It’s 6+ weeks into the 2010s and my poor GS is feeling abused. It’s dirty as a result of riding in wet winter weather and hasn’t received much love since I replaced the rear brake rotor (and wheel mounting flange) last November. For those reasons I thought it was time to add a little bling. Yeah, I can lie and say it is for protection, but it’s really about the bling.

Prime, Touratech, class A bling in stainless steel. Why else would two bits of bent metal, some cable ties, and some double sided tape cost $80? It certainly isn’t because of the documention that came with. The second photo shows the approximate mounting location. In theory the bling protects the fuel injectors. Yeah… right!

Loosen the top and bottom screws that hold the air intake to the cylinder heads and slip the bling into place. Don’t torque the screws back just yet. The other end needs some wiggle room to get the cable tie in place.

I had to remove the bottom screw to get the angle on the bling I needed to start the cable tie around the frame member in a direction where I could grab the end of the tie with my fingers. Eventually it came together so I could wiggle both ends of the cable tie.

Before fastening the cable tie the frame protection needs to be added and the air intake tubes need to be torqued to 8 Nm. The frame protection is a bit of double sided tape. Makes no sense at all. A bit of clear protector that could be wrapped around the frame tube would make a lot more sense. Oh well… it’s a GS and this cable tie isn’g toing to do any more damage than the eleventy-seven other cable ties already on the bike. I stuck one side of the tape to the protector between the cable tie slots and left the protective cover on the tape to the side facing the frame.

Tightened the cable on the left, put back the cover, then repeated the process on the right side of the bike. Sure is pretty. And I can always tell myself that my injectors are now safer than they were before I started. If I say that often enough I might believe it!