Motorcycle Journeys Trip Logs

Category: Motorcycles & Gear

  • New gear for Vermont trip

    Not a lot of new gear for this one, but what little there is tends to be pretty critical stuff.

    I have always been torn between sticking with my Aerostich and wearing a mesh jacket and pants. Since I dehydrate easily it seems like the Aerostich would help slow that down where mesh would accelerate it. But I just don’t feel like facing 100+ temps in the ‘Stich so I picked up an Olympia Airglide jacket off EBay for a great price. I already had Airglide pants so that’s what I’m going to wear on this trip. Both have water proof, thermolite insulated liners for cooler temps and rain. I still don’t know if I should pack my Aerostich — jeez, it’s almost like a security blanket to me.

    My well loved and well used Toshiba MP3 players officially bit the dust. Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I got an 8GB Sandisk Sansa Clip+ off Amazon for $55 and an accessory kit for $7. The kit included a 12 volt charger for the motorcycle, a wall charger if I don’t want to drag my computer in at night (advertised 15 hour battery life), ear buds, screen protector, longer USB cable (the Sansa Clip+ came with a 8″ cable — what a pain…), and a silicone protective cover. The Clip+ has a slot for mini SD cards so I should be able to take all the music and books I want. My hope is that the flash drive will be a more stable storage media in the high vibration environment of a motorcycle, but I have no idea. Only time will tell. The Clip+ is tiny and so light weight that it’s almost not noticeable. I’ve tested it on the motorcycle and it cranks the music.

    And, of course, my new Kouba lowering links that have brought the motorcycle back down to my height even with the Ohlin shock. I can’t wait to get on the road and see how this combination works out over the long haul.

    I felt like I had a slow leak in my front tube after getting new tires put on, so I pulled the wheel off and took it to Grif’s Cycle Sports in Lewisville to have a new tube put in. Really great people at this shop — they had it mounted and balanced in no time for $20 plus the cost of the tube. I feel much better heading out of town with a fresh tube — I don’t know about anyone else, but I thinking finding air while on the road is a pain and most places charge for it. I have a mini compressor, but I hate to dig that out and wait for it to inflate unless I’m stopped for the night. A good tube is a much better bet.

    There’s been a lot of maintenance. The water pump had to be done again, but that was covered by my extended warranty (which I think may be worth it’s weight in gold). The water pump involves dumping both oil and coolant, so those are both fresh. I changed the brake fluid, the fork oil, and put new brake pads on the rear caliper. As mentioned I put new tires on again.

    I think the motorcycle is good to go. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Ztechnik windshield is in HOT weather, since I have already experienced how much colder I am in cold weather. Maybe the increased air hitting me will help with the heat.

  • Ohlin shock + Kouba links for lowered F650 GS

    As I mentioned before my trip out to California in May I had gotten an Ohlin shock put on right before leaving. I kid you not, when the shock was first put on I could no longer look down into my top case — I needed a step stool to do that. That’s how much higher the tail end of the motorcycle was. Leaving for California was delayed because I could barely touch the ground with my toes on the ground so I postponed departure and the shock was  rebuilt, shims added, and made as low as it could go.

    It was still problematic. I could only get my toes on the ground (which I don’t like). It was a little better when the motorcycle was fully loaded, but not much. The motorcycle leaned so much that I couldn’t get it off the side stand when it was loaded. I left town with an inch thick block of wood on a string to put under the side stand. I found this embarrassing right up until I stopped for coffee in Albuquerque and could not get the bike off the side stand and had to go back into the coffee shop to ask someone for help. Great way to meet people, but more embarrassing than using the block of wood.

    I ended up talking to Ohlin the last couple weeks and since they don’t make a shock specifically for the lowered F650 GS, the best they could offer was to take the shock back and give me a full refund. They cheerfully offered to take their shock off, but another shock on, and give me my money back. I was pretty impressed with their customer service, but this would leave me with the only option of an OEM BMW shock, which I feel is of lesser quality and $300 more in price. I wanted to find a way to keep the Ohlin.

    I posted on F650 forum and got several suggestions. I didn’t think a $300 lower seat would help enough, I wasn’t about to spend another $400 to get boots that are 3/4″ higher, but several people mentioned Kouba Links.

    I checked koubalink.com for a phone number and found there was only an email address. I suspected this didn’t bode well for getting information, but I was wrong. I sent an email and got a response from Norm Kouba within a couple hours. Norm was informative, he was helpful, and I could have hugged him. I didn’t know what the “factory lowered” consisted of and had no idea if my links were a different length from the standard F650 GS. Norm knew my links were the same as the standard.

    Koube Links
    Koube Links (from their web site_

    Norm suggested I put 2 x 4 boards down on either side of the motorcycle to get a feel for what the 2″ links would do since the boards would be 1 3/4″ of added height. I felt strongly that I only needed 1″ so he allowed me to order both the 1″ and 2″ links with the understanding the ones that didn’t work would be shipped back for refund.

    This Sunday I put the 1″ links on my motorcycle. I still don’t understand the geometry since the links were only a 1/2″ longer than the OEM links, but I was on tip toe before the Kouba Links and I have most of my foot on the ground after. While I greased the heck out of them before installing, Kouba links come with zerks so in the future the bearings can be greased with a grease gun while installed on the motorcycle.  How cool is that?

    I mailed the unused 2″ links back to Norm on Tuesday (priority mail) and had my refund by Thursday. I can’t say enough good things about my experience with Norm Kouba. It was such a pleasure to deal with someone who still values the concept of customer service. He has lowering links for a lot of different motorcycles so I suggest you check out his web site if  you’d like your motorcycle a little lower.

    http://koubalink.com/

    I think I was very lucky with both companies, since they were both so helpful. Hopefully the new links will allow me to have the best of both worlds — great Ohlin suspension and my feet almost flat on the ground. I’ll report back on what I think when I get back from Vermont.

  • Top Equipment picks for the trip

    The Good

    The top two equipment winners for this trip were my Tilt Cruise throttle lock and what someone referred to as my “side stand jack”.

    Tilt Cruise in off position

    The Tilt Cruise performed flawlessly and maintained speed each time I needed it. It’s ease of use — flip it up with your little finger to engage it and flip it down with your little finger to turn it off — made it a pleasure on the entire trip. If there is anyone who may be interested in getting one I have the contact information for the Gilbert Piccard in Montreal who makes them for several BMW models. Since my hands are my weak link being able to let them rest is critical for me on long rides.

    The “side stand jack” (term coined by one of the guys who helped me fix my motorcycle in Colorado) is an inch thick block of wood with a string attached to it. When I got the new Ohlin shock absorber right before leaving it increased the height of my motorcycle. This caused two problems: 1) I now barely have my feet on the ground when stopped and 2) the bike leans at a frightening angle on the side stand and makes it impossible for me to get the motorcycle off  the side stand when fully loaded. So I left town with the block of wood tucked in my tank bag.

    I was embarrassed to use it despite the fact I was hurting myself

    "Side Stand Jack"

    getting the bike off the side stand. That came to an end when I stopped for coffee in Albuquerque and had to go back in and ask a man to help me get the motorcycle off the side stand. Between those two options I found using the block of wood less embarrassing than having to ask strangers for help.

    Then I arrived at the Treasure of Yosemite Rally and had another rider tease me that I had stolen his idea — he had a block of wood under his side stand too and said there was no way he could stand his bike up without the block. That helped me feel less silly even though people continued to make fun of me 🙂

    The block of wood enabled me to park with the side stand a little downhill (there are a lot of gas stations what are not level) and still stand the bike up with ease, even if it is a little time consuming. Others may disagree, but for me it was a really important little piece of equipment.

    And of course — my motorcycle. She ran incredibly well every mile of the trip. And I’m sure she wasn’t too thrilled when her rear end fell off and was hanging by a thread, but she suffered through the indignity with grace.

    The Problematic

    My number one problematic piece of equipment on this trip was my MP3 player that had a variety of problems starting with charging and ending with a system error that made me fear the entire thing was fried. I really thought if I had to ride one more day without music I was going to need a straight jacket or padded room.

    The player is four years old and has taken a lot of abuse — I don’t know how long they usually last. Since I got home I figured out how to format the hard drive in the player and loaded an open source firmware on it called Rockbox and all seems to be well, but I need to take it riding to make sure it’s really fixed. Rockbox is very cool firmware with lots of options available for many MP3 players  and I’d suggest anyone who is MP3 player dependent like me check out their web site at http://www.rockbox.org/.

    I have had an ongoing problem when I add my Gerbing pant liner under my Aerostich suit — no matter how I move the wires in the Gerbing around they seem to end up over my right knee cap when I zip the leg of my Aerostich. The Aerostich knee pad presses them into my knee and it becomes extremely painful and a potential distraction while riding. My kneecap is still bruised/branded almost a week after last using the liner. It makes me dread putting the pant liner on so I have to find a solution for this.

    But I must give the Gerbing jacket and pant liner and my Aerostich credit. I rode into the snow storm with sunglasses, light leather gloves, and my Gerbing gear on. The sunglasses were bad — especially in the Eisenhower tunnel with the ice warnings. The light gloves quickly soaked all the way through, but I kicked the heated grips on high. I cranked the Gerbing liners all the way up and they kept me warm. My Aerostich kept me dry as a bone in both the rain and the snow. Being warm and dry is about all I had going for me over Vail Pass and the Eisenhower tunnel — well that any my hyper-vigilant guardian angels.

    I don’t know about other people, but any equipment irritation seems to add up over the miles. I always seem to come home with a to do list of things I want to tweak or correct so they don’t bug me on the next ride.

  • An overdue thank you to Haakon

    I realized I have been negligent in making a thank you here to a new friend who has been helping me with a project.

    When Jean-Francois purchased his R1200GSA last June there were all these neat documents available for the care of that motorcycle. One in particular caught my interest because it seemed like such a good idea.

    How cool is that? All the electrical parts identified with where they are located on the motorcycle. Okay — there are some

    This is what BMW produced for the F650GS

    Anybody other than me notice a slight difference between the two documents?

    When my motorcycle stopped running in Brownwood, TX on the way to Big Bend National Park in March I called the dealer asking for help in diagnosing what had happened. I was told to call roadside assistance and have it towed to the nearest dealer. This is not an acceptable solution for me.

    When I returned home I posted on the Chain Gang Forum on F650.com asking for steps in diagnosing why a motorcycle would stop running. How to determine if it was spark, fuel, or air and then trace it to the source of the failure.

    Haakon (his post name — I don’t know if it’s his real name) responded to that post more than one time all the way from Norway. I contacted him directly and asked how he’d feel about helping me add labels to the above image and he’s been working with me since on that project that has now expanded to other things like referencing the pages in the repair manual . This is what Haakon and I have come up with so far (it’s a work in progress we plan to complete when I get back from the ride to California).

    I ask again — how cool is that?

    My plan is to print both the left and ride side images with labels and carry with me on the motorcycle. I always carry my laptop with the repair manual (I’ll also have backups of these images), so hopefully the combination of the two will help me solve problems that come up. We also plan to share it with the members of the F650 forum.

    Bottom line — Thank you Haakon for being so willing, so helpful, and so fun with this project. I wouldn’t have gotten much of anywhere on it without your help.

  • Delayed departure and lesson learned

    After almost 4 weeks I was able to get my motorcycle back yesterday from the dealer doing extended warranty repairs to the water pump and radiator fan.  I thought though the warranty was supposed to be extended. I wish someone would have told me that means the repairs will be extended. That is an entire saga in itself that will be covered in another post once I cool off.

    Printing on board reads "BMW Approved"

    I rode the motorcycle straight from the dealer to Brad Miller’s to get a new Ohlin shock put on before leaving on the trip. Brad is an incredibly nice guy who is so knowledgeable about motorcycles and so happy to share that knowledge that it was a really enjoyable afternoon.I asked lots of questions and which Brad cheerfully answered.

    It was much more difficult to access the shock than either of us initially thought. After looking at it and wondering if the under the seat fuel tank had to come out (and I have no idea how one would do this) Brad decided pulling the muffler, loosening the sub-frame bolts and lifting the entire tail section might be the path of least resistance. This required removing the mounts for my Jesse cases and side plastic pieces before the muffler could be pulled off. Then the tail lifted right up.

    Brad kind of laughed at me since I was clearly not comfortable with dismantling the motorcycle right before a trip, but he said we would make sure everything was tightened properly and the motorcycle might very well be in better shape after than it was before. I believe he was right since none of these bolts had been checked in a while.

    Brad discovered one odd and disconcerting thing when he got down to the OEM shock. The bolt that holds the shock to the mount had no nut put on it (see picture below). I checked the BMW microfiche and they don’t show a nut for the strut bolt, but I realize that doesn’t mean a whole lot since the fiche aren’t all that accurate. Brad and I went to Ace Hardware and found a 10mm nut and washer and both are now on the motorcycle securing that bolt.

    Brad got the shock installed and the motorcycle back together in no time. There was just one teeny little problem. The first sign of this was when Brad realized that both wheels were now firmly on the concrete when the motorcycle was on the center stand. He took it off the center stand and the angle of the motorcycle on the side stand was frightening. I explained to Brad that when I’m fully loaded for a trip I have to be careful where I park because if the side stand is slightly downhill I can’t get the motorcycle off the side stand. Jean-Francois has had to give me a boost on more than one occasion so I guess I don’t have a whole lot of leverage since I’m short enough that my feet are barely flat on the ground. When I got on the motorcycle I could barely get my toes on the ground. I believe the shock is the standard GS shock. Ohlin doesn’t make a shock specifically for the GSL (lowered).

    No way tippy toe is a good idea when I’m traveling by myself. Brad is leaving for California this morning and going to be back  late Saturday so he’s ordering shorter springs from Ohlin, having them delivered tomorrow (Saturday). and I’m going to be at his house at 8:00AM Sunday to pull the shock and change the spring.

    It’s always disappointing to delay a departure, but I think I made the right decision. This will give me time to go over the motorcycle and do some maintenance that I have been unable to do since it was at the dealer for so long. So, all in all, not a bad thing at all.

    I’m looking forward to going back over to Brad’s since it will be an opportunity for me to learn more. Hopefully I will get back home, pack the motorcycle, and be on the road Monday morning.

    The lesson learned? Don’t make any major changes to a motorcycle immediately before leaving on a trip. Get the modifications and maintenance done early and ride the motorcycle for a while to make sure it’s all in good order. Next time…

    Bolt with no nut on it
    Old and new shock
    Installed Ohlin