BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

I recently bought a pristine '02 R1150R and couldnt be more excited about it!! My first bike!! WOO-HOO!!
But, like all of the autos that I've had I feel the need to personalize my bike. So, I'm wanting to change the headlight. I know that the GS light housing fits (Rockster), but I'm looking for something a little different. The K1200R housing looks pretty trick. My main question is...Will it fit without serious modifications? Are most of the BMW headlight housings universally fit?

p.s._please don't hate me for wanting to be different.

Thanks in advance!!

Hi Osiris,
Welcome to the world of R...
When I first got my R I used to nag everyone about the headlight, I thought then (actually I still do) that the nice futuristic lines of my 2003 R deserved a nicer headlight...
As time went by I got used to the headlight, but I haven't stopped looking for a nicer headlight for an upgrade.
There have been many posts about replacements, such as:

http://www.hesa-motorsport.de/cms/cms/f ... t=43#unten

To me the R dosn't really need too much personalization as the R has it's own character that dosn't need much to stand out from the crowd.

Osiris wrote:I recently bought a pristine '02 R1150R and couldnt be more excited about it!! My first bike!! WOO-HOO!!
But, like all of the autos that I've had I feel the need to personalize my bike. So, I'm wanting to change the headlight. I know that the GS light housing fits (Rockster), but I'm looking for something a little different. The K1200R housing looks pretty trick. My main question is...Will it fit without serious modifications? Are most of the BMW headlight housings universally fit?

p.s._please don't hate me for wanting to be different.

Thanks in advance!!

The Rockster or K-series lights won't fit without a fair bit of modification.

The Rockster lights use a totally different top-yoke, and specific brackets to mount the unit.

The K-series are different because that bike hasn't got a steering head in teh conventional sense so the lights are mounted on a sub-fairing.

"So, I'm wanting to change the headlight. I know that the GS light housing fits (Rockster), but I'm looking for something a little different."

uh... no..

when I smashed both headlights, my knees and generally got upset when follwing my friend through a gravel pit (commonly called a road hereabouts), I too thought aha! it's just a R1150GS assy... I can get that anywhere...

There's mounting differences between the GS and the rockster... gah...
$600 bucks later... I could see at night!...... (that my wallet was empty )

Bry

I've benn thinking about doing the same thing. I was told by a very good BMW mech. that the headlight assembly from a Honda 919 will fit right in, it mounts the same way as our headlight. Cost about $265-280 dollars.


redr1150r

I have also been curious about changing out the headlight. I even started a thread about it here a while back but didn't get much insight. Let me know what you find out.
The 919 headlight is too similar to make the change. I wanted something less "classic" looking (sorry). I have dreams of something like the Speed Triple set up. Dual lights would look pretty badass!

http://www.motoplanete.com/triumph/gale ... 2005/6.jpg

i totally get you queenpdog.

i'm looking to make my R into a streetfighter-styled rice-devouring machine

queenpdog wrote:I have also been curious about changing out the headlight. I even started a thread about it here a while back but didn't get much insight. Let me know what you find out.
The 919 headlight is too similar to make the change. I wanted something less "classic" looking (sorry). I have dreams of something like the Speed Triple set up. Dual lights would look pretty badass!

http://www.motoplanete.com/triumph/gale ... 2005/6.jpg

Hello,

you are right. The Speed Triple headlights are the right one. I just bought them from ebay. I'll send a picture when I mounted the headlights.

At the moment I drive with teh following headlights:
[/img]http://mtec.shop.t-online.de/detail.asp ... ID%5F11790

But that is no comparison with the triumph headlights.

gr.....

Kind of interesting, you and I have the same tastes.....

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/13242298-L.jpg


The screen is a modified Givi A750. I've had the set-up for over two years now with no problems.

Both look great! If anyone works out how to fit the Triumph set we'll need a detailed set of instructions...
How'd you get the blue pipes? Powder coated?

I would love to see a K1200R headlight on an R1150R.. http://members.optusnet.com.au/~djp1/mypic2778.JPG

I think it could be done easy...and should look very cool..and after riding the K1200R..the headlight works great.

It should just mount off the two black brackets show in this pic of my bike waiting for repair...they may need a little bending if not right.

If it wasn't an insurance job with my bike..and I was doing the repair myself..I'd be looking into it.

DJ

GR,

Those lights look pretty cool. I don't speak German so I would love to get translation of that bag.

Boxer,

What type of lights are you using on your bike? Do you have pics of the install

I have to say that I really like the look of those speed triple lights. Do they come on their own mounting bracket. How much wiring modification would be required to get them to work? Does the speed triple lights run both lights all the time or one on and the other would be the high beam

As far as the K1200R lights, would it use the same wiring harness that is used on the R1150R?

I had been looking at changing the light on my bike as well. The light I was looking at was off a Kawasaki ER-6N. They don't sell them here in the states, so I haven't had a chance to get a good close look at one. I'd for sure take the instrument cluster off the top and smooth it out with fiberglas, but i'm not sure how the whole assembly mounts. If anyone in the UK could swing by a kawi dealer and take a look at the assembly i'd appreciate it.

http://www.seastarsuperbikes.co.uk/Kawa ... l%20lg.jpg

That will be very interesting.

Here's the one that I saw on the week-end...I'll check one out again soon and take a pic for you of the mounts..I'm sure you could make it work.

DJ

So, I've had my bike back on the road for about 2 weeks now. I did all of the repairs myself except for putting the new Rockster bars on (which are great by the way). I didn't really feel like running those hand warmer wires. In the end I saved myself a boatload of money doing the labor myself! Ha.

I went in and asked about the headlight conversion to the K12R style. The tech said that it wouldn't work due to the completely different front end...but, that doesn't mean that it can't happen!!

DJ, I know you were thinking about converting to the Rock bars...it totally changes the look of the bike! Way more aggresive in its posture!! The handling isn't too far off from the Road bars either. I've noticed a little bit of neck discomfort after an hour or so. But, if you've ever ridden a sport bike, you'll know all about that.

Good luck to you all in your headlight journey!! I'll keep you all posted on what I end up with too....

Chris, in answer to your question, yes, those are ceramic coated pipes that I did about 3 years ago.....with Jet-Hot. Unfortunately that particular color combination didn't wear well at all and I returned them to Jet-Hot and had them do it in black and that is what I'm wearing now, I don't like blueing at all....and eventually with all the cleaning you remove the chrome.

I have had many pipes coated with the Jet-Hot proces, both in and out and aside from keeping the heat in, they cool down fairly quickly. The best color is their silver (chrome like) the next best is black.

On the speed triple lights youcan get a conversion on ebay with two 5 3/4 beams on a assembly that will clamp on to 43mm forks (today's standard size) for ~ $175.

Hey Boxer,

Thanks for the info. Do you have an link to an Ebay auction as a reference. I would love to to this project to the Speed Triple lights but I don't know if I really want to mount to the forks. I would like to mount them to a bracket and then attach the the BMW mounting location for the stock headlight.

Are there any wiring issues with going to the speed triple lights? As in my previous post, are both lights on all the time or is one regular and the other high beam? Thanks for any feedback.

Has anyone looked into dual headlights from a Buell? Check out this link: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124544

DJ,

Thats the best picture i've seen of that bike. I appreciate you looking into the mounting of it. If you get a chance could you look at pricing for that assembly? I called a dealer localy and they couldn't even look up parts for the ER-6N.

The Buell light is a good looking unit. I'm not much for the dual headlight look, but think that is a good way to go if you're considering that conversion. If the price they quoted on the ADVrider link was accurate, thats a great bang for the buck deal!