Motorbikes and the Dordogne

BMW R1100S modifications

As many readers know, we have a pair of BMW R1100S motorcycles. I have the silver 2004 one and Jude has the silver/yellow 2001 model. The bikes are almost identical. The minor differences are the brakes and the fact that mine has a twin spark and black painted engine.

This first picture shows the removed catalytic converter. The two pipes from the front now come together in a Y piece. When I did this modification, I did Jude's bike first as she would tell me if there was a great difference, and there was. The cross bars have been removed from the Y pieces as they were not needed and could cause some vibration. This mod had made the engine breathe better, gives more mid range power and is more economical. Note that both bikes have center stands, these were fitted when we bought them. My bike also had an accessory socket as standard.
Now that we have smaller French plates, I made up a couple of number plate holders. These are much neater than the standard BMW plastic ones and move the plate a few inches forward. They were made from 18 SWG aluminium sheet.
This picture shows the GPS mounting, (my bike only) and the white dial faces rather than the black standard ones. This was necessary as it was cheaper than buying KPH speedos from BMW.
This is the standard rear light on Jude's bike with the LED light bulb fitted. Because of the vibration at the back, standard bulbs do not last long. LEDs use next to no power and are not affected by vibration.
The same picture with the brakes applied. The indicators also have additional LED brake lights. These shine red through Jude's amber lenses and red through my white lenses.
The back of Jude's bike showing the pannier rails as fitted to both bikes and the accessory socket which I fitted as Jude's bike did not have one. She has a carbon fibre hugger over her rear wheel and I have a cheap plastic one on mine.
We chose these bikes because they came as standard with 99 bhp and there is a limit of 100 bhp in France. They were probably the best choice we could have made as they are ideal for the twisty roads around here. The bikes are capable of over 140 mph, we have not tried it, and return around 44 to 48 mpg. Mine is a little more economical than Jude's due to the twin spark engine.
Both bikes have heated handlebar grips that were an optional extra but neither of them have the optional ABS as we felt that was not needed here.

posted by madman @ 4:10 pm