Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
F800GS Mods
I've had my BMW F800GS for a little over 18 months now, in that time I've covered a good few miles and have slowly added bits and pieces that make it - in my opinion - a pretty good touring bike. Thought I'd list the items on my bike that differ from the standard spec and some opinions on the items in case it's useful to anyone else.
1. BMW Touring Screen - a great improvement over the standard screen, but still not perfect for me. If I was replacing the screen again I think I'd go for the MRA Vario with the adjustable spoiler
2. BMW R1200GSA Handguards - great for keeping hands warm and protected and far bigger (yet no more pricey) than the 800 specific items
3. BMW Adventure Aluminium Panners - originally I had the Vario panniers, but the side opening got quite annoying (everything falls out!) and these look way cooler
4. Adventure Spec Crashbars - I think they complete the bike looks-wise and give it a great deal more protection in a fall
5. Adventure Spec GiT rear rack - loads of attachment points for the RokStraps.
6. Autocom Pro7 Sport - great bit of comms kit. Hardwired to the bike (and attached to the underside of the seat) and to the Zumo for GPS, Phone and Music
7. Touratech Touring Seat - the standard seat is brutal. This is a great improvement, but still not perfect.
8. Sheepskin - this makes the seat about as good as it's going to get
9. Custom made Garmin Zumo mount - attaches to the top of the bars in the centre rather than a RAM mount on the bars. Touratech do something similar
10. Garmin Zumo 550 GPS - Directions, Phone and Music - perfect! Hardwired to the Canbus socket under the tank
11. Kriega Tank - converts a Kriega US pack to a tankbag
12. Kriega US10 - a nice little bag that's great on the tank for the phone, chargers, cameras and that sort of thing
13. DiD heavy duty chain - the standard chain is made of cheese. The bling gold DiD chain looks better and is less likely to fail when you least expect it
14. Remus Hexacone exhaust - sounds better, weights about half as much as the stock one
15. HiD headlight - the standard light is about as good as riding along with a torch. HiDs make all the difference.
16. Grip Puppies - reduces the vibration through the grips and increases their diameter making them much more comfortable for the long haul
17. Scottoiler crampbuster - primitive cruise control for a motorbike.
Wow, that's more than I expects, and I am sure I've missed something!
RBLR1000 Ironbutt Ride
On the weekend of 19th/20th June, my mate Mort and I undertook the biggest challenge in my short life as a motorcyclist so far - that challenge was to cover 1000 miles in a 24 hour period - an IronButt Saddlesore 1000. The event was run for the benefit the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, with each rider raising sponsorship and paying an entry fee.
On the evening of Friday 18th June, 300 motorcyclists met at Squires Cafe in Leeds to be briefed on the challenge ahead and the routes. I chose the "South Anti-Clockwise" route which involved riding from Leeds to Leeds via Redruth in Cornwall and Dover in Kent, a total of 1040 miles. The start time was set at 5:30am on Saturday, so we had until 5:30am on Sunday to be back at the cafe - a tall order on the congested roads of the UK!
The first leg of the journey took us down via Manchester, Telford and Bristol to the south coast at Exeter. This was dispatched in about 5 hours putting us well ahead of our schedule. Next we rode through Devon to the bottom tip of Cornwall at Redruth arriving just before lunch time. After a brief fuel stop and stretch of the legs, I noticed that there was a little bit of oil on my clutch cover. Fearing the worst we looked over the bike, and it appeared that the dreaded 800GS weeping rocker cover had struck. The oil level was a little down so we topped up (thanks to my riding partners emergency oil supply) and vowed to check it at every stop from there on.
We began the long slog all the way across to Dover via Southampton. This leg proved to be somewhat more problematic due to some very bad traffic (due to an accident on the M27 and a good few miles of stationary traffic - we reached the front of the queue and the police decided to let the bikes past the scene so it wasn't all bad) and my bike running out of fuel 2 miles short of our stop in Southampton – lesson learnt: never believe an 800GS fuel gauge – fortunately Mort and I just about fitted on his 1150GS and went to the petrol station to get a jerry can. Coming back was more of an adventure as there was no way that we were going to fit a can of petrol between us - things were cosy to say the least. Apparently we are now engaged - expect an invite to the wedding soon. We reached Dover by 8pm and we began the long, dark, and somewhat damp, homeward leg of around 300 miles back to Leeds.
A few fuel stops and a brief pause to mark 1000 miles covered saw us arrive back at Squires Cafe in Leeds at 1am, exactly 19.5 hours after we left and within the top 20 out of the 300 riders that started the run. We were clapped in by those that had arrived and the organisers which was a lovely feeling.
A great experience for a great cause that I intend to repeat many more times once the current aches and pains have subsided!
On the evening of Friday 18th June, 300 motorcyclists met at Squires Cafe in Leeds to be briefed on the challenge ahead and the routes. I chose the "South Anti-Clockwise" route which involved riding from Leeds to Leeds via Redruth in Cornwall and Dover in Kent, a total of 1040 miles. The start time was set at 5:30am on Saturday, so we had until 5:30am on Sunday to be back at the cafe - a tall order on the congested roads of the UK!
The first leg of the journey took us down via Manchester, Telford and Bristol to the south coast at Exeter. This was dispatched in about 5 hours putting us well ahead of our schedule. Next we rode through Devon to the bottom tip of Cornwall at Redruth arriving just before lunch time. After a brief fuel stop and stretch of the legs, I noticed that there was a little bit of oil on my clutch cover. Fearing the worst we looked over the bike, and it appeared that the dreaded 800GS weeping rocker cover had struck. The oil level was a little down so we topped up (thanks to my riding partners emergency oil supply) and vowed to check it at every stop from there on.
We began the long slog all the way across to Dover via Southampton. This leg proved to be somewhat more problematic due to some very bad traffic (due to an accident on the M27 and a good few miles of stationary traffic - we reached the front of the queue and the police decided to let the bikes past the scene so it wasn't all bad) and my bike running out of fuel 2 miles short of our stop in Southampton – lesson learnt: never believe an 800GS fuel gauge – fortunately Mort and I just about fitted on his 1150GS and went to the petrol station to get a jerry can. Coming back was more of an adventure as there was no way that we were going to fit a can of petrol between us - things were cosy to say the least. Apparently we are now engaged - expect an invite to the wedding soon. We reached Dover by 8pm and we began the long, dark, and somewhat damp, homeward leg of around 300 miles back to Leeds.
A few fuel stops and a brief pause to mark 1000 miles covered saw us arrive back at Squires Cafe in Leeds at 1am, exactly 19.5 hours after we left and within the top 20 out of the 300 riders that started the run. We were clapped in by those that had arrived and the organisers which was a lovely feeling.
A great experience for a great cause that I intend to repeat many more times once the current aches and pains have subsided!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Homeward bound
So it's all over. If I am honest I am a little lost, the last week and a bit have been so intense, there is a feeling of a hole being left now that it's finished. Still, we still had to get home to England. We started off with a nice leisurely breakfast in the fantastic Raddisson restaurant. Jeff and John had prepared an oscar ceremony for the team, each of us receiving a little gift based on some aspect of our personality or riding. It was very funny, and had us all in fits of giggles! We were joined by Ian, our team leader, for final goodbyes. I don't think he wanted to let go of us really ;)
The group then split as there were two flights out of PE to Johannesburg, the early group leaving at 10:15 and the later group at 1:20. I was in the later group so spent the morning hanging around the hotel and had a couple of beers with some of the group. The flight to Johannesburg went smoothly - I slept for most of it, and we met up with the rest of the group in the airport. Lots more hanging about was achieved, before out 8:30 flight to the UK. The flight was fine on the most part, but I didn't manage to get any sleep (despite my lovely new squishy neck pillow - would have been better if it had come with a mesh bag though (only a few people will understand that seemingly random reference!))
The flight landed on time at Heathrow and once we had all collected our bags we said our goodbyes which was a fairly emotional experience, but we all know it is fair well rather than goodbye as we are sure to see each other again.
So it's all done without too many injuries (for me at least). I escaped with a badly bruised ankle, numb left hand, bruised hip and dodgy shoulder, I expect those to all work themselves out over the next few days and weeks.
Over the next few days I will update the daily entries with a bit more detail - much easier with a real keyboard than the iPhone - fix the typos and add some pictures.
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