First Meeting
BMW of Ft Worth hosted an open house on 9APR05 to unveil 3 new motorcycles. Seemed like an excellent chance for me to meet my traveling companion, Mark, an excellent chance for Mark to put some miles on his freshly purchased R100GS and for both of us to pick the brains of some members of the BMWDFW Motorcycle Club who were assisting at the open house.
Mark is an easy man to find, a brilliant smile of new ownership among the perpetual grins of BMW owners, and he has a hand shake like a, well, like an insurance agent! His enthusiasm is evident from the outset and I think we will have no trouble sharing the road.
We shot some publicity shots, bought some parts and gee-dunk, and then while he stayed around to test ride the new K1200 series (rocketships, friends, rocketships! They red line at 11,000 rpm and 4,000 in 5th of 6 gears is ALREADY above the speed limit!!!), I headed south to put some more miles on my 'mule' and visit my son, John, at Scarborough Faire. I took 157 south out of Arlington to Maypearl, then 66 east to the Faire. Good ride, albeit windy. The GS tends to shake its head more than my other bikes, and I'm still trying to isolate the cause. Could be the fork alignment, could be headset preload, could be tires following wavy concrete, could be wind on the windshield. Controllable, but not usual for my rides.
In another hundred miles or so I'll drain and refill the transmission (this is a flush and fill to lessen the effects of sitting for 5 years with some water in the tranny oil :-( ), retorque the heads, reset the valves, check the timing and balance the carb's one more time. Then we're good to go.
I've replaced the brake master cylinder and brake line with new cylinder and braided steel line to improve braking efficiency. I also added hyperlights to the brake light. These are high intensity LED's that flash when the brakes are applied. VERY effective in letting those behind know there is an obstacle (me) ahead. I told Mark they were to insure he didn't run into me!
Packing this week, and then on the road Saturday night to get an hour or two behind us and lessen the first day slog to Presidio. Actually, the slog part is only down to the Big Bend area, from then on it will be Yee-Haa! or Ole!
Mark is an easy man to find, a brilliant smile of new ownership among the perpetual grins of BMW owners, and he has a hand shake like a, well, like an insurance agent! His enthusiasm is evident from the outset and I think we will have no trouble sharing the road.
We shot some publicity shots, bought some parts and gee-dunk, and then while he stayed around to test ride the new K1200 series (rocketships, friends, rocketships! They red line at 11,000 rpm and 4,000 in 5th of 6 gears is ALREADY above the speed limit!!!), I headed south to put some more miles on my 'mule' and visit my son, John, at Scarborough Faire. I took 157 south out of Arlington to Maypearl, then 66 east to the Faire. Good ride, albeit windy. The GS tends to shake its head more than my other bikes, and I'm still trying to isolate the cause. Could be the fork alignment, could be headset preload, could be tires following wavy concrete, could be wind on the windshield. Controllable, but not usual for my rides.
In another hundred miles or so I'll drain and refill the transmission (this is a flush and fill to lessen the effects of sitting for 5 years with some water in the tranny oil :-( ), retorque the heads, reset the valves, check the timing and balance the carb's one more time. Then we're good to go.
I've replaced the brake master cylinder and brake line with new cylinder and braided steel line to improve braking efficiency. I also added hyperlights to the brake light. These are high intensity LED's that flash when the brakes are applied. VERY effective in letting those behind know there is an obstacle (me) ahead. I told Mark they were to insure he didn't run into me!
Packing this week, and then on the road Saturday night to get an hour or two behind us and lessen the first day slog to Presidio. Actually, the slog part is only down to the Big Bend area, from then on it will be Yee-Haa! or Ole!
posted by Randy Masters at 2:26 PM
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