Pannier mounting bolts

scotty · Post by **scotty** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:42 pm

I've managed to locate a second hand set of pannier rails and panniers for the bike and had started to fit the rails on the bike this week. I've come on a problem in that a previous owner (who must in the past have had panniers on the bike) has overtightened one of the allen bolts that fits the pannier mounts around the seat cowl area. I've had to strip the rear part of the bike down to take the plastic seat part off and see that the allen screw is turning the fixing which is press fitted into the plastic unit. A real naff design by BMW. I've had to grind down the allen screw head so that I can get the part out of the plastic unit. Of course BMW do not sell the part separately and have quoted something daft (i think £180) for the entire unit. I'm going to try and get the remaining part of the allen screw out of the fixing tonight but if this doesn't work due to the threads being crossed and stuck fast I will need to locate something that will do as a replacement. Has anyone any ideas ? I think it would be possible to use a longer allen screw fixed into a ordinary bolt but the original fixing has about an inch of thread which gives a fair bit more support to the screw. I'm off on holiday for a week tonight and don't have access to a PC at home but I will be in town at some time so can pick up messages from an internet cafe. I was hoping to use the panniers on the bike whilst I'm off for the week but might have to revert to a rucksack which ia a real pain.

Cheers

wilf · Post by **wilf** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:34 pm

Hi Scott,

If the original fixing was spinning in the housing I'm guessing that its ready to come out or already has leaving a hole behind. What you could try to get hold of is an M6 rivnut to replace it, this is essentially a threaded collapsible rivet which when used clamps either side of the housing. You should be able to get a handful from either a tool supplier or possibly a bearing factor. They might also try to sell you the correct fitting tool as well but you can collapse them using a nut, bolt and washer.

Spin the nut onto bolt, pop the washer on then thread it into the rivnut, push the rivnut into the housing then tighten the nut while holding the bolt in place which will collapse the rivnut and fix it (the washer prevents the face being damaged). The only problem might be if the hole is a bit large but you might be able to pack some washers eirther side to take up the slack. This then gives a decent amount of thread to support the fixing bolt.

Cheers
Shaun

Me-109 · Post by **Me-109** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:01 pm

There are one or two rear ends - the grab handle parts - on FleaBay at the moment. Tend to be cheap since nobody ever really needs them. Maybe you just found the reason we do...

scotty · Post by **scotty** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:14 pm

Thanks. I managed to sort everything out ok last night. I managed to get the remaining part of the allen bolt out of the fixing. The threads were in A1 order so I have superglued the original fixing back into the rear tail unit. Both pannier rails went on ok and everything is back on the bike. I got the panniers off e-bay and got them sent to my work address and have just picked them up prior to popping in here (internet cafe) to write this. The panniers clip on fine but there is a little movement in the units on account of them only being fixed in one place ie around the pannier rail itself. This must be so with all hard panniers fitted to the s model but I would imagine the panniers moving around a bit at speed over bumps in the road. The fixings on the K series were more solid enabling the pannier to be secured rigidly to the bike with no movement.

Thanks Wilf, for the advice about those rivet pieces and I will bear that in mind. The way BMW have designed these fixings is not that great and could easily be improved. I'm going to keep the pannier rails on the bike all the time though so hopefully the problem's solved permanently.

Cheers
Scott

Archie · Post by **Archie** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:38 pm

Scott

Just a thought - do you have the lower mountings that attach behind the pillion footpegs?

Cheers

Alan

scotty · Post by **scotty** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:23 pm

Alan

Yes, the pannier rails are attached to the bike in the three usual places including the attachment to the frame down by the pillion footrests. The pannier rails are absolutely solid on the bike and are really well designed with no part rubbing on the bodywork. Its when you fix the panniers to the rails you notice that the pannier itself can rock a little back and forth. It's nothing really and is just the way the things are designed. I was looking at the new 1200s recently and noticed that there seems to be no place where panniers can be attached as the rear body panels have no gaps to locate pannier rails. This would be a real shame and if so would really compromise the 1200 bike.