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What did you do with your bike today?

893316 Views 12256 Replies 560 Participants Last post by  gunsmoker, 
Johnnystriple
Me and my lady went for a nice ride on the Street Glide to a nice restaurant in Evansville, Ind. It has been a beautiful day.
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RogerC60
Not today, but...

Bought the '03 R1150RT back in November and spent the winter working on it. Replaced the OEM rubber brake hoses with Galfer braided stainless steel. Replaced the H7 halogen headlight bulb with an LED. Replaced the H3 halogen fog light bulbs with amber LED, hoping to increase conspicuity (run with the fog lights on all the time). Replaced the stock brake light bulb with an LED from Superbright LEDs, added a second brake/tail light unit (also LED), drive all the brake lights with a modulator (also from Superbright LEDs) that flashes the brake lights when I first apply the brakes.

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RogerC60
Over the weekend I removed the ABS servo controller from my '03 BMW R1150RT. The controller itself had developed a leak. Now the bike has "normal" independent non-power-assisted front and rear brakes. I finished the job earlier this evening and took a short test ride.

Wow.

Before, the brakes had been pretty touchy and grabby. Now they are very linear but still have great stopping power. Tomorrow's commute is going to be a good ride. :smile_big:
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RogerC60
I've always like the look of those early undressed Goldwings. They are just "how a motorcycle ought to look." And yours is definitely a looker :)
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RogerC60
Night riding

Last night I did my first night riding on my '03 R1150RT since putting in the LED headlight. The LED is a tremendous improvement over the stock halogen H7. (But I still need to add some more lighting; my car would have 2 of these bulbs, not just one.)
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RogerC60
Did a valve adjustment on my R1150RT, but before I took the valve covers off I wanted to clean the oily grime off the heads and covers. After searching for and reading many recommendations for cleaners I decided to try Spray Nine and a stiff bristle brush. Boy, that stuff really works! While I was at it I decided to clean the wheels and swing arm. Took me about 15 minutes to turn grungy into shiny. And no harm to any of the painted surfaces.
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RogerC60
Ah, memories. My first bike was a Suzuki GS550EC from about the same era. About a year after I bought it a co-worker bought a GS850. When I saw that it had shaft drive I was immediately envious because I hadn't learned yet how to properly adjust the chain on my bike and I had gone through two of them in the previous 12 months.

Your GS850 probably has ball bearings in the steering head, and they tend to dent the races and get flat spots. Check for bumpiness when you turn the handlebars with the front wheel off the ground. I replaced mine with tapered roller bearings and got a noticeable improvement in handling.
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RogerC60
On Sunday I finally had time to sync the throttle bodies on my R1150RT. I had done a valve adjustment the weekend before, so for a week my bike was running not so well. Lesson learned: don't do a valve adjustment unless I also have time to do the throttle body sync. One really does affect the other.

The ride to/from work yesterday and today was oh, so nice!
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RogerC60
It was warm and breezy here today (finally a day with temperatures in the low 80's). The wind was 15-20 mph with gusts up to 35. I decided to ride, and it wasn't that bad.

Plus I got to try out my new (to me) Joe Rocket mesh jacket. I've never worn mesh before and it was really neat to feel the breeze blowing through.
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RogerC60
If I can't wave I give a big nod. I see other riders do the same. Wave or nod, it's all the same to me: a nice friendly hello.
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RogerC60
mike721 said:
Rode into work today, I forgot it was a Holiday till I realized that the Interstate was EMPTY at 4 Am, then it hit me.
Anyone that doesn't like interstate riding needs to try it at 4 Am on a Holiday.. 3 lanes of smooth flat pavement, I think I saw 4 other vehicles the entire 50 miles on the highway, the only issue I had was keeping my speed to something reasonable. :)
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When my bike finds itself in that situation, its speedometer seems to develop a mind of its own, and absolutely demands to hover at a number pretty far above the posted speed limit (I choose to not disclose the actual number since this is a public forum). I typically don't mind and just let it have its way :smile:
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RogerC60
I had time for about an hour ride today, so I decided to try out the Calimoto app on my phone to let it create a ride for me. In case you've never heard of it, their motto is "No more straight roads". It created a ride that took me on some roads I've traveled before and some I've never been on. Mostly well-paved state and county roads, but one chip-and-seal road that still has some gravely parts.

Here's a link to my ride: https://m.calimoto.com/t/9uATMcw5jJ. I'm definitely going to try it out on some longer trips into the hills of southeastern Ohio to see where I end up.
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RogerC60
Weather forecast in NE Ohio called for rain between 10am and 4pm (or so), so I rode the bike to work. I ended up riding home in the rain, which would not have been so bad, but the wind was quite strong and even more, it was very gusty. I rode the 30 miles home on back roads rather than on the interstate.
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RogerC60
Applied a power buffer and some headlight lens restoring polish to my bike's windshield. Apparently BMW applies some kind of non-scratch coating to their windshields, and that coating had been partly worn off over the years resulting in a splotchy haziness. After buffing it looks almost brand new!

If you're going to try this, remember to remove the windshield from the bike first. No matter how carefully you spread out the polish before starting to buff, that polish will fling off and get all over the rest of the bike. DAMHIK.
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RogerC60
Retired Guy said:
Makes for new habits. Stop, shut it off, put down stand, bump the stand from the rear a couple times to make sure that sucker is all the way down, (and forward), then get off and walk away.
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And remember to park it in first gear, especially if you're on a bit of a slope. Motor off, clutch out, let it roll forward until all the play is out of the drive train, then side stand down and bumped forward. I managed not to drop mine, but I did learn the hard way that rolling 1 or 2 inches forward while it's on the side stand is enough to let the stand fold up.
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RogerC60
I had today off work so I took a ride this morning. 131 miles, included Ohio Rt 172 and U.S. 30 from East Canton to Lisbon. The first time I was ever on that road was a few weeks ago, my wife and I were in the car. I thought at the time it looked like a nice ride. Well, it was, but it turned out to be not quite as challenging as I thought it would be. Certainly not like one of the Windy 9 in southeast Ohio (which I'd like to do before long). But an enjoyable ride none the less.

And this was also the longest continuous ride I've ever taken. I learned that in this hot weather I should put some Blistex on my lips before riding to keep them from getting dried out.
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RogerC60
Critter said:
Roger have you ridden 555?
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Not yet, but I definitely want to.
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RogerC60
Miss Mercedes said:
BMW guy sold the bike. Weird. When I asked him when is the absolute soonest I could buy it (stating I could buy it immediately, within the hour), he said Saturday morning. Told him I was going to give him his asking price and everything. And yet, he sold it on Wednesday. Oh well, I'll find another to drool over. :)
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Well that's disappointing. But if the seller was such a flake maybe him selling it to someone else saved you from even bigger disappointment.
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RogerC60
The weather forecast predicted today would be gorgeous, so I planned to take a morning ride. I traveled south to pick up Ohio Rt 164. To get there I rode Ohio Rt 212, which is also a very nice and fairly twisty road, that goes across Atwood dam and through historic Zoar Village. Total ride was 163 miles. I got some good practice on judging curves, and I was riding them much better at the end of the run than I was at the beginning. :smile_big:

Now, the yardwork is calling...
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RogerC60
Had to have my bike ('03 R1150RT) towed home last night :sad:

Was riding home from the classroom part of the Basic Riding Skills for Returning Riders class I'm taking this weekend. About 5 miles from home, approaching a red light, the motor just died without any warning. The traffic light turned green and I still had enough momentum to coast into a convenience store parking lot.

Called my roadside assistance through Progressive Insurance, and ended up with a suitable tow truck a little over 2 hours later. Progressive messed up and contacted not one but TWO towing companies who can't tow motorcycles; the third time was a charm, I guess. Progressive called me later to apologize profusely.

It turns out the fuel pump fuse blew, apparently for no reason. I noticed the fuel pump wasn't running when I switched on the ignition. After I got home and was able to check the wiring diagrams I quickly found the problem.

But not really. The bike is running but I still don't know why the fuse blew. (That fuse was 17 years old, after all.) But I do have a good stock of 10A fuses to keep under the seat :smile:

And I really need to invest in a trailer...
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RogerC60
Thanks for the tip on checking the grounds. When I had all the plastic off back in the early spring I did that; maybe it's time for another check.

I did find a few places in the wiring harness where the outer covering is crumbling, but the wires themselves seem to be sound. This is a pretty common occurrence with BMWs of this vintage, something about EU regulations at the time requiring that wiring used in vehicles be biodegradable!! :confused: :thumbsdown:

That same fuse also runs the fuel injectors and the fuel system evap valve. Any of that wiring is suspect. Also, the fuel pump relay is downstream from the fuse; less than perfect contact between the relay blades and the connector has also been known to cause problems. I re-seated the relay and I'm just going to ride with a bag of 10A fuses.

And look for a trailer...
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