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GSL
Mon Mar 28th, 2005, 05:09 PM
Not an Ironbutt ride, just good old-fashioned fun (there may be Ironbutt ride sections in there somewhere if ya wanted to bag one). 2300 miles of sport touring from 2pm on a Friday until Sunday night of the same weekend. Thinking about doing it the weekend of April 8-10. The route will be less than 25% Interstate riding, down thru New Mexico, Arizona, Las Vegas and western California. See image:

http://eurobikedenver.smugmug.com/photos/18449468-M.jpg

Open invite...

OldKneeDragger
Mon Mar 28th, 2005, 07:22 PM
Out for a little joy ride I see :) Is this a route that you are trying to do in order to pickup some more stamps or just one that sounds interesting? I've got a couple of ideas myself that I have been trying to find some time to do. I've got a Mexico vehicle permit on my bike that I need to turn in and that requires another trip to Mexico to achompish.

GSL
Tue Mar 29th, 2005, 05:48 AM
Hey stranger, long time... :)


Out for a little joy ride I see :) Is this a route that you are trying to do in order to pickup some more stamps or just one that sounds interesting?

I need to pick up a couple stamps along the way, one in Arizona (2 in Flagstaff), one in Nevada (Lake Mead) and one in California (Mojave or J Tree). I'm coming along pretty well on my stamp count, but I am sorely lacking in the state count. I have until May 27 to complete it, and I've gotta get east of the Mississippi at least once to do it.


I've got a couple of ideas myself that I have been trying to find some time to do. I've got a Mexico vehicle permit on my bike that I need to turn in and that requires another trip to Mexico to achompish.

I hate having those kinda problems... :D

Ron, I could probably twist the route further south to pass by a border crossing if you're interested in going. I may even be tempted to take a day or two off and travel into Mexico, if that's what you had in mind. I certainly enjoyed riding with you on the BBG. I think we have similar riding styles. If I could just keep up.... :lol:

Cheers,
Will

GSL
Tue Mar 29th, 2005, 06:59 AM
Actually, Coronado National Memorial is right down there on the border... :D

OldKneeDragger
Tue Mar 29th, 2005, 08:13 AM
Will, I am in Reynosa, Mexico now, but in my cage. It is a business trip and I had too much to carry to bring the bike :( I have to be in Canada next week and I will wait to see what the weather is like before I decide how I am going to do that. :o

I got the Mexico permit last month when I came to Reynosa on the bike. At that time I thought I would cut west over to Mazatlan and take the ferry across to the Baja before coming home. As work sometimes does however and with the weather turning to crap I blew it off and just came back home. I would still like to do that trip but itīs about 4500 miles and would take about 5 good days of riding :lol:

I can get the permit taken care of later... I will probably ride down to El Paso to pick up some friends for the PPIR races and can turn in the permit then.

Let me see how things shape up over the next week and see if I can join you on your ride. It sounds like it could be a lot of fun. (have you though about catching Arches National Park, Zion, or any of the many others in southern Utah? There sure are some specatular roads there and not quite so boring as northern Arizona :roll:

Keeping up :oops: That never seemed to be your problem :D Yeah, Iīd ride with you anytime ;)

GSL
Tue Mar 29th, 2005, 06:37 PM
Hey Ron,

I've already got Arches and Canyonlands, but I could see about a route thru Page, AZ, (Glen Canyon Visitor Center) and Zion.

What kinda bike you riding these days?

Flagstaff was on my route because the parks are easy pickins, 4 within less than 60 miles, and it's kinda hard to pass up a National Monument with a name like Tuzigoot... :lol:

OldKneeDragger
Tue Mar 29th, 2005, 09:44 PM
I'm burning up down here in Mexico... my air conditioner quit in the cage and I just am not used to this heat :( I'm ready for a ride where I can wear my gear and feel comfortable... Since I'm not trying to collect the stamps it really doesn't matter to me where we go, just as long as we go :) Of course you understand my style of wanting to find the two lane back twisty roads as much as possible and your route seems to address that real well... Let me try to get the weekend cleared and I'll play tag along with you ;)

GSL
Wed Mar 30th, 2005, 05:34 PM
FFUUUUUUUUKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

Hey Ron, I guess this ride ain't gonna happen for me. I dropped my bike off for service on Tuesday. Got the bad news.... ANOTHER FRIGGIN FINAL DRIVE gone bad. That makes 4 in 40,000 miles. I'm trying to get BMW to relax their warranty and give me just this one more under warranty. In any case, it'll be a couple weeks before I have a LD bike again (I just can't do the 1000 mile days on the V-Strom).

Looks like it might be time to go shopping with a trade-in....

hmmm... ST1300? FJR1300?? hmmm....

You still liking the FJR?

OldKneeDragger
Thu Mar 31st, 2005, 06:40 AM
Well thatīs a bummer... sorry to hear about the problems. 4 times in 40K miles would definately have me a bit on the upset side :cry: After I got back from Alasaka last summer I took the FJR in for a ticking in the head. They took 6 weeks to pull the head and redo the valve guides and valves. That too didnīt have me to happy. Iīm at the point that I am going to ride the wheels off the thing just to get even :lol:

Hope you get it sorted out before you miss much prime spring riding :D

GSL
Mon Apr 4th, 2005, 06:44 AM
Silly rabbit. Don't you know that heads are SUPPOSED to tick? :lol:

Where did you take it that took that long? Apex? RMCP?

OldKneeDragger
Wed Apr 6th, 2005, 07:39 PM
Rocky Mountain, here in Pueblo did the work... About 1 in 7 FJR's seem to develop something that would make Timex quite proud! If you are like me you remember the comercials, takes a beating and keeps on ticking :lol:

Anyway, it sounds more like a sewing maching now... quite socially acceptable. I back it out of the garage and start it up and the neighbors just smile. I then put it back in the garage and bring out the ZX12 with the pipe that has long since worn out the packing and they sure take a different stance :321:

The FJR runs good... I just took it to Canada... Got a late start on Saturday and rode to Casper. I got up the next morning and headed north taking as much back roads as possible without going too far out of my way. I got to the border crossing at 5:15 at Wild Horse and it had closed at 5:00 PM... I had to turn around and go all the way to Coutts and then cut back to Medicene Hat. What would have been a simple 700 mile day trip turned to 1000. Coming back I left Lethbridge at 10:00 in the morning and rode straight through to Pueblo (a little over 1100 miles) arriving at 2:00 AM. It wasn't that I wanted more saddle sore certificates, I just wanted to get home!

So, what's the deal with your BMW? You know you are welcome to take the FJR for a nice long day ride if you want to really see what its like to have a comfortable long distance ride with some serious muscle :roll:

GSL
Wed Apr 6th, 2005, 08:04 PM
Well, Foothills BMW has it in the shop and they're checking it out. I'm at 40K, but if they can find a defective part that can be linked to the failures, BMW North America is gonna float me one more final drive under warranty.

I hope they can point to .... "something" as the cause. If not, and they just simply replace it, the bike's going on the auction block.

Thanks for the offer on th FJR ride. Apex is trying to win me over from BMW and has also offered to let me out for a test ride on both the FJ and the ST. We'll see. Gotta wait for the BMW report to come back before doing anything rash. Thanks though.

I also sat on BMW's new R1200ST yesterday and may take it out for a spin as well. Crickey, the new R12RT feels nice too, but has obviously been beat with the worst of the BMW ugly sticks in the shop. Neither bike has reported final drive failures on Internet forums yet, but they are both new.

Anyway, I still may get out for a ride on the Wee-Strom sometime this weekend. But it just doesn't have the legs for a nice long ride....

GSL
Sat Apr 9th, 2005, 06:46 PM
Well, I got some GOOD news today. Turns out there wasn't anything wrong with my final drive. It was just mis-diagnosed by BMW of Colorado Springs. There was a loose pivot bolt on the final drive which accounted for the rear wheel wobble. Thanks to Foothils, I may get a few more miles out of the GS after all.

:321: to BMW of Colorado Springs!

OldKneeDragger
Sun Apr 10th, 2005, 09:39 AM
Well I guess that's good news... Of course inspecting new bikes is always fun too! So when are you going to go do some more stamp collecting?

Next weekend I need to be in San Fransico to attend a memorial for my 25 year old nephew (on my wifes side) who in a freak accident slipped and fell while working on a small boat in the back yard of his fathers house. He apparently was getting out of the boat while it was on the trailer with a 5 gallon gas can in his hand. This must have upset his ballance. When he fell he hit his head on the frame and broke his neck while still clenching the gas can. To top it off, he was getting the boat ready to take his father fishing to cellebrate his fathers birthday. I can't imagine loosing a son on your birthday. He was a free spirit who lived the "California Surfer" life style and was in excellent physical condition. We are shocked at the loss... It just plain sucks.

GSL
Sun Apr 10th, 2005, 05:23 PM
Hey Ron,

Sorry to hear about your nephew. It's never a good time to go, but the circumstances of that accident make it particularly harsh. Please accept my condolences. :(

As for stamp collecting, I'll be in Tennessee next weekend at the Trials Training Center, riding of course. But I don't think flying in to Atlanta and renting a car for the weekend counts. So, the last two weekends of April are open and I'm still looking forward to a ride up to Minnesota with swademaster in early May. 8)

Crikey, and I just started back to school on Wednesday. I'm HOPING that riding is still on my agenda for this year! :cry:

swademaster
Sun Apr 10th, 2005, 05:43 PM
Good to hear the bike is ok. My engine was to be done last last Thursday or Friday, but now is going to be ready this Wednesday. Hopefully it will be going Thursday evening so that I can get some miles on before the trip.

GSL
Tue Apr 12th, 2005, 05:16 PM
Sounds good Wade! I just got the GS back today and hope to get a mile or two on it before the 1500/36 weekend as well. Give me a shout if your up for a day trip sometime after April 20.

Will

swademaster
Tue Apr 12th, 2005, 08:11 PM
Maybe the weekend of the 30th. This weekend I should be getting the bike going and the weekend after that I have to go back to NE to have a tooth pulled.

OldKneeDragger
Sun Apr 17th, 2005, 08:00 PM
Will,

Have you done your combat tour yet? I'd be interested if you are still in the planning stage!

On a side note, I just got back from the memorial for my nephew. Still really hard to belive. He was in excellent physical condition at the age of 25, the typical california surfer type (he lived to surf and fish). It turns out he was working on his small 14' fishing boat, fell off the fender (the boat was on the trailer) into the boat and broke his neck. The fall couldn't have been much more than 4 feet. Standing there on the same fender I just could not come to understand how one could possibly die falling from it :(

The service was a great celibration of a young mans short life. There were 280 lines signed on the guest registration and most had 2 or more names on each line. He had a lot of surfer friends who came from as far away as Coasta Rica and the Baja of California! They are going to hold a paddle out and spread his ashes in the ocean that he loved so much.

What it really told me was that you should really enjoy life while you can. When it's your turn it could be the simplist and most unsuspecting thing that takes you out.

GSL
Sun Apr 24th, 2005, 08:48 AM
Hi Ron,

Once again, sorry to hear about your nephew. Very sobering... :(

As for riding, I am officially giving up on the National Park tour. Maybe try again some other year. There's just too much going on right now.

Jen and I just got back from the Trials Training Center in Tennessee and have dirt on the brain. Riding dirt next weekend, then doing the 1500/36 with Swademaster the following weekend, then spending 5 days in Moab, dirt again. Somehwere in all of that, I still gotta work 45+ hours a week and put in 12-18 hours a week on school.

Then, I gotta study like hell the last two weekends of May for a big exam the first week of June. School... why, oh, why, did I ever decide to go back... :roll: