Why did BMW change sides for the final drive/muffler

[jackronner]

Just curious.  A helluva big re-tool, so I figure there must have been a valid reason.

[smileymiley]

Nah,  just so you can't retrofit!  So pay loads of extra dosh!
Me cynical? 

[jackronner]

Hahahahahah!!  Velcro!  You crossed the Rubicon with that one, mate.

[beemerboy9]

Just curious.  A helluva big re-tool, so I figure there must have been a valid reason.

1) I think that you will find that any ground up engine redesign (as in the LC) involves a major re-tool.


2) You may have spotted that the K-series bikes have the muffler on the right side, so the LC Boxers had a precedent


3) If you like simpler explanations, then I've heard that it is more difficult to burn one's leg when dismounting with the muffler on the right.

[gogs01]

I don't suppose the rear wheel / drive assembly is the same as used on the K1600 - is it ?

[blokeonthemove]

I read somewhere when the LC came along that with the GS models if you were manhandling the bike out of the mire then you were less likely to encounter the hot exhaust. Sounds like a very expensive solution to that 'problem' so may not be true.

[timminator]

I read somewhere when the LC came along that with the GS models if you were manhandling the bike out of the mire then you were less likely to encounter the hot exhaust. Sounds like a very expensive solution to that 'problem' so may not be true.

I have heard the same, apparently a safety concern with having a hot pipe on the dismount side of the bike.  For all those riders who like to wear shorts and flip-flops for their safety gear.  :beee:

[Pappy35]

I'm only pulling this out of...well...let's say "thin air" but maybe the redesign of the transmission and relocation of the clutch might have moved the transmission shafts around enough that moving the output shaft to the other side was required? That might have been a factor as well. It was such a clean sheet of paper redesign overall I could see them then yielding to the desire to move the hot bits away from the dismount side.

[jackronner]

Pappy, wherever you pulled it out of, I hope it didn't hurt!  A few people have the same view, but hell, I always get on and off on the right side! 

[realshelby]

Don't overlook the chance that changing the final drive/shaft system to the other side......makes it look like an ALL new system that might not automatically be linked to some of the failures the previous models had. For those that were concerned about final drive issues, and there are a lot of them that can say BMW has had too  many of them, they can now possibly believe the new design will fix those. Which, for the most part, it does seem to have a better track record.