This damned thing… (Red)

My first attempt at getting the K75S dash pad and bars on the top clamp was a bit over engineered. Initially, it looked like it would work, but I was not able to get the dash and the bars to fit together quite well enough. So, I went back to the drawing board and tried again.

The second attempt was to simply mount a bracket under the bar clamps and attach the dash in the front. It’s simple and should only require longer hardware to accommodate the bracket.

When they arrived from SendCutSend, the concept worked but the spacing between the dash mount slots (vertical) was not large enough. No problem. Let’s give them some offset.

Another week waiting for SendCutSend and these mostly work. I am not happy with the kludgy way the dash bolts nearly rub the bar clamps and these don’t really work with the rest of the project’s look. They also only barely work.

Ultimately, geometry was the issue. I simply did not know the design measurements for mounting the K75 bar and dash. So, online forums to the rescue.

The BMW rider community is an outstanding resource. For this, I used the BMW Owners Association and asked the K-bike forum for some key measurements.

A day or two later, I had the measurements I need. 

• Handlebar centerline (red line) to the front of the clamp (blue face): 31.75 mm
• K75 mount holes (on blue face) center to center: ~89 mm
• Clamp top (green face) to center of K75 mounting hole: 7.7 mm

Now I have reasonably good requirements to fit the dash appropriately in relation to the bars. That allowed me to design new bar clamps that will work on an airhead clamp and mount the K75 dash pad. At least, that’s the plan. 

These are currently being milled, by PCBWay. I’ve never used them before, and I am skeptical about what I am going to get to be honest. All together, the new clamps will cost about $175. These are designed to mount like most airhead clamps, with bolt studs and nuts from the bottom. The K75 Dash Pad will mount to the new bosses at the front of the clamps. These are simplified versions of airhead clamps and If they work and PCBWay does a good enough job, I may have some made that are a closer match to the airhead’s airfoil style for these clamps. I have another week or so to wait until they arrive, but am hopeful that they will work.

More to come…