2010 R1200GS Adventure

Spry and Springly

Fawudd — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 04:10:11 +0000

You just cannot adequately describe the first rides of spring using any language. You have to experience winter and inability to ride. Then you need a day where the birds are suddenly chirping, flowers are blooming, and the temperature climbs to the point where you don't need the heavy winter jacket. Then you need a bike that can comfortably take you on a journey to enjoy such a day when it involves both on and offroad stints. This combination allows you to rediscover motorcycling as if anew every year. This will sound strange, but those people fortunate enough to have climates which allow them to ride all year round, are actually missing something here.....

Falling

Fawudd — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:13:24 +0000

Fall is my favorite season. Even though it signals the end of warm weather and the approaching end of the riding season, it is still tops. The weather is ironically one of the reasons. You get days when a light jacket is all you need, where the sky is that deeper shade of blue, and where the brisk air feels perfect. These are the days when you want to ride forever. The days when an air/oil-cooled boxer expresses its' delight in song. The days when you hate to stop even for food or a bio break. They are, the best riding days of the year.

A Case for Tires

Fawudd — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:39:51 +0000

The GSA has been much busier than the entries in this blog would have you believe. After the repair of the fuel strip issue by the dealer, it was back to full service commuting and taking a couple of business trips in the region. One of the items that needed attention was the mounting of the pelican case on the bike. As you will recall from a post regarding the R100 GS Paris Dakar, I wanted to be able to mount this case to both that bike and the GSA, and had previously done so using the mounting plate that came with the Saddlemen Top case.

I had recently changed the Pelican mounting on the Paris Dakar so that it would mount behind the passenger seat. This introduced yet more holes in the case, but they align with mounting points on the GSA. If I had a new case, it would only have a single set of holes to allow mounting on both bikes. As it stands, I plan to cover the holes with a sheet of aluminum.

Meanwhile, I had the possibility of a trip to the Barber museum. Rather than wear out the Heidenau's that I had recently mounted (given a 1600 mile slab trip), I spooned on some inexpensive Shinko Trail Masters. The theory was that even if they were rubbish, I would avoid wasting the Heidenau's. Well, the Barber trip got cancelled, and I have been putting some regional miles on the Shinkos. They take some getting used to when leaned over, but they may be good for commuting this winter. Stay tuned...

Warning, Low Fuel

Fawudd — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:14 +0000

It has always been interesting to read about the problems experienced by owners of any brand, but BMW owners seem particularly exercised about faults with their machines. Perhaps it has to do with paying a premium price for a premium brand, and expecting a level of quality. Prior to this year, I had few of the faults oftem mentioned. I did have surging with my RT, but that was about it. Now, withing 8 months, I have 2 more of the biggies floating around the forums. I had a u-joint/driveshaft failure on the R100GS, and now I have the often reported Fuel Strip problem on the GSA.

Since most of my bikes are old, there are three ways to tell if you are low on gas. One is to open the cap and look into the tank, perhaps with a little movement side-to-side to slosh things around and listen. The second method is the odometer/trip meter. The third method is to wait until the engine begins to falter, and then turn the petcock to reserve. All are easy and foolproof. The GSA only has the trip meter. You can try looking in the tank, but it is a small hole. You don't want to rock a bike that is 600+lbs too much. Besides, it has a fuel guage and a low fuel warning light.

Well, mine has malfunctioned just like many have reported. It alternates between showing full, initiating a rapid countdown of the remaining range, and showing empty with the yellow warning triangle and "Low Fuel" flashing. In the picture above I put in 8.4 gallons right after this, so it obviously was not full !! Fortunately, you can still get to the trip meter if needed, but it is bloody annoying. With some more reading, it seems that some are on their third fuel strip, and this threatens to be a problem that goes beyond the warranty period. Hopefully BMW will correct this with a redesign/recall rather than just replacing them when they fail. Meanwhile, I am awaiting an appointment slot at the dealer to have this remedied....

Heidenau Hoops

Fawudd — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:40:22 +0000

It may seem like there has not been much going on with the GSA since Canada, but that would be wrong. The big guy has done a few regional business trips, and a fair amount of commuting. So much so, that the tires were almost down to the wear bars. Now I was not happy with the Bridgestone battle wings that came on the bike when I picked it up. I tried to get them changed to the beloved Metzeler Tourances. That did not happen, and 9200 miles later I have to say that the Bridgestones did a pretty good job. They had good longevity, and performed well on asphalt. however, they were rubbish off road on anything other than hard packed surfaces. Fortunately, I was mostly on hard packed surfaces even in Labrador. Sand such as in the Ocala national forest and trails such as the smokies were hopeless. So, I decided that a more "dual" dual sport tire was in order. The forums are always ablaze with the tire choice question, but there is valuable intelligence and experience in between flames. No magazines had dual sport tire shootouts, so I surfed and trolled and surfed some more. I concluded that Tourances were a safe bet for mostly onroad and my experience echoed that. Tourances EXPs were less desirable. Continental TAs were similar to the Tourances in usage so they were knocked out as well. That left Michelin Anakees, Continental TKCs, and the newcomer Heidenaus. After a lot of reading, and a few emails, I decided that the Heidenaus were the best compromise for me. The TKCs are great off road and reportedly good on road, but the consensus seemed to be that about 4000 miles was the most you could get from a set unless you stayed off road a lot more than I am planning to. Similar with the Anakees. Highly rated on the trail, short life on the road. The Heidenaus have gotten a lot of good reviews on performance and they look the business. The tread is noticeably thicker than the competitors, and the tread is aggressive, but less so than the TKCs. That said, they have less history and experience than the others, so it is something of a gamble. I guess I will be contributing to the data on these tires. On the 40 mile ride home, they were good on the highway. A little more tire noise as you might expect, but not bad. I did not push things in the corners as these were brand new tires still full of whiskers. I was also racing a storm home, so no off road loop yet. stay tuned...

Mt Washington, NH 2pm

Fawudd — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:25:38 +0000

near mt washington on a nice road with a covered bridge

Skowhegan, Maine 7am

Fawudd — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:51:00 +0000

Lush state forest as we head west across Maine.

Maine USA, 4pm

Fawudd — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:58:00 +0000

welcome back to the USA and roadwork during rush hour!!

New Brunswick, Canada 2pm

Fawudd — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Now entering new brunswick after truncating the PEI portion of the trip. Next time...

TLH Canada 2pm

Fawudd — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:25:00 +0000

Beautiful vistas like this were plentiful. On the straight sections you could see for miles as long as no trucks had come by in a while. Even so, with the recent rains, the dust was well below that described on some of the forum posts......