Reflector tape & decals

Last week was a relaxing 3 day Holiday weekend to celebrate Queen Victoria's Birthday.  Since Mrs Skoot is out of commission and house bound I decided to just stay home after making breakfast of eggs, bacon and  oatmeal.  I mean it wouldn't be fair to just gallivant around the countryside and enjoy myself while she had no choice but to stay home, would it ?

So I brought out my package of Canadian decals and relector tape to make my bike more visible at night.  Last year I attached some reflector tape to my OEM sidecases but when I installed my new bracket and topcase I never got around to it

I am following the pattern of my Vstrom, on the left.   I am of the opinion that if I found myself riding at night and a car came up fast from behind whilst on the highway, that I would be more visible.   I have tried all colours and I find that the white reflector tape is better than the red ones

I also have a package of Canadian decals

I like the smaller decals and was surveying where to place them

Here's a rear view of the reflector tape and a couple of strategically placed Canadian ones

It was strenuous work and took a lot of brain power to place these into their exact positions.  It tired my brain and

I had to take a much needed rest

Service completed & some slight adjustments

It turns out that my dry Final Drive spline appears Okay.  There are no metal shavings and the splines look to be in good shape, only a trace of white grease in there from the factory

I was reading some BMW forums and the best stuff to use is Honda 60 moly which I had to special order from my local Honda dealer and it had to be shipped in from Calgary.  As Richard mentioned, there is not much flexing on my R1200R.   Originally the factory made mention that this did not have to be lubricated for the life of the bike, but due to drive line failures on their GS models they revised their recommendation to lube the splines every 2 years or 40K kilometers.  So for now I should be okay for a while

I was also going to replace the 4 plugs (2 per cylinder) but my R uses the 2 electrode model and I have to get them from the BMW dealership.  Then I was going to have new brake pads; front and rear installed

I had them order them in last month so that they would be "on hand" but it seems that they must have sold the rear set.  Upon closer inspection my brakes are both nearly new and it was their opinion they should last for my trip this year.

so the plugs were removed but then re-installed.

The exhaust is re-attached and my bike is bolted back together so I can head on my way.   I ordered a new battery which should come in next week.   I am trying to replace anything that needs replacing so that I don't have to worry about these things whilst "on the road".   Except for oil/filter changes I should be okay

I now prepare to leave and head home.  I still have to do some grocery shopping as Mrs Skoot has requested what she wants for dinner tonight.   I decide to park my R1200R and head out on my

Vstrom.   I am still not used to riding my R and I am a bit unfamiliar with the querky signal light system.   I mean why can't they use one button on the left like everyone else.   Sometimes I just don't bother to change lanes because my right hand has difficulty pushing the "signal off" button while turning the throttle at the same time.  I must have small hands

Here I am riding my Vstrom home with  groceries in my topcase.  

I am getting my R ready for my trip this summer and I purchased a special Garmin power cable.

The cable on the right is the standard cigarette lighter power cable with the mini USB on the other end to power my older model Garmin.   A standard USB cable will not work as then it goes into USB mode and will not charge nor power the Garmin GPS unit.    The cable on the left is the special cable which is powered by a standard USB plug

It is made by 3br powersports, and here I am holding my dual USB adapter

I wired a cigarette lighter socket onto my handlebar to power my Garmin but the supplied adapter cable is very large.   This is where I plug in my USB adapter.  I have two outputs; one for my Garmin and the other can be used to charge my Sena BT headset when I am parked for lunch.  I am trying to switch over to USB power cables whenever possible

I plug in my USB cable and now my Garmin is being powered by USB instead of their clumsy large 12v to 5v adapter

I also received a shipment of parts from GPScity.ca so I wanted to mount my Spot2 GPS messenger

Another thing that has been bothering me is the large amount of buffeting I get from my Cee Bailey windshield.  So I get out my tool kit and remove the windshield

Most, if not all fasteners on my BMW are Torx bits of various sizes so I bought a set to carry with me

The R1200R is a naked bike.  Here it is devoid of windscreen.  It is held on by a bracket on the front, and two torx screws at the rear

I thought that if I could put some shims under this bracket that it would force the windshield to rake backwards a few degrees and let some airflow come under the windscreen from the front.   I only had 4 washers and I think I may need a few more and perhaps a longer screw.  I still think the windshield is too vertical and creates wind being aimed directly into my helmet and this creates a lot of noise

Here the front bracket is back in place and you notice where the windshield bracket goes into that U-shaped part.  That is all that is holding the leading part of the windshield frame

I get a bit antsy when there are chores to be done and my grass waits for no one.   It is actually too high for my mower and it struggles,

 but I eventually got it done

I think we caught it in time

I was looking forward to today.  It is the start of a 3 day holiday weekend up here.  The weather wasn't great but I decided to roll out my Vstrom

For many years I have been going over to Victoria for the scooter rally and last year we met up with DAR who was an excellent group leader.  It was my plan to go again this year until, Mrs Skoot had her operation and I have to stay home with my household duties.   I wanted to test out my camping equipment before my trip.    I usually meet the guys on Saturday morning for breakfast but not today.

I stayed home and made breakfast for Mrs Skoot before heading out to do my errands.

It started to sprinkle but I was only headed to see my insurance agent so I could get my Beemer insured for the summer

My plan was to bring my BMW to get some maintenance items completed which were not done last year.  Here I am riding home in heavy traffic

Last September when I purchased my new to me R1200R, I asked the Previous owner for "THE FILE".   You know, the BMW maintenance file.  I know that I keep a file for each of my vehicles and all of my repair & parts invoices are kept there for future reference.   Anyway he said that he didn't have one.    This is why the first thing I did was to have an Oil/Filter change.   I was going to get new tires in the Spring, (and delay the expense) but they were so bad with the chicken strips nearly worn to the threads and the sides were nearly new, that I had no choice but to buy my tires immediately.  I settled for the Michelin Pilot Road 2's.  They are still nearly new with less than 100 kms on them.   I didn't ride my Beemer that much and I thought that I had taken care of everything

I park my Vstrom on the street in front and then I roll my Beemer out to the rear laneway.  This is the first time I had ridden it this year.   It feels so different, like a sports car whereas my Vstrom feels like a Jeep, a top heavy Jeep

I forget something so I roll around to the front and take a few photos of both bikes

How stupid could I be ?   Last year my intention was to do all the service on my BMW so I could start fresh and know what had been done.   Without the "File" I have to presume that nothing was done.   Now I have always had WET clutches and when you do an oil change, that's all you have to do.   During the Winter I had lots of time to read the various Beemer forums and then it struck me that I had a DRY clutch.  This means that I need to do a transmission flush, then there was the problem with the rear drive/differential and the splines on the drive shaft.  Then there was the ABS failures so last year I did a brake fluid flush

I arrive at my Mechanic's and he knows that I am going to observe and watch him change these fluids.  I asked ahead of time if I could do this so I change into more comfortable Crocs© .   I have already purchased all the crush washers, O-rings, special oils and Honda moly 60 and bring them with me

Here's another photo of that female sassy mechanic making faces again.   I feel right at home here, just like one of the gang

My bike gets loaded onto the lift and soon enough the rear tire is off, the exhaust is dismantled, the speed sensor is removed and the rear calipers are unhinged

The transmission fluid is drained and here's TED  refilling with new oil

The rear diff takes 180 ml and the transmission takes approx 800 ml before it reaches the top level and starts to seep out.   All input and output plugs have O-rings and these are all replaced.  The old ones feel very brittle as they are probably original and never changed before

This is where you fill the 180 ml into the differential, at about the 10 o'clock position behind the rotor.  O-rings here to including the drain plug below (out of sight)

A new happy customer.   This is Arthur the proud owner of a Triumph Street Triple with tires just installed.  This is the first time he has had his bike serviced here, and I know he will be back

There is a beverage fridge in the customer area which accepts "donations" .  I was getting a bit thirsty so I wanted a soda; coke or something like that, but it was full of something else

I wanted to drink something non-alcoholic so I had to wait

Now comes the moment of reckoning . . .   we break open the driveline to SEE . . .

DRY SPLINES . . .  boy was I disappointed and angry at the previous owner.    It looks like nothing has been done since new

and all my mechanic TED can do is to make faces and laugh . . .   This is no laughing matter

. . .  to be continued

More Goodies coming my way

My cousin came over to visit Mrs Skoot to see how she was doing after her operation.  She has been home for nearly a week and healing seems to be coming along.   Of course, I am in charge of making our meals and I think I have lost a bit weight the past couple of weeks.  Anyway he got hooked on photography a while back and he often calls to discuss new photographic acquisitions.   He bought his Canon dSLR and Sony NEX upon my recommendations and he came over with his photo kit to show me what he had.   He likes to travel light and he recently bought a new SEL1650 the new power zoom retractable NEX lens, and the Ultra Wide Converter VCL ECU1 which turns your 16mm SEL lens, into an 18 mm ultra wide.  I love ultra wides so I played with it while he was here

After he left I quickly browsed Craigslist and found one for sale.  I sent an email and by noon today the seller delivered it to my office

It is virtually brand new, but without the original boxes.  I have the zippered case, both front and rear caps, and the lens is pristine.  No marks of any kind.  I asked the seller why he was selling it.   He said that he bought a NEX-5N a year ago and sold it but the buyer did not want this adapter.   It sat on his shelf for the past year or so,  so he decided to sell it.   He told me that he only shot about 5 frames when he first got it and then put it away.  

I wanted to make arrangements to service my R1200R as I was going to insure it tomorrow so I went to visit my mechanic to make sure he had all the parts in stock and while I was there, I snapped a photo of his new female motorcycle mechanic

Here she is giving some "attitude" . . .

I am getting my bike ready for a long road trip later this Summer and I have been slowing buying all the stuff I think I need.   Today I happened to receive another FEDex package from GPSCITY.ca .   They sure are fast with their shipments.   It was shipped from Calgary yesterday and I received it before noon in Coquitlam today

It's always exciting to get packages but I like to open them right away to make sure that what is inside, is what I ordered.  Now I have something to do this weekend.   I thought that it was going to come sometime next week

I like RAM mounts.   I ordered the U-bracket & cradle for the Spot2 GPS tracker, and another special Garmin GPS  USB  power cable so I don't have to use that large cigarette lighter plug.   No, I did not order the Spot2 from them.   I bought it last Christmas when it was on sale during Boxing Week.

I brought my Spot2 to work so I could activate my subscription with Findmespot.com and figure out how to export the data to  spotwalla.com       I think I have most of it figured out since it seems to be feeding fine.   Data is only stored on Findmespot.com for 30 days before it is purged.   Spotwalla keeps the data for as long as you want.   Thank you to RichardM for his input and support and for being a "contact" during this testing phase to make sure that messages sent from the Spot2 are being dispatched and received correctly

I have put a link to my Spot2 on the right sidebar so you can see where I am.  I used it for the first time tonight to track my way home.  I will have more to say about my trip (next month) and where I am headed.  You will be able to follow along with me and see my progress by just clicking the link

USB Power Pack

I do like electronic gadgets and I like to keep my "things" charged.   In prior times, electronic appliances were charged with a multitude of differing chargers with different plugs and voltages.  We were stuck originally with NiCad rechargeable batteries that were 1.2 v and some gadgets used 4 or 6 batteries in series.  Then came Lithium Ion batteries and eventually the world settled on a standard with the introduction of the single or double cell Li-ion or Li-Po: Lithium Polymer batteries.  Most P&S Cameras use the single cell Li-Ion 3.8 V battery and are simply charged using a 5 V  USB cable and either plugged into your computer, or an 110v-> 5v USB adapter.  Computer USB plugs usually output 5v @ 500 ma .

I have a few gizmos which need to be charged and I am always looking for a portable solution to keep the juice flowing so a few years ago I picked up

a solar charger which also has an internal Li-Po  2,600 ma battery.   The internal battery can be charged by plugging it into a computer USB or by using the supplied 110v adapter, or by putting it into the sunlight.  

It came with 2 USB cables and you notice that the 4 LED status lights indicates that the internal battery is holding a FULL charge

I plugged my iPhone into it so I could charge the battery.  Over the past week I have charged my iPhone 2 other times.  This is a Cheap unit from China, the battery is 2,600 ma and it outputs 5v @ around 700 ma, so it is able to bring an iPhone up to a full charge from nearly empty in about 2 hours

Now my battery is not really that low and here it is showing 79% on the battery gauge.  I wasn't checking the time but when I looked next it was 11:00 am and

It was now at 100% being fully charged

I also have a Mophie battery pack attached to my iPhone which which doubles the capacity of the iPhone battery and it also has LED status lights.   4  LED s  shows that it is up to full charge.   Each LED accounts for approx 25% battery power.    I have had this particular solar charger for a few years but have never really used it.   I notice now that the battery does not go to full capacity so basically I don't trust it anymore

I wanted to have charging options for this summer when I go on my bike vacation.  There may be times where I will not have access to power and I wanted to have options to keep my gizmos charged.  Many things nowadays are charged using a simple USB cable.  Things like my GoProHero3, my Sena SMH10 Bluetooth headset,and  my iPhone so I bought a new

Verbatim Power Bank.  You notice that this is a 10,000 ma  (10 amp) Hi capacity unit and it can output 5V at either 2A or 3A which means that it can charge my iPhone in under an Hour, or my Sena BT headset in about half an hour.    I can also charge this Power Bank from 110V or by plugging it into the 12v power of my bike as I am riding across the Country

It comes with 2 USB cables

and uses standard USB output plugs.  (2A and 3A), so this unit can also recharge an iPad which requires a 3A source

It also has LED status lights which show battery capacity which is left, and also charging .   It also has "smart" detection circuitry.  As soon as it detects that your gizmo that is being charged, no longer requires anymore input, it goes into standby mode to conserve battery power.  Being slim and not very heavy I think I am going to put it into good use this Summer

Moto content below:  I have been riding my Wee to work but my R1200R is not yet insured.  I washed it last week and I still need to do a few maintenance items before it will be ready for the road.

It is Victoria Day this weekend which means that Monday is a Statutory Holiday here in BC and I was going to insure my Beemer on Saturday, but the forecast is not looking so good, so we'll see . . .