Motorcycle Journeys Trip Logs

Author: Gale

  • Auxiliary Light Install

    After a long, long search I finally decided on some auxiliary lights for my F650 GS. I have wanted them for a long time for improved conspicuity during the day as well as being able to see better at night. The OEM F650 headlight is pretty sad. They make a motorcycle that get take you anywhere but you just aren’t able to see where you are. I had already upgraded to an HID headlight, but I still have wanted more light.

    Power draw was a big consideration since the 650 doesn’t have the strongest alternator and I already run a lot of electrical accessories like heated gear, radio, GPS while riding. But cost was a big factor too — I would have loved to get Touratech lights but there was no way that would fit into my budget.

    I stumbled across a post about Vision X Solstice Solo 2″ light pods that only draw 10 watts of power each but appeared to deliver a decent amount of light. It was a confusing purchase because they are sold in four different versions — narrow, medium, wide and elliptical beams — and when I call Vision X two times with questions I got conflicting information.

    I decided on the narrow beam for the right side since it would pierce the darkness the farthest on the side of the road and the elliptical on the left so it wouldn’t bother oncoming traffic.

    http://www.visionxusa.com/LED-Solstice-S1100/c1_48_88/index.html

    Great. I had finally made the decision on what lights I wanted. Now how the heck was I going to attach them to the motorcycle?

    I really wanted something like the Touratech brackets, but they aren’t allowed to sell those separately. I looked at a lot of different options, talked to a lot of people, and finally found the perfect brackets at BLM Accessories made specifically for the F650.

    http://www.blm-accessories.com/BikeModels.cfm?Model=F650

    Bill McAvan at BLM was great to deal with — if they didn’t fit or I didn’t like them he said I could send them back. Bill ships them with a variety of spacers so getting them positioned exactly where I wanted them was easy.

    My only concern is they are just one more thing that will have to come off if the plastic needs to be removed, but I didn’t like any of the options that didn’t involve the turn signals and I really wanted the lights high up.

    When I was happy with the brackets I ordered the lights from Accessory Partners. I ordered the two lights, a supposedly waterproof switch (I hope it is), and their wiring harness. Not a great purchasing experience. They told me the lights would ship on Monday, but they didn’t send them out until Friday and I wasn’t able to get an answer when I called and emailed them.

    I laughed out loud when I saw the wiring harness — way, way too much wire and crap to fit on my little F650. I returned the harness and made my own.

    There was a warm day between Christmas and New Year so I went out to give the F650 her Christmas present. It ended up being an all day project, but that’s because of my choices. I wanted parts to be removable and installed connectors so the switch or the lights could be individually removed from the install.  I mounted the switch on the handle bars where it would be out of the way. I decided to drill small holes in the turn signal brackets to feed the wires through for the lights so the wires wouldn’t have to run on the outside of the plastic from the headlight area.

    I was careful to use blue Loctite after reading a couple posts where the mounting nuts for the lights vibrated loose.

    The lights are infinitely adjustable up and down and side to side — I’m hoping that doesn’t end up driving me crazy. I think I have them adjusted so they won’t point at oncoming drivers and will still light up the road  and the side of the road for me. I will need to see how they’re positioned for another rider in front of me though.

    The difference in light is pretty impressive for 10 watt LEDs but I won’t be able to really comment on how I like them until I take them on a trip and right now that’s sounding like April. At the moment my driveway is a sheet of ice my SUV won’t go up, so the motorcycle isn’t going anywhere.

    When the weather improves I’ll get pictures of just the headlight and then the headlight with the LEDs to show what the difference is.

  • Canada update – another break down

    I met up with Jean-Francois in Port Huron, MI and we crossed into Canada over the Blue Water Bridge into Sarnia, ON. The line wasn’t long and we got a very friendly border agent so it was an easy crossing.

    We rode to Oakville, a suburb of Toronto, to visit some relatives of Jean-Francois in a beautiful area on the shore of Lake Ontario. Tuesday morning we waited to leave until 9:00 to avoid traffic and still got stuck in rush hour. Toronto is an enormous city — I kept thinking we would be leaving urban area, but it went on forever.

    We got off Autoroute 401 to ride along the shore of Prince Edward Island (an island in Lake Ontario, not the province) and stopped at an orchard for apples and cider donuts. Great day right up until back on 401 I heard an explosion, a loud roar, and then quiet as my motorcycle began coasting to a stop.

    Yes, another  breakdown on the road.

    I got the motorcycle off onto the gravel shoulder before the motorcycle slowed to a stop only to find myself on such a downward slope from the road that I was not able to get the side stand down. I started trying to dig out a hole for the side stand, but wasn’t having a whole lot of luck as Jean-Francois walked back to help me.

    While he was walking back to me I was pondering the cold, hard reality that if he wasn’t there I would most likely have to drop my motorcycle to get off it since I couldn’t get the side stand down on the slope. Later my cell phone battery ran out while making phone calls and I had to use his phone. A lot of food for future thought…

    Once off the motorcycle it  didn’t take to long to find the problem — a spark plug had blown out of the engine. I tore the motorcycle down to see if we could get it back in and the motorcycle started, but we discovered the anode was no longer on the spark plug (the little metal part you set the gap on) and we were afraid it could be inside the piston, so we called for a tow.

    My recommendation is to try to never need to be trailered in Quebec. We had passed Cornwall, ON but not yet entered Quebec. I had the BMW ON Anonymous Book and we found the closest dealer was 45 minutes away in Montreal. We got hold of them before they closed and they gave us the name of a trailering service they use. We were on the side of the road for three hours, had police cars go by and not stop, and after the 45 minute ride to the dealer I found out the trailering cost me $335. I almost fell over. We were deposited at the dealer around 10:00 pm after the motorcycle stopping around 5:30.

    We were lucky that Jean-Francois’s brother lives in Montreal so Eric came to get us and we spent the night at his house. The dealer had the motorcycle done the next afternoon around 4:30. They had put a helicoil in to replace the stripped threads, installed new spark plugs, and started the motorcycle and found no engine noise. They told us the anode burns up when the engine fires and rarely causes a problem with the engine.

    While on the phone they told me my chain and sprockets were shot. I was shocked since they only had 10,000 miles on them and had looked fine when I checked them the previous day. When asked what they charge I was told the parts would be $360 and installation around $250. $600 for a chain and sprocket change ?!?!?!?

    Since I didn’t find that acceptable, and I took them at their word that the parts were bad I located a snowmobile dealer in northern Vermont who would order motorcycle parts for me and got exactly what I wanted for $150. The same town has a BMW mechanic who said he’d install the parts for $40 so I’ll ride down there for the work.

    The next morning we went into Montreal to get the motorcycle. The repairs were $350 so that made it a nice little $700 error with towing.

    I posted on the F650 forum asking the other riders why the spark plug blew. What was really puzzling was the dealer told us the engine comes with helicoils and one of them blew out. The people who responded said the engine does not come new with helicoils, that they are a repair. We made a follow up call to the service manager and he repeated the engine comes with inserts for the spark plug threads from the factory.  Could Canada get a different F650 from the US?

    After stopping at Eric’s to load my cases and gear we made it to Jean-Francois’s parents house outside Sherbrooke about 5 minutes before it started raining.

    Bottom line is I’m a little discouraged. I’d like to do a ride and NOT visit a dealer for repairs. I’d like to properly maintain my motorcycle and have it run well. Since I put so many miles on my motorcycle maybe I need to check things that wouldn’t be an issue with a less used bike.

    But I am extremely grateful I joined Jean-Francois before this happened since he has a great attitude and made the whole thing much easier. It would have been a little daunting to be along side the highway after dark, the motorcycle on it’s side, with a dead cell phone all by myself. Like I said earlier — food for thought.

  • Sunshine and dry roads

    The one good thing about riding in rain is that it really makes you appreciate good conditions even more. I didn’t do a lot of riding today, but it was glorious to get on the road this morning on dry pavement with sunny skies. The afternoon temperature made it to the mid seventies as I rode up to Port Huron to wait for Jean-Francois to catch up.

    Since I had time in the afternoon I walked to the Claire River empties into Lake Huron and took pictures of the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse, the oldest light in Michigan. In the background was the Bluewater Bridge to Sarnia, Ontario and I was shocked to see it was at a stand still with vehicles waiting the entire length of the bridge to get into the US. I hope the wait isn’t so bad to get into Canada tomorrow, but someone pointed out the US border guards were being extra careful since the weekend was the anniversary of 9/11.

    Hopefully I’ll be in Canada tomorrow.

  • Rain, but trying to be positive

    It had rained hard overnight so I was very happy it stopped long enough for me to load the motorcycle and stay dry. I wasn’t in a big hurry to get on the road since the weather system was moving east and I wanted it to go as far as it could before I caught up with it.

    I got two solid hours of riding in on wet roads, but no actual rainfall. The thing I’m most grateful for is it wasn’t raining as I went through Indianapolis which must be the road construction capital of the universe. It was a mess and would have been much harder to navigate in poor visibility.

    My luck ran out just as I left the north side of Indie. I needed fuel and while I was stopped the rain started in earnest. I took my time, had some other travelers commiserate with me on the miseries of riding a motorcycle on a day such as this one, and got back on the highway when there was a miniscule lull.

    Once on the highway the downpour really set in and I wasn’t sure I was going to last 30 minutes, much less 300 more miles. The visibility was terrible as I slowed down and vehicles zoomed past with their spray adding to the visibility problem.

    Note to self: when traveling on four wheels and passing a motorcycle in rain be sure to get well ahead of the motorcycle before moving back into the the right lane. When you immediately swerve over in front of the motorcyclist you practically blind them with your spray.

    I couldn’t figure out why, but my Nolan helmet was allowing rain into the visor, so I had a coating of drops on the outside and a coating of drops on the inside. Fortunately it wasn’t fogging, but that may be because I was staying fairly calm and wasn’t hyperventilating. When I get scared I can fog a visor in a split second.

    After an hour of downpour it became intermittent alternating between downpour and light rain — far more tolerable.

    While riding I started thinking of days on the road in terms of how many tanks of fuel it was going to take. The previous day was a four tank day with me starting with a full tank and filling right before stopping for the night. Today would be a three tank day, so that wasn’t so bad. The fuel light was coming on consistently between 167 – 170 and I was stopping around 200 miles.

    I lucked out and there was a slight break in the rain for me to get into the Michigan welcome center. They had radar on a monitor and it was clear I would be in rain no matter where I went. After checking the map and motel coupons I decided on Flint which would leave me an hour ride south to Macomb, MI in the morning.

    The rain continued and got worse as I approached Flint, but I safely found the motel and got checked in.

    Main task of the evening was to try to get things dried out. It had been around 60 degrees during the afternoon so I had my Gerbing jacket on and turned on. When I started peeling off riding gear I discovered the underarm zipper on the right side had leaked on the final leg and my Aerotstich, Gerbing, and shirt sleeve were soaked. No wonder I was cold.

    I pulled off my boots and discovered both feet were soaked. That explained why my feet were cold and I’m not happy my boots are leaking. I need to try some waterproofing to improve that situation since I’m sure this isn’t the only rain I’ll see on this ride.

    So gear was hanging everywhere to dry out. I think everything will be okay except the boots — they are so soaked I doubt they will dry overnight.

    I had carried large rubber gloves with the thought of using them in rain, but had never tried them until today. I pulled them over my leather gloves and up over the end of my sleeves to seal out the rain. They worked incredibly well except the large was huge even over gloves.
    I might try medium the next time, but I am so glad I had them with me on a day like this. My hands would have frozen without them and I’m sure I would have had water up the sleeves.

    Mid seventies and sunny is the forecast for tomorrow. Woohoo!

  • Am I having a flashback?

    Up at 5:00 AM to be on the road before 6:oo to avoid Friday morning rush hour and once again I backed out of the garage, turned the motorcycle on, no headlight.The same thing that happened when I left for Vermont last month.

    Back in the garage to tear all the carefully packed gear off so I can get the seat off to check fuses and the headlight fuse was blown. Three fuses later I’m running out of 7.5 fuses and need to find out what’s causing the problem. I pulled my much liked HID bulb and replaced it with the old PIAA and the fuse doesn’t blow when I turn the motorcycle on.

    Repack the motorcycle, throw the HID in the top case in hopes I can figure out the problem while on the road and hit rush hour traffic at 7:00 AM. Once on the frontage road I see I-35 is at a stand still so I take surface streets to cut through old town Lewisville and get on 121 heading northeast to find very light traffic. Head north on 75 and all the traffic flow is headed into town so I have smooth sailing.

    I had decided to wear the Aerstich since I would need my Gerbing heated pant and jacket liner in the cooler temperatures up north so I left the mesh at home. By 10:30 I’m regretting that decision when I have to stop and unzip everything I can to try to get some air flow to combat the 90+ degree temperatures. Have I mentioned how tired I am of the heat???

    I had decided to try the shorts and sleeveless top that I wore comfortably under the mesh in high temperatures and promptly found my exposed skin stuck to the lining of the suit when I started sweating. I hate the way the Aerostich lining feels, but too late to do anything about it now. And yes, I have read the warning in my Aerostich that you’re supposed to wear long sleeves and long pants under the Aerostich, but the folks who make this suit are in cold Duluth, Minnesota not overheated Texas.

    I follow US 69 uneventfully north through Oklahoma and then I-44 into Missouri. I stopped at the Missouri welcome center and the wonderful lady at the desk fixed me up with maps, directions on how to avoid St. Louis traffic, and coupon books for motels in Illinois where I hoped to stop that night.

    I have a very sensitive sense of smell and frequently smell things burning when I’m on the road. I repeatedly was getting that smell and had stopped and checked there was nothing resting on the engine or muffler and burning. It didn’t occur to me until later to check the HEADLIGHT. The PIAA bulb had vibrated loose, turned slightly sideways and melted the plastic around the bulb mount. Great.

    I reseated the bulb, once again making sure the lock ring was firmly attached, and discovered I could see the back of the bulb while riding and started checking it periodically to make sure it wasn’t loose again. Meanwhile I’m imagining how expense the back of the headlight will be if I have to replace it…

    I continued my rush hour trend that I seem to follow on my solo trips and hit St. Louis at 5:30 PM Friday night. Fortunately the suggested route quickly got me out of congestion and into Illinois.

    It’s funny how fast you can go from sweaty and soggy to cold and shivering. Within minutes the sun disappeared behind clouds, the temperature dropped into the upper 60’s and I had to stop and zip up. I was still cold but hoped I’d be stopping soon.

    I missed my planned stopped in Vandalia, IL and ended up going on to Effingham where I had been told there would be a lot of motels. Unfortunately that had me arriving after dark with my miserably poor PIAA bulb. I was really missing my HID.

    The only really pretty thing I saw all day was while crossing bridge over the Mississippi — I looked down and there was mist hanging over the still water and it was a beautiful, serene scene. Just not a scene I could get a picture of.

    750 miles today and 550 tomorrow for me to get to my errand north of Detroit. Rain is forecast for the entire day. I can’t tell you how excited I am about that forecast.

    I talked to Jean-Francois hoping he was close enough I could blow off my errand (and the rainy ride) and meet him instead, but he was in Arizona and hour from the Colorado border. He’d had problems with his motocycle and had lost time on repairs.

    So I guess it’s the rain tomorrow.