2004 BMW R1200CL

woodtickgreg

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I dont know if I posted anything about this bike before but here goes. I purchased it on black friday of 2017, rose it home and parked it for the long Michigan winter. Gathered parts over the winter for some much needed maintenance. I did the valve clearance, oil and filter change, fuel pump and filter, it still had the original fuel filter in it! I changed the spark plugs, installed a new battery and air filter and changed the windshield to a better design for visibility and safety. Then I removed the stereo and CD changer because they take up a lot of space in the saddle bag. This is some picks the day I brought her home.
Really goofy shPed windshield that just messed with my eyes. So I changed it.
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Very cool that the p.o. wired it so all the lights come on when the brights are on.
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It's a touring cruiser, very low seat height, and I have the top trunk for it too!
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I'm a happy old man, lol.
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So I do have some plans for this bike to make it mine but not to radical changes because I want to keep it BMW. Biggest change will be the bags, I absolutely hate side opening bags, there hard to load and your stuff wants to fall out when you open them.
So I scored a set of top loading large touring bags off of a different model BMW
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They are very similar in size and should look and work nice on my bike. I will have to make mounts for them.
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The cool thing about these bags is they have the depression to clear the drive shaft and final drive gearbox.
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And the are 37 liters big and top loaders!
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I'm probably not going to mess with installing the bags until over the winter because that wi be a part of a project that will also include an exhaust change as well, right now I just am enjoying riding it back and forth to work every day. The exhaust will include a new crossover pipe with the o2 bung and a nice set of rinehart slip ins that will be mounted under the bags and exit behind the bike in true bagger style.
This is the new crossover pipe, the catalytic converter will be gone but it will retain the o2 sensor so it will run right.
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A nice set of rinehart slip ins will be used under the bags, it should improve the sound without being obnoxiously loud.
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Pipes are a nice flow through spiral core design glass pack. I have heard them on other bikes and they sound nice.
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My girlfriend got me this for Christmas, a waterproof am FM with weather band that is bluetooth so that when we want to listen to music on a trip we can if we want. I rarely use the radio when I'm riding, I like the music of the bikes engine. It will mount on the same plate the original radio did but not take up space in the saddle bags and be far less complicated.

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So I have enjoyed owning this bike, it's easy to work on for the most part. I have been taking care of all kinds of little things that need repaired or maintained. A big one that I just did was the rear brake disc and pad replacement. The disc had some serious issues. BMW wanted around $500 for a new disc, I got one from EBC that is much higher quality and I only paid $165 for it. Here's a video I did of the process, it's kinda long at about 50 minutes but some might find it entertaining.
 
So I have some plans for the old girl, I'll update this thread as I progress with it. I dont know what it is about this bike that makes me love it so much, I have had bikes that where faster, handled better, required less maintenance etc. But I just dig it.
My friends asked me if liked my goldwing 1800 better or this bike? They expected me to say the wing, but I didn't, they asked why.
I said because this bike has soul, it has just gotten into me.
 
Nice, I don't see those "spider eye" R12CLs very often, but i dig them. I wish you better luck than I've had with my K1100RS!
 
Great bikes!
I sold my 2008 r1200RT 2 years ago.
I really miss it.
Have fun, be careful.
 
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