“It's possible to raise the mudguard a bit but by removing the spacers at the rear mounting-point but I doubt it will be enough.”

Spacers? the mud guard in my bike is bolted to the subframe… I never sow any spacers…

“You can get 1mm spacers from BMW (it was used for some K-models) to trim this but you have to decide if you need longer bolts or not. I'm not a fan of spacers...
Instead of using spacers it would have been better to respoke the wheel with offset, but that's quite expensive.”

I agree with you in all the above aspects!!

Alibaba thanks for you pragmatism! J bier

Sorry the spacer is only used on Basic/Kalahari-models. Your bike has two rubber-washers and I don't think you gain much by removing them.

The point is that you can't get a Desert to fit the 17" rear wheel in the first place making this thread useless.

You can however get HPN to build you a wheel with the required offset and 18" Tube Type rim but you will still have clearance issues with the mudguard.

"gsworkshop":
Now I think that I didn't understand you....

why does a Michelin desert 17’’ will not fit a bmw GS 17’’ rim?

The 17" Michelin Desert rear tire are not available anymore for some years now.

hellllo

Since I’m a bit stubborn I dig a 17 Michelin Desert and I install it in the r100gs! (Actually I found 2 tyres)

my 5 cents comments

Installation:

-it’s not hard to put it in the rim but you gave to “clean” some blocks in the right side. Nothing too hard but it takes time if you don’t want to remove too much. The part of the tyre that you remove will only touch the ground while off roading but I never notice any difference in the turns


Driving (tarmac)

On the tarmac it’s a noisy tyre (as expected) and a bit slippery in the wet. (We drove a full day in the rain without any big frightening). It’s worst then a TKC but is perfectly driveable if you don’t go too fast

Warning: I could not drive it above 120 / 130kms because the bike starts to oscillate!


Driving Offroad

Very good tyre!!! It’s indestructible in the rocks and if you need you can drive almost with out air (even in a loaded bike)

In the soft sand (dunes) and mud the tyre is fabulous! Just reduce the pressure and you will never stop without traction! I think that for a heavy and powerful bike like a BMW it’s a perfect tyre… and you don’t have to worry about flats!


BTW I was looking for one Michelin desert and I now have 2 tyres for 17 rims. Does anyone want to buy one? I can sell the tyre that I used in Marrocos last week. I drove it no more then 2500kms so the tyre is almost new and ready to install in a R100GS. Just assemble it in a rim and drive