of avoiding animal strikes. 😲  I am taking this XR for some heavy duty night runs this Memorial Day weekend - so I finally got around to fabricating brackets for my LX-3 LED Driving Lamps today, just under the nose of the bike:

 

Using the machine shop at my local BMW dealership (that I have good fortune to use whenever I want), I hand-fabricated the initial set of brackets.  All this work was Old School... no CAD workstation or plasma cutter. these were all by hand and eyeball. A drill press, grinding wheel, a vise and a 5lb hammer. That's it.

They actually came out fairly decent (for not having a CAD machine and plasma cutter). I started with 14-gauge mild steel, 2 strips that are ~ 16mm wide, and 140mm long. Before any bending, I drilled the 8mm holes that the shoulders of the Torx bolts need to pass through:

 

Now for the tedious dremeling/bending to form the the large 'U', with many, many stops to test-fit, see where mods were needed, then re-grinding and filing. The first bracket sorta looks like ass, the second bracket turned out a lot better as I got better at my bending techniques:

 

 

I was quite surprised and delighted to note the rigid strength of these brackets during their initial fit. I had plans to use a cross-member to provide more stability to the structure, but it was such a solid mount, I am going to forgo it for now.

 

 

The end result sees the brackets splayed outboard as expected, and this is fine as the lamps are circular in their beamcast, so it's not important that these mounts be perfectly horizontal to the ground:

 

 

Tomorrow I connect them up to the relay that will power them... then some night testing:

 

[betoney]

27 minutes ago, Warchild said:

Driving Lights are actually an important safety item while blazing through the Nevada desert at night, if you're going to have a prayer of avoiding animal strikes. 😲  I am taking this XR for some heavy duty night runs this Memorial Day weekend -

I hope you have a good ride but Nevada??... for fun??  

Its the one state I have ridden through that I would never re-visit by choice, the best I can say about it is, riding through it is a necessary evil to get to good riding in Utah.  Hours upon hours droning in a straight line through a wasteland of dirt and scrub brush with the only thing to break up the monotony being the occasional thunder storm...

[Warchild]

Nevada has many sides to it. And riding extreme mileages isn't for everyone, no question.

These are Tour of Honor rides for Nevada and Utah. 1150 miles each day.
 

2021 Tour of Honor Motorcycle Ride

 

[betoney]

4 hours ago, Warchild said:

Nevada has many sides to it. And riding extreme mileages isn't for everyone, no question.

These are Tour of Honor rides for Nevada and Utah. 1150 miles each day.
 

2021 Tour of Honor Motorcycle Ride

 

Much respect, that is no small feat.  👍🏻

[Warchild]

Decided on an unusual finish for these brackets - can you guess what paint this is?  😁

 

[Heli ATP]

Nice job, Rust-Oleum midnight black glitter or Krylon starry night silver?

[Warchild]

Rust-Oleum Professional Truck Bed Coating!   🔥   🔥   🔥 

[Jfundo]

I have a can of that stuff that I use to paint things all the time in areas that don't need to be shiny.  Very durable coating and even can look nice like your brackets. 

[Wintersdark]

1 hour ago, Jfundo said:

I have a can of that stuff that I use to paint things all the time in areas that don't need to be shiny.  Very durable coating and even can look nice like your brackets. 

Me too.  All my brackets and hidden support bits get the bed liner treatment.  It's super durable, and the thicker, rubbery texture helps things attached stay where you want them to be.  Lasts forever, too.  

[Warchild]

Final Results of the Driving Lamps install. All photos taken with the bike parked in the same location.

A slightly blurry Low Beam:

 

A slightly blurry High Beam: 

 

Low Beam with Aux Lamps lit up. 

 

[Warchild]

4.3-gallon Aux Fuel Cell installed and tested. This give me a total of 9.6 gallons - a 350-mile range, riding sanely. A fair bit less with blazing along the Nevada outback. 

 

 

Here is an example why extra fuel is needed in Nevada...  😃

 

[nhchris]

What about riding position?  Is the XR comfortable enough for super looooong hauls?

Wind screen  big enough?  Bars at comfy height?  Leg room adequate!  Seat plush?

Did you re-gear it for sustained speed at lower RPMs?

Rock ON!!!

Edited May 21, 2021 by nhchris

[kmh0]

S1000XR is so sexy but that price tag is steep for me!

[2linby]

Any pictures of the fuel line plumbing, details of the mount, etc,,,,, would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

[maximo]

On 5/8/2021 at 10:27 PM, betoney said:

I hope you have a good ride but Nevada??... for fun??  

Its the one state I have ridden through that I would never re-visit by choice, 

I actually like riding in Nevada. It's a different mindset is all; there's a mood to it, the openness and vast distances puts a different perspective. The trick is staying off of I-80, that'll suck the life out of anything. But all the other paved throughways have something to offer. Just take each road for what it is (rather than focus on what it's not), and simply accept and enjoy what it gives you.  

Also, a good radar detector is a must...  🙂