Stef. wrote:Re.: adding things to the bike: this has to wait for a little while but the only thing I want to get is a proper top case where my camera fits in. I am going to Munich next week (BMW country

) and will be looking at the BMW ones. Not sure there is a plural in this word though as I have only found one top case from BMW that is meant for the R1200R
Stef.
There is only one BMW one. I didn't quite understand the comments about the sidecases not being intended for permanant use.. mine haven't been off the bike in 34,000 miles.
I'm not a big fan of topcases (and I've had them on other bikes) for a few reasons: (1) Makes it harder for me to get on/off the bike. Too tall to swing my leg over, and that means I have to sort of fish my right leg over the seat whilst jumping around a bit. (2) Too tempting to put a lot of weighty stuff in - moving the COG up much higher on the bike.. (3) They're ugly.
I use a detachable RKA tail-bag. It's small enough I can swing my leg over it, and it's not so big as to tempt me to load it up with weighty objects (has a flat-fixing kit and my SPOT in it at the moment, along with a few rarely used maps..) It's a quite inexpensive option.
http://www.rka-luggage.com/A03%20Seatba ... R%20I.html

(Not my bike, but the same bag..)
They're also nice since they come off the bike very easily (4 velcro fasteners) and can be used as a backpack. They come in several different sizes..
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One thought on the BMW tail-trunk.. it also requires the BMW tail-rack, which is optional and rather expensive since it requires replacing the bag-mounting-rails that came on the bike. The total cost is up there a bit.
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There is a semi-hard tail-trunk (mounts to the pillion seat) made by Axio that I bought thinking it would fit fine on the R12R. It fit fine at the dealer on a stock R12R with a stock seat. It doesn't fit so fine on my bike with a modified seat (Sargent - which moves the butt-cutout about 1" rearward) and a Kwikover under the rear of the seat.
It's another much less expensive option than the BMW top-case if you want something that is a hard-shell sort of thing that appears fairly waterproof. I can swing my leg over it also for mounting and dismounting the bike.