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Thanks for the bump. I've been swamped with work this summer so there's been little time to do much on the van. The 37's are a love hate relationship. I love how they look and work but it's a lot taller and once again the mileage drops 1mpg and it's a little taller to tow as well. There's a...

Ha, someone else mentioned that. Bedliner has a lot of texture so no. If I was anodizing it maybe. It's been great on my bumpers - three years and it's holding up well. It may be because I used POR 15 as my base. Gregor

Aluminum is tricky with Tig welding - it's a smaller window for the right amount of heat and it can quickly get away from you. It would have been much easier to weld this in steel but I wanted the practice and it's certainly been great for that. I'm feeling much more comfortable with aluminum...

Thanks. And I won’t lie - it feels amazing. It’s taken 20 years to get to this point but I wouldn’t trade it. Every project is a chance to learn and expand my skill set and I love doing it. Very excited to build the roof rack now. Gregor

Yeah, I'm very susceptible to that sort of thinking but I tend towards the "how can I make it better or more personal?" and I know it will not be worth it on a time/money function but for me it's always a learning experience. I wanted to improve my aluminum welding skills so what better way than...

So in the daylight and with a full night of sleep I got back on the ladder. Often times the best way to do something is not the easy way and in this case it meant fitting all the tubes onto the van and pulling the welder out onto the wet driveway and tacking the tubes insitu. I ended up tacking...

I avoided 37's because they seemed to go past the point of making sense and I ended up putting them on because... they go past the point of making sense. If that make sense. They look amazing on the van and seem visually proportional and the 4:30 gearing seems fine - it has no trouble going up...

So, as rioters took over the capital last week my natural inclination is to build a bridge. Unfortunately my shop is small so I settled on building a ladder. Is it what we need as a nation right now? No. Is it all I can build at the moment to distract you and I? Yes. Will it drown out the 24...

So far the 37's are doing well. The van is taller (obviously) but the kids can still get in. It has a couple of small spots that it rubs on full bump so I'll look into that but so far that doesn't happen much. While it's only a 5% increase the van seems quieter and calmer because the motor is...

Thanks for your suggestions. One of the things that was tried was a beefed up track bar mount. I think this helped but it didn't fix the issue. What "fixed" it is three Fox steering stabilizers. In talking with other builders and doing the research it seems that the issue is more likely with...

Blocking the rear tail lights was the reason I didn't go with the Aluminess one. I'm not as concerned about the rear windows so I made my rack to keep the tire up high and preserve the tail lights. I'm still happy with my design even though the spare is a hassle to get down. I haven't had to...

So over the time I've owned the van I've put on about 60,000 miles so far. That marked the end of the BFG tires and I'm impressed with the mileage that I got by rotating the spare into the mix but it was time for a change. Ever since I've seen these vans I've loved the proportions and look and...

Here’s a couple links: https://www.bikeexif.com/custom-bmw-r100gs https://www.upshiftonline.com/bikes-blog/2019-gregor-halendas-custom-bmw-r100gs-dirtbike https://www.advpulse.com/adv-bikes/gregor-halenda-bmw-r100gs-bike-build/ Gregor

Gee thanks! I don't really think of myself growing up so I think you have plenty of time to learn new stuff. I haven't posted here because the van went from a project that required building to a tool that was being used. That's a good thing but I just didn't really think to update the thread. I...

It's been a while since I've posted here but I thought I might update the thread a little bit. The van now has 230,000 miles and quite a bit has been put on in the last couple years. When I left off I had been building a bike for the 1 Moto Show. Portland, OR I was subsequently invited to...

So the big news for me is that I was invited to the Handbuilt Show - a show similar to the 1 Moto Show here in Portland but a bit more curated. Since I'll be driving down to Austin I wanted to deal with a creeping problem the van has had which is a weak charging system. It used to be about...

Sorry to be absent - I'm in the middle of building a bike for the big 1 Moto Show which is this Friday. To the question of how wide? Most Colorado trails were about as wide as a wagon. As a kid I remember having to fold the mirrors in on our F250 pickup. If a Sprinter made it I’d guess they’ve...

Yes, I loved the stream crossings! Good to know the Sprinter made it. That lets me know we'll have no problem on the width. I'm guessing they've groomed the trail some since I was a kid... Gregor

Growing up in Colorado I learned a lot about snow driving and the most important was always testing your traction. Quick brake checks before you go down the hill or when the road looks different can tell you a lot. Because we lived so high up in the mountains it was a regular occurrence to see...

So one of the things we don't get much of in Portland that Colorado had in spades was cold and snow. I was a bit nervous about the van starting as the temperature really started to dip. In Portland the temps rarely drop below the mid 30's but in Colorado the week we were there the temps ranged...