why ?
+ : creates cleaner lines for the bike
- : provides less weather protection, you will get a wet/dirty back! rooster tails
you can also go for integrated tail lights (which removes the indicator stalks as well) but i find these harder to see and in my opinion not a great idea on a motorcycle (but do give an awesome clean rear end!)
options
many inc R&G , evotech, ebay copies etc
check out the https://www.s1000r.co.uk/index.php forum and do some searching lots of options,pictures and comment to help you decide
of note i didnt like the R&G as it spaces the indicators wider than the OE positions
evotech get good reviews , appears well made. full kit, includes a replacement LED rear number plate lamp
https://evotech-performance.com/collections/bmw-s-1000-r-2017-2020/products/bmw-s-1000-naked-2013-onwards-tail-tidy-2017-onwards
£82
(i got mine from https://chainspeed.co.uk/ , but they dont seem to sell them anymore! )
Evotech Tail Tidy vs BMW OE hanger
note the huge reflector in OE part
note the change from rectangular light to small oval led
installation is relatively simple.
despite the instructions , you do have to cut the wires to the rear number plate lamp
i chose to use hot gun soldering mini connectors (not supplied) , then black heat shrink supplied in kit) over the top for an OE look job.
at this point I also chose to move to a 7x5 number plate from the original UK MOT legal one which is 9x7 and has BS number and postcode.
its also up to you whether you want to fit a reflector or not.
some might argue running a non legal uk plate then why bother.
you could use a small round button reflector and fit to corner of number plate.
I wanted to fit a reflector , but needed to be much smaller than the one supplied in the evotech kit.
I used
https://pyramid-plastics.co.uk/products/universal-number-plate-reflector
which is much smaller, neater and in keeping with the smaller plate, and means you dont drill.
(i bought 2 , one for my new plate and one for the original full size plate)
Come MOT time , I can then just undo 2 number plate screws and make the bike pass an MOT.
BEFORE and AFTER
heres a comparison of UK motorcycle plates of different sizes
the general format for a recent plate would be
AA11
AAA
(letter box fully horizontal all text in one line is possible but no longer road legal and pretty obvious at that)
as below you can see
- fully UK legal 9x7 plate including postcode / BS number with small reflector
- 7x5 (that i ended up fitting) with small reflector
- 8x6 which is somewhere inbetween
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