Getting *Legal* and Rear Tire #3

Before work this morning I went up to the Harris County Tax Office in Tomball to get the truck and BMW plated. I was happy to see that there was an actual line to stand in (instead of the voodoo-esque "take a number" system employed by the CA DMV). After filling out a bunch of paperwork and writing a check for $350, I walked out license plates in hand in less than 1.5 hours. I'm told that initial registration is more expensive than renewals.

Now I have to find my social security card so I can go down to a different agency's office and get my drivers license transferred. They have a really convoluted system here.

In other news, at 15,200 miles on the R1200ST, I installed rear tire #3.

This was also my first attempt at maintenance on the ST.

From reading the manual, I knew that I had everything needed except the big T50 torx bit for the rear wheel bolts. I rolled out of bed on Saturday morning and called Cycle Gear to make sure they had the tire I wanted in stock. I had them pull a Pilot Road rear for me. Then I checked with Dad to see if he had Torx bits. He did, but not big enough, so it was time for a quick trip to Lowe's for a full set of Torx bits that would work with my torque wrench (Dad's wouldn't).

Coming home, I grabbed some latex gloves, had Dad help me get the BMW up on the center-stand and then started going through the steps to removing the rear wheel. It was amazingly easy, taking probably 3 minutes. You loosen the clamp on the exhaust, rotate it out of the way, and then remove 5 bolts.

Then it was off to Cycle Gear to get a new tire installed. The guys at CG had previously assured me that they could handle the funky rear wheel, but it turned out that they were unable to balance it because of the huge axle hole. Their spacers didn't go big enough. I ended up taking the wheel down to the BMW dealer to get it balanced. I think I might have to invest in a Marc Parnes balancing axle (~$150) so that I don't have to run around like this again.

Back home, reinstallation was just a reverse of removal. The only hitch was that the owners manual only listed torque values in Nm whereas my torque wrench is really made to be used in Ft-lbs. I found a torque value table for the R1200GS on the internet that translated Nm to Ft-lbs and wrote them into my owners manual so i'll have them next time.

I'll be replacing the front tire next month. The removal procedure looks a little more complicated than for the rear, but shouldn't be a problem.