Good to hear that fixed the problem
Good to hear that fixed the problem
Well, unfortunately the fix for the fuel gauge was temporary. Today was the first day I had a chance to ride the bike since the repairs, and the fuel strip gave up the ghost before I even left the driveway.
It's under warranty, but that is another 4h round trip to Baltimore to get it fixed again.
Forgot to mention - this is already the second fuel strip that the dealer put on the bike, the first one failed during their test ride...
Been a while since there have been any updates and there still isn't really one. But as it's another BMW bike update I figured I'll put it in here rather than start yet another thread:
Well, the fuel smell is back. It actually never completely went away, it just became less noticeable.
"Research" on the Internet suggests it's either an issue with the car-like evap system these bikes have, or some other seals around the filler neck leaking. Either way it looks like there is a bunch of disassembly to be one, and it's similar disassembly to replacing the fuel strip so I guess I'll add that to the to-do list for the dealer.
Not about the R1200GS, but about the white R100RS in the video above. If you haven't seen the video, while the bike is not exactly what its colour scheme implies, it sports a Krauser 4V head/piston conversion that really wakes up this old aircooled lump. The conversions are pretty rare and parts are really hard to find, which is why I don't use the bike much. Especially as the very much dwindling spares stash resides in the Netherlands these days and the company doesn't ship abroad anymore.
Anyway, as with everything else, there is an FB group for people who own bikes with this engine conversion, and as I was casually browsing this evening, I see a few photos that have me go "hey, that looks like my bike". Turns out that the long time owner who had had all the work done had posted a few photos of what now is my bike, and he was surprised to hear that it's still around.
Say about social media what you want, but it's cool when they enable things like this.
Still nothing on the GS, but I've managed to put a weekend's worth of work into the R100RS. Let's see if I can get it running and driving again.
Well today wasn't a particularly good day, as the GS and I got taken out by local deer, Kamikaze division.
Don't know what the damage to the bike is yet as I was too busy getting loaded into an ambulance. It run while laying on its side for several minutes with one of the cylinders buried in dirt so I don't have high hopes. Despite falling very quite far thanks to tall as the GS, damage to myself is mostly a broken collarbone and a bunch of bruised ribs. Guess it paid off wearing all the gear.
I think I've got pretty lucky as I was going pretty slow due to me spotting deer before. Sorry for messing up the language even more than usual as I have to use the dictation feature on my tablet.
Damn Tim. Deer on a motorcycle is scary!
Glad you are good enough to tell us about it and hope you heal up fast!
Glad you're (mostly) ok! Are you going to need surgery for the collar bone? Don't worry about the GS, that can always be replaced, just concentrate on getting better...
In reply to docwyte :
Thanks! Not too worried about the bike, I just don't bounce like I used to.
Don't know about potential surgery yet, have to talk to the orthopaedic surgeon on Monday.
In reply to BoxheadTim :
Sure hope your recovery goes well. We ain't 20 no more (healing hurts more!)
Very glad it wasn't worse.
I had not started you video, but I did tonight... I'll get back to it when I have some better time. Enjoyed the first few minutes.
In reply to 03Panther :
Thanks. Definitely don't bounce as well as I used to. First actual injury in almost a quarter century of motorcycling so I can't complain.
Local towing company dropped the GS off this morning. It’s like they knew who the bike belonged to and where I live (yes on both counts, it’s a small town and they also run my preferred garage in town who I farm out the work to that I can't or don't want to do).
Bike almost looks like it fared better than I did, looks like it needs an indicator, fog light, ideally new scaffolding on the left. The left pannier is a little out of shape but still closes ok with a bit of persuasion.
Unfortunately it looks like the forks are twisted, can’t tell if one of the legs is bent or not. Looks like I may have to get it looked at by a pro.
Which brings up the big question, go through the insurance or not?
Why wouldn't you go thru insurance? I've found on these larger adventure bikes that the amount of damage that looks minor adds up to a substantial amount of money to fix. Since you have insurance on it I'd be dropping it off at the dealer for a full evaluation and quote from them.
In reply to docwyte :
Mostly from a value of the bike versus expected premium increases perspective. Early 1200 gsa's aren't worth that much these days so between that and the fairly high deductible I am not sure if it made if it makes financial sense.
I do have to check if my policy covers any of the safety gear though because that would make a noticeable difference. Given that I won't be doing any dropping off of anything anytime in the next week or two or three I'll probably have to have the insurance handle this anyway. Nearest BMW dealer is like 80 miles away and there is no way I'm driving that far right now.
Oh well got to about 1800 bucks in parts for stuff I know needs fixing and hit the first part that's NLA. I guess that sounds like a problem that the insurance needs to deal with.
Edit: make that 2400 in parts alone if one of the fork stanchions is bent.
Most moto policies cover gear. I know mine automatically covers $3000 in gear. Not sure how much you pay, but my policy on my KTM is something like $150 a year. So I'm totally ok with that going up some if it means insurance is paying for all the damage to the bike, my gear and me.
Who do you guys use for insurance? I use Geico and did not know gear might be covered.
In reply to Slippery :
Progressive thru USAA
I'm with State Farm and just checked, $3ks worth of gear is covered. That's fortunately more than enough to take care of the damaged gear. Never had a reason to check that part of the coverage, but it's coming in handy now.
Had to deal with doctors and all that today, so won't be able to put in the claim until tomorrow. Looks like riding season is over for this year based on the prognosis of how long it'll take for me to heal, but no surgery needed or recommended.
Got word back on the bike - they're totaling it. Don't have a quibble about the valuation either, so I'm OK with that. Of course now the question is what to replace it with once I can ride again.
Only real damage to the gear is the helmet, so that's getting replaced, too. Everything else survived OK, although I will get a jacket with better armor and hope I won't have to test it again.
In other news, broken collarbones blow.
I like Klim gear, very well made. As far as a bike, as much as I respect the big BMW's, they're just too big for me. If I was mostly doing tarmac riding I'd be looking at a KTM 890...
I'm considering Klim, plus there is a Rev'It mesh jacket I've got my eye on that would be an upgrade for my existing on (better abrasion score and CE Level 2 armor).
I'm definitely looking at middleweight bikes, something like a BMW F800/F850, Guzzi V85TT or maybe a KTM 890. I'm really more after a touring bike so the KTM and various other bikes in that class are probably a bit too hardcore. The easy button would be a regular R1200GS (non-Adventure) or an R1200RT, but ideally I'd prefer something a tad smaller.
I also happen to think that most new bikes are fugly (get off my lawn and all that), which doesn't help with choice.
Glad to hear that your gear worked and that you're not going to have to deal with fixing up the GSA.
I've got a 2015 F800R in the garage, as well as a 2020 KTM 790 adventure, and a 2014 R1200GS, and a Vulcan 650. The stock seat on the 790 is hard as a board but otherwise the bike feels so low and so light. A little rowdier motor than the F800R but the suspension is more laid back. The R12 is great for chewing up miles but she's a big girl.
Have you looked at a versys 650? They've made a milllion of them, and the kawasaki parallel twin 650 is nearly the definition of "just enough". Might also look at the tracers, the T9 loves to lift the front wheel but isn't too much of a pig, and the new T7 is a real sweetheart.
In reply to the_machina :
I'm looking for something that's just big enough for some two-up touring without being the size and weight of a house. I think both the Versys 650 and the Weestrom are just a tad too small, otherwise they'd likely tick all of the boxes.
It looks like there really isn't much left of the middleweight touring bike class, which is why I'm looking at middle weight adventure bikes. The Triumph Tiger 800 I owned a few years back would tick all the boxes, but I could never really get comfortable on it. At least with BMWs, the ergonomics generally work for me, but even something like an F850GSA is humongous. If the story for hard bags on some of the standards other than BMW would be better, I'd definitely look at something like a Bonneville or a Guzzi V7 Special.
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