Two Years Living On Two Wheels...And Counting

[Judoka]

It was right here at this point that my lifestyle choice was once again solidified. The settlement was not much at all but it would have been enough to get an apartment and to set down roots and start living a "normal" life. While I had friends encouraging me to do so, I simply could not for the life of me find the appeal. I was LIVING again and I simply did not care what anyone else thought about it!

 

[Judoka]

BY now travel had shown me how much I needed a GPS on the bike. I set out to find one and finally located one at Tom Wood Powersports in Indianapolis which was less than 300 miles away. I packed up and hit the road with a plan to get the GPS installed and then roll out to see my family for an early Christmas.

 

[Judoka]

MY apologies! I am not a tech savvy guy. For some reason I no longer seem to be able to insert pictures into my posts like previously. I am posting up on a MacBook. When I upload the picture it just makes a thumbnail which when tapped on opens up to the full pic.
Anyone got any ideas how I might be able to fix this? I don't want to try to continue with my posts not displaying right.

 

[AbleGuy]

Hit the text on the picture that says “insert”

 

[Judoka]

Hit the text on the picture that says “insert”

I appreciate that. The only issue is that the "Insert " text at the upper left of the thumbnail is not displaying nor is the link below for posting multiple

 

[Judoka]

for example...

 

[Judoka]

Then again, it may be my computer because I am able to post up a different pic

 

[Judoka]

Anyway... On with the show!

 

[Judoka]

I had realized that I had put myself in danger not having Navigation so it was more of a safety thing than it was convenient. I knew that the bike used to have Nav before and I wrongfully assumed it was only something you could get from BMW. Little did I know I could get it from Cycle Gear for about $400 less.

The ride up to Indianapolis was not just cold, it was miserable cold! I mean, holy crap am I going to freeze to death, cold! The thermometer was reading 22 degrees but it was also very damp. With my finders and my legs going numb I figured it best to just pull over and find a hotel. As usual I booked one on Priceline just down the street where I stopped to get coffee to try to warm up.

 

[Judoka]

This screenshot is very important to the next part of the story! Please notice that I am starting east of Indianapolis Indiana. EAST ! This part of Kentucky is about 30 minutes West of where the time zone changes from EST to CST. One might deduce that going geographically North and a little bit further WEST that it would very likely be Central Time Zone.

 

[Judoka]

It was now approaching Midnight and the clock on the bike read 23:38 or something. I figured I could get 7 hours of sleep and still ride the last 50 miles or so to make my 09:00 appointments to get the Nav installed. Most of all, I could thaw out! If would be as cold in the morning I figured I could just take a couple of coffee stops and make it through.

I got to the front desk and told the guy I had a reservation. He informed me that it was for the following night! Apparently , I had booked it wrong because I was in a different timezone and therefore it was ALREADY the next day! How could I be in EST when I left CST but went west? Lesson learned. I just figured I could use the room an my way back through the next day.

Here was the real issue though. There were no available rooms! I would have no choice but ride on towards Indianapolis!

 

[Judoka]

By the time I got to a hotel in Indy I was the coldest I could ever remember being! So cold that it was difficult to speaking to the night manager trying to check in. I seriously thought that I might not make it more than once on that ride!

Sadly, setting up my tent was not an option so late with no campgrounds close by.

This was probably when I started thinking heated riding gear may have a place after all !

 

[Judoka]

The next morning after the icecicles had melted off my nether regions, I packed up everything and rolled out for the BMW dealership. When I got there they got me right in. and went to work on it. While sitting there I thought I should ask if they would have time to adjust the valves if she needed it. I was about to ride another three thousand miles in the upcoming week and I wanted to be sure she was ready. I had just done an oil change the day before. They said it would not be a problem.



WRONG!


.

 

[Judoka]

About an hour or so the Tech came out to me and said," Hey man, I think you need to see something". So I followed him back where he showed me the engine cover pulled on the right side of the bike and where a nut had somehow come loose and a washer was missing! He told me that when He pulled the cover the nut was sitting inside but he did not see the washer. He told me he looked everywhere for the past 20 minutes thinking maybe he had dropped it. He figured that it had fallen down into the engine!

I paid them for another hour to try to scope the motor and that search came up with nothing. So, I asked him what he thought I should do and he told me to take the motor apart because if the washer had been sitting in there somewhere it could dislodge and cause catastrophic failure.

Now I have to ask. Has anyone reading this ever heard of such a think happening on one of these bikes? Please chime in and let me know!

 

[Judoka]

Here is a video of the bike being torn down. You can see the washers behind the bolts holding on the head on the left side of the motor . The right Sade was already removed by this time. Please share this video with anyone you know who works on these bikes. I want to know if anyone else has had this experience.