LINK: Long Way Down - The Big Screen Version!

I spotted this at a blog listed on alltop.com: Motorcyclist Online News and Updates. They were talking about the upcoming one day showing of the director's cut of the movie "The Long Way Down" starring Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman.

I had previously seen the series on TV of their previous journey "The Long Way Round" and while there were parts that were not as great, still a great story and it featured Beemer GS motorcycles so it was enjoyable.

Photo from Motorcyclist Online

Here's an excerpt from the motorcyclist Online site:

They say everything is bigger in the United States of America and as far as the Long Way Down franchise is concerned, those in the 'land of opportunity' are being treated to an especially large slice of McGregor and Boorman pie on Thursday July 31st. A special two-hour 'Director's Cut' of Long Way Down will air just once at 7.30pm in 400 movie theaters nationwide.

American audiences have yet to see the Long Way Down series on television and this exclusive director's cut is a unique prelude to the 10-part TV series, which starts on 2 August on Fox Reality Channel. Airing for one night only, attending the two-hour special will be the only way the public are able to see this film on the big screen. Consequently, demand for tickets (which go on sale June 27th) is expected to be extremely high.

It was the original Long Way Round odyssey in 2004 that helped bring the BMW R 1150 GS Adventure and the possibilities of adventure travel to the masses. The series also catapulted Charley Boorman to fame and did no harm to Ewan McGregor's reputation either. The established movie star's dream of traversing Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the USA with his best mate became a worldwide hit and inspired countless riders to leave the safety of their daily existences for life on the road.

Full article here: LINK

I've already bought a ticket to see it, you will also be able to see it in the States on FOX Reality Channel starting the 2nd of August. If it's anything close to the first movie, it'll be a showcase of two guys with probably overloaded GS motorcycles, riding some pretty tough terrain over 15000 miles....sounds pretty good eh?

Here's a link to the posting I made after watching the "Long Way Round" on DVD. LINK.

One of my photos in July's BMW Owners News Magazine

The BMW ON or Owner's News monthly magazine, has recently been running "themed" photo submittal projects. The one I sent a photograph for was themed "Roadside Attractions". I'd sent in the ones I took during my ride with the Colorado Beemers to the "Wonder Tower" in Genoa, CO.

I opened the magazine on my return home yesterday and there was my picture along with shots taken by other owners. Although I've had another picture of mine published before in this magazine, this time I got my name in the credits. Making progress I guess, someday, might even get an article I submitted published. : )


Here's a LINK to the blog posting I did for the ride. LINK

Three Weeks and One Day Later....

Today was three weeks and one day after my accident where I hit black ice on the I-70 Super Slab and ended up injuring my shoulder and causing damage to Maria, my R1150RT.

I had left the house after 9AM thinking to go to the scene of the accident, kind of close out that karmic cycle and all. However, it was misting/raining lightly as I got on the road and I feared that if it was 60 degrees near home, what would it be near the Eisenhower Tunnel? I surely did not want a repeat of the accident! So I just motored over to the Home Depot and got some stuff I'd been needing and went back home.

The weather cleared and looked better after 11am and after an early lunch I headed out once again. I took the E470 Slab West towards C470 and Morrison, from Morrison I headed West on Bear Creek Canyon road for a twisty but slow ride towards CO74. It was slow due to medium traffic on the road.

Soon, I got on CO74 and passed through Bergen Park to where it junctions with the I-70 Super Slab on which I headed westbound towards the Eisenhower Tunnel which was about 40 mins from there.

I rode very conservatively, keeping it within 10 mph or less above the speed limit. Brigitta handled the wind and speed just fine, was not even working hard it seemed. As I neared the Eisenhower tunnel I slowed a bit to see if I could spot any traces of my previous accident. I did not see a thing and it was with some relief that I entered the tunnel and closed out that particular karmic event in my life.

However, the motorcycling gods decided I should still experience some fear. Turns out that the pavement on the west side of the tunnel had been "prepped" for new asphalt so it was very rough, grooved and dotted with small indentations! It was like riding on mud! I felt like the front wheel had a mind of its own and I slowed way down. Scary.

Imagine doing down a steep grade and the front wheel keeps going every which way or seems to want to do so. Not good. I slowed and still it felt scary, soon though I was behind a semi tractor trailer truck who was going really slow and he acted as my "excuse" for going less than 20mph on the slab. This went on for a few miles and I hated it the whole time. I was very glad when construction ended and smooth pavement was once again under my wheels!

I went to the hospital in Frisco where I was taken by the good samaritans who gave me a ride the day of the accident. On the way, I stopped by the Best Western where we had spotted the gathering motorcyclists on that fateful day as they prepared for the Two Bits Rally:

Took me three weeks and 1 day but I made it to the rally site!

Here's some shots of Brigitta at the hospital parking lot, quite the scenery the staff and patients enjoy eh?




I headed South on CO9 from the hospital thinking that it linked with US6 further on and I could take it back across Loveland Pass and avoid going on that roughed up surface on I-70. A few miles later I realized I was mistaken and turned around near an overlook of Quandary Peak:

Quandary Peak

As I headed back North on CO9, I spied a sign that read: "Boreas Pass Road". Hey, I thought to myself, I can bag a pass I've not ridden yet for the Passbagger 50 effort. So I turned onto this road and headed into the mountains away from Breckenridge.

There must have been at least ten miles, probably more, of hard packed dirt road to get to the other end of Boreas Pass....Brigitta did well in that bad terrain but I was good and sick of it after just a short while. I lost a lot of travel time since I was going along at less than 15mph at best for most of the time. Still, there were spots where the scenery was quite beautiful:

yeah, had to work in one panorama shot!

The only issue besides the loose rocks and ruts and such were the regular appearances of cagers in their SUVs, speeding by and raising clouds of dust upon myself and the folks that were out for hikes along the road.

Apparently this Boreas Pass Road was a railway at one time. I came upon a restored water tank that serviced this railroad:



Beautiful scenery aside, I was quite happy to descend finally from the pass and into the small town of Como. Soon after that I was at US285 and heading back towards Denver. The skies had darkened considerably while I made my way through the dirt road that is Boreas Pass.

On the way to Conifer I spied this hotdog shaped snack stand called Coney Island. I'd passed it before and not taken pictures, this time I stopped briefly:



I made it to Bailey where I tanked up since the trip meter had gone over 200 miles and I did not want to run out of gas. A few miles further it began to sprinkle and I looked for a spot to stop and get my rain gear on.

It's quite the pain to put on the rain gear, let me tell you! It was drizzling on me as I did this so I felt it was worth the effort. I got back on the road and wouldn't you know it, less than five minutes later the rain stopped and the skies cleared up a bit! Damn.

I kept riding as I was running late and did not want my wife to worry too much. Traffic was not bad on US285 and I made good time back towards the Denver Metro area. I thought several times of stopping to peel off the bright yellow rain gear but did not want to lose time doing so. So I kept riding, I must have been quite the sight to the cagers and the few riders I saw on the way home. : )




The ironic part? I still got cut off by this pickup truck while in the above getup! Just goes to show, ride like you're invisible. I saw the idiot edging out onto my lane and was prepared in plenty of time.

Got home after 1840hrs, over six hours of saddle time and 261 miles covered. I was feeling tired/sore and warm. I was glad to be home but glad I'd been able to get a long ride into the mountains at last. Brigitta needs work to become a long distance tourer methinks, either that or I am way out of shape due to the accident. We'll see, there's other rides in the future since I don't know when I'll get Maria back.

A Delay due to Plastic and minor sorting out for Brigitta

I went by the Beemer dealer yesterday to pick up some sundry parts of Brigitta that were either missing or needed OEM replacement.

While I was there, the service manager stopped to talk to me and said all the repair parts had arrived for Maria, the 1150RT except for the large right side plastic fairing piece. This piece is on backorder with no real status as to it's arrival. I guess it's good that I got my spare motorcycle Brigitta eh? I can't imagine how I would deal with no riding for however long that backordered item takes to arrive! It could be weeks, perhaps months! Arrrrgggghh.

Part #1 above is what's backordered

About Brigitta, my now main motorcycle for the near future, she needed a new brake line clamp, #11 in below diagram:



She was also missing one of two tension springs for her centerstand, #2 below:

Brigitta came to me with only two keys, one for the ignition (not the original one) and one key for the hardbags. Neither key would lock the seat and so someone could remove the seat and steal the toolkit and whatever else I'd stored in the tail section. Not good, so I decided to get a key coded with original keycode from BMW and lo and behold, now I can lock the seat. One more key to carry around of course, someday I'll probably remove the seat lock mechanism and have it keyed to the hardbag key perhaps.

The only thing I can't lock on Brigitta now is her steering lock. Not sure it's a priority.

Finally, I had the vintage motorcycle mechanic at the beemer dealer look at Brigitta's rubber fork covers, #18 below. He approved of their use but confirmed I need to order the clamps for the upper end, #19 below:

So far, no major expensive parts needed for Brigitta, which is good since we recently received the bill for my Emergency Room visit after the accident. Yikes.

Learning how to do cold starts on the Airhead

Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Beemer Airhead motorcycle didn't come into my possession with an owner's manual. The information I had was Pete Homan's brief instructions re using the choke during cold starts and his admonishment to keep the idle speed up until she'd warm up and hold steady idle.

A few cold starts under my belt now and I think I have it figured out.

Use full choke setting on initial start, leave it there while using the throttle to keep the rpm's around 1500 for perhaps 30-45 seconds.

Then move the choke lever to low setting and start riding slowly out of my neighborhood or workplace. Still use the throttle to ensure she's idling at around 1000 rpm, if not, she'll tend to be idling around 6-800 rpm.

Once on main roads, I click off the choke and take it easy for a few blocks. So far, the engine has warmed up fast and I'm at "steady idling" by the time I've covered a mile or so of riding.

Before, I'd leave the choke on full and ride until she'd jerk a bit under acceleration and THEN turn off the choke, I believe now that was not proper procedure for a 21 year old airhead!

Luckily, I finally noticed how she would go into the prefered smooth idling mode right after I turned off the choke and I experimented turning it off sooner and sooner till I arrived at the above procedure.

Every day I ride it, I learn to like her a bit more. :)

12JUL08 Update: Really, a turn to half choke is usually enough to fire her up when starting her without choke doesn't do the trick. A few seconds with it in half choke and then turn it off and ride....

Colorado Weather

Thursday, 19JUN08: I meant to post this entry last week but things went crazy in a hurry at work which was my destination the evening I took this shot of a thunderhead cloud formation.


I rode under this sucker, along its eastern fringes and was briefly hailed on by big soft pieces of hail. They still stung, even through the kevlar mesh material of my Cycleport gear! There I was, on Brigitta, no windshield and darkening skies, trying to keep her upright on the wet roads. Fun huh?

However, the hail did not last long and I heard later that it was really more pronounced further to the south of me so I lucked out.

Ah, the joys of spring/summer in Colorado.

Going back to the windshield for now

Brigitta, sans her small windshield, really is what is called a naked bike. All the wind hits you as you ride along, which on the recent few hot days, was a great thing. One slight issue however, at above 60 mph, you're also making an effort to not get pushed back by the wind and her light weight allows for you and her to be batted around a bit by the wind. Not bad mind you, but it's there.

So today, I decided to try riding Brigitta to/from work with the windshield on. Yeah, I think she looks better without it but I'll give it a shot to see how it feels on hot days this coming week, perhaps there's enough wind and not having to hold on at above 60mph might be worth it.

It was after 1900hrs, it had been overcast most of the day but the evening skies looked good and it was nice and cool. I headed out to Quincy Road which I took East to get her up to speed and check for turbulence and noise.





So, with the windshield back on, I notice a bit more wind noise in my helmet with some minor booming in the ears when going into the wind. No perceived need to hang on to the grips harder however so that's good. I put out my hand and can feel the wind pressure begin just where the visor's top edge is on my helmet. No turbulence was evident during the ride.

And so it continues.....

Adding a Small Topcase to Brigitta

The new KBC helmet arrived yesterday afternoon, I wore it to the local Progressive Insurance office and after some minor hassle getting in, was able to to turn in the old helmet along with the towing invoice to one of the employees there. Hopefully, I'll see a reimbursement check soon from them to cover the cost of the new helmet and towing of the motorcycle on the day of the accident.

After this chore, I swung by the Gander Mountain Sporting Goods store on Abilene and found a two-pistol carrying case just perfect in size to mount on the cargo rack on Brigitta.


Finally, a shot of the LED tail light that I added below the stock taillight assembly on Brigitta. I'd found the stock light "lacking" in terms of being noticeable in bright daylight. Now, it's noticeable. The main brake light is much brighter so no chance of the LED taillight being confused with having my brakes on.

It's going to be a hot day today, it was nice and cool while riding in the first half of the morning but I was already starting to feel warm when I got home for lunch. I also visited a fellow member of the ColoradoBeemers Motorcycle Club in the hospital. Poor Bob has all kinds of ailments and the doctors seem at a loss to figure out why. Hope he gets better soon.

Update: 19SEP08: topcase long gone, replaced by this for now: LINK

Simple by Choice

Simple by Choice, that's the motto of the Airheads Beemer Club which I recently joined, the purchase of my 1987 R80 being the "entrance requirement" along with the yearly membership fee of $25.

Today it hit me, loud and clear, why "Simply by Choice" is the club motto. I was giving Brigitta, the R80 a full once over inspection and checking basic stuff like looking for loose fasteners, looking for wear on cables, loose items and finally went to check the air filter.

Turned out you have to remove the fuel tank to get at the air filter cover and remove it to inspect the filter itself. I had some trepidation about this since it involved fuel but it turned out to be an incredibly simple operation. Following the instructions in the Haynes manual I recently acquired, I had the tank off in less than three minutes! Wow. Not a drop of fuel dropped, by the way.

Removing the tank reveals the bike's electronics, so to speak, not much to them when compared to the 2004 R1150RT. The R80 is incredibly simple to take apart enough to be able to access damn near everything on her that's not inside the engine case! Simple indeed!

Brigitta without her fuel tank, looks pretty clean doesn't she?

The Starboard Electronics/Fuses

The Port Side Wiring and Connectors

The battery tray, and the extension cable I installed to facilitate connecting the battery tender.

Top view of an Airhead, cool huh?

The ease in which I can get at engine/components on this airhead gives me more confidence about learning the tasks involved with her minor and major services to come. She sure will be more accessible than Maria!

I really can't get over how easy it was to remove the fuel tank and access everything else with ease.

New Front Brake Pads for Brigitta

I'd noticed the left side caliper brake pads on the front of Brigitta seemed way low, not as bad on the right side calipers but had decided to replace them anyways since it looked like the left side pads needed replacing.

I finally got around to the dealer today and picked up two sets of pads, not too bad, under $37 each pair. Could have gotten third party ones, from ATE I think, but they only had one pair and I needed two. Oh well, next time I probably will buy online ahead of time.

It's a good thing I decided to replace the pads, the ones on the left were worn down to less than 1mm at the thinnest point, with the thickness of the abrasion material at 1mm (barely) at the thickest point! The right side, as I had figured, were at just over 3mm and well within spec. I'll keep those as spares I guess.

I forgot to shoot the "before" shot of the left side calipers dang it, but here's the "after" shot for the left side brakes.

Above, left caliper, before the change the metal plates on the old pads pointed to by the black arrows were almost touching the retaining spring, pointed at by the red arrow! You can see that the new pads are well away from the retaining spring now.

Right Side, Before

Right Side, After

Pretty easy job, did not take me more than 30 minutes tops. The last retaining pin went in a bit harder than the other three, but it looks ok and well seated.

I noticed while compressing the pistons back into the caliper in preparation for the new pads, that the fluid level in the brake fluid reservoir kept climbing. It had been at the midpoint before the work, now its at the bottom of the cap. Something to keep when you do work on your brakes.

I put the brake covers back on, tested the brakes manually, got geared up and went for a short ride. Brakes work just fine. I realized on my return that its probably a good idea to not do the front AND the rear brakes at same time, this to ensure you've got at least one set of known good working brakes before riding to test the new set! : )

My First Wrenching on the R80

Yep, not even a week in my possession and I am already wrenching on the R80.

I was having a hard time changing gears between third and fourth mainly on the ride home from work. Very frustrating.

Got home, ate dinner and then took a look at the clutch lever mechanism.

The part circled in red is what I adjusted

I removed the right end of the clutch adjustment rod, extended it out five turns/two threads and put it back together. Took Brigitta out for a test ride and shifting was much better between third and fourth gear! I was a happy camper once again.

That's it, not much of a wrenching operation but there you go. I have already added a SAE extension cable to the battery terminal this past Sunday to allow me to hook up the battery tender easily without having to remove the seat or the toolbox. Not real wrenching, more like tweaking it with a farkle.

Finally, today I joined the Airheads Beemer Club and became Airhead #10922. There's a small yearly fee to join but I hope to gain access to all the accumulated airhead technical knowledge accumulated in the last couple of decades to help me maintain my own airhead motorcycle.

Riding Skittishly

So, while I do have a great excuse for doing so, its still weighing on my mind that I am riding the R80 in a very skittish fashion.

Yeah, I recently had a crash and it's a new to me bike the R80, I'm relearning the art of manual braking instead of ABS braking and my shoulder still has the occasional twinge (but not while riding).

So I've got plenty of excuses for my ultraconservative riding style; I have to build up my confidence up a bit more on the R80, she and I are getting used to each other slowly but surely. She sure is a different motorcycle than what I am used to. Her lack of any fairings and windshield increase one's "exposed" feeling as well.

This is not to say I rode like a squid before the crash! Not at all, but I used to lean the motorcycle more into the turns before, and barely do much leaning now.

Hopefully, as my confidence on the R80's cornering abilities grows; and I know they can turn much better than my 1150RT; it will bring back some of the "fun" of riding a motorcycle. You know, the feeling that you are "one" with the motorcycle and you don't have to concentrate to make it go where you want it to, that feeling. Right now, it's mostly a mechanical exercise to me, still better than a car. : )

Apparently, I've a KBC Head

My first and only motorcycling helmet has been a KBC Silver FFR helmet.

I bought it, in the dazed minutes after signing the contract for my first motorcycle, a 2006 Honda Shadow Aero. It fit well, was a flip up that I could keep my glasses on while putting it on and the color matched my new motorcycle. How little I knew of motorcycling then.

My recent crash now necessitates my buying a new replacement helmet as the integrity and soundness of mine is in question. It's also pretty scratched up from apparently rubbing on the pavement during my sliding on the I-70 superslab.


Over the last week, I've gone to several helmet dealers looking at SHOEIs, ARAIs, ICONs, and HJCs. They either did not fit in terms of my chin touching or nearly touching the chinbar, or did not have the right color available (ICON) or simply I did not like their fit.

Yeah, my hurt shoulder hurt each and every time I pulled a new helmet onto my head, specially the full face versions.

There I was ready to spend almost $500 for a Shoei and it wouldn't fit!

So I ordered online for the same model helmet from KBC but in White this time for more conspicuity. It should be here Tuesday of this week I hope.

The above pic shows the helmet I ordered

Though in Silver, these pics show the flipup and dark visor options I'll have

Overall, I've been satisfied with the KBC FFR Flipup helmet:

It protected my noggin obviously during the crash. I apparently did not impact on the chin bar since there's no scratches though.

It vents "ok" in the summer though I confess I tend to crack the visor open a bit for more air.

Great during winter riding, with a balaclava underneath of course.

It's subject to wind noise at highway speeds while on Maria but not on Brigitta, so Maria's fairings are causing part of the problem? Hmmm.

It's not the lightest of helmets, it starts hurting the top of my head a bit after about 4-6hrs of riding, specially if I don't take it off during fuel stops.

During heavy rain, it tends to allow a drop or two in, on the inside of the visor.

Check the screws holding the flipup component in place, they do come loose sometimes!

It lasted over 36k miles, a little over two years....probably would have been fine for at least two more if not for the accident.

I love the dark green visor option. I'll be keeping the visors when I turn the old helmet in to the insurance office, once my new helmet is on my head!

Naming and getting to know the R80

I rode about town running errands on the 1987 R80 I acquired this past Thursday. She's very much fun to ride, and I am getting used to her riding characteristics as opposed to the ones displayed by Maria, my R1150RT.

Brigitta is the name chosen by my loving wife for the R80 and so she shall be named from now on. Some of the things I've found different about her:

1. Being almost 200 pounds lighter dry, she's quite easy to move around (comparitively speaking) when the engine is off in the parking lot. I don't have to think ahead and make sure I don't nose into a downward sloping parking spot from which I can't back her out of!

2. I am trying to learn a specific sequence for shutdown and startup so I don't leave the fuel petcocks in the wrong position. For instance, you have to ensure they're shut off when parked otherwise you risk some fuel leakage. More important, you have to remember to turn them back on before turning the engine on or you'll come to an embarrassing stop shortly after riding off.

3. Brigitta, being much older than Maria, apparently requires a good warming up period first thing in the morning. I did not wait before riding off and had her quit on me about three times before she was fully warmed up. This is unlike Maria whom the manual recommends no delays in riding off once the engine is running! Apparently at Brigitta's age, it's expected behaviour which I will have to adapt to with cold starts....oh well.

4. Brigitta looks a lot better without her Krauser side cases. : )

5. Being without fairings of any sort, she sure allows the air to flow through my Cycleport Mesh Kevlar riding gear! It feels so nice and cool when first moving after long stops after I've built up a bit of sweat under the gear! Almost chilly. Almost. The thermometer only reads in the mid-70s today but the sun makes one feel warmer than that!

6. In speaking to Pete Homan so more, I should run 20w50 oil in the summer and 10w40 in the winter on both the airhead and the oilhead!

An attempt at an "artsy" shot

Made during the Cold War! I was but a freshly minted Captain of Artillery then.....

I hope you like the pictures of Brigitta above, shot them on a side road off of Quincy Road, East of Gun Club Road and before the exit for the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds.

Temperatures were in the mid-80s by this time, was feeling warm with my Cycleport gear but cooled off fast once I got back on Brigitta and started riding again.

Now a Two Motorcycle Owner

As some of you probably saw as a foregone conclusion, I did end up buying the 1987 R80 Beemer I posted about before.

She joins Maria, who'll be in the shop for at least the next two weeks they tell me. The insurance guy ran late at a previous inspection, now he says he won't be at the beemer dealer till Monday! I am starting to get a bit less enthusiastic about Progressive's responsiveness or lack thereof.

However, since I now have a "spare" motorcycle, I can keep getting my riding fix. : )

Tried on several brands of helmets today, Shoei, Arai, HJC and all of them did not fit my head correctly. Rather, my chin tended to touch the chin bar on all the helmets that fit the rest of my head! At this rate, I'm going to end up buying another KBC FFR flipup helmet! I never realized I would have such an issue switching helmet brands!

I hope to find a KBC dealer tomorrow and be done with helmet replacements.

On the ride home today from the fruitless helmet search, I realized how bad a habit I'd gotten into in terms of using brakes to slow down. On the R1150RT, with its powerful linked ABS brakes, stopping was just a matter of using the front brake lever and applying appropriate pressure. Well, on a barebones and older motorcycle like the R80, you have to use both the front and rear brake levers to come to a smooth stop without locking up either wheel!

It's a lesson I'd learned in the BRC: Basic Rider Course and now will have to relearn with the R80. I've been spoiled by the more modern brakes on Maria, it's time to start braking the right way and continue to do so when I get Maria back. Irondad, feel free to jump in with your instructor hat on!

Here's some pictures I took of the R80, no name yet for her, something Germanic to be sure but nothing's really come up.....






The R80 specification sheet I found online says the R80 has five gears, I never had to go above 4 and then only briefly while commuting today! She has a 7k RPM redline and I never got close to it as I rode.

I removed her small windshield, aftermarket, since I thought it detracted from her looks. I want all the air I can get hitting my mesh kevlar gear to keep cool if possible in the coming months!

I plugged her to the battery charger as Pete recommend I do on a nightly basis. Her small alternator only puts out 280W which is not much when compared to Maria's 700W so there will be little electrical farkling of this motorcycle!

I must also remember to turn off the fuel petcocks when stopped or apparently she could leak gas! She carries less oil than Maria so the need for oil checks will be each time I fill up at the very least!

Still, simple as she is, I think she's going to be a great commuter bike for the late spring and summer seasons here in Colorado. Maria will be my cold weather commuter with her big fairings and windshield.

Bought her with 61,643 miles on her odometer. But Pete said he'd had to have the odometer/speedometer fixed so the mileage reading was innacurate. He believed it was closer to 65k miles. However, I can only go by the odometer readings I have now.

I am to change the oil every 3k, valve lash checked every 5k, major service every 10k miles. I also found that since I still run dino oil on Maria that I should be, according to Pete, be changing the oil every 3K and he believe final drive/transmission every 6k service! Doh!