Having finally taken the plunge into K13S penury, I needed to get the stuff to turn a standard bike into a replica of my beloved K12S.
So, the things I needed were a rear Splash Guard, an SW-Motech AluRack, a centre stand, a set of Sport Cases and the mounting rack.
The Sargent Seat will move over after its Pod lid has been sprayed very dark black as will the throttle lock, Garmin mount, Helibars etc. (without the spraying)
I had bought a Sport Case mounting rack of eBay, fitted, but obviously never used or even been out in the weather, from Holland for £37 as opposed to the £81 from Motorrad Store, and I just needed the fitting kit for that.
Having decided that an almost new, low mileage bike deserved better than all the bashed-up tat off my old bike, I decided to invest in new kit. (It's not really bashed-up if you are a potential buyer
)
The best value I could find was the guys at BMW Motorrad Store (
https://www.bmw-motorrad-store.co.uk/) a trading name of United Online Stores (
http://www.united-online-stores.de/)
They sell almost everything you might need for your bike in terms of accessories and some options like Sport Cases etc, MUCH cheaper than your local dealer.
In addition, they sell 'kits' of all the individual bits to make life MUCH easier than trying to wade through the parts catalogue.
The Sport Case kit includes two case with waterproof inners as well as the fitting kit. They also do a codeable lock set to enable you to code your case locks to your ignition key.
The centre stand comes complete with the fitting kit, unlike some suppliers others have written about in here.
So, so far so great.
I ordered a Sport Case kit, two codeable locks, the fitting kit for the Sport Case mounting frame and a centre stand and set about moving the other stuff over while I waited.
It was amazing that while the shipment was being handled by DHL in Germany, their website handed me off to the Parcel Force website once the package left for the UK and even the non-Parcel Force tracking number translated effortlessly and continued to show the progress of my package.
I was really impressed when it arrived as scheduled and tore into the boxes like a kid at Christmas. One left case complete, check. One right case complete, check, two codeable locks, check. One mounting rack fitting kit, check. One centre stand fitting kit, check. One Sport Case mounting rack. Check........hang on, I didn't order that! And finally one centre stand. Where the hell is the centre stand?
I e-mailed them and Laura apologised, asked for photos of all items and labels and promised to get the centre stand out to me the very next day.
In the meantime I coded the locks to my new keys, not a job for the clumsy or those with poor eyesight!
Job done and with the rain teeming down outside I decided to fit the Sport Case mounting brackets to the cases, a simple job of two captive nuts and two screw and washers for each one. I have done this before when one of mine broke so just got on with it but it didn't seem as straightforward as I remembered and then, just as I was convinced they changed the design, I realised that I was trying to fit the right supporting bracket to the left case. Stupid boy! Now, the bracket came packed in the case so I wondered what had gone wrong, perhaps they packed them opposite handed in Germany.
I opened the Right case and there was the other bracket, also a right one. So that's just the two right mounting brackets then!
Another e-mail and another photo. The next day, another apologetic e-mail and the assurance that I shouldn't worry, Laura was sending the left bracket with the centre stand.
In the meantime I busied myself wrecking my otherwise pristine sub-frame until the new centre stand arrived this morning.
Opened very large box to find one centre stand and one case mounting left bracket; just the plastic mounting bracket you understand, no cushioning ribber insert, so I still can't fit the Sport Cases.
Now, it is worth bearing in mind that if your order a new mounting bracket from BMW, you get just the bracket, as I did last time I needed one. If you need the new rubber insert that is a different part number altogether. The beauty of ordering the kit from Germany is that the mounting bracket includes the rubber insert already fitted; and as long as it is the correct hand all is well.
So another photo on another wall and I sent a scathing e-mail to Laura. The tone of my e-mails was getting progressively less cordial and it put me in mind of Christmas Countdown, the hilarious comedy version of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' by Frank Kelly. For those not accustomed to this work it can be found here ....
http://youtu.be/NQkF7fpw-wII have been assured that my rubber cushion is being despatched via UPS and will be with me on Monday; well, it bloody won't because I am out all day at Bletchley Park attempting to get to grips with the innermost workings of Collosus. I tried to be helpful and change the delivery day to Tuesday, but UPS will not let the recipient change the delivery until they have tried to deliver it at least once(!?!), only the sender can do that! WTF?
Now, I am sure that others have had excellent service from Motorrad Store but they didn't use my name when they ordered stuff.
On the positive side, the total cost of what I did order came to a paltry £552 including shipping.
The Sport Case set, mounting frame, mounting kits and locks by themselves would have cost me £460 shipped from Germany as opposed to £679 quoted by my dealer for exactly the same items.
So, in a nutshell, great items and an easy way to buy, excellent prices but abysmal service. They are eager to rectify problems but being in love means never having having to say sorry!
Brian (who might get his cases on the bike next week sometime if UPS don't send the rubber whoopie cushion back to Chermany)