This is probably a little too detailed (and too long) but I am nothing if not thorough and am very particular about my bike and what I do to it, particularly when it comes to fitting after market accessories.
I also noticed that most people on this forum like to see pictures, so I took lots of those too.
So – I have a Black 2008 R1200R with all the factory additions. What it seemed to be missing was a rear hugger so I looked over the web and found two. Not being into the “carbon fibre†look, I decided to go for the black hugger from Nippy Normans. By the way – thanks to all those who replied to my initial enquiries on the forum and to those who have posted images of their bikes with the hugger fitted.
My bike has the ESA option and that was one thing that I wasn’t able to get any feedback on other than I had read somewhere that there may be a clearance issue and there is a note on Nippy Norman’s site discussing the issue in general terms.
Having decided to buy from Nippy Normans, the process was very simple and the part arrived from the UK (to Sydney, Australia) in less than 10 days.
Unfortunately, that’s when the disappointment started. Now I am not going to be nasty here. I have read enough great things about Nippy Normans and their products from long list of satisfied customers to know that this is more to do with my fastidiousness and need to get close to perfection with my bike than any profound issue with Nippy. However, having said this I will continue with my experiences and comments.
The packaging for the Hugger was not what I would have expected for international freight. A lightweight box with a minimal amount of protective packing inside! What packing was there, proved to be inadequate, as the bracket had scratched the Hugger. Thankfully it was not on the most visible face.
The next thing that struck me was the overall appearance of the part. I know what fibreglass parts look like and how they are made but it was still unfortunate to see such a rough underside of the part. Yes, it is out of sight and will soon be covered in road grime, but like I said, I’m very particular.
The top face was gel-coat and not painted (once again my error). The quality of the gel-coat was not bad, but once again, it was not great. A little foggy and there was that scratch from the packaging.
The trimmed edge of the part is also very rough. A very simple cut edge with no level of finishing. Not inaccurate or jagged, but a cut edge of glass and resin is pretty poor when held up to the detail finish of a BMW. The same with the mounting holes, stray glass fibres and one hole needed to be cleaned out completely.
The Mounting Bracket however was certainly the most disappointing of all. I am a product designer when I’m not riding my BMW and I have designed and had manufactured more metalwork and plastic mouldings than I care to remember, and I can safely say that the bracket supplied with the Hugger is one of the worst pieces of metal fabrication I have seen in many years. The quality of the welds and the grinding/finishing are very poor. One nut is almost erased leaving little thread to screw into. But it does work and yes it is also out of sight, but it was already starting to look a little average overall and I was starting to question if I would indeed be happy mounting all of this onto my pride and joy.
OK - AU$300 roughly and buying sight unseen over the net (other than the images provided by other forum members), was it a good buy or was I going to just write it off.
I decided to address the Bracket by getting it powder coated black to hide it a little better when installed. This would also help protect it a little more from corrosion, although it is zinc plated as standard.
As for the Hugger, I decided to take it to my local paint and panel shop and get them to paint it with high gloss black and clear coat to match the bike.
The young guy at the shop actually suggested that it was worth trying some detailed sanding and polishing first, and if that didn’t work, he would give it the treatment for $90.00.
So I took it home and over a couple of hours, some wet and dry sand paper, plenty of hard rubbing and buffing I managed to achieve a very respectable result.
As you can see in the images, the presentation face is now a deep lustrous black with no fogging.
The cut edge took a lot of work, starting with 300 grit wet and dry paper, followed by some 600 grit and then some very high speed hand work with a cutting compound. The result as you can see in the images is a nice rounded edge that has taken up the black of the resin and gel-coat.
Because the edge is so visible when the part is installed, it was paramount that I achieved a well-detailed edge or it would scream at me each time I walked up to the bike.
Having been very careful not to let the rougher paper hit the gel-coat face, it was a relatively simple process to polish up the visible faces. Buffing compound, car polish and then an ultra fine plastic polish got the finish to the level I had always wanted and that would match my beautiful tank finish.
It had taken about a week in total, including my procrastination, the trip to the paint and panel shop, the time to have the Bracket powder coated and the time spent detailing the parts, but I was finally at a point where I was happy to bolt this thing to my R12R and not have to constantly make excuses for it.
Compared to this, fitting it was a piece of cake.
Removing the rear wheel is a requirement in order to get to one of the two screws holding the break line cover in place. You don’t need to take it all the way off, so don’t bother loosening the muffler, but do be careful to protect the wheel from the disc brake. I just placed a cloth over the brake assembly and rolled the wheel as far back as it can go between this and the muffler. Just far enough to access that pesky screw!
Take care removing the wheel bolts. One slip with your wrench and the wheels will suffer.
I have the ESA option on my bike and this means I have a cable running down the outside of the rear suspension cover. This is secured to the outside face along one edge by two clips. Unfortunately this protrudes just far enough to interfere with the Hugger. I removed the top clip (replacing it with a small black cable tie) and reversed the bottom clip. This placed the cable along the inside edge of the cover to move it away from the Hugger. Unfortunately the barbed end of the lower clip was still protruding too far, so I replaced it with a cable tie as well. Pictures probably tell the story better.
Having removed the ABS/Brake Line Cover, you need to use an alternate method to secure the lines. The Hugger's mounting bracket fits to the covers mounting holes, so you won’t be putting the cover back on. The kit comes with two cable ties to secure the lines. I used these but also used two more. At the rear end I used a small tie to secure the cable assembly around the rubber sleeve that was now exposed. At the other end I used another tie to secure the second rubber sleeve. With this and then the two ties along the length of the arm, I slid them in between the two sections of the cast arm. This provides a much neater solution than just wrapping it around the complete arm. It also helps to locate the lines more precisely. Pictures definitely explain this better.
One option here would be to cut the mounting tabs of the brake line cover and use two small ties to hold it in its original place. This would probably be much neater, but I was still not 100% sold on the Hugger yet so I didn’t want to destroy any of the proprietary parts just yet.
Fitting the Hugger Bracket is simple, although I wavered from the instructions and reused the original screws rather than the hex head ones provided with the kit. I am assuming that the hex head option would allow for the bracket to be removed at some time in the future without the need to remove the wheel. I may be wrong here, but irrespective, I like the look of the torx screws so I put them back but I did use the oversized washers provided. Once again, the oversized washers help overcome the inaccuracy in the Brackets dimensions.
One thing I did decide to do on all of the fasteners was to use thread lock. I can’t remember where I heard it but someone on one of the forums had lost a screw and lamented not using thread lock.
So, Bracket in place, I was ready to fit the Hugger.
The instructions are quite clear about attaching the rear fastener first using the shorter M6x12mm screw. This helps to clear the tyre when assembled.
The instructions are also very clear about locating all three screws before fully tightening any of them. My cynical mind would suggest that this is also a way to accommodate distortion and inaccuracy in the Hugger and the Bracket.
OK – so it’s done. And I must say it looks fantastic.
All my bitching aside, with a little elbow grease and some minor tweaks to the assembly procedure, I think once it is in place it not only suits the bike, but looks like a part that meets the BMW quality, detailing and fit.
The pictures complete the story.
P.S. Spoke too soon! On my first ride since fitting the Hugger, I was going over a speed hump and I heard the Hugger make contact with the tyre. It takes a reasonable bump to do it but it continued to happen. When I got to work I had a look to see if I could tell where it was making contact. Nothing obvious until I bounced the rear end of the bike! It would appear that the edge of the Hugger at the front near the lower edge of the suspension cover moves in towards the tyre as the geometry of the rear wheel assembly parallelograms (is that a word) when the suspension compresses.
It only just touches, and I suspect it may be a locally thick region of glass and resin, or it may need to have the lip cut back a little.
My tyres are still very new so that isn’t helping but this is taking the term “hugger†just a little too literally.
I have reduced the problem by adjusting my ESA setting to Normal with Rider and Luggage, which is actually a nice balance. It doesn’t get rid of the contact completely but it reduces it significantly. Because the contact is on a trailing edge, it is not going to catch and damage anything, but I will need to do something about it sooner rather than later.
