Admins: Please move this to the end of Zippie's thread in the frequent mods forum about how to install the Bitubo on a TLS.
If you want the remote reservoir in the suggested location it's supposed to be simplest to remove one engine mount spacer, route the hose, then replace the engine mount spacer.
Everyone has had severe difficulty getting the engine/frame spacer back in place unless you loosen ALL the engine mounts and pry the engine over, or make some kind of jig to bend the frame. Some people beveled the edge of the spacer just to get it started, which is less than ideal.
What really works well is to make a really simple expander tool. I got a 10mm fine bolt like the stock one, except that's threaded all the way to the head. Then I optionally ground down the hex faces on the nut so it took a wrench smaller than the 17mm. I put the bolt thru the frame hole, then threaded a 10mm fine nut onto the bolt loose, so that the nut is in the area where the spacer would be. Then I screwed the bolt into the engine until the head bottomed. I had loosened the pinch bolts at the other side of the frame, and I had loosened other engine bolts, but you don't have too. The gap is less than 1/16 inch too tight for the spacer to fit; if you could pry it open with the right cam-shaped tool you could slide the spacer right in, and it would be nice if Bitubo supplied such a tool. But instead, I unscrewed the bolt form the engine about 1 1/2 revolutions and then used an adjustable wrench to unscrew the nut without moving the bolt. In about one revolution the nut had pushed the gap big enough to start the spacer into place. It turns easily because it's fine thread, though it's stretching the gap with plenty of force. Once the spacer was started into place I loosened the nut (which didn't bump the spacer out of the way because I had optionally ground down the nut faces). Then I unscrewed the bolt easily with my fingers (and another finger on the nut so the bolt unscrewed from the engine and the nut at the same time).
That leaves the spacer in the gap where it belongs, but not aligned with the bolt-holes. You can pry it pretty easily, but that can also scratch up the new Bitubo reservoir or frame; it's not easy to get the correct angle to tap it into place. I started moving it by just tapping it with a large drift and a hammer, then changed to apiece of oak so I didn't dent the edge. Eventually I placed the side of the end of an axe handle against the spacer and hit it on the opposite side with a hand sledge. Then when it was close enough to get the end of a tapered drift in, it was easy to pry it into place by levering the drift sideways.
Done. Put the original bolt in.
If you want the remote reservoir in the suggested location it's supposed to be simplest to remove one engine mount spacer, route the hose, then replace the engine mount spacer.
Everyone has had severe difficulty getting the engine/frame spacer back in place unless you loosen ALL the engine mounts and pry the engine over, or make some kind of jig to bend the frame. Some people beveled the edge of the spacer just to get it started, which is less than ideal.
What really works well is to make a really simple expander tool. I got a 10mm fine bolt like the stock one, except that's threaded all the way to the head. Then I optionally ground down the hex faces on the nut so it took a wrench smaller than the 17mm. I put the bolt thru the frame hole, then threaded a 10mm fine nut onto the bolt loose, so that the nut is in the area where the spacer would be. Then I screwed the bolt into the engine until the head bottomed. I had loosened the pinch bolts at the other side of the frame, and I had loosened other engine bolts, but you don't have too. The gap is less than 1/16 inch too tight for the spacer to fit; if you could pry it open with the right cam-shaped tool you could slide the spacer right in, and it would be nice if Bitubo supplied such a tool. But instead, I unscrewed the bolt form the engine about 1 1/2 revolutions and then used an adjustable wrench to unscrew the nut without moving the bolt. In about one revolution the nut had pushed the gap big enough to start the spacer into place. It turns easily because it's fine thread, though it's stretching the gap with plenty of force. Once the spacer was started into place I loosened the nut (which didn't bump the spacer out of the way because I had optionally ground down the nut faces). Then I unscrewed the bolt easily with my fingers (and another finger on the nut so the bolt unscrewed from the engine and the nut at the same time).
That leaves the spacer in the gap where it belongs, but not aligned with the bolt-holes. You can pry it pretty easily, but that can also scratch up the new Bitubo reservoir or frame; it's not easy to get the correct angle to tap it into place. I started moving it by just tapping it with a large drift and a hammer, then changed to apiece of oak so I didn't dent the edge. Eventually I placed the side of the end of an axe handle against the spacer and hit it on the opposite side with a hand sledge. Then when it was close enough to get the end of a tapered drift in, it was easy to pry it into place by levering the drift sideways.
Done. Put the original bolt in.
