Got to ride back from Big Bend for a few hours with good conditions and I have to admit I’m pretty happy with the Ztechnik/Nolan combination.
The helmet is definitely quieter and I can hear my music much better than ever before. Another plus is that prior windscreens were insect delivery systems to my helmet visor. I realized on the way home my windscreen was a mass of bug splats and I had few if any bugs on my visor. That is an enormous improvement.
About half way home the wind picked up and became very gusty from the north and since I was heading northeast I alternated between and side and a head wind. The helmet and the windshield provided a pleasant ride.
I would recommend both. The helmet is very quiet and comfortable on my head — bear in mind I wear earplugs at all times. The windshield deflects the air from helmet and does a good job making a fairly quiet ride.
Brownwood to Alpine on the Big Bend ride and additional thoughts on the Ztechnik + Nolan combination in 25 MPH sustained wind with gusts to 35 MPH.
I adjusted the angle of the windshield a little by adding a 1/4 inch rubber spacer to the top mount and getting slightly longer screws.
While I like the windshield and the fact that it is not right in my face like the Parabellum was, the amount of wind that is hitting my shoulders and upper arms is significantly increased.
I also notice some differences with the Nolan helmet — with the side wind I felt like a bauble head doll. When we turned into the wind I felt like I had to hold on to the motorcycle to keep from being pulled off — that’s how hard the wind was striking my upper body. The muscles across my collar bones were actually fatigued from the buffeting. And my neck muscles were getting tired from my head being snapped back from the wind gusts.
The offset to this is the noise is greatly improved inside the helmet.
I started having problems with my left ear bleeding from ear plugs toward the end of the Canada trip. On the short ride down to San Antonio (10 hours round trip) it was bleeding again. I am already using children’s ear plugs, but thought they might be long enough they are touching the ear drum. I cut some ear plugs a little shorter and found them to be equally as quiet, but no pain and no bleeding.
So even with the shorter ear plugs I was still able to hear my music even when going into the head wind — with the Parabellum/Caberg helmet combination I couldn’t hear at all in high wind and head winds were completely hopeless.
So while I’m definitely getting hit with more wind on my upper body, there seems to be a great improvement in what’s hitting my helmet. Or maybe the Nolan is just quieter.
For those of you who may have read the negative report on the Nolan N-103 on adventure rider along with the guys suggested modifications — I added rubber gasket connecting the bottom and top seal and notice no difference. I love having a flip front helmet so I’m happy putting up with a little noise for the convenience. I think maybe that guy just needs to stick with full face helmets.
I don’t like having an off day under most circumstances, but I really don’t like having one when I’m going to be riding my motorcycle. Whether I liked it or not, today was one of those days — when it just doesn’t seem quite right from the time you get on the motorcycle.
To start we were undecided as to whether we should leave today or wait until tomorrow to get to Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. A front with a very strong line of thunderstorms was due to pass over the route we were going to travel and they were forecasting hail, possible tornadic activity, and a lot of lightening. If we waited until the next day they were forecasting high winds which aren’t a lot of fun on a motorcycle. Hence the indecision. We decided to go and hoped to be stopped before the front went through.
I headed out to meet Dave and couldn’t even get out of my little town. They were trimming trees and had the road closed for the work. I got past that only that only to get on the frontage road and find the entrance to the highway closed for construction. Okay.
I ended up running short of time and showed up with no gas – which I found a little embarrassing since I try to show up for rides ready to roll. Made a quick fuel stop and we got on our way. We barely got on the highway and Dave comes to a screaming stop on the left shoulder – he got on the brakes so hard I thought I was going to hit him attempting to stop behind him and ended up having to stop next to him with traffic hurtling by too close for comfort. He’d forgotten to fasten his helmet strap. Like I said – nothing felt quite right and not what I would call an auspicious beginning.
On the way through the mid cities and Fort Worth there was more debris on the road than I have ever seen before, but traffic was good and we got on 377 to head toward Brady.
We made a quick lunch stop in Granbury where I attempted to do a reset and get my day going in a better way. This was greatly assisted by the sun coming out.
I thought I had successfully made an attitude adjustment right up to the moment in Brownwood when my motorcycle did a slight hesitation and then completely died and would not restart. Fortunately I was able to pull off into small parking area so I didn’t have to push the motorcycle off the road.
Part of my off day had been forgetting to reset my trip odometer when I got gas. I knew the fuel light had come on a few miles before it died and on the chance the fuel sensor was bad Dave walked down and bought some gas. While he did that I called the BMW dealer where I had purchased my motorcycle to see if there were any problems with restarting a fuel injected motorcycle after running out of gas. They said no and to call back if it didn’t restart.
It didn’t restart.
I called back and asked for what to check to diagnose the problem. This request was met with prompt and complete rejection. They insisted I call to have the motorcycle towed. So when faced with the choice of helping a customer solve the problem and be able to continue on with their trip, their choice was to protect the BMW income stream and get the motorcycle towed.
I had three responses to that. I didn’t want to ruin my riding buddy’s day. I didn’t want to ruin my riding buddy’s trip. And I definitely didn’t want admit to defeat and give up. I kept my responses to myself and hung up on the guy.
I immediately jumped on the self doubt band wagon since I had done some pretty serious maintenance to the motorcycle myself a week and a half earlier. On top of that a parting comment when I left the tech day was that I may have been sold the wrong spark plugs (which I had installed) and that I may need to add some caps to make the posts that seat into the coils a little larger.
So my first impulse is the spark plugs were failing because I had not checked the spark plugs — the bike had been running great and all the plastic, the snorkel, airbox, and maybe even the battery have to come out just to get to the tops of the spark plugs. So instead of doing this in the comfort of my garage I end up tearing the bike apart to check them in a parking lot along 377.
While I’m working on this several guys stop to see if we need help. I had gotten down the spark plugs by that point and they pitched in by checking to see if they sparked. Nothing. So why no spark. We started checking fuses and the 15 amp fuse was blown. One of the gentlemen had fuses in his stuck (so I didn’t have to dig those out) and gave me a replacement and 2 spares.
The bike fired right up.
So I’m excited — then I look ahead and see serious storm clouds moving in and I realize the temperature is dropping. I reassemble the motorcycle in record time with assistance from the guys who stopped, give them quick hugs of gratitude, and suit up just as the rain starts.
We bailed on making it to Brady and rode a short distance to motel in Brownwood. We got under the drive through cover for the office just as it started raining in earnest.
So what did I learn from this experience?
If someone tells me something may be screwed up check it out in my garage before leaving a on trip since this is a heck of a lot better than doing it on the side of the road.
Don’t call the dealer. They just want you to give up and go home. Call knowledgeable friends who can give you suggestions, but don’t even bother to call the dealer until you truly have given up.
I have now had my motorcycle quit running two times while on the road and both times I have been blown away but the warmth, kindness, and helpfulness of people who stop. We get too many lessons that people aren’t great. How wonderful it is to get one about how truly great people can be.
When I get home I’m going to post on the F650 forum asking what to check when you have a stopped motorcycle. I know when it won’t start it’s either spark, air, or fuel — how do you check for failures with all three? I’m going to type that list up and store it somewhere on the motorcycle.
Having an “off” day is okay as long as everything turns out fine — which it most definitely did.
Last, but not least — ALWAYS start with the simplest solution first. I can’t believe I tore my motorcycle apart when all it needed was a new fuse.
Steve Johnson of f650.com scheduled at tech day at his home. Four other riders showed up and I was one of them. Steve graciously allowed me to stay at his home and suggested I get there the day before so my engine would be cool for checking valves the next morning.
I had great weather for the ride down and arrived at Steve’s around 4:30. Another F650 owner, Michael ???? was there to leave his motorcycle overnight since he also needed to check his valves.
We were outside starting to disassemble the motorcycles by 8:00 the next morning. The F650 valves are a pain because of all you have to remove just to get too them. So much has to be taken off that I was a little nervous since I need to ride the thing home the next morning. All the plastic, the oil reservoir, snorkel, air filter, air box came off. This exposed the fuel injector so I stuffed a clean rag into the hold to keep dirt out while I worked. Then the battery and battery compartment were removed. The coolant reservoir also needed to by pulled out. That got me down close to the top engine cover so after a bracket and the throttle cable came off I could start removing bolts on the cover.
In the process of doing this the oil reservoir, which was hanging to the side, broke loose because the hose was attached to a flimsy outlet molded into the top of the engine cover. The flimsy outlet snapped off. Groan…
Since I was down this far I removed the coils from the spark plugs and installed new iridium spark plugs.
The cover came off, the valve clearances were within spec, so everything had to go back together.
The guys had a great fix for the snapped off outlet and everyone pitched in on this repair. Steve had an old road bicycle tire inner tube with the small tire valve. I removed that from the inner tube and cleaned the rubber off the end so it wouldn’t melt off inside the engine. Michael helped with the cleaning. Mark ran to a bicycle store to get the nuts that screw on the valve. Michael drilled the hole in the engine cover just a little larger, installed the valve, sealed it with black silicone, screwed a couple of the nuts on from the outside, and then cut the valve down to a decent size. The hose was reattached with a clamp and the cover was good to go. I still need to be careful to not let the weight of the oil reservoir hang from the valve since there is not nut holding the valve on the inside and it could be pulled out.
Even the AGM battery went in without too much trouble. I replace the coolant reservoir, oil reservoir, snorkel, airbox, and air filter, but left the plastic off to work on the steering head bearings.
It took Michael and I four hours to do our valves — because of what we figured out Mark and Steve were able to do theirs in about an hour.
While I was working on valve clearances Sergio had started on his steering head bearings and figured out a lot of things. Michael had me put the races for the bearings in the freezer so they would shrink and go in more easily.
Torn down for steering head bearings
The front nose fender came off. The brakes and ABS sensor came off. The front tire was removed and then the clamps for the forks were loosened and removed. The horn had to come off since it’s attached to the bottom bracket on the steering head.
Now I moved to the top side — the handle bars had to be removed and tied out of the way. This exposed the top of the steering head. Michael was able to grab the collar with a large channel locks and remove the top. Once the assembly was out the top race had to be forced out and both bearing removed. Between tools that Sergio and Steve had devised and physical assistance from everyone (I am NOT good with a hammer) all of this was accomplished in a very short time.
The frozen races went in much easier than they had for Sergio. The steering head went back together and into the motorcycle fairly easily. Horn, forks, wheel, brakes, sensor all went back on.
I was just starting to clean up tools and found a part we had forgotten — the plastic bracket on the bottom of the steering head. Fortunately the only thing that had to be removed was the nose fender and the bracket when back in.
Makes you wonder what's different with my exhaust
I replaced the plastic and started the engine. It ran great.
Wow — what a day. Two major projects — the valves and steering head bearings. And two smaller things — new spark plugs and Steve tightened my chain a little before we were done.
An absolutely great group of guys — very nice people and so much fun all day. And I got to learn so much about my motorcycle and ask so many questions. It was a great weekend.
While Steve, Michael, and I were talking at the end of the day a group of deer wandered down through the yards across the street. It was a nice little surprise at the end of the long day. I don’t have deer wandering around my yard.
I replaced both my Parabellum windshield and my Caberg helmet recently.
I just wasn’t comfortable with how close the Parabellum was to me. If I slammed forward I was going to shatter my helmet visor on the top edge of the windshield — it just didn’t seem smart. The poor Caberg had served me well, but the 12,000 mile trip to Canada pretty much finished it off and it was falling apart — also didn’t seem smart.
I researched windshields and decided to go with a Ztechnik that wasn’t going to be released until January 2010. There was a delay due to required mirror extenders that weren’t released until February. I waited and ordered both and was a little dismayed when I realized the extenders weren’t necessary. I have no idea why they list them as required when I can go from a full left handlebar lock to a full right handlebar lock and the mirrors come no where near the windshield. They were nice about it and I’m returning the extenders for a full refund.
The Ztechnik looks great, works with the OEM handguards, and is well reviewed on other motorcycles.
I love flip front helmets and after looking at all available models the Nolan was the only one with the features I want. I wanted the recessed tinted visor, padding on the chin straps, and most importantly a good fit. It felt great when I tried it on. I was pleased it comes with a fog lens — wish I would have had that in Canada. It will be interesting to see if it helps. Since I stress in rain and fog maybe nothing will help except calming down and not breathing so hard.
The real point of both changes was to reduce helmet noise. I love to listen to music on long trips and if it was really windy, especially a head wind, I could kiss that idea goodbye. There would be so much noise in my helmet I couldn’t turn the music up loud enough to hear it. I wear ear plugs or I’d probably be deaf after a windy ride.
Friday I took off for San Antonio on a windy, gusty day. It was so windy that when I opened the visor to drink from my Camelbak I couldn’t breathe through my nose while drinking because so much wind was rushing up it. I never had that happen before so I’ll assume it’s a result of the new windshield.
I do feel my head got moved around more than it did with the previous configuration, but to my pleasant surprise I had excellent sound all the way down to San Antonio. And I loved not having a windshield right up in my face.
The ride was less windy on the way home so it was a better test. The sound was good in my helmet, but the windshield definitely was feeding wind to my neck and shoulders and the windshield vibrated when I got over 70 MPH.
I’m going to do a little adjusting with the windshield. Put some additional spacers under the top bolts to tilt it just a little upward. I just got finished making a couple small modifications to the Nolan and I’ll see how both do next week. But the bottom line is that helmet noise if vastly improved with the Ztechnik and Nolan.
