Rain, rain, rain

A good day to install new front disk brake pads... I love how easy it is to swap in new pads front and rear. 10 minutes per side and you are done on the front with new Carbone Lorraines and another 10 minutes on the rear mean a season of no worries.

Some maintenance is just sweet it is so well thought out, if only all the routine maintenance was this way!

Pinto Ridge Road

Snowed 2 inches here Friday night, but the temp has been in the 40's in the daytime so what was new here has gone and close to 50°f (10°C) so it's map time and look for a new road. Since it's still the "Great White North(West)" to the west, I decided to head East toward the Basin and take a look a a road that has SOME curves in it not far from Soap Lake.

Pinto Ridge Road ended up the target, since Dry Coulee Road ended up with a "Primitive Road" sign 400m into it. Went a little farther East to get to it, but it was paved (and stayed that way) although there were enough tar snakes that when the weather changes and it's 90°f out I wouldn't want to hit any curves at speed hence those snakes bite.

You forget how harsh the conditions are out here on the coulee flats, tough living and the abandoned homesteads reflect the attempts. But the road is fairly good and enough curves to make it interesting. There is actually a State Park out here (Summer Falls State Park) next to Billy Clapp Lake, an 18 mile lake formed by Pinto Dam (what?).  Who knew so much activity was out here...

















You end up in Coulee City, and then get the choice of high on the Waterville Plateau West on Hwy 2 West and 30°f, or stay low and run Hwy 17 South through Dry Falls/SoapLake-Hwy 28 East Ephrata/Quincy the way one came and 45°f.  I chose the latter but still had to turn on the grip and seat warmer after 3 hours of cool temps.

3.5 hours, 170 miles, new final drive, and about a dozen bikes passed... love the brotherhood.  ;)

Back in business...

Took vacation time yesterday to pickup my rebuilt final drive in Seattle, had lunch with my daughter, and back by 5:30 PM.  Installed the drive this morning and it couldn't have been a more trouble-free installation.  Usually the trick to get the final drive u-joint assembly spline and the driveshaft lined up takes about 10 minutes... it slid in the first time in around 10 seconds.  I was in shock, but a happy shock.  All assembled, filled with oil, torqued to specs... going to go out and test her, I'll publish the results later today.

128 miles the way it should always sound... went to Moses Lake and surprised my sister with a visit and back home again. 46°f average and it was nice to be back in business again.

Finaldrivendectomy

I began this blog as I was transitioning between a 1999 K1200LTI (icon) and a 2000 K1200LTC (custom). I had a final drive failure on the 1999 model at 114,000 (yes, THE dreaded Achilles Heel of the model line) but had it rebuilt at a Seattle BMW dealership while I was buying my 2000 with half the milage and heated pillion seats for Mrs. RedTigre. I then swapped the drive from the 2000 into the 1999 and put the rebuilt FD into the 2000 because it was newly rebuilt and had a 2 year parts and labor warranty.

18,000 mile later, it has failed again.

Making that now recognized wa-wa sound, draining the FD fluid again shows debris I have seen in the last four FD oil changes.

That glitter you see is bearing  :(

More bearing race sparkle...

Debris picked up by the magnet

Now, with the proper shim and preload, this drive should have lasted another 100k miles minimum... as it was, it had concerns after the first oil change and now that things are really ready to begin breaking down, it has been pulled and being ferried this Friday by auto back to the dealership for warranty repair.

Let's hope they spend the time to inspect and get this one right...

New Helmet Test

It's raining to beat the band and the window for testing has come.  Do I:

a. Go for a short 60 mile ride to Beebe Bridge and back?
b. Go for a short 60 mile ride to Quincy and back?
c. What does the combination of the words "short 60 miles"mean when the temperature is over 45°f?

If you chose "c", you ride a BMW.

ATGATT'd up, new helmet, and the Doppler radar says East looks most promising... East it is!

Helmet review:
Good if all the vents are closed!!!  Cooler weather made it a little more chilly but the airflow rocks! I am going to love this helmet in summer.  Not any noisier with the modular flip down than my HJC CL-13 full-face, but the air does move around more inside from the 9 vents even when closed (again, good in Summer, a Balaclava probably in Winter under 45°f). The ease of wrapping my shemagh  around and closing off the cold from my neck was superb!  The breath-box kept any fogging from happening, my face was never so warm and I called Joan on my iPhone connected to the Cardo scala rider G4 comm system with incredible clarity, pulled out talking as a test and it was impressive.

And the internal drop-down sun-shield kicks!

110 mile run today, brief rain in East Wenatchee, then sun and drying roads past Rock Island, past Quincy to Ephrata, then back down the 283 to George, back to Quincy and home.  53°f was the top temp today, 44°f the low.

Mrs. RedTigre has got to get a helmet like this... I already have the matching comm set for her!

Cold, but still you ride...

Another impromptu ride today, but being warmer (36°f) made it not so bad.  Well, that and another layer under the gear. Decided to make a run north to Beebe bridge, but the shadows along the cliffs and the highway being along the river let too much frost form in the corners so I had to slow down, then decided the 70 mile roundtrip was good where I stopped about 4 miles short of my destination.  It was 30°f when I turned around, so the ride back to balmy 36°f temps was welcome.

My new helmet is here Monday... looking forward to my next ride!

New Years Day Ride

So I began the lead up with some required scheduled maintenance that requires stripping off all the upper tupperware, removing the tank cage, emptying the tank of fuel and then removing the tank and inverting it, to pull the fuel pump assembly to get to the fuel filter, and while off to replace the air filter that can only be accessed with the fuel tank removed. Doing this myself saves $400 on parts and labor, so it's worth the time.  I was going to get a photo of it all off but by the time I thought of it I was putting it back together and  I'll be damned if I was going to take it apart again for pics!

So 6 hours later and some required replacement parts Mistress will use that require 3 separate trips downtown because Sod's law states that the 59¢ part requires 30 minutes travel and another 15 minutes explaining why the substitute part trying to be sold will not suffice in the grand scheme of BMW-hood. Geez, the world should be metric by now!








So all the assembly done, tested for leaks, ATGATT'd up (All The Gear All The Time) and down to the gas station to refill the tank fully and decided to take a New Years Day run to Orondo... 32 miles roundtrip at 19°f. Starting the year with 76,357 miles... we'll see where we end up on my Dec 31st post!

First ride of the new year and it... was... GREAT!

I need to ride, and Mistress is the connection I need...