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Transcontinental trunk removal

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MN246

MN246

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Joined
Sep 23, 2024
Messages
97
Location
Kansas City
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R18B
Hey guys, I have a question that may have been asked and answered before, but if so I couldn't find a thread on it. I'm in the market for an R18 and I'm curious if anyone has ever removed the trunk from their Transcontinental for regular commuting duty. I want the full TC package for touring, but for commuting I don't need the extra space and don't want the extra weight. My plan would be to remove the trunk and replace the seat with the bagger seat for day to day use.

My concern is that interrupting the taillight circuit in the trunk will create a CAN error. Has anyone tried this? Also, I expect the bagger seat would fit no problem, but does anyone know for sure?
 
Star-Lord said:
There's a couple of threads on this; maybe ping Adam Chandler who purchased a removed TC top case from a forum member named Byron. I don't recall Byron having any issues with the removal of the TC top case:

Post in thread 'Convert R18TC into bagger' https://www.r18forums.com/threads/convert-r18tc-into-bagger.2775/post-38755
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up. I really think BMW missed the mark on this. Harley and Indian have docking hardware for easy installation/removal of the tour pack and backrest. It seems hard to believe that BMW could have missed this in their market research/ focus groups.

I mentioned this to the salesman at my local dealer, and he seemed incredulous that I would want to remove the trunk. In fact, he stated that it might be unsafe to remove a part that has a tail/brake light. When I pointed out that it would then have the same light configuration as the bagger, he backed away from that slightly.
 
Beautiful bike! I've really thought about buying a bagger and going the other direction too. I don't really care about the trunk for touring as I think I could get by just as well with a luggage rack and a pack. I definitely like the black forks and instrument panel.

The issues for me would be that I definitely want the winglets, and it seems like it may be a pain to retrofit those to the bagger due to the turn signal relocation. Otherwise, I could retrofit the TC seat and from what I've seen, the wiring harness is already set up for the TC seat and it would work with the TFT controls as well.
 
I liked the Black color scheme of the Model B, vs the Gun Metal Grey color of the TC model; I added the Auxiliary Lights and use a latched push button to activate the lights.

Others on the forum have been successful in using the existing wiring, which allows use of the Mode Switch | Aux Light Indicator on the TFT which can be enabled via the GS-911 tool.

For whatever reason, I can activate the TFT Aux Light Indicator via the Mode Button; however, I don't get 12 V using the existing wiring.. there's an entire thread on this topic..

Screenshot_20240928-205642.webpScreenshot_20240928-205448.webpScreenshot_20240928-205555.webp
 
MN246 said:
Beautiful bike! I've really thought about buying a bagger and going the other direction too. I don't really care about the trunk for touring as I think I could get by just as well with a luggage rack and a pack. I definitely like the black forks and instrument panel.

The issues for me would be that I definitely want the winglets, and it seems like it may be a pain to retrofit those to the bagger due to the turn signal relocation. Otherwise, I could retrofit the TC seat and from what I've seen, the wiring harness is already set up for the TC seat and it would work with the TFT controls as well.
Click to expand...
Thread 'TC Auxiliary Light & Wind Fairing Winglet DIY Model-B Installation' https://www.r18forums.com/threads/t...airing-winglet-diy-model-b-installation.1399/
 
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