Fitting an Evotech Tail Tidy Gen 1-3

[RickS1K]

I am trying to fit an Evotech tail tidy. It?s going on my 2020 R But it is exactly the same unit as Gen 1/2/3 RRs. I?m used to fitting instructions for aftermarket parts leaving quite a lot to the imagination but you can usually work it out...

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/...8173+bmw+s+1000+rr+tail+tidy+instructions.pdf


This time it?s beaten me so far. The fitting guide is for traditional bulb indicators not the LED ones, and there?s a more to it them, not just there are 3 modules you need to unhook under the pillion seat compared to the one shown in the instructions. There are two things about the numberplate light assembly that I can?t work out. It may help to know that the Evotech tail tidy kit comes with and LED light assembly which replaces the bulb assembly in the original till tidy.

1. P14 of the instructions suggests that I need to cut one of the the BMW cables to reuse with the new number plate light assembly, and that?s where the Bullet connectors mentioned in the contents page seem to come in... there?s absolutely no mention of this in the instructions, what do I do? I don?t have any crimping or soldering tools, which I think you would need to use to make a secure connection, and I?m not even sure which I?m supposed to use anyway.

2. The supplied bullet connectors don?t match Evotech?s own wire colours. One bullet is orangey red the other is pinky red and the wires that they?re supposed to go onto are black and red.. does it matter which one gets used for black or red?. The orange one is a millimetre or two bigger than the pinky one, Is that supposed to mean anything?

Any ideas from those that have done this before? I will of course be mentioning all this to evil tech tomorrow (technically that was an AutoCorrect error but I?m keeping it because I?m pissed off ) but I would like to finish this today if at all possible.

Of course this all assumes that they sent me the right stuff but it does seem to match the inventory of contents...

Cheers

 

[phil]

1. P14 of the instructions suggests that I need to cut one of the the BMW cables to reuse with the new number plate light assembly, and that?s where the Bullet connectors mentioned in the contents page seem to come in... there?s absolutely no mention of this in the instructions, what do I do?

Cheers

Havent a clue but I would suggest that you DO NOT cut the cable, take the bike to the dealer.

 

[RickS1K]

Cheers Phil. I spoke to Evotech today - they do indeed intend that you cut the cable and suggest soldering the cable, so lots of people on here must have done that already?

It seems like an easy job, although I have never soldered before. Before I do that I might take my RR rear assembly off to see what happened to it - I arranged for my RR to be delivered with an aftermarket tail tidy on it, so I never went through this with that bike. I never bothered putting a tail tidy on my old R, even though I hated looking at it.

 

[stuartb]

Buy the a box of soldered sleeves, their brilliant, I used them when wiring up my internal lights on my van. Other than snipping your connectors off you need no tools, just a fag lighter.

I also bought a box of make and female ends with shrink sleeves as I like things to be super tidy.

I use my gas soldering iron on these, as suggested a fag lighter will do the same job.. I can send some down to you if you PM me, save you buying a box.. This vid shows them quite nicely.

https://youtu.be/7Wh5gM8GM70

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[2002sportevo]

I just cut the cable on mine and used crimped bullet connectors - I didn't bother soldering but these solder sleeves that Stuart uses look brilliant - I'd use these the next time. If the number plate light assembly doesn't work first time then you need to swap the connections round as it's an LED (diode) and needs to be connected up correctly to let the current flow.....

 

[stuartb]

Buy something like this for about a tenner, ideal for getting the correct heat into the sleeve and solder ring, then your not faffing about with a lighter..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Butane-G...-/391733582975?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292


Lidl and Aldi also do cracking kit for circa 15 quid, they usually have them in stock 2/3 times a year both with a 3 year warranty. Mine is the Aldi one.

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[RickS1K]

Stuart, thanks for the offer, very kind. I actually got a cheap soldering iron from Toolstation last night, because I realised that I have an old hifi amplifier with dodgy speaker cable terminals that might sort themselves if I redo the connections, so I might actually get some more use from the solder iron...

I haven't used it yet, let's see how I get on. As they used to say in Top Gear... what could possibly go wrong...

 

[Katie]

what could possibly go wrong...

https://gfycat.com/distortedemptyegret

 

[scooby]

Buy the a box of soldered sleeves, their brilliant, I used them when wiring up my internal lights on my van. Other than snipping your connectors off you need no tools, just a fag lighter.

I also bought a box of make and female ends with shrink sleeves as I like things to be super tidy.

I use my gas soldering iron on these, as suggested a fag lighter will do the same job.. I can send some down to you if you PM me, save you buying a box.. This vid shows them quite nicely.

https://youtu.be/7Wh5gM8GM70

i bougth some of those solder connectors last year,they are very good once you realise the solder has to melt for them to work properly

cheap as chips aswell,think mine came from china for about ?5

 

[stuartb]

Same, mine were Chinese via ebay.. paid a similar figure... they make for a real neat job.

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[stuartb]

Stuart, thanks for the offer, very kind. I actually got a cheap soldering iron from Toolstation last night, because I realised that I have an old hifi amplifier with dodgy speaker cable terminals that might sort themselves if I redo the connections, so I might actually get some more use from the solder iron...

I haven't used it yet, let's see how I get on. As they used to say in Top Gear... what could possibly go wrong...

No problem, if you want some just give me a shout.

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[IMORTAL_Indian]

You can ride to mine and see how I fitted.... if ?I? can do it, you can too pal.

I?ll leave it on the drive and you can walk round.... failing that, I can look at mine and talk you through it too... however I don?t come with a Scottish accent [emoji16]


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[roadrunner]

I don?t remember cutting any wires on my gen 3. Nor did I crimp or solder any connections. I wonder if they?ve changed things since I fitted mine? It was a few years ago now though!
Personally. I?d ring Evotech and speak to Garry,,,,,, Top man, he should know.

 

[RickS1K]

I don?t remember cutting any wires on my gen 3. Nor did I crimp or solder any connections. I wonder if they?ve changed things since I fitted mine? It was a few years ago now though!
Personally. I?d ring Evotech and speak to Garry,,,,,, Top man, he should know.

I did speak to Garry, and I think you're right that they have changed things. I'm not sure how many people choose the traditional indicators that the manual talks about vs LED, but I'd have thought that they were worth a mention. My 2012 RR came with LEDs, maybe I specified that as an extra, but its difficult to get an R without them now.

I pointed out to Garry that the website says you don't need to mod your bike (which I suppose this does count as kinda - bit of a ball ache to revert to standard) and instructions don't advise you about the tools you need for this... mind you none of the other things I have done (black folding levers, fairing & axle sliders) do list the tools, so maybe I'll give them that one.

 

[mike g]

have a look at positap for connections

 

[stuartb]

have a look at positap for connections

They look pretty good, you used them Mike

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[r25sti]

posi taps are ok as long as they dont get damp.

 

[mike g]

yep, for pc5, new tail tidy/ indicators at the back, and voltmeter off the accessory socket