Gear Up & Get Out

I don't think it was this sky that did it.



It could have been the yahoos at the ice scream stand. 4 of 'em on new bikes, dressed to the nines in their best sweatshirts.

Or maybe it was this picture that did the trick?



Hard to say what motivated me on Friday afternoon but I had the urge to ride - despite the stormy skies. I pulled the K75 out of the garage and I geared up, all the way to the rain suit. And I was smiling about it...let the skies open up, I'm ready, I will ride by the unprepared and laugh in their general direction.

Next time the mood strikes you, listen to your inner mileage hound, and gear up, get out, and ride!

The Case of the Mysterious Oil Leak

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a small puddle under my K75.

The puddle was about the size of my fist.

It looked like oil. It felt like oil.

The mysterious part was the location of this puddle.

It was under my left hard case.

I wiped it up with a shop towel. I looked directly above the puddle and wondered why my hard case was leaking oil.

Sure enough the underside of the bag was coated in oil.

I wiped the the oil off the bag.

I looked forward of the bag, thinking maybe it was being sprayed from the front.

All was clean.

I opened the bag.

All was dry.

I threw the oily rag away, and not feeling like dealing with a problem, I decided to forgot about the whole thing.

I subsequently saw the puddle a few days later. I continued watchful waiting and ignored it some more.

More ignoring this weekend as I took the GT for a ride.

Yesterday, I decide to pull the bikes out of the garage to wash them.

By now I've completely forgotten about the oil leak.

As I pull the left bag off the K75, I put my hand underneath to pull it off. It is coated in oil.

Hmmm, seems it's time to trouble shoot the case of the mysterious oil leak.

The back of the bag is coated with oil.

The rail that holds the bag is coated with oil.

Did I mention that this is clean oil?

Hmmmm, the oil is coming from above.

Like maybe....the tail fin

Where a spare quart of oil has been tossing around for the last year?

I open the tail fin...things are very...moist.

The cover of spare quart, which had been opened at some time, came loose, and filled the tail fin, and found some hole to slowly drain out.

I pulled everything out. Cleaned what I could, threw out the rest.

Put the spare quart into a zip lock bag

And finished cleaning the bike.

Another mechanical mystery solved.

Spring Weekend

It was a fine weekend in New England. Saturday started out overcast, so we opted to do some hiking. I was really looking forward to using my new camera gear. Check this out, an MOA member upgraded his equipment to Nikon and he offered this package to me at a price I could not pass up. It just arrived on Friday. I've already ordered a bigger card and an extra battery.
I've not even tried the big lens yet. The 18-200 is just fine and dandy! This is my first DSLR, I felt I'd finally maxed out the functionality of my Canon SD750.
Camera over my shoulder we headed up Pack Monadnock, the oldest and busiest park in NH. Not too busy Saturday, maybe because it's not officially opened. The weather, in the 60's was perfect for hiking. And the views at the top were very nice. Kevin even spotted two workers in the cell tower, making for an interesting picture.




We were a little antsy to get out on the bikes today; we headed Southeast toward the Quabbin Resevoir in Western MA. I decided to stay off the highway, and we tooled through some of the small towns along Rte 2A. It was just so nice to be out for a ride with all the spring colors! I hardly even minded filling up for $17 OMG!

We enjoyed the sights at the Quabbin, and I tried out the new camera




The boot picture


And we finished things off the right way! Mmmm Coffee Oreo

BMW K Bike Celebration in July

Greg Hunt posted this in the Women and Motorcycles group on Flickr.

Announcing a new BMW event to honor Klassic K bikes.

From 1985 K bikes have been a reliable mainstay of the BMW motorcycle experience. There are examples with hundreds of thousands of miles on them. The oldest K bikes are almost antiques and the newest are over 10 years old. To date no event has been held to honor these trustworthy steeds. That will change on the last weekend of July 2008.

The first annual Klassic K Campout will be held July 25-27 2008 at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle campground, www.blueridgemotorcyclecamp.com/ N 35o 24.235 W 82o 48.682, in Cruso, NC. The campground is located 6 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway and 20 Miles off I 40.

Of course all motorcyclists are welcome. Cabin space is limited / tent space is plentiful. There is no charge other than camping, food and supplies.

This event was started by the KBMW Yahoo group,which provides technical assistance for Klassic K owners. We do have a couple of permanent names, for the event, in mind and will probably choose one that weekend.

Questions contact GREG HUNT at scbmwrider@gmail.com