Loss of Touring Shield at speed

[lcarlson]

I was talking to a salesguy at a former BMW dealer last weekend, and he noticed the touring shield on my R1150R. He asked if I had had any trouble with it. He said that they had a half-dozen instances of the touring shield literally being blown off the bike at highway speed -- fortunately without any serious injuries. He said that the problem was with the wellnuts, which softened up when exposed to high heat. He said each of the problems occurred when the bikes had been covered in hot weather, and then taken out and ridden at high speed before the wellnuts had been cooled by the wind. Anybody heard of this happening?

[username]

note to touring shield owners - cool yer nuts well before going too fast.

or is it cool your well nuts...

[TheSuperScoot]

The windshield on my previous bike, an R850R, stayed put, but after about 2 years, one of the lower braces broke off near the mounting point. I suggested that a non-moving part should not summarily snap after two years, but BMW did not agree, and I paid for the replacement myself.

TB

[philabeemer]

I had exactly this experience. BMW used expanding rubber thingies (technical term) that the bolt screwed into and caused to expand. I had the bottom two bolts let go a 70 mph and bounce off my knees, and then the shield tilted up so it was pointing right at my neck while being held by only the two top bolts. A sphincter-clenching moment.

Manged to pull over, rip the windshield off, strap it to the back of my bike, remove my underwear with needle-nosed pliers and a vacuum cleaner, and then proceed on my merry way.:yow

The dealer's solution was to drill out the mounting brackets so that he could run the bolts right through them and secure them with regular nuts

[dlearl476]

"expanding rubber thingies" = Well Nuts

[cibet]

I have had well nuts pop out when hitting sharp bumps.
Roads with access holes cut out then filled with gravel and not marked for motorist or bikes is one example. My dealer said BMW realized the well nuts were not long enough. He supplied me with replacements at no cost. I guess they are cheap enough that BMW can afford them.