As any BMW 1200 rider who has dropped their bike will tell you one of the first things that you tend to do after swearing a bit, thinking of an excuse for dropping it and then struggling to pick the damm thing up again is check the sides of the bike for anything loose, damaged or missing that could be expensive or ride ending. One of the most breakable looking parts on the side of a 1200 GS looks like the potentiometer. This is exposed and very easy to knock with a stray boot or as a result of a horizontal excursion. The potentiometer is the black plug on the right hand side intake as shown in the picture below - surprisingly exposed.
To offer some protection for this rather fragile looking part of my bike I decided to order the Altrider potentiometer guard from Nippy Normans available here.
Installation of the guard involved removing the two bolts holding the potentiometer in place and then using two supplied longer bolts and spacers to secure the potentiometer with a third support screwed in at the bottom of the guard.
The guard is reassuringly sturdy looks like it should offer good protection from a stray boot or a horizontal excursion. The design of the guard does not look out of place on the GSA and the build quality is what you would expect from Altrider – top notch! Overall I’m impressed with this and would definitely recommend this even if you are going to be spending more time commuting than off road just because of how exposed the potentiometer looks.
Hi Leigh,
We have been using AltRider products from day one! They are really well designed and work fantastic….If you have not mounted their crash bars, i would highly look into them! They are the best in the market, even if you have GSA stock EQ. Worth every dollar. The skid plate is unbelievable…. Good luck on your adventure! MM, Dust Offroad Magazine