Westbound Flight

Lately I've had my share of being crammed into a coach class airplane seat with headphones jammed into my ears playing loud tunes to drown out the noise of rushing engines. I've jetted over the country, staring wistfully out the window at puffy clouds, colorful terrain, and twinkling cities dotting the horizon.

When I heard that my long-time friend Steven (fellow super-involved 4-Her, fellow dorm resident advisor, college roommate, and at one point in my life almost like a brother) was getting married in early April, my first thought was to look at airplane ticket prices. After looking at my calendar, my next thought was a long and considered "Hmmm."

The wedding was to be in Santa Barbara, CA. The following weekend was the Sport-Touring.Net Region 2 meet in Alpine, TX (almost halfway to California). The wheels turned (swooped through curves?) in my head as I contemplated my available vacation time and probable early spring conditions (negating the really good stuff in the Sierras and Rockies).

I finally decided to skip the flight in favor of loading up the R1200ST for an 11-day western US excursion.

In a few minutes I'll buckle up and take off on a grueling 1600 mile 2-day interstate blast to California. The return trip will be a little more relaxed. I'm going to drift up the coast and visit some friends in the San Francisco Bay Area before heading east into Utah and New Mexico. I just need to land myself in Alpine by next Friday.

I'll try to post updates nightly... but I can't guarantee nightly internet access. Enjoy the flight!

42k Service, Tires, & Pre-trip update

I broke all the rules by doing the 42,000 mile service on the R1200ST over the weekend (@42500 miles).  I leave on an 11 day tour this Thursday.

I started Saturday morning by reinstalling the wheels (new rear tire and remounted a spare front tire). 

Sidenote: Big Thanks to Patrick at Motorcycles Unlimited. He'd reserved a Z6 for me when I called on the previous Tuesday morning, but when I got there Tuesday afternoon, he asked me if I'd like a just delivered Pilot Road 2 instead. These are the first PR2s that he's recieved, so he asked for a review after I'd put some miles on them. I was sad to report that they would see 1600 miles of I-10 before they ever see twisty roads.

After a quick breakfast, I pulled the valve covers and did a valve adjust following Jim VanBaden's excellent tutorial. I finished by changing the engine and transmission oil. The bike was buttoned back up by 1:30.

On Sunday I packed all my camping gear into a large tail bag and dropped it off at my parents house. They'll carry it to Santa Barbara for me, simplifying my load for the 2-day I-10 run from Houston to Santa Barbara.

Steven, a very good friend from 4-H and also one of my college roommates, is getting married this Saturday. I plan to attend the very casual wedding (Santa Maria style Tri-Tip BBQ, anyone?) and then embark on a California and Southwest US (mostly Utah) tour. I'll end the trip with 2 nights in Alpine, TX for the Sport-Touring.Net Region 2 meet.

Keep an eye on this blog starting Thursday!

Ponder Pie Run

This day-ride report is a little late, but I have a few pictures to show and several gear comments that tie-in nicely:

The sun had not yet risen when I left my garage for the Ponder, TX Pie Run. At 277 miles each way, it was an ambitious ride for a late January day in Central Texas.

Route-wise, I spent the majority of the ride on I-45, switching over to US287 in Waxahatchie (love that name) to avoid going through the Dallas side of the DFW Metroplex. 

Some people who attended the pie run said that it was the worst fog they'd ever experienced. Having ridden in Tule fog in central California, I couldn't agree, but it was certainly thick.

It was also cold. The temp gauges I passed said it was in the 40s (F). My Widder vest got it's first workout of the year and the grip heaters were on high.

My first stop was around the 200 mile mark to get gas. I let my fingers defrost briefly in the gas station while I sipped some cappuccino. I probably should have been wearing the Tourmaster Coldfront Carbon gloves instead of my Racer Multi-Tops. The Racers were warm enough with the addition of grip heaters, but having to grip tightly was making my fingers cramp up uncomfortably. 

The Widder vest performed perfectly, but I still wish a little that I'd purchased something with sleeves. I've had this setup for around 5 years at this point and never regretted spending the money. Widder is going out of business at the end of this year (retirement). I need to snap up some $80 arm-chaps while they're still available.

I arrived at the Ranchman's Cafe, aka The Ponder Steakhouse, right on time at 11am. Lunch was a quarter pound "kid" cheeseburger followed by a slice of buttermilk pie.

The sun had come out by the time I was ready to point the R1200ST home. Dwayneinfo tried to tempt me into going to Motoliberty (fantastic Dallas moto-gear store), but I really wanted to be home (or at least close) by dark. 

I had my SPOT in tracking mode for the entire trip. Looking at the log, it appears to have missed a few reports while going through Dallas, but still performed adequately as far as I'm concerned.

Farkling the F650GS - Round 2

Today was like an early birthday! The F650GS and I got presents!

My ZTechnik windshield arrived from A&S Motorcycles around noon. A few hours later, the Quest RAM cradle and Widder battery hookup showed up from Whitehorse Press. I stayed late at work helping a coworker with a project, but hit the garage as soon as I got home.

The windshield install was super easy.

The unmolested GS with my long-ignored CB350 in the background (yeah, I need to sweep the leaves out):


The windshield kit'o'parts: sheld, u-shaped plastic spacer, screws, washers, and simply! good instructions:


GS sans stock fly-shield (3 screws removed):


New windshield installed. Easy Cheezy!






Sitting on the bike, this windshield is fairly tall. At 5'-4", I'm definitely going to need to keep the windshield clean, but I can easily see over it. I don't think I've had a shield this high since I sold the GL650. I have high hopes for it's effectiveness battling wind at higher speeds.


Next on deck was the RAM cradle for my Quest2 GPS. I'd been toying with the idea of fitting it with conduit hangers (like I did on the R1200ST). In the heat of the moment, I decided to simplify my install (and avoid scrounging through my *boxes of stuff*) by pulling one of the RAM balls off the ST and installing it onto the mirror of the GS. I found a diamond shaped plate with a ball attached in one of my spares boxes, along with a short RAM arm to connect it all to the bike.

Visible in this picture on the left side handlebar is my old Formotion glow-in-the-dark thermometer. I got pissed off at it's unerring inaccuracy last year and removed it from the R1200ST. I've decided to give it another chance.

You can also see the switch for the heated handgrips duct-taped (silver) to the left side of the cockpit. I still haven't made it over to my parent's house for a larger drill bit.

Finally, I connected the Widder vest battery connection to the BlueSea fuse box (clear cover, yellow latch, colorful fuses) that got installed two weeks ago. The F650GS now has full cold-weather capability.

The red line running along the subframe toward the rear of the bike (top-right side of the pic) is the switched wire from the tailight. I'm really trying to keep this install tidy.


If I can get my act together tomorrow morning, I'll give the new windshield a whirl. Watch for a review in the next few weeks.

Tripled my Dirt Experience!

I met Rebecca in Brookshire on Sunday afternoon for my first *Easy* dual sport ride.

Rebecca assured me that she would turn around if any of the roads were iffy because the rear-tire on Wilbur, her V-Strom, was almost bald. She gave me a quick refresher pep-talk on how to handle dirt and we were off!

Perhaps 20 miles of the 70-mile route to Fayetteville was on unpaved roads. Slightly damped down dirt with a little bit of gravel on top, it was very scenic and mostly one lane. There were even a few paved twisties that I would never have reached on the R1200ST.

I had one slight pucker moment when the rear tire fishtailed a little while I was downshifting for a turn, but for the most part the ride was easier than any of the scary gravel construction that I've experienced in my travels. I found myself mostly keeping to about 40mph on straights, much faster than I've ever gone on dirt with the R1200ST.

During our late *lunch* at Orsak's in Fayetteville, I joked to Rebecca that the ride had probably at least "tripled my dirt experience!"

It was after 4pm when we got back on the bikes for the ride home, so we decided to take the most direct route, avoiding unpaved roads. My shoulders and back were pretty sore. I think that I was so focused on staying loose on the bars that everything else tensed up!

It's my hope that these kinds of rides will build my confidence on dirt so that it won't be so scary to encounter road construction on the R1200ST. I won't say that I was having fun on the dirt roads, but I am optimistic for the future. The F650GS is just beginning to earn it's keep.

My camera was buried in my tank bag the entire ride, but Rebecca took a few pictures. I'll steal them once she posts them.

Farkling the F650GS

Farkling the F650GS has been an exercise in procrastination. I've had the initial main parts (fuse box, grip heater kit) sitting in my garage for weeks now, but haven't quite gotten around to doing the installation.

With the winter cold that Houston has been experiencing, this has led to a decreased desire to actually Ride the bike.

I resolved to spend this weekend taking care of it, finally. After work on Friday I ran around to a couple of hardware and auto parts stores, stocking up on stuff for my install. I bought an automotive relay, an inline fuse, 12 and 18 ga. wire in red and black, and various electrical connectors. I have acquired a good sized collection of crimp-on electrical connectors through the years, but I've also learned that when doing an install, I always seem to have insufficient quantities of the connectors I need most.

My first order of business on Saturday morning (after feeding Cali and giving Sorscha her dried cranberries) was to pull the existing grips off the F650GS. I've helped with heated grip installs on 3 bikes at this point, so I had the grips off quickly and prepped the surface for the stick on heaters.

Note: Heated grip kits are often available locally from stores like Cyclegear, but I've always preferred the Symtec kit with attractive OEM-looking round rocker switch offered by CAsporttouring.

Some people swear by insulating the clutch side with duct tape or even insulation, but the Symtec kit is specifically made to not require that measure. I stuck it right onto the painted metal of the handlebar, confident that it would provide the right amount of heat. The throttle side was a little harder, with little ridges on the moveable tube. I wound some electrical tape around the sticker to hold it in place and pushed the OEM grip back on.

An air compressor hose stuck under the grips is supposed to make it easier to get the grips back on, but I found that my little electric tire inflator did next to nothing. Elbow grease got the job done. I routed the wires to the desired switch location with some small black zip ties.

Next I needed to provide a power source. I had bought a 6 circuit Blue Seas fuse box at Academy Sports (~$28) a few weeks earlier. Now I needed to find a place to put it. Rooting around in my under-seat area, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my GS had in fact come with the OEM tool roll. The previous owner said that it he didn't have it! Apparently the very complete tool roll hadn't been used in the life of the bike! I relocated it to the locking compartment under the rear *rack* and fit my fuse box into the tool roll slot.

The F650GS is unique in that the gas tank is under the seat and the battery is up inside the faux *tank*. The FAQ at F650.com gives easy instructions for removing the center tank panel to access the battery without having to remove all the fairings (as is described by the BMW owner's manual).

Using my 12 ga. wire and yellow connectors, I created a harness running from the battery back to the fuse box. The ground wire is black, with a ring connector at each end. The hot wire is red, with an inline 30 amp fuse and female spade connector on one end to plug into the relay. Another 12 ga wire goes from the relay to the fuse box. I tucked the wires away under the *gas tank* fairings. To switch the relay, I used a scissors to scrape away at the electrical tape around the tail light wires and put a *vampire* connector onto the gray/black wire of the tail light. I ran a red wire from the tail light to the relay. Another black wire to the fuse box grounded my switched connection.

My fuse box ready to go, I ran a red/black pair of wires to the heated grips switch location, put a 5 amp fuse on the circuit, and hooked everything up for a test. The grips quickly heated up, so I buttoned up the bike.

Early Sunday morning I drove to the hardware store to pick up a 13/16" drill bit to make a hole for the switch, but the store wasn't open. In hindsight, I'm not even sure that my little 9-volt Makita could handle such a large bit. I might have to run the bike over to my parent's house to drill the hole. Dad will definitely have everything needed.

The grip heater switch is duct-taped in place for now. The fuse box is ready to go for easy install of additional electrical farkles. A heated vest connection and XM radio will probably come soon.

I also have a ZTeknik windshield on order and am waffling over which luggage rack to go with.