Coming back after a long time. Just got a 2004 R850R

couchiedemon

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Hi Everyone,

I used to have a 1150GS which I regretted getting rid of from the day I sold it but have finally returned to the BMW Bike fold, having just bought (but not taken delivery of) a very nice, but slightly leggy (61k) R850R. It's an ex-Met Police bike and I'd like to return it to factory form. Does anyone know how easy it might be to remove the police pack that takes up the pillion position? It looks as if the stock side panels are still in place and the horrible police deck bolted on top - if so it should be straightforward but I wonder if anyone knows of any pitfalls?

Many thanks in advance.
 
Easy enough from a nuts and bolts point of view. I have converted a couple of 1200RT`s from police spec to civvy spec. The quality of the fixtures and fittings makes everything easy to disassemble--i think there was only one bolt low down on the bottom of the engine mounted crashbar that put up a fight.
I found that the wiring was all proper factory fitted loom with proper connectors etc so easy to remove where necessary. The vast majority of bits are genuine OE stuff and have bmw part numbers.
Not sure if the 850 is different to the RT but the rear light unit on the RT is different and noticably shorter on the authorities bike.
The main issue is tracking down parts to replace the authorities stuff--panniers, side panels, rear light unit, grabrails and luggage rack, pillion seat footpegs to name the main ones.. It was a project bike for me so not a big deal to leave it in bits until the right bits turned up.
A bonus was that all the bits I removed found a buyer on ebay-- the companies that sell the bikes in authorities spec seem to need bits to repair bikes before re-selling. Also there seems to be buyers who are reverse engineering bikes and fitting the narrow panniers etc for commuting.
Service history is obtainable by submitting a freedom of information request to the relevant authority.
Hope this helps, just my two penneth.
 


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