What did you do to / ride to with your Beemer today?

[Tor]

I decided to tend to the transmission and final drive of my GS to potentially do the first service of these units ever at 26k. They were both really easy and the splines were not rusted at all, although there really wasn't much moly lube on them and what was there had dried out. Pretty much like the ST, everything is straight-forward and makes sense, although it's interesting how BMW thinks compared to Honda. No idea what this would cost for a shop to do, but it's another task the average guy could do.

I drop mine down every 6K. Clean it up, check boots, , re-lube / new oil. Fun stuff....

 

[Team2010]

Well, this I did not ride today.
Usually, this is a favorite ride along Pine Canyon near Elizabeth Lake/Lake Hughes. Monsoonal rains causing flash floods. Funny thing, my friend was complaining he feels the need to put knobbys on his FJR due to some of our back-road adventures. He may be right!

 

[Smudgemo]

I have always liked the old Italian scooters like Vespa that carry a spare, so I thought I'd experiment with my GS.



Jk, my wife decided to try and launch her 328i from a road dip and blew out a run-flat tire and bent the rim. Sure, I could have driven it to the wheel shop with my car, but what fun is that?
Tilden Park in Berkeley in case you were wondering.

 

[The Forester]

As temperatures have dropped here to a rather cold 20C I took the opportunity to get some much needed refurbishment done to the brakes and wire some additional USB outlets along with extra lights, tyre pressure monitoring system and a couple of Go-Pro mounts in preparation for when the weather gets warmer.
Stripped front & rear calipers along with front master cylinder to give them a repaint and fitted new seals & pistons all round. Wired in a USB outlet to dashboard along with 2 to the rear topcase, 1 externally, for the use by "she who shall be obeyed", Kindle & phone etc and 1 inside the case for connection of Go-Pro battery chargers.
Whole project has taken around 10 days to complete not helped by the interference of the feline supervisor who decided to take up residence on the seat when I stopped for a tea break.
On completion we went for test ride to a cafe nearby and couldn't resist taking photo of these 2 parked outside, "only in Tunisia"

 

[Team2010]

First (dry) ride of the year. Home to Ojai, up Ca33, Lockwood Valley Rd to Frasier Park to Pine Canyon, Lake Hughes to home.
It got down to 44*. Some snow on Lockwood. Lunch at the Rock Inn at Lake Hughes.

 

[Smudgemo]

I did a Fri-Sun ride of the backroads between Hollister and Taft (Bakersfield area) on the GS with a buddy and his AT. Kind of a mix of weather including 40's, rain and high winds on the I-5 stint due to road closures. Crazy how many roads had been flooded and how many remain closed, but we were on ADV bikes, so hey, see if you can get through the closure (and twice we did.)

I've seen it stated in regard to moto-travel and planning that the country is bigger than you think, and it is.

Carrizo Plain


January is my busiest month so I hadn't given this trip much thought until last-minute when I realized my winter gloves were not going to cut it for the expected weather. I don't really want to spend for hit or miss heated gloves (and deal with wires/batteries), so I instead fashioned a set of muffs from some mylar bubble wrap I had laying around and $10 worth of Gorilla Tape. Sure they look stupid, but I hardly ever kept my heated grips on the high setting, and my gloves never saw a drop of rain hit them.


I had to cut them off, but the beauty is a bit more Gorilla Tape and a few new zip ties means I'm back in business. I just need to add a bit of foam to the inside area to better seal things as I did notice once or twice my thumbs could feel some cold air coming through.

 

[centralMN]

After going out on Saturday on an arctic cat in soft snow, the warm weather - you know a sunny 35F - got me out on the ST1100 hack Sunday. Well, even more sunshine and ice melting off the gravel road in the back of the picture I gave into my urges yesterday and after work rode the airhead for what ended up a 70 mile trip to the town that is 14 miles from home. Love the light airhead because rolling gently across sheets of ice left in the shadows, I can imagine that my sliding feet will somehow upright the machine before it goes thunk. In actuality no problems at all. Just a lovely ride and home as the ice started to get crunchy again because things were again freezing up.

Well it's raining today with a bit of snow in the morning before a cold snap so probably the right move yesterday to satiate my need to lean the machine. The picture attached is actually a different year. but pretty much how it is in this area every winter. Enjoy!

 

[Team2010]

Very limited riding in our area this winter due to numerous road closures due to landslides/mudslides. And now snow!
Not our coldest ride this season, only got down to 40*

 

[Team2010]

Rode to the Poppy Reserve. Due to late rain and colder than usual weather, no poppies yet. No mommies either!

 

[dduelin]

Rode to the Poppy Reserve. Due to late rain and colder than usual weather, no poppies yet. No mommies either!

I like a white motorcycle and the pinstripe recalls the legacy of BMW styling.

 

[Mellow]

Added lighted controls (Sorta) to my '21 RT.. It's not really necessary as muscle memory kicks in after riding in the dark a while but I figured I'd try anyway.. I attached a 10mm LED to the tray that holds my radar detector, it didn't need to be bright, just enough to show the controls on the left side.

I don't know why BMW didn't add lighted controls, seems like a no-brainer to me, heck I'd trade adaptive cruise control for that.

I had to order 50 LEDs to get the one I wanted lol.. so if anyone wants one let me know and I'll mail it to you, they are 10mm LEDs so a good size and not crazy bright.

 

[hondawayne]

Was a nice day to hang around the house today, didn’t want to ride with all the folks heading back to home from the lake so I spent a couple of hours cleaning the bike. For a 140,000 km and it’s 11th season it cleaned up pretty well. Going in for new tires this week and then leaving for Newfoundland on the 13th.

Love your yard something we in California dream about… no neighbors! God Bless.

 

[Winged_STer]

Added lighted controls (Sorta) to my '21 RT.. It's not really necessary as muscle memory kicks in after riding in the dark a while but I figured I'd try anyway.. I attached a 10mm LED to the tray that holds my radar detector, it didn't need to be bright, just enough to show the controls on the left side.

So straying a little off-topic here but as I am thinking of one for my Beemer, what are the current thoughts about radar detectors on motorcycles? I have heard like third hand or fourth hand that they get a lot of false positives due to all of the adaptive technologies on cars today, like collision avoidance and adaptive cruise. My ignorance showing here as well, but when it comes to laser detection, that by the time it registers on the detector it is too late to do anything? Or is there enough "dirtyness" in lasers that the detector can pick it up when it isn't directed at you specifically? I haven't used one in about 20 years so I really don't know if they are still viable.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mellow]

So straying a little off-topic here but as I am thinking of one for my Beemer, what are the current thoughts about radar detectors on motorcycles? I have heard like third hand or fourth hand that they get a lot of false positives due to all of the adaptive technologies on cars today, like collision avoidance and adaptive cruise. My ignorance showing here as well, but when it comes to laser detection, that by the time it registers on the detector it is too late to do anything? Or is there enough "dirtyness" in lasers that the detector can pick it up when it isn't directed at you specifically? I haven't used one in about 20 years so I really don't know if they are still viable.

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, there's more noise out there these days but it's still saved me a bunch of times... even if I'm just showing down because there's a car in front of me w/ACC or even blind spot monitoring can trigger it... I think... anyway, any reason to slow down 'just in case' isn't a bad idea vs not slowing down.. lol

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Added lighted controls (Sorta) to my '21 RT.. It's not really necessary as muscle memory kicks in after riding in the dark a while but I figured I'd try anyway.. I attached a 10mm LED to the tray that holds my radar detector, it didn't need to be bright, just enough to show the controls on the left side

I just keep thinking about this. Is it always on or did you switch for daytime? What does it look like in the daytime (the install not the light), enquiring minds want to know, at least this mind.

 

[Mellow]

They are tapped into the aux port on the RT which is only powered when the ignition is on.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

They are tapped into the aux port on the RT which is only powered when the ignition is on.

That’s nice Joe, looks tight and clean. Mine on the other hand…
Kidding, just making sure it actually works. Switched for anytime, fades out after a minute.

 

[dduelin]

Today was one of those days we all remember. The good gifts of perfect weather, 288 miles of good roads, no time clock, a fine spring day in horse country, a thousand shades of green, good music, and ribs for lunch.

 

[Team2010]

Installed my new Werks Quite Ride windshield today. It's a 26" clear. I'm hoping it's a big improvement over the stock unit.

 

[Mellow]

Started my valve check today, got other stuff to do but should be done tomorrow.