BMW 450 enduro (merged) threadfest...

At what locations did the subframe fail??

where the two square hollow tubes meet in triangulation and are welded to a cast tail stem. The first failure the horizontal tubing cracked where the stamped rear plate bolts the two subframes together. Subsequent failures after adding gussets to the tubing were to the cast tail pieces

Thanks for the offer. If timing works, I may see you at the sandblast rally.

I was hoping the seat was simply stapled to the base, and easy for an upholstery shop to take off, and put back if needed. I've never seen one, so I really don't know what I'm in for, but I was thinking of shrink wrapping the whole seat to protect it, and casting the underside in fiberglass. Carbon fiber would be cooler, but I've got more experience with fiberglass.

The problem I have with the factory seats, aside from the board in a towel feeling, is tearing off the tabs near the center. Then the seat flops around by the ends. I'm 1 tab away from needing a third seat.

Has anyone ever strapped bottle holders to the sides of the fork legs near the headlight? If you use a lithium battery, 2 one liter bottles would be about a wash weight wise, and in roughly the same spot. Might make steering slightly sluggish though.

one MSR bottle hose clamped to each side of swing arm might be a solution, or strapping one MSR liter bottle to the fender "might" not fatigue the subframe.

The speedbrain/touratech seat is a bit more involved then that, the pan has a front tongue rivetted to the pan and that has to be removed in order to removed the seat covering as a whole. It would almost be easier to make a form of the stock seat and develop it from there.

Is the underside of the Speedbrain seat basically smooth, with side tabs welded on? Pics of the underside would be helpful if you've got any.

It soley relies on the front tonque piece sliding under the BMW roundel and the rear with a zeus fastener to a new stamped rear crossmember plate with zeus receiver in it. Not as robust of a set-up in all honesty and more likely to fail over time or from a crash.

It looks like I'll try my hand at making a base. A pic of the front locking device would be helpful.

Anyone know of a steel/stainless steel replacement for the alu alloy OEM one that is made of cheese? I know with the boxers you could use a drainplug that was the same thread ...

back on the hunt

Dakar 2014?

Use a GasGas or a Husky cap nut and axle with the same Marzocchi forks.

Yeah the one from my Husky 610 fits but is also alu - just want a stronger nut if possible. Guess I could get a s/s one turned up.

We (BMW ATL) probably have one in stock, same axle nut as the Huskies which Uptite Husqvarna in Santa Ana, CA makes or 7602 racing makes a fancy conventional hex nut as well.

They are only 35k EU And my guess it things will be changing there very soon unfortunately so getting future support could be very hard if you had a kit and needed an item repaired/replaced.

Yeah thanks - I know the Uptite one ($35 yikes!) and also the fancy ones which seem to also be alu just anodised. May bite the bullet and get the Uptite.

Anyone here running the hyde disk guard? I took mine off soon after I got it because we have mud around here, not rocks. I got tired of cleaning it out. I want to put it on for a trip. I've either got the wrong bolts, or the fork guard has to come off to make the bolts I have work. Not sure how it was on before. Maybe it uses zip ties. I'm thinking zip ties. I tried emailing Hyde racing twice, and not response for over a month now. It's getting close to departure date.

Most fit using the two outer (side) bottom fork guard bolts through two holes in the top of the guard and then through the fork guard - will need longer allen heads.

Click on the front guard pic here:

http://www.hydedevelopments.co.za/hyde/products_enduro-mx_bmw.php

Thanks. It looks like the bolts I got with it are too short. That's why I probably zip tied it on last time.