BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

I have a '04 1150r on which I installed the BMW windshield 4 or so years back. Over the years I have noticed that the right rear brace (see first picture below) became loose after a few thousand miles of driving. I would tighten it when I noticed a slight rattling when I went over huge bumps. I even added a lock washer. Otherwise it was not that noticeable. In fact on some occasions, the bolt was completely loose and was held in by the tension of the brace attached to the windshield. I recently noticed it and was trying to tighten the bolt, but it wouldn't thread. I removed the brace and found the threaded hole to be stripped (obviously from the rattling when loose). See the pictures below for what I'm talking about:







It seems like I have three options, but would like to know if anyone else has had something similar and can point me in the right direction:

1) Leave it alone - doesn't seem to be all that critical to the structure - the windshield has been ok for the most part (although prior to the windshield being installed, there was a bolt that was in this threaded hole and held something together - see the pic below that I took from a microfiche of a 1150r)
2) Try to retap the hole and replace the stripped bolt - has anyone ever done something like this... its pretty hard to get to.
3) Try to replace the part that the bolt is threaded to (I think its part number 1 in the picture below)


Any and all thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks in advance... you guys always seem to have sound advice that is much appeciated.

Try using a same size/diameter bolt that is longer, maybe there are still some good threads, if there are put back together with blue locktite

The best way to repair is to use a thread repair kit. I'm patial to the Time-Sert, see link below, but there are others available.

http://www.timesert.com/html/mtrcsert.html

Of course there are many others such as Helicoil, Plastex, Belzona, J&B Weld, etc, the question is what would be the expected durability. Good luck

Second the suggestion by R1150Rclean to use a longer bolt. Same thing happened to me (also on the right rear) and that's what I did at the suggestion of the parts guy at the dealer. I believe that the new bolt is 5mm longer than stock. It is difficult enough to wiggle the stock length bolt in there, but a longer one will fit. Patience. It's worked OK for 2 years and if it doesn't, you are only out a couple of bucks for a bolt. That reminds me, though, I should probably check my windscreen brace bolts to make sure they are tight.
Peter '73 R75/5, '04 R1150RA, '06 Kawa EX-500