Riding on the Darkside

Amongst Beemer Airhead motorcycle owners,  going to "the dark side" is jokingly used as the Beemer rider who forsakes the Teutonic perfection that is the air-cooled boxer engine; and buys instead a BMW K motorcycle with it's "Flying Brick" engine mounted on its side.

Turns out, there's a different variation of moving over to the dark side.  In this case, its called riding on the darkside or putting a car tire on the back of a motorcycle!

Why do this you ask?  Well, there's several reasons apparently, but the main one I believe is for sidecar rig riders who are seeking more mileage out of their pusher tire.  A pusher tire, is the nickname for the rear tire on a motorcycle (tug) attached to a sidecar.

Due to the stresses involved with sidecaring, regular motorcycle tires don't last as long as when mounted on solo motorcycles or the regular two wheels.

Expensive as good motorcycle tires can be, this could get expensive in a hurry if one puts a lot of miles on one's sidecar rig.  As I intend to do this high mileage riding, I went over to the darkside today!

One problem is that regular motosport shops will not, for liability reasons, mount car tires onto motorcycle rims.  Damn lawyers and this litigious society of ours!

I had found one place who was willing to do it called Faster Motosports up near the intersection of US 85 and I-70.  However, I'd queried my fellow Uralisti and one of them, Craig H had volunteered his tire changer he'd bought from Harbor Freight.

Today, I rode Vikki, my V-Strom sidecar rig over to Craig's house and he taught me how easy it is to use his tire changer to do the deed.

 Using a jack to elevate the rear of the tug, then support it with bolted together 2x4 

blocks of wood

 Craig uses the bead breaker tool of the tire changer to break 

the tire bead free from the rim.  Easy Peasy.

Note: to protect the brake disc when we flipped the tire over to break the 

bead on the underside, a simple use of a roll of duct tape kept the disc off the floor.

We're calling it the Heitman Adapter in Craig's honor as he thought of it.

 Craig then carefully adjusted the three securing points that engage the 

wheel rim to hold the tire securely.  This took  the most time as he was very careful and methodical

in order to not scratch my rim.

 Once everything was locked in place, and the tire and rim was lubricated with some dish soap mixed 

with water, he used his "mojo bar" to lever the tire right 

off the rim!  It was so fast I didn't even have time to take a picture!  Wow.

 Here's the new tire, a General Exclaim 205/55R17 Car tire that I paid $68 for online, 

yes, half the price of a motorcycle tire!

 Here Craig does the initial engagement of the rim and new tire, prior to both of us 

then pushing the tire onto the rim using again his "mojo bar" and some downward pressure by me and him.

He also used a large clamp to anchor a portion of the tire so it would no slip out of the rim when we 

got close to getting the whole bead into position.

 It took a bit more effort to get the new tire on than it did to get the old tire off but 

here it is, ready to be inflated to seat the bead in place.

 Here's a view of the new tire, mounted in place, good amount of clearance all around

 Another view of the new tire, looks like it belongs there doesn't it?

A side-by-side comparison, the nearly worn out motorcycle tire to the

left of the new car tire.

As you can see, I was really close to the TWI or 

Tire Wear Indicator all motorcycle tires have to clue you to it 

being time to replace a tire.

There's videos on youtube that show how the Harbor Freight tire changer makes the work of changing tires pretty easy.  Here's one:  LINK, it's a three part series but well done in terms of illustrating how its done.  

I am going to be getting one of these manual tire changers, it'll pay for itself pretty quick I believe and I can, like Craig, be helpful to fellow riders when the need arises.  The hard part will be finding it I think as I could not find it anymore on Harbor Freight's web site.

Thanks very much Craig!  I owe you one, thanks for your time and instruction!

Update: 2JUL11, had a Kenda K671 Cruiser front tire (100/90R19) mounted onto front wheel on Vikki.  Old tires didn't make it to 7000 miles in terms of wear.

An expensive addiction in some ways.....

Motorcycling, my addiction to riding far and wide, exploring Colorado and sometimes points beyond; can be expensive at times.

Sure, the original thought was to save money on gas since my car gets maybe 14MPG on a good day and if the planets are lined up correctly. It's a V8 from 1987, bought it when gas was reasonable. My motorcycles average about 40MPG which is course a savings of sorts. Averaging as I am about 350 miles for work commute each week, and using an average price of say $3/gallon, I figure I save just over $49 a week. Not bad.

Of course, all the riding around I do on the weekends kind of negates the savings but who's counting?

But now that the motorcycling bug has me firmly in its grip, its not going to let go anytime soon I believe. Riding all the miles that I do, before you know it, it's time for yet more services to be done to keep the motorcycle running.

Today was Brigitta's turn for a major or 12,000 mile service. I had decided to have Pete Homan of Bavarian Motorcycles West do it since I wanted his "once over" over Brigitta since she'd had her transmission replaced recently. Turned out though that he did not want to separate the transmission from the engine until around 90,000 miles. But, still its just as well I took her in since he spotted a damn nail on my less than 3700 miles on it rear tire! Dammit.

So, he did the 12,000 mile service, which replaces all the fluids to include the fork oil which I'd neglected to do since I got her about 17K miles ago (whoops). She got a new air and oil filter as well, had the pivot points of the advance unit in the ignition canister lubed, her too high idle lowered and I bought a new tire at the dealer which Pete put on for $40 extra labor.

I must say though, she ran sweetly all the way back home. Her idle does not climb to 1500 when hot anymore, and Pete lowered my gear shift pedal as much as possible and I can shift her into the higher gears seemingly easier so far. About six hours of Pete's time and I was out of there for less than $500, add in the $140 for the new tire and you can see why I titled this posting as I did.

Still, the joy and peace I experience while riding is important to me, as my loving wife puts it, it's my prozac on wheels. Who can argue with that right? I figure it's just about two regular car payments every 12,000 miles if I decide to let Pete keep doing the major services.

On a related note, Pete was telling me about the "nail" he picked up on his GS's rear tire while riding on a railroad bed roadway yesterday. Here's what Pete got stuck in his rear tire:

Yep, that's a railroad spike, pretty old one too

you can see the gouges the spike took from the inside of his wheel before Pete stopped his motorcycle upon hearing "klunking noises"

By comparison, the less than one inch long nail Pete pulled out of my old rear tire is nothing, but enough to cost me almost $200.....why couldn't it be the front tire which was more worn?

Documenting your Wrenching

I try and do what I call basic services on my motorcycles. Part of it is that I am cheap and owning beemers tend to get expensive in terms of maintenance at times. Part of it is the satisfaction of knowing the services was done and done right. Part of it is not liking to leave my motorcycles in the hands of others, and the logistics of bumming a ride from/to the mechanic/dealer to drop off or retrieve ones pride and joy.

Source: California Motorcycle Adventures (googled)
Click the above for a snapshot of Maria's log as of today

So where am I going with this you ask? Doing your own basic stuff, in my opinion, is all well and good but you must also be a zealot about documenting said services! Not only to track and schedule the next required work to keep your motorcycle humming along but also to prove to a buyer that you're steed was well taken care of in case you decide to sell it in the future.

I don't see myself selling Brigitta anytime soon but Maria? Maybe.

I spent part of this morning updating my documentation. The small little space in the owner manual that came with Maria is ludicrous for documenting work, works great for the BMW dealer to check off but that's it. I use an Excel spreadsheet to track my work on my motorcycles.

What do you use on yours?

Note: Yes, I do backups of my computer data monthly and nightly. Do you?

Finally, no subjective "slight drag" when doing valve clearance checks!

My beloved Beemers, require that I check the clearances for their valves at set intervals. Every 5000 miles for Brigitta, my 1987 R80and every 6000 for Maria, my 2004 R1150RT.

I was first introduced to this maintenance task by Mike O, he was a mentor to me in such matters when I first got Maria and she was my only motorcycle. He taught me what to look for in terms of "a slight drag" when measuring the gap for the valves. Since then I'd done several valve checks, always thinking I'd retained the memory/feeling of "a slight drag".

Well, that proved wrong recently. I had taken Maria in to Pete Homan's indie workshop for surging issues and he informed me I was setting the valve clearances way too lose! I know, some of you will have heard or believe that "loose valves are happy valves" but the loud clicking noise does tend to prey on your mind. Not being the anal kind of wrencher, I'd put up with the clicking thinking or rationalizing acceptance of it under the "loose valves are happy valves" mantra.

Too loose though, and your subsequent throttle body syncs will be off as well. Not to mention, failing to check the end rocker play before even dinking with the valve clearance checks! Oh well, it was a lesson with a cost (Pete's fees) but well worth it and not too expensive.

So, back to the conundrum of defining what is "a slight drag". The objective is to adjust your valves so that the correct clearance is reported by the right feeler gauge but it's not too loose. So I'd done things where I'd feel just a slight rubbing feeling of the feeler gauge as I slid it back and forth in the valve gap. Very, very subjective.

Then I read online one method used by a fellow wrench: Measure your desired gap, then see if you can insert and move back and forth the next higher up feeler gauge! Its so simple, why didn't I think of that? Why didn't the guys whom created the online guides mention that? A slight drag is too subjective. Using the next higher gauge, quantifiable!

So this morning, I took the valve covers off Brigitta who's always had what seemed to me a loud ticking noise from her valves. In fact, Matt Parkhouse, the air marshall for Colorado Airheads had described it as " a bit clattery".

Sure enough, I found that I could insert the next higher gauge into the valve gap! For instance, on the intake valves, you're supposed to have a gap of .10mm, I could insert a .127mm feeler gauge! This was the same for the exhaust valves where you're supposed to have a .20mm gap, I could insert a .229mm feeler gauge! Arrggh.

So I undid the retaining bolts, adjusted the valves again so that the intake valves would allow a .102mm feeler gauge to move back and forth (a bit tighter feel than what I'd used before) but I could not now insert the .127mm feeler gauge!

Same thing for the exhaust valves, I adjusted the gap so that my .203mm feeler gauge could move back and forth in the gap but my .229mm feeler gauge could not even be inserted! I was much more certain, by using this method, that my gaps were correct!

I buttoned Brigitta back up and fired her up. She sounded as sweet as ever and I could just barely hear the valves ticking! Yes, they do tick, but this time she was not as "clattery" as before and I had to really listen for the ticking noise. Brigitta now sounds as "quiet" in terms of the valves moving back and forth as Maria does!

Took her out for a test ride, I could not hear any "clattery noise" as before and she rode sweetly through my usual 12 mile test ride course. Got her home, put the engine guards back on, this time using a bit of red loctite threadlocks since I keep finding the right side engine mounting bolt loose.

Did some cleanup that I'd missed from yesterday, and wiped her down. I'll be going for a ride in the afternoon after lunch. Quantifiable valve lash clearances! I am a happy wrench!

Biting the Bullet

As much as I am loathed to part with either of my motorcycles so that they get some issue fixed by a real mechanic; I had to drop Maria, my 2004 R1150RT, off at Pete Homan's Bavarian Motorcycles West during lunch today.

I had ridden Maria because the temperatures were not expected to get above the low 50s and she provides so much better wind protection than Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Beemer.

On the way to work, the slight surging behavior that had been exhibited prior to my TBS sync being done at 65,500 miles remained evident. Its a rather annoying feeling, a slight surging forward as I held the throttle steady....usually in 2nd or 3rd gear, around the 3500 rpm range.

I am pretty sure I didn't dork up the TBS Sync and remain at a loss as to what would cause this. Perhaps a fuel filter issue (which requires the removal of the tupperware, gas tank and fuel filter assembly from WITHIN the gas tank. Maybe the Hall Effect sensor is malfunctioning which could get expensive. Perhaps the fuel injectors are clogged but since I'd recently changed her oil, didn't want to try fuel injector cleaning fluid on at least one full tank of gas since you're supposed to change out the oil soon after using that stuff.

Rather than guessing at all the above, and to get a mounting hole fixed on the right side valve cover, I turned Maria over to Pete. Now to await his diagnosis. Luckily, I still have Brigitta to satisfy my riding habit.

24MAR09 Updated: Picked up Maria from Pete's place today. He found grit on the pulley where the throttle cables travel, which probably was the major cause of the surging. He also found that I was setting the valve clearances as too loose! He repaired the stripped mounting hole for the right side valve cover bolt, and went ahead and did some preventive tapping of the other three holes which were apparently partially stripped.

Maria rides pretty smooth now, no surging which is good. I must now revisit the valve clearances on Brigitta since I used the same "slight drag" criteria on her valves, which means they are probably too loose as well. Damn. It's such a subjective thing, this "slight drag" business.

Pete mentioned also he likes to tighten the intake valves closer than the .015mm stated in the manual since they run cooler. Definitely go with the spec of .030mm on the exhaust valves though since they run hotter. Most definitely measure both valves at same time. I.E., run the feeler gauge on both exhaust valves simultaneously, same for the intake valves.

He mentioned also he found the right rocker arm, forward one, loose....probably from last june's crash he thought. So my valve clearance checks weren't right to start with due to my overlooking that check. I've so much to learn still.

Another thing is he doesn't go over 4 ft/lb on the valve cover screws. I thought the state spec of 8nm was too little, he goes even further. I'll go with his experience level of course the next time the covers are off for valve checks. You also can cross-thread these screws real easy, must take it very easy when putting them in!

Finally he must have adjusted the play on the throttle, there's not much play at all now.

Finishing Maria's 66K service

I replaced the rear brake pads on Maria, my 2004 R1150RT Beemer today, finishing I believe the services/checks required by the 66k miles service interval.

There was minimal pad left on the old brake pads so she was overdue. The wear mark was gone from the port side pad and the starboard side pad just had a bit left:


Took me several attempts but finally got the caliper back onto the rear rotor with the new brake pads in place. It was a tight fit but you can see how much more brake pad material there was on the new pads:


Finally secured the caliper with the mounting bolts and torqued them down to 30nm as per the manual.


A short test ride and no issues, Maria stops great as usual. Gorgeous day today, but only got two short rides in since I am still feeling the effects of the bug I've been dealing with the last week or so.

Maria's 66K Service, a bit early

Maria, my 2004 R1150RT had been exhibiting some mild "surging" behavior during the last couple of rides, so even though she was not due for her services till 66k, I did them about 450 miles earlier than planned today.

After work today, I managed to:

1. Change Maria's oil and filter, replace the Final Drive and Transmission oil and replaced the spark plugs. I found the left lower sparkplug a bit loose in its mount, and the right lower one fouled with oil on the threads.

2. I checked her valve clearances and afterwards also did a throttle body sync. That, took the longest as I'd forgotten to hold onto the throttle cable sheath while turning the adjustment knob to adjust the levels with my home made manometer. Always review the instructions! This time, I also removed the BBAS or Big Brass Adjustment Screws and found them coated in black sooty material, replaced them after some carburetor cleaner shots.

Note the carbon covered BBAS

Now, they're clean again

The left side BBAS, back in place

Tomorrow, I'll clean and replenish the K&N air filter, too tired tonight. One final check ride after that, then the tupperware goes back on and she'll be good to go (hopefully) for another 6000 miles. I had gone for a check ride after the fluid changes and the surging seemed to be much much less. I still did the valve check and TB sync of course since it's part of the 6000 mile services.

The only bummer is that somehow the upper right mounting screw on the right side valve cover is stripped and so does not hold on very tight. I hope replacing just the screw is a doable thing. It seems to hold just fine the way it is and I see no leakage from around it. I'll have to monitor it though until I get it repaired. I am pretty sure I didn't do it since I carefully follow the 8 nm limit when torquing the valve cover screws. I wonder if when she was repaired by the dealer this past June, that it might have happened then. No way to know now. Dammit.

Air Filter Renewal

I finished buttoning up Maria this morning prior to taking the boys out to see the movie "Madagascar 2", the movie was OK. Nothing to write home about but nice computer effects.

One thing remaining to do was to clean off and replenish the K&N Air Filter on Maria. You're supposed to do it every 6K miles or so I believe, but since I change out the oil every 3K miles I also do this maintenance chore.

and this is why one has an air filter, I guess I need to check it more often than every 3k miles!

It's a bit time consuming, cleaning, drying then oiling the K&N filter but since the regular paper filters are $18 a pop from the dealer....and the oil renewal kit is only $11 and lasts about three rotations.....

The only painful part of putting the gas tank back on is the pain on your fingertips as you try and get the stupid "quick disconnects" to reconnect. Note that they're not called quick re-connects! The problem is compounded in that I know the damn things are delicate, being plastic and all, and there's only so much force one can use before something breask.

Luckily, I managed to do it without breaking anything, including my fingers. The rest of the job of securing the gas tank, the glove box and the tupperware went without any issues.

Before the tupperware went on though, I took Maria out for a short ride to ensure the brakes were fine even though I was not getting any warning lights on the rider display unit. The ride was fine though I am sure my neighbors wondered if I'd bought a new motorcycle since Maria looks quite different without tupperware.

Photo from her 54K mile service back in April '98 LINK

Not much riding today, got the boys to look after since my loving wife is only tonight returning from a trip to Texas; where she attended some scrap-booking convention. She deserves the break from us boys, specially since she lets me ride pretty much as much as I want on the weekends.

Maria's Annual Wheel Brake Circuit Flush

Today was Maria's turn to have her brake wheel circuits flushed with new brake fluid. You're supposed to do it once a year and I've settled on November for such tasks. This year I was also due to flush the ABS Control circuits (every two years) but they had to be done by the dealer when she was repaired in June so I am good to go for this year.

I'd already installed speedbleeders on Maria last year when I did the wheel circuits for the first time since I owned her. Here's a link to that operation.

Took me 30 minutes to take off the tupperware, gas tank and glove compartment. No issue there but I thought I'd show you the fuel line quick disconnects I recently had issues with. The Black one in the picture below is the stock quick disconnect, and the white one is the one I put in from my spares.

Notice I disconnect these things so that the male end of each different hose is on opposite ends, this way I don't cross up the hoses when I go to hook them back up. Same thing for the two hoses that go to the charcoal canister. Trust me, you don't want to cross them up.

Here's Maria with the tupperware and tank off, she's quite a sight isn't she without her plastic?


Here's a closeup of the ABS Control Unit on Maria, it looks a bit forbidding I'll admit but really its not that bad if you follow the guide I mention in the link above. Having the right instructions and tools are the key. Really, if I can do it, so can anyone else.


Here's a picture of what the level of brake fluid should be when you're done. If you leave it too low, you'll get ABS fault warning lights on the display panel and you'll have to take everything off again to fill it back up. If you over fill, it's designed ot be diverted via a hose to the ground.

The fluid reaches to the bottom of the white circle inside the well

By the way, if you drop the motorcycle on her right side, fluid will probably leak out as well, so if you get ABS fault lights....that's probably why.

Oh, and the caps that go on top of the fill wells above, they've got FTE stamped on them. Not sure what the E is for but the FT is FINGER TIGHT! First time I did this operation, I thought the damn caps had to be on tight and I used a damn wrench. I of course broke it off and had to drive to Fort Collins and buy a $60 assembly which included the caps so I could replace it. So, finger tight only!!!

I didn't button up Maria yet, I might think of other work/checks I want to do while I got the tupperware and tank off. I'll do a test ride tomorrow but things look good, no leaks when I engage the brakes and no brakes fault lights.

A New Rear Tire for Maria

Today I spent almost five hours changing out my first and possibly last tire on Maria, my 2004 R1150RT. Long story short: The larger tire she use in the rear are apparently much harder to work with in terms of removal from the wheel and definitely for emplacement of the new tire onto the wheel! It seems, in retrospect, that it was much easier when I did my first ever tire swap on Brigitta's front tire: LINK.

I'd been noticing the thread level of the rear tire on Maria approaching the TWI (Tire Wear Indicator) mark along the center portion of the tire. This is where it spends most of its time in contact with the pavement since I've been doing a lot of highway riding and apparently not enough curves since the sides of the tire still had plenty of thread left!

You can see the middle TWI is almost flush with the top surface of the thread.

Mike O, my wrenching guru, had taught me the valuable lesson of not waiting to see actual wear bars or try and get a few more hundred miles out of a worn tire. There's just too much riding on it! I really don't need to be hydroplaning on a 612lb motorcycle while in the rain!

So today, I went to the dealer and came home with a new rear tire for Maria. The dealer was apparently very busy or booked up in their service dept since I'd not even gotten a reply email from this past Monday when I asked when they could schedule me in for a tire change. Oh well. In fact, I had a short conversation with a LT rider who'd had to wait three weeks for an oil change!

Bringing home the new tire

No problem I said to myself, I can do it, I'd done it before for the first time ever while replacing Brigitta's, my 1987 R80, front tire. No sweat. Hah.

I placed Maria on her centerstand and secured her front wheel to the centerstand so it would not collapse forward accidentally as I worked on her. It's worth it, here's how I know: LINK


I made sure to only use the tools I normally carry with the motorcycle I am riding so that I know I'll have all the necessary tools with me in case of a breakdown on the road.

I would take the tire spoons on long trips

I took off the four lug nuts with no problems using the above lug nut wrench. I'd added a T45 Torx wrench to my toolkit and used it plus a metal tube that I believe goes with the spark plug socket to add leverage to the small Torx wrench while removing the mounting bolts for the rear brake caliper:

Note that there's plenty of brake pad left

Once I had the rear brake caliper assembly off, the rear wheel came off easily enough with a bit of wiggling back and forth. I let all the air out of the tire by removing the valve stem and pulled it out between the final drive and the exhaust pipe. (It's a tight fit, removing the air helps)


So here's the old tire, the outer edges of the tire seem almost new don't they. I really must get in more twisty road time with the new tire!

I got 13,039 miles out of this one, not too bad

So I mentioned it took me five hours at the beginning didn't I? The above actions took less than 30 minutes. The next four and a half hours were a titanic struggle on my part, with much help from my loving wife, to A. remove the old tire from the wheel (what a booger it was) and B. Put the new tire onto the wheel, fail after several attempts to get both sides under the rim, take the wheel back out (painful), try it with brake rotor rim being the "in place" side this time, still much pain, struggling and swearing involved.

Finally, figured out the trick which I thought I'd been doing all along. You have to really and truly collapse the opposite end of the tire from where you're working the edges inwards. Its not enough to push on it a little, you really have to push it down to take the pressure off the opposite side. I finally spooned the edges into the wheel. Success!

Another 30 minutes to seat the bead (it took 47 lbs of pressure and two loud pops). I'd already put in the 2 ounces of dynabeads and replaced the valve stem. I let all the air out and put the tire back onto Maria's final drive assembly, torqued down the lug nuts to 77 ft/lbs. The rear brake caliper went on next, and its own bolts got torqued down to 29 ft/lbs. I used the torque values from my Clymer Repair manual. I filled the tire back up to 40 lbs PSI.

I'd been riding Maria with 40 PSI in the front tire and 42 in the rear tire. These values having been given to me by the Beemer dealer I bought her from back in Sturgis. I am going to try 38 in the front and 40 in the rear as I'd see the wear patterns on the front and rear tires seeming to indicate too high a pressure. We'll see.


Got geared up, took her out for a few miles spin and everything seems to be fine. Got no new vibrations coming from the rear. The tire didn't fall off at high speed. I took her up to max normal cruising speeds and a bit beyond and the tire did just fine.

Given the time involved, I am not sure I'll personally change tires on Maria again unless there's no other choice. Its a lot harder than on Brigitta's thinner tires. Still, I can't forecast the future, I may be stuck with time on my hands, an unsafe tire on the motorcycle, new tire on hand, and the dealer too busy again.

The price of dropping one's motorcycle

I'd written that I'd dropped the bike while at a campground in Wyoming during my Labor Day Weekend trip to the Grand Tetons. Well, last night, I managed to do it again, dropping the bike that, after coming to an abrupt stop with the wheel in the turned position. Dammit.

I know better to do that too, so I added a couple more scratches to the right side mirror housing. Not too bad in terms of damage. Better yet, managed not to pull any back/arm muscles while fighting to keep the bike upright and soon failing.

However, the price of repeatedly dropping an 1150RT on its right side became evident last night as I started her up after righting her. The "Brake Failure" and ABS Red lights came on and alternated blinking at me as I rode along. The brakes/abs seemed to be working fine and I could hear the servo motors whining as usual. I stopped at a parking lot and tried cycling the ignition, no luck. So I rode home with the red lights flashing at me from the console. A bit unnerving.

I checked the owners manual and flashing lights mean low fluid condition usually. I then realized the price of dropping ones RT on its right side, you lose brake fluid from the ABS modulator unit! Some must have leaked out last weekend and last night enough leaked out to set off the alarms on the panel. BTW, gas also leaks out of the gas tank.

Took the fairings off, removed the gas tank, and yes, the rear control circuit on the ABS modulator looked dry. Hell, the rear brake reservoir container on the right side of the bike was dry! I filled the reservoir up and then went through "brake bleeding" procedures to pump some more fluid into the control circuit without inducing air into the system. I topped off the reservoir on the modulator, tried the brakes and hallelujah the warning lights went away.

Took Maria for a short ride around the block and no warning flashes! Good Stuff. As I was riding back into my cul-de-sac, the engine cuts out. I tried the ignition several times, nothing. I checked the fuel lines and found one not fully mated at the quick disconnects. Trying to get it to mate better, I managed instead to break the male end of the quick disconnect! Dammit.

I carry spares since these quick disconnects are known to break easy. I wasted some time trying to get the remnants of the male end to come out of the fuel line, finally it all broke apart and I just withdrew the pieces with a needle-nosed plier. I yanked off the POS bmw/bosch hose clamp for which you need some special tool to remove and put on. I replaced it with a good old fashioned worm screw hose clamp.

The Bosch clamp still in play as I tested the fit of the replacement item

The white object is the replacement male end of the quick disconnect, it was made by same company as the stock item so it worked just fine without me having to also remove the female end of the stock quick disconnect. I lucked out there.

I'll be replacing all the bosch hose clamps with worm drive clamps as I need. No sense taking apart stuff when its not broken eh?

So besides the aesthetics of dropping your bike with ensuing damage to the plastic, beware of the hidden dangers when fluids leak out while the bike is on its side. Don't waste time getting the sucker back upright!

Learning to Calibrate Torque Wrenches

Today I got my second Craftsman brand torque wrench which like my first, I got through Ebay. I bought a 20-150 ft/lb 1/2 inch drive model to complement my first torque wrench, a 25-250 in/lb 1/2 inch drive model.

I'd been thinking I'd take them to Sears and they'd calibrate them for me so I would know that when I set a torque setting, it's accurate and I don't mistakenly overtighten or undertighten a fastener on my motorcycles as I service them.

Well, let me tell you, the Sears people I called on the phone were "uncertain" to put it kindly. The basic gist was: I think we send it somewhere and it'll come back someday, not sure what the cost will be though.

With that resounding assurance, I bagged that idea!

A few minutes of googling found me this LINK.

I followed the instructions, which even for a math-challenged guy like me were simple enough. I actually repeated the tests twice to verify my calculations and its good that I did because I missed a step on the second wrench!

I marked up the cases in which the wrenches are stored. So, now I know that for my inch/lbs wrench, I must multiply the desired torque setting by 1.25 and set that value on the wrench. For my foot/lbs wrench, I must multiply the desired torque setting by 1.13 and set that on the wrench to deliver an accurate torque on the fastener in question.

In other words, I've been undertightening my fasteners! This Maybe explains some slight seepage I saw on a couple of drain plugs after the last services I did on Brigitta. So, when's the last time you had your torque wrenches checked?

Update: 15SEP08: Turns out, where I am presently contracting for work, UAL's Flight Training Center, they've a Torque Wrench Testing device near the tool shop! I took my wrenches there today and checked both of them. They were reported, near as I can figure it out, as accurate! I am of course inclined to believe this certified testing device vice the crude methods I used to derive the mathematical values above. Oh well.

This is why I try to do all maintenance work on my motorcycles

While saving the labor costs associated with services and general maintenance tasks on my motorcycles is the main reason I do them. Sure, I could let the Beemer dealer's mechanics do them and just enjoy riding the bikes but....

When I do the services/maintenance tasks, I know they're done, done on time and done right and under no time crunch at the dealer trying to get everyone's bikes fixed.

They're my bikes so I take the extra step, the extra time and extra effort to do the task right. Sure, I'm slower than a trained mechanic but I am sure I care more about the results than that mechanic.

When there's several things to be done, I know ALL will be done; sometimes I've had doubts about this being the same at a dealer's shop. Sure, I was charged for a service, but in one case, I don't believe it was done....can't prove it but doing it myself, I've only me to blame.

Today I found the voltmeter I'd installed months ago, just hanging free from its wire connections. Apparently whomever replaced my fairing panels "neglected" to secure it back where it had been behind the speaker grid! Inexcusable on his part, inexcusable on mine to not have noticed that when I took receipt of the bike. Yes, I've been riding Brigitta more than Maria but really, I should have checked.

So, trust but verify.....the Gipper's words once again are on my mind.

Maria gets a TBS and some before/after pictures

Yesterday, after bringing Maria home I had noticed some "surging" or uneven acceleration behavior between 2500-3500 rpms, mainly in 2nd and 3rd gears. A bit annoying in that it threw off my shifting off sometimes and caused the motorcycle to lurch forward slightly. More annoying that the mechanic at the dealer who did the test ride did not mention it or better yet, fix it before turning Maria over back to me. Oh well, what are you going to do. The test ride probably was not long enough perhaps for him to notice.....I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

So today after having commuted to work on Maria, got home and took her fairings off and set her up for a throttle body synchronization (TBS) which I suspected was needed.

I noted the mechanic had used torx head screws for 6 of the screws holding the fairings on, I replaced those with hex head screws so I wouldn't have to swap tools to take fairings off in the future.

Wow, the throttle bodies were way, way, way out of sync! There was 16 inches difference in the ruler I use for my manometer. No wonder she was surging! Less than 15 minutes later, I had the idle at the correct 1100 rpm, got the levels within one inch of each other at idle and even closer under acceleration and very much steady! She sounded much smoother too.

I went on a test ride without the fairings and she was smooth as butter! I was a happy camper once again. I'd toyed with the idea of checking the valve lash as well but that would have been only if the TBS didn't do the trick of removing the surging. I would have to wait till the engine was stone cold too before I could do the valve lash checks.

Here's some pictures of the items that were replaced and such on Maria before I put the fairings back on.

Before: note the mirror housing mounting studs, worn down to nubs by the pavement

After: The new mirror housing mounting studs

Before: The damaged valve cover, the spark plug cable was torn off during the crash

After: The new sparkplug cable and valve cover guard

Note the newness of the valve cover's metal vice the jug's metal's color

Tomorrow its back to Brigitta for the daily commute to work, I felt the effect of Maria's fairings on blocking what wind there was on the commute home. I got quite warm. Maria will be my weekend long riding partner, Brigitta my commuter motorcycle. This way, they'll both get their riding time in and part of my attentions on a regular basis. : )

Maintenance Issues, answers for Irondad

Irondad, who runs the great blog: Musings of an Intrepid Commuter asked me to comment on maintenance issues re my 2004 R1150Rt Oilhead.

Here's some of the things that come to mind, Dan:

Valve adjustments each 6k miles is correct, but not hard to do at all. In fact, after about 25k miles, they don't seem to need much adjustment if any. I've not had to do anything the last two 6k services. Valves out of adjustment increase the buziness endemic with the Boxer engines. Maria loves running at 4k rpm, really smooth.

I can't speak for the newer 1200x models (don't really like their looks) but my motorcycle is pretty easy to service. I am no "natural mechanic" by any means so if I can do things such as valve adjustments, throttle body syncs, oil/transmission/final drive fluid changes, alternator belt swaps, brake wheel circuit bleeds, shock replacements, clutch bleeds, brake pad and rotor replacement, minor electrical repairs and what not, then anyone else can as well.

I love my oilhead and fully expect to go over 100k miles with her. The expertise one can find online at sites such as bmwsporttouring.com and fellow beemer riders is outstanding.

All the above tasks, just part of scheduled services I've learned to do. I've found great satisfaction in doing my own services, I know its done and done right. Lets just say the one service I took her to the dealer for, I found their work "lacking".

Parts replacement was due to parts wearing out, not breaking. More riding = more wear on parts, I wonder if there's a correlation? Oh and yeah, there's very little about beemers that is inexpensive, they are really "proud" of most of their parts.

Only problem, two flats which really one can't blame on the motorcycle designers! : )

Sometimes I find myself wishing I had a GS vice an RT when I come across an inviting dirt road but then Maria always brings a smile to my face and an eagerness to go riding. What more can one ask?

There's apparently been some reports of pre-2004 (when oilheads went dual spark) models that had "surging" issues at some speeds. Not sure but have heard a good TBS helps with that. Never ridden another RT but mine so I can only relay what I've read about online.

Oh, my front and rear brakes are linked so activating one, engages the other as well apparently. Some folks hate that. I am used to it. I hear the newer models are somewhat de-linked but don't have details.

ABS took some getting use to when I first got her. Learned the hard way not to jam on the brakes at low speed with handlebars locked to one side. : (

Love the ABS now, I can stop really well and no wheels locking up.

RTs have great wind protection, good thing in cold weather, not as good in hot weather. Oh, and a friend of mine described my fairings as having the wind profile of a clipper ship! Crosswinds can be interesting if strong enough.

Took me a while to fit out my RT for long distance riding comfort, lowered pegs were part of it, the Master Yoda Riding Position was another, barbacks/risers for the handlebars helped and just learning to move around while in the saddle took a while. Now I can do 500-700 mile days with only minor soreness at the end, I'm getting old.

These motorcycles use a dry clutch so they're known for loud shifting noises. Klunk!

Another great site is Jeff Dean's R1150Rt Site, he's one of the founding members of the BMWMOA I believe. LINK.

Hope the above helps.

A New Front Tire

Yesterday I went ahead and bought a new front tire, Metzeler ME880 for my R1150RT. The thread depth had reached the TWI or Tire Wear Indicator marker on the tire and with the Two Bits Rally starting in a couple of days, no way to do a rally on a worn front tire!

You can plainly see the bump that is the TWI is flush with the top of the thread!

Trouble was, the beemer dealer could not fit me in to swap my front tire for me till 18JUN, over two weeks from then. No way I could wait that long.

On a chance, I called up Pete Homan of Bavarian Motorcycles West and he graciously agreed to see me first thing this morning to swap out my front tire. I think my having the tire on hand made it easy for him to say yes.

So off I went early this morning and got near Pete's shop way too early since he was not expecting me until 0730. I stopped by a bagel shop and had a couple of onion bagels and some coffee.

I arrived at Pete's shop just before 0730 and was greeted by his black dog "Harley". A friendly dog who's always hanging out with Pete as he works.

Harley

Some of the vintage bikes in process of being fixed/rebuilt by Pete

About 30 minutes and $35 later, Maria had a new Metzeler ME880 Marathon front tire and I was on my way to work. I kept the old worn tire to possible use as a standoff someday when I get the gumption to try changing out my own tires. In the meantime, will use it to practice plugging punctures. Dissapointingly, I only got 9291 miles out of the old tire, where I had gotten almost 18K out of the last front tire! Not sure why the big difference though. Oh well.

Just have to take it easy on the front tire for the next hundred miles or so to make sure I scrub off the protective coating that it comes from the factory with, it can make things "interesting" if I don't.

Now Maria is all ready for the Two Bits Rally!

More Wrenching - Replacing Front Brake Discs and Brake Pads

All the parts I needed to replace the scored and worn down front brake discs and new brake pads by EBC arrived at the dealer today. I picked them up on the way home, the EBC pads were similar but somewhat different from the BMW pads I had on the motorcycle but the parts guy and his manager assured me they were correct. More on that later.

I happily rode home, got my tools out and my Clymer manual and got to work.

I ignored the first step about removing the wheel cover, ended up having to do it anyways, should have followed instructions!

Following the instructions step by step and methodically, I was able to remove the front tire with very little hassle. Hardest part was figuring out how to hold the wheel level while pulling out the axle rod!

Above and below pics show the ABS Sensor and Speedometer Cable connectors

A view of things before I removed the wheel, for record

Voila, no wheel, note how I secured the brake calipers to avoid straining the hydraulic lines

I cleaned parts as I went since I had things apart and could easily get to things. Things were going smoothly so far. I used an old motorcycle tire I had from my first flat incident to set the front tire on so that the brake discs did not touch the ground. This is important!

Old Brake Disc, Right Side

New brake disc, right side

After I had the brake discs replaced and threadlocked, I put the wheel back onto the front forks. The front axle rod went in pretty easily I must admit, much easier than when I pulled it out! The manual said to make sure to correctly position the speedometer housing, when I went to check, I had placed it just right purely by chance! : )

As I followed the installation sequence in the manual, I came to the point where one is to mount the brake calipers onto the forks. I paused here to grab the EBC brake pads I had bought from the dealer and dammit, they were the wrong size! They simply would not fit! I was a bit mad at this, I called up the parts manager and told him the situation. To their continuing credit, he apologized profusely and said to bring them back even though I'd opened their packaging and he'd get me the right ones.

So, I got in the cage, an hour plus an additional $69 dollars for the added cost of BMW brake pads since they did not have EBC pads for my motorocycle later, I was back home and continued working on putting Maria back together. Proper prior planning and checking on my part would have had me ordering EBC pads online for a better price so I was mostly annoyed with myself.

The new pads went in just fine, duh. I torqued all fasteners to the proper torque, checked that the pads engaged the discs fine, made sure the wheel spun freely, replaced the wheel cover and put away my tools before heading out for a 15 mile test ride.

The ride went fine, the brakes worked when I wanted them to and I felt no chatter, heard no brake squealing and tried a few hard brakings to see how things felt. Smooth braking as usual. As a bonus, the front wheel did not come off at any time! ; )

Here's pictures of Maria's new front brake discs:




Yet another successful wrench job done with no major issues. The only glitch was that I had stripped slightly the brake pad retention spring on the right brake caliper last night apparently. But, now I was "experienced" at extracting stripped screws and 10 minutes later, I got it out. I had bought a new pin set from the dealer so I am now good to go on both front calipers.

Taking the front wheel off was so easy, I am seriously considering whether I should learn how to change my own tires and save the labor costs of having the dealer do it. I'd always had qualms about removing the front tire as it looked "complicated", it could not be easier.

Must investigate this further. The front tire is due for replacement soon and I am not ready for it equipment-wise so the dealer will be doing it.