Archive for F800GS
Ride to Folkestone
Posted by: | CommentsI joined my Knobblies chums for a ride down to Folkestone. we had good weather and travelled some nice roads on the way
I took the F800 which ran sweetly and the TKC80s are still in reasonable condition after the Italian trip, although I will likely change them before any longer excursions.
I appreciated the biker friendly attitude at the Cliff Restaurant!
Mods Galore
Posted by: | CommentsMy recent bike related activities have included a goodly number of maintenance cum modification items that I’ll mention in the next few posts. I’m splitting them up so as not too make too long and dull a post in one go.
The Italian trip was a fantastic experience and an excellent test of both bike and rider. Apart from the duff hand, I think both came through it fairly well. The GS was very pleasing, coping with both the long trip there and back (1200 miles each way of mixed motorway stuff and country roads through very hilly areas with lots of switch-backs and the like) and the off-road riding in the mountains with generally, deep, big and sharp gravel plus many very tight turns.
SIDESTAND MOD.
The thing that got my attention mostly was the dismal side-stand on the GS which, especially when travelling heavily loaded, had the bike leaning over much too far, to the point of being sufficiently unstable as to fall over at the slightest opportunity.
I had noticed this before I set off an had cobbled together a block of wood some 4 cm. thick, zip-tied to the side-stand. This helped in keeping the bike upright but was hell to deploy as it required leaning the bike over a substantial amount in the wrong direction to sweep the stand down and forwards to the point it was in position to support the bike. On my return I solved the problem partially by spotting a bit of weld metal at the point on the stand where it is stopped against the attachment for the stand on the bike. This had the merit of stopping the stand from swing too far forwards and as a consequence, it holds the bike more upright. I also ground off the leading edge of the stand where it had previously fouled the ground in its arc. This helped by reducing the amount needed to hold the bike off the vertical when deploying it.
FORKS
The bike needed a huge amount of cleaning after the trip and I decided to move/remove various bits of bike to facilitate this process. One thing I wanted to do was to have a look at the forks to check that no corrosion was taking place under the clamps (as this was a potential problem I had read about some folk having) so I removed them, discovering in the process that the left hand fork stanchion was badly scored around its circumference at the point where it is held by the lower fork bridge (triple clamp), making it very hard to remove and to adjust up and down in the triple clamp – even after wedging the opening in the clamp wider. I cleaned up the scoring and read the service manual on the subject of forks, which made it clear that they had always been set wrongly. As delivered to me, the top of the forks was flush with the triple clamp rather than being set 7.8 mm. above it as specified. I set the forks at the specified height and although the difference is hardly discernible, it does feel that the steering is a little quicker as one might expect.
I complained to the dealer I bought the bike from (South London Motorrad) about this state of affairs (Mainly the scoring on the stanchion tube) but they were less than interested and despite me telling them that I thought the fork was potentially unsafe, and a candidate for a warranty claim (on the grounds that if they hadn’t caused the damage to the fork, it must have been BMW at the time of manufacture). They took a few photos and said they would contact BMW and revert to me but of course I have heard nothing. My conclusion, after this incident and the two previous things that upset me badly about their servicing (jobs not done, wheel bearings not checked), is that SOUTH LONDON MOTORRAD servicing is very poor, the staff are unreliable and I recommend you don’t go near them.
Mainly as a consequence of my unhappiness with SLM, I discovered Mark Holden, who runs an independent, and very reliable, friendly and helpful service workshop in Bromley High Street. He has now done a number of things on my bikes (the GS and the TTR and I have nothing but praise for his approach, speed and standard of workmanship.
It was Mark who put me in touch with HM Racing at Green Street Green where Perry Leask, a many times national motocross champ works on bike suspension for race teams, individuals etc. Currently as a later post will mention, he is scheduled to work on my TTR.
Catching up
Posted by: | CommentsGood grief – two months nearly since I last posted! I’m obviously one of those bloggers who gets caught up in a fit of enthusiasm that eventually recedes like the tide, leaving all sorts of beached detritus around the web. Well, the tide has turned, at least temporarily - so here goes with what I have been doing bike-wise for the last couple of months.
First, Slovenia didn’t happen but the Dolomites did. It was always the plan to start in the Italian hills, then to re-locate to Slovenia but the time available to the group I was with just didn’t permit the double location so we stayed in Italy. This was no real hardship, the Italian trails were really good and the scenery is simply magnificent. I had a great time in super company and thanks to Giorgio Betteto, our local ADVrider colleague and guide, we enjoyed some fantastic riding and food along the way.
After three days of quite hard trail riding, my damned finger was swollen and giving me gyp so I bailed out to ride gently to the ferry at Calais, intending to meet my pals there after they had spent the last two days riding the trails around Pieve di Cadore (our base in Italy). I took a couple of days, riding via Venice, Torino, Annecy, Gerardmer, Compiegne where I met up with another of my group (Clive who had also left early). We had a great evening doing a bit of a pub crawl before finishing in an Irish bar across the street from our hotel. Despite being an Irish bar, it turned out they were having a Salsa night and it was fun for us two old fogies, watching the young and good looking girls strutting their stuff.
A few pix – first Clive on his GS1200 showing just how deep the gravel was. Then a few pix of yours truly enjoying himself.
!
Changing tyres
Posted by: | CommentsI figured it was time for a bit of practice in preparation for the Slovenia trip so I rolled up my sleeves and changed the tyres on the GS from part worn TKC80s to the original Battlewings that came with the bike. It was definitely a very useful experience. I learnt for instance that the tool kit I have been carrying is missing a couple of items that are needed for tyre changing. Notably a third tyre lever – one of my long steel ones. The two alloy ones I bought do a pretty good job but I needed the extra leverage this afternoon – owning perhaps to a question of experience but also my hand which is still painful. I also used a 13mm open ended spanner to adjust the chain tensioner bolt/nut and this size of spanner was not in my kit except as a ring spanner on one end of an alloy tyre lever.
In removing the rear wheel I found that in practice it was unnecessary to slacken off the chain tensioner adjusters as there was sufficient play to remove the wheel without slackening them. I learnt that a bit of lubricant makes the job much easier and that KY jelly does the job very well. Not a lot is needed so a smallish tube of it is sufficient. I noticed a bit of a tear in the inner tube close to the valve stem. I don’t know if I was responsible for this or someone else. However, the tyre did hold pressure OK. I pumped it up using my new cyclepump for which I soldered up a connection enabling me to use a battery connected fly lead usually used for my heated jacket.
At the last service with South London Mottorad, the rear wheel bearings were replaced as they had started to collapse – great for ony 5000 miles! I asked SLM to carefully check the front wheel bearings as I wanted to be sure they would be OK for the Slovenia trip. SLM told nme they were fine. However, on removing the front wheel it was clear they had not removed the wheel themselves and I could feel a distinct roughness in the bearings which also felt as though there was no grease in them. I am very disappointed in SLM – things have gone downhill since the takeover. However, I am coming to value Mark Holden more and more – he is a super guy to do business with and really knows his stuff. As an independent, he s also a lot cheaper than the BMW dealerships! Mark will be replacing the front wheel bearings for me and altough it won’t be paid for under warranty, I am confident I’ll get a better job and we’ll use SKF bearings rather than some no-name Taiwanese things.
Bike Fixed!
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday, I got a call from Mark Holden to say that my parts had arrived. I elected to have him install them as I wanted to see what kind of a job he did. I took the bike over in the afternoon, went into Bromley for a coffee and about an hour later got a call on my mobile to say that the bike was ready. Everything seemed fine and the price was reasonable so I am happy so far with Mark’s service. It is a big plus point for me that I live not far away so it is much less of a hassle to go there than to visit South London Motorrad.
I just hope the next couple of outings on the bike leave it in good shape for my trip to Slovenia in June! The first is a novices’ run I am joining on Salisbury plain so that should be OK (a good test for my wrist..) but then in May I am heading for Wales again with UKGSers and those Welsh trails can prove demanding! If I succeed in my mission to get a pogo before then I might well take that instead.
Finding a pogo is proving harder than I expected. The Honda CRF 230 sounded ideal ut they have stopped making it and newones are like rocking horse manure whilst used ones are few ab]nd far between as well. I have therefore been considering new bikes but first, finding one that sounds as though it would suit me has been tricky, as they are all virtually designed for racing and as such have what sound like peaky engines and potentially tiring characteristics. Of the new ones, a Husqvarna TE310 has caught my eye as the most like to suit but so far I haven’t seen one in the flesh. I have (I think but so far with nil feedback) booked a trail ride with Husky Trails that would allow me to sample the TE250.
Another problem with competition focused bikes is the demanding maintenance schedule with many requiring oil chages every 500km and piston/ring changes every 100km or similar. I have no wish to take up bike maintenece as a hobby and although I realise that some is inevitable, I’d like to keep it to a minimum.
March Moon Rally
Posted by: | CommentsI had a great time at the weekend in North Wales with the folk who frequent ADVrider.com.
The occasion was the March Moon Rally which saw 60 riders and their very varied choices of bike gathering at the Three Pigeons in Graigfechan near Ruthin. Many of us camped at the pub while others chose the soft option of a B&B somewhere nearby. I rode up early on the Friday, leaving at 6 am to be in good time to pick a decent spot to pitch my tent – not a problems as it turned out for the available space was quite large enough and there were no flooded areas (unlike last year’s foray to Ireland!
When a few others had arrived, we elected to go for a road ride around various of the Welsh lakes (Bala and Vyrnwy amongst others)a very nice introduction to the Welsh hills.
Friday night was cold – as Terry could testify the next morning
But it soon warmed up and we had some great riding on the lanes
Although it wasn’t always smooth sailing..
I like the puddles – when I stay upright
But it’s a bugger when I don’t
This tumble put an end to my day’s outing as I sprained my wrist badly and had to make for the campsite without further ado – I am thankful my wrist wasn’t broken, it felt like it at the time.
Getting home on the Sunday, my bike was clearly very dirty
But sadly, also the worse for wear
So I shall be seeing what the dealer says about the repairs later this week..
Practicing with a Leatt neck brace
Posted by: | CommentsA few hours of sunshine is enough to make me feel I should be on the bike and this morning I was out and about looking like a Dakar rider who lost his way. I was wearing my new neck brace that I mentioned previously to get used to the feeling of it in preparation for my trip to Wales. It felt rather awkward at first and seemed to sit higher than desirable, I think because the distance from the front chest piece to the back piece is a little short and it rides up over my jacket with its built in back protector. I would undoubtedly fit better over bare skin and under body armour but I am not thus equipped and besides, the weather is cold enough for me to need my jacket!
In any case, after a few miles, I get used the the feeling and was able to turn my head sufficiently to do a “lifesaver”. It still remains to be seen how it will be when off-roading but I don’t anticipate any great difficulty after today’s experience.
Unexpected Service!
Posted by: | CommentsI went out on the F800 GS today as the forecast didn’t seem bad. The sky was threatening the entire time I was out but it didn’t rain! I was glad of me heated clothing as the temperature stayed below 8 degrees for quite a while before struggling up to 10 degrees around 2pm. I hadn’t been sure of where I was heading for but settled in the end on Bahnstormer as a destination. I had a mooch around and bought an Airhawk for the bike. I don’t find the saddle too uncomfortable at all but thinking ahead to my planned trip to Slovenia in June with the ADV rider crowd, I figured it might be a good idea to cushion my bum on the 1000 mile slogs there and back.
Whilst chatting to the sales folk, they asked if I had had the top radiator hose recall done. I knew there was one in progress but I hadn’t had it done as I had had no word from South London Motorrad. Bahnstormer offered to do it there and then and having time on my hands I said “Great, please go ahead”. When they entered the registration in the BMW database, it seemed that there was a bunch of other recall type work to do. This puzzled me as SLM were supposed to have done it already (re-routing the ABS lines for instance) but they also did that for me so apart from some monster firmware update (this would apparently have taken 2 hours and it’s seemingly to address a stalling issue which fortunately, I don’t appear to have) I am OK as far as BMW mandated fixes are concerned. I was pleased that Bahnstormer had shown such initiative and am only sorry that it’s really too far away for regular servicing.
On the ride home, I was very conscious of the AirHawk under my backside. I think there is probably a little too much air in it as I seem to wobble from side to side on it quite a lot. It also seemed to tip me forwards somewhat so at present, I am not a huge fan of it. No doubt I shall get used to it in time but will need a much longer run to determine its worth as an aid to stopping numb bum syndrome.
Service, Neck Brace and stuff.
Posted by: | CommentsI took the Goldwing to Doble’s yesterday. Traffic was absolutely solid
all the way there and back. How glad I am not to have to fight that
sort of thing every day! It gave me a good chance however to compare
the filtering abilities of the Wing and the little Honda 600 courtesy
bike I used to get back and forth. Whilst the smaller bike can
certainly go through smaller gaps I found that I preferred the Wing for
its road presence, lights and low down grunt. I seemed to have to rev
the nuts of the little bike (its redline is at 11,000 rpm and below
4000 it really does nothing) to accelerate smartly and felt very
vulnerable facing oncoming traffic whilst I scooted down the middle of
the road. On the Wing, it was plain that the oncoming traffic could see
me and moved more to its side of the road – which was not the case when
I was on the smaller bike. The service cost me £275. The technician
noted that my rear tyre was getting squared-off. Inevitable I suppose
given the proportion of motorway miles I have done since the tyre was
replaced (a mere 4000 miles ago) but it underscores the fact that tyres
don’t last long on this big heavy bike.
The postman brought me a
belated Xmas pressie – well actually something I ordered only a couple
of days ago, namely a Leatt neck Brace. I have been watching the Dakar
rally on the TV and every rider is wearing a neck brace. It gave me
pause for thought and I ran through memories of times I have been
pitched off riding off-road. There were certainly a few when my neck
was jarred and I decided that a neck brace was probably a good thing. I
haven’t use it yet and am still in the process of fitting the thing. I
expect it will feel constaining and uncomfortable at first – I just
hope it’s like seat belts in cars. When they first became mandatory, I
hated the feel of them but nowadays feel quite naked without one. It
was expensive at £260 but I got a £215 discount (down from £475 ) from Dirtbikebitz
so I feel that it is probably good value – it certainly wll be if it
saves me from serious injury although I surely hope it won’t need to!
Out and about
Posted by: | CommentsFresh from the triumph of fitting my new crash bars to the BMW yesterday, I celebrated by having a short ride on it today. Having both been laid low by the flu for two weeks, dearly beloved and I have postponed our Xmas jollifications until New Year – assuming we (still) feel like doing so by then, so today there were no distractions like presents to open or any such nonsense – it was on the bike and off! More accurately, it was about 11 am when I dragged myself to the garage, determined to prove to myself that I was still capable of getting the bike off the centre stand and out of the garage, mounting it and riding it.
I accomplished all of the above, only to discover that far from the imagined peace and quiet that would be prevailing on the roads at this time, countless, godless, antisocial idiots were already abroad, cluttering up the place just like a normal weekday. I turned as soon as I could onto the byways and quiet country lanes but found them so covered in mud and water that even with my new TKC-80s, I felt a mite insecure and given my kitten-like feebleness, I reckoned that it would be quite beyond me to pick the darn bike up if I fell off so I headed for home a lot sooner than I planned.
Aside from anything else, it wasn’t that warm. The bike claimed 5 degrees but my thumbs were sure it was sub-zero. Ah well, time to look at Gerbings heated gloves I reckon..