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Henry Martin spends his nights writing fiction and poetry, which predominately deals with the often-overlooked aspects of humanity. He is the author of three novels: Escaping Barcelona, Finding Eivissa, and Eluding Reality; a short story collection, Coffee, Cigarettes, and Murderous Thoughts; and a poetry collection, The Silence Before Dawn. His most recent published project is a collection of Photostories in five volumes under the KSHM Project umbrella, for which he collaborated with Australian photographer Karl Strand, combining one of a kind images with short stories and vignettes. He is currently working on his next novel narrated in two opposing points of view. He lives with his family in the Northeast.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Touratech fork protectors

After several off-road adventures, I started noticing some wear on my G650GS. The two main areas receiving most of the blows, whether from rocks and sand thrown against the bike or rocks I hit myself, are the bash plate, engine cases, and front forks. Over the next week or so, I'll be making some improvements to the BMW at its stock form, by adding, either purchased or homemade, pieces of protective equipment. 

The first piece I decided to tackle were the front forks. The lower part of the forks themselves is fine without any damage. Nevertheless, the same cannot be said for the upper part and fork seals. Both receive more than their fair share of mud, dust, sand, and water thrown by the front wheel, along with the occasional deep water crossing. This, combined with the constant motion as the bike travels over rough terrain, makes for a pretty unhealthy environment for any motorcycle part. 
As BMW does not recommend the use of fork gaiters (due to decreased air flow to radiators), and I personally don't care for the warp-around Velcro-attached pieces, I was about to make my own. Yet, as I was exploring my options and suitable materials, a fellow ADV rider offered me a new set of Touratech Fork Protectors for sale. The price was about what I was looking to spend on material alone, so I grab hose instead.
Along with these pieces, the package contained an instruction sheet in German.  Well, Ich spreche nicht Deutsch, but it wasn't hard to figure out what goes where.
 When inspecting the individual pieces, I immediately noticed that the guides (in which the protector slides up and down) had sharp edges. Whether this part is stamped or CNC machined, I do not know, but I do know that the shard edges would cause unnecessary friction, and thus contribute to premature wear. A few minutes with a file and a quick pass with a Dremmel stoning wheel, and the internal cutouts have a nice, smooth bevel where the protector comes in contact with the guide.  (Since function is more important then appearance, I did not care about polishing the guides themselves.)

Next, I needed to cut a small piece out of the low fender, as the protectors would impact against the fender on their downward travel. To do this, I traced the fender onto a paper, which I then folded in half, and cut the guide shape out. I then unfolded the paper and centered it on the fender itself. A few passes with a hacksaw, followed by a sanding drum to smooth out the contours, and a final pass with a 400 grit sandpaper was all that was needed.  


Picture of the guides mounted underneath the fork brace. Really, a well designed product that hugs the forks rather well, without any unnecessary gaps.


The protectors themselves are held at the top by friction. A stainless steel crescent-shaped piece attaches to the protectors via two allen-bolts. To protect the chrome on the forks, Touratech supplies clear, adhesive-backed strips that act as a cushion between the mounting hardware and the forks. The bolts screw into brass inserts molded right into the protectors' plastic. I used blue Loctite on these, as they are only finger-tight. Overtightening could potentially pull the brass inserts out of the plastic, so wrench is not recommended here.

Here is a picture of the installed product.
Overall, installation was a breeze, and product is well made. Protectors slide within guides without any drag, and do not look out-of-place on the bike itself. Aside from frontal spray and impact protection, these allow for an easy inspection of forks and seals, as well as periodic cleaning.  

As usual, while working on this, I discovered something else that went wrong. This time it was my front fender (upper), which was cracked from some unknown impact. By the looks of it, I suspect a rock thrown by the front wheel, which then bounced off the frame. 
Someone once said that the cheapest thing on a BMW motorcycle is the rider. Well, I'm no exception. Instead of rushing to my nearest dealer to order a new fender, I decided there was room to cut it. So it would not look like a hack-job, I first cut the cracked piece off, then used it as guide to recreate the factory contour. Again, a few passes with a hacksaw, followed by some sanding and a final pass with 400 grit paper was all that it needed. I hate working with plastic, but this was one easy job.

Next, I'll tackle rear brake master cylinder protection from rocks. 

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