Lynx Fairing install WR250R - part 1

Having recently sold my BMW G650GS, I found myself with only one bike, the trusted WR250R. Honestly, selling the BMW was a tough decision, but since I got the WR I found myself riding the WR more than the BMW.
Now, there is no such thing as a perfect, do-it-all bike, but since I find myself more and more on dirt, the WR is about as good as it gets. It's excellent on unpaved roads, and it does rather well (for a lightweight 250) on pavement.

Of course, in its stock form it is not ideal for any long distance riding, so a few upgrades are necessary. But more on this later.

Upgrade number 1 - fairing.

Unlike the BMW where I could find numerous windshields from tall to small, there is almost nothing for the WRR. The dirt fairings are too small to offer wind protection on pavement, and the taller windshields that are good on pavement are too bulky off-road.

All, except one - Britannia Composites' Lynx Fairing.  www.britanniacomposites.com

I've been lusting after one of those for about a year, but lets be honest, the almost $600 price tag is pretty steep. But once I saw one in person, I was sold.  The quality is there, the light output is great, and the sliding windshield makes it a true dual purpose fairing. I'll get to that later, in one of the future post.

So I emailed Ian at Britannia, and my fairing arrived about a week later.

The box contained the fairing, windshield, wiring harness, some nuts and bolts, and decent instructions. All was well packed and wrapped in a large quantity of bubble wrap.

Step one was to install the dash.

My forks were already out for service, so I had almost nothing to remove. Well, the stock instrument cluster and brackets needed to go.

Instrument cluster is easy - three nuts and it is free to be removed. Snap the ziptie off, roll back the rubber seal, and, using something (I used a small screwdriver) press on the tab on the connector and pull the connector out. Instrument cluster is now free. Set it aside carefully.

Here is the bracket that has to come off.   

Next step is to remove the bracket. It has a couple of regular bolts and it shares a safety bolt (tamper proof) with the ignition cylinder. That one has to be drilled, unless you want to use a hacksaw and leave a piece of the bracket behind. I did not want to do that.

A lot of people complain about not being able to access the safety bolt with a drill. I found an easy way - angle impact driver. After making a mark with a centerpunch, I started with a small drill bit, progressing to a larger and then the final bit. It took only a couple of minutes (drills with a hex shank).

I drilled both safety bolts and knocked the heads off with a punch, which left me with the studs in place. A pair of pliers and these, too, came out, leaving the bracket intact.

Of course, I did not feel like redoing all the cables and wiring, so I cut the wire loop with a saw, and took the bracket out. This can be easily fixed if I ever need to reinstall it.

Next step is to lift the handlebars out of the way and slide the dash (along with washers provided) under the raiser bolts. An easy job.

And here is the dash from underneath. The holes came pre-cut for the instrument cluster and for ignition access.

 I did not want  to have to reach through the hole to access my ignition, so I relocated the ignition cylinder higher up. I also laid out my instruments like I wanted them.

There was a small issue with the dashboard, but Ian promptly shipped me a new one at no cost. It's great to see a man who stands behind his product and goes out of his way to communicate with the buyers.

While I wait for my new dash, I'm using the time to work on a better layout and reinforcement for the ignition mount, which I will discuss in a future post.