In the course of my Spring Break Tour (2K+ miles through Oregon, Nevada, California and then back to Idaho) I had an unwelcome surprise.  Oh, the bike ran well, returning an average of 44 mpg (US gallons). But, as I unloaded one evening I found two tiny silver bits in the pannier I didn't remember loading.  Turned out they were roughly one-half of two of the three rivets that secure one of the pannier latches.  In this case, it was the latch that holds it to the frame.  Why I didn't lose the pannier on the road is a mystery, but I'm sure grateful it stayed on the bike.  At the speed we'd been traveling on those lonesome highways, there would not have been much to salvage if it parted ways with the bike.  
BMW apparently thought tiny aluminum rivets would make good fasteners for that application.  Hummmm.  That deserves a re-think. Question now is, what to do?  RocStraps got me home with both panniers, but that was a bit of field expedience, not a good permanent solution.  What ideas do you have for a solid repair?  It seems to me that I should try to drill out the remains of the two rivets to allow use of some screws. If I need to go with pop rivets, they'll certain be steel this time around.

hmm could have been refitted by someone else perhaps ? or lots of movement in the panieer lock clip shaking the locks around quite a bit ?

there are certainly different qualities of rivets ..both in dimension and material .. you may not find the better types anywhere else than a specialty fasteners shop

I think the ones I used were a 3.0 mm  (pretty close to 1/8 " inch ) with a pull of about 5/16 " I found that fitting a wider than rivet head washer under the rivett before tightening up spread the load across the pvc type panieer and lock body .

hope that helps a little.

I have had the same happen to both of my touring panniers over the course of the last couple of years although I don't necessarily think BMW have done a poor job.
I purchased the panniers new and 15 years on they have travelled about 100,000 km. During those years I have lost balance with the K1100 at zero speed a few times in parking situations (I'm sure I'm not alone). When the bike topples over it lands against the pannier which puts quite a strain on the latches and their fixings (it also means the bike is easier to lift up again when resting on the panniers). So I think the wear and tear of all those kilometres and the drops is what did my rivets in.

My solution: use a 5/32 inch UNC tap and cut a thread in the four holes in the latch base plate. I happened to have that size available and it suited the existing holes. Then make a template of the four holes and use it to drill the extra hole in the pannier.

Use a washer under the screw head and locatite on the threads and screw the latch back on. I think it is stronger than original.





Hope this helps.

Cheers

sounds like a good remedy Gaz . 
I'd be wary of using any steel fixings as exposure to rain , wet etc is an issue . 
Good luck with it Brickrider.

You raise an excellent point, Gaz.  As luck would have it, last week I stopped on uneven ground covered by gravel.  Poor choice!  I put my left foot down... and down.  By the time the sole of my boot found footing the K100RS was listing a good bit and the weight of the beast was too much for my feeble, old leg.  Ass over tea kettle I went, and the bike had a nap there in the gravel.  It happened in the proverbial blink of an eye and convinced me that at this point in life I really need a lighter motorcycle. That sad event explains why the fasteners on the left pannier latch were sheared.  
Incidentally, I strongly recommend including a pair of RocStraps in your kit.  They are the absolute dog's bullocks! They sure saved the day for me.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the repair, which I consider to be an upgrade to the OEM design.

Be careful not to heat up the old rivets too much when drilling them out or they can heat up enough to melt the case plastic and makes the holes bigger.

I've used steel Pop-rivets as replacements on many latches and never had any issues with them.

Stainless steel pop rivets would be the go imo, if you're worried about corrosion.

Brickrider, I too have used straps as additional security over the years to give peace of mind about the panniers staying on the bike. Here in Oz there is an often repeated line about the two types of BMW panniers;

"Those that have fallen off" and "Those that are about to fall off"
In reality though I have not known of anyone who has lost a pannier in full flight that has been locked onto the frames.


I have observed many riders who clip the pannier on but don't lock the latch. However as you and I have experienced the rivets on the latches may break in a carpark drop so my last modification to the luggage system on both of my K bikes was to add bolt on security. The possible downside of this mod is that a pannier may be broken rather than just the rivets or latch.

I drilled my Z frames near each end and used 2 part epoxy to fit a 6 mm nyloc nut into the rear; then drilled the panniers to suit. I use a 6 mm stainless button head screw from inside the pannier sealed with a fibre washer against the pannier and a stainless washer under the head for the load. You can see the hole adjacent to the 4 brass screws in the photo in my earlier post.





Cheers

Both my panniers came with broken frame locks, so are cable tied on when in use. I learned the hard way about not locking the locks when one pannier popped open whilst riding. Before I could say "What's that noise?", the front corner, including most of the lock was worn off. I have a pretty ugly repair job with a steel latch on it now but I'm not paying $300 for a new lid.

Woody, keep an eye on Gumtree or here on the forum for panniers at a reasonable cost. It's fairly easy to rekey a pannier lock so that your bike ignition key will open them. I have modded both of my pannier sets so that the ignition key from either K bike will work the pannier locks.

Cheers

"It's fairly easy to rekey a pannier lock so that your bike ignition key will open them"

Series 2 and 3, not 1. You can tell Series 1 panniers from the others as they have a flat cover over the key hole and the key is a sickly looking thing and not the more manly-looking keys the later ones use.

Onya Inge!

Or similar to Gaz's repair, I used a patch repair consisting of a single piece of aluminium covering all three holes which enables the load to be spread over a larger area.  This way you can still use the "weak" aluminium pop rivets.  One end is formed over the cast alloy latch and the other to the alloy patch, so the strength is still there.  just a matter of selecting the correct length of rivet. 

If you are worried about the pop rivets spinning then you can cut the head off with sidecutters and use a punch to remove them.  If you damage or elongate the holes in the plastic upon removal and find that washers don't quite work, then the patch repair aleviates this. 

After all this repair has lasted close to 25 years now.

Hi Guys,,,

Would anyone have one of these red lock things for sale?    

Mark K Boy wrote:Hi Guys, Would anyone have one of these red lock things for sale?    

You'd have to bust up a damaged pannier to get these. BMW never had a separate part number for this. It's included in p/n 46542307620.
Drill seven rivet heads off, pop out two roll pins and it's in hand. But you already know that...