Lost rider.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

24k service 6-13-13

Its crazy I'm already due for a 24k service already. I bought the bike with 10k on the clock back in December of 2012. I guess you could say I really like this bike. So for this service I did the normal 24k service but I also did a few extras. For the service here's the list.

plugs
all fluids (oil diff and trans.
checked brakes. Back brakes were getting low. Bought new rear pads and installed 8-4-13
adjusted valves and checked rockers. only right side intake was out of spec but not by much.
adjust throttle body with Twin-max.
checked the alternator belt. belt looked to be in good condition. Decided not to replace and keep new belt as spare.
Checked tires.
and a thorough inspection of everything else.

As for the extra stuff. I had two aux plugs installed at the dealer. But me being me. I didn't like the wiring. So I removed the plastic and the tank completely off. re-ran the wires for the 2 aux ports and the GPS. I ran the wires along the factory harness and put it in a protective sleeve. Now it looks as if it was factory and no rubbing. Installed the Fuse block finally. Also modified the seat to allow extra room under the seat.

lubing the splines and inspecting the driveshaft.

Remove the tank and it doesn't look like such a big bike anymore.

Adding the fuse block

Perfect fit

Seat mod to allow room for tools and new fuse block under seat.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

BMW RA Rally 2013 at the Biltmore Estates in Asheville NC.

This years BMW RA Rally was help at the Biltmore Estates in Asheville NC. The Rally was help on the property of the Biltmore which was really cool. How many people get to say they got to camp on the Biltmores' front lawn. As for the Rally there wasn't much really there to do. If you ask me it was like a Bike week in Myrtle Beach but instead of bearded old men on Harley Davidson's it's old more clean cut men on BMW's. The Rally had a turn out of about 2500 people and up. No matter where you seem to go in Asheville you would have come across BMW's in packs. Lined up in front of all the stores and popping in and off of the highway all day long. One of the benefits of being part of the RA Rally that weekend was we got full access to the whole park. We could visit the house everyday, go to the Wine Vineyard anytime and come and go off the property whenever we wanted. It was great.

On Thursday I had the bike pre packed. I stayed up late Wednesday to finish packing and make sure I was ready to roll out after work Thursday. At 4pm Thursday I was already changed and walking out the door at work. I didn't stop nor pass go and collect my $200. I was gone. turned on some tunes and hit Interstate 40. After a few hours as I got the RA. and set up camp and did it feel great to lay down.

Friday was the big day. Friday I signed up for the Adventure Raid Course the GS Giants built on the Biltmore property. The course consisted of 7 obstacles. It had everything from tight corners to crossing over logs. going over dirt hills and mud. Wet dirty deep mud. I signed up for the bike big medium course. To be honest I thought I did pretty damn good too for being as small as I am and having to handle a 600lb bike. The rest of Friday was just go out and explore Ashville. But sadly due to the extreme fun I did have to spend some time at Starbucks to get homework done. Then explored Asheville some more. I've always passed by Asheville and been there tons of times but never really had the chance to stop and just see what all there is to offer. It was good to see what's there.

Saturday was the big day where the RA took over. All the venders opened up, and those who couldn't make it earlier in the week all showed up on Saturday for the weekend. For all the bikes that were already there. The bikes tripled. GS's everywhere. Beautiful sight. At 5pm all the BMW's got together and took over the main gate and parked all over the front steps of the Biltmore. (see photo below). We had so many bikes we ran out of places to park them and they just started parking everywhere they could fit. It was a great photo op. While we were all gathering together there was a new wed couple who got married and were taking photos in front of the Biltmore. I'm not sure if they knew though that there were going to be bikes everywhere blocking their photo. But front he look on the grooms face he didn't seem to mind bikes everywhere. There was a older gentleman with a classic bike and a side car who offered up his bike for photos. He also then took the newly weds on a short ride on the classic bike with sidecar around the Biltmore property. After that you could tell the bride didn't mind and she really loved it. I'm sure those photos came out really well.

On Sunday it was a easy day. Wake up, clean up and ride home. Got home around 4pm. and just relaxed. never thought I'd miss my bed and a clean shower so much.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Memorial day ride Exploration!! May 25-26 2013

I found a photo of a great view and wanted to go there. So I tracked down where it was and went to find out how and what was there. The destination was Lake Jocasse in SC. The road was called Horse Pasture Road. Not knowing what to expect I loaded up the bike and headed out.

Getting down there I took a nice detour on Highway 11 scenic bypass route in SC. Gorgeous road for any who want to go. After stopping for Ice Cream at Aunt Sues Country Store and then another stop for a wine tasting. I decided to get back to exploring and find my camp site. One I found the road it looked easy. There were hikers parked along the road and it seemed like a normal road. After a few more miles in the road got harder and harder. Then came the tricky part. According the map I was 2 miles from the camp site I marked on the map and I came across trees blocking my path. With my new hatchet only 8 inches long I started whacking away. I took the bike over, under and literally through the trees just to get to the site. My guess is the road was a maintained road but at this time has not been maintained since the last storm. After a while I finally make it to the camp ground where I set up camp and just sat back and relaxed. And enjoyed watching the Game Warden pull over every boat on the water.

Sunday I woke up at 6 am and slept OK in the hammock. It got very windy and the temperature dropped fairly quick. I thought getting out would have been easy thinking I already cleared away most of the trees but it took me twice as long to get back to the main road then it did to get in. From the morning dew on the trees I slid around more on the wood. To be fair I got a good solid test on the skid plate. One one tree because the bike was to tall I actually had to lay the bike on it's side and slide it under one tree. Did I mention it was a 600 lbs plus bike. It got to the point I had to strip the bike of all extra weight and remove the mirrors just to get by. After making my way 13 miles back to the main paved roads I slowly made my way back to Raleigh. Zipping up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville and detouring my way home.

More photos can be found on my Facebook page

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Here's some photos

I found the flower fields

Cool random Bridge in SC

View From Horse Pasture Road

Had to cut my way and go over this tree.

First tree of 5 that were in my way.

Had to lay the bike on it's side to get under this tree.

Tree number 3

My campsite View

Base Camp

Ice cream at Aunt Sues Country Store off HWY 11

Got me some wine to try.

blue dot is where I camped. 13 miles of back gravel and dirt roads windy with amazing views as you go through the mountains over looking the lake.

Ricks Rendezvous May 15-19 2013 in Hampton TN.

This years Annual ADV Rally was held in Hampton TN at the Black Bear Resort. Sadly for me I had to work that Thursday but I had Friday off to head up and to enjoy the weekend. With the bike loaded up Wednesday night. Thursday as soon as I got off work I hit the road. After a 3 hour ride I come into Boone NC just east of base camp. quick bite to eat and I'm gone. About 45 minutes later I rolled into camp. According to the GPS I coming in on the main road. After a nice smooth ride down a paved road I hit gravel. At first it wasn't to bad. About 13 miles of gravel and dirt later. (Did I mention the bike was loaded up.) I found out I came in the back way and there was a much easier way into camp. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the direction on the website. It said there was a nice paved road coming into camp from the other side of the mountain but no I had to take the back road. Damn GPS. But it was a good practice. The bike did a great job and well it just made me look more bad ass coming in on the dirt road loaded up.

Friday-
Friday morning I wake up at 6:30 am. Why I dunno I wanted to sleep but I'm used to getting up early for work and my mind just decided to wake up whether my body decided to follow or not. After a good morning breakfast. I joined the Big Bike road Ride. for today. We did a crap load of twists and turns, up down left rights and literally all around. One road we took was called The Snake. by the end of Friday I have gained a whole new level of respect for my large bike and how well it handled on the tight corners. Scrapping pegs and all the GSA took it like a champ and rolled through all the corners beautifully. Running the K60 scout dual sport tires 50/50 tread. I was hesitant on how well they would do. But I'll be honest these tires have performed beautifully no matter what I've thrown at them. Next set I may get them again.

Saturday-
Today was the Bike Bike off road ride. Now what I mean by Big bike. I'm referring to big bikes 650cc or bigger. All the little dirt bikes went on their rides where my bike is just to big and or to heavy. For the Big Bike off road ride our leader had a preset route we were going to try. But due to the weather rolling in and all the rain the group made some changes to the course. After a short delay we hit the road and road for about 6-7 hours of mostly gravel and dirt roads. One second we are in TN and then out of no where we pop out into another small town in VA. make a few random turns that almost look like driveways or dead end streets and boom we're in NC. One one trail we were on it for about an hour and we stop and gather at a nice over look of the mountains. We are all sitting there and chatting about how adventurous we are and how much fun we are all having. Then out of no where a Buick driven by an old man and his wife in the passenger seat just drives on by us. As you pry assume we all didn't feel so adventurous anymore. But we were still having a good time. After a few more hours of riding and my GPS loosing us in some of the hills and valleys we finally made it home with no casualties just in time for beer o'clock.

Sunday was an easy day. everyone started packing up and slowly headed back to the real world. To make the weekend last a little longer we took a dirt road called old hwy 105 south for about 18 miles. It entailed very steep inclines and descents fog was thick but made the road that much more challenging. Once we hit pavement we took a few more detours and stopped at Childress Vineyards for lunch. Not to exciting but the food was hot and very good.

More Photos can be found on my Facebook Page
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Here some pictures.