A Fine Day Out

Kevin had a little get off on his Road King, two night earlier, the crash bar was bent but good, so he borrowed SPARE for our Saturday ride. I just love having the two bikes out at once. They both behaved themselves.

I've not done many club events this season. So when I saw a gathering forming on the MOA Forum, I signed up. The plan was to meet for lunch in North Adams and then ride up Mt. Graylock.

It was a crazy weather day! I really enjoyed meeting everybody and having lunch together, but some of the riding was unpleasant.

It was 60 and sunny in Nashua at 8:45AM, we dropped a layer as we gassed up, We headed west on 101 and immediately saw that we were driving into the clouds. We'd lost 15 degrees by the time we darted between leaf peepers at the top of Hogback Mt. There was moisture in the air and on the road, but no real rain.

Things improved slightly as we headed south on Rte 8 through Vt, and down into North Adams for lunch. While we ate and told lies, the storms caught up with us, and it was pouring as we left. Conditions worsened as we headed East on Rte 2. The wind was howling, the leaves where pelting us...it reminded me of the kind of day one would curl up on the couch with a good book and a warm beverage, look outside at the wind and rain and the leaves being slapped against the window and think how nice it is to be warm and dry. That is what I was thinking....I wish I were warm and dry.

File Photo of a nice day at Graylock


My wish came true about an hour later. We stopped in Shelburne for a cappuccino, and to remove some rain gear. The rain had given away to noticeably bluer skies. Another half hour east and you couldn't find a cloud, it was like a different day!

And we set off for a new ride. We got off rte 2 and with the bad weather behind us managed to find the worse road in the Commonwealth. MA 32 We finally rolled home as the light faded. A good time was eventually had by all and perhaps I've ridden the last of the rain for 2009?

Rode My Bike to Work

There are so many good things about this picture.
That is my K1200GT.
It is parked at work.
It is fall.

So that means, the K12 is back on the road, after a long 6 month hiatus
It means that I'm back to work after an 8 months of unemployment
And it's fall, a beautiful time of year to have some gas money and a fast bike.

I am a "real" employee now, first time in...uh...close to 5 years. Contracting pays well, but there is a lot of wear & tear worrying about assignments. I'm at a small company Wellpet, they make healthy top of the line pet food. Kitty is happy about this, as there are employee discounts.

Yeah yeah yeah, I'm going to miss my free time, but I was at the point I needed to trade the freedom for the paycheck. We all know how that goes. At least it's a pleasant 25 minute commute, with a casual dress code, so riding there works out ok.

And now, the weekends feel like weekends...very short, lots to fit in! Hope your weekends are packed with great sMiles.

Is Your Motorcycle a Toy?

There are motorcycle owners who refer to their bikes as toys. In the vain of “He who dies with the most toys wins”. Not a philosophy I subscribe too; but you know the type. They collect toys, their bike(s) amongst them. It seems to me that these owners like to play dress up, with themselves and with their bikes. They decorate them with leather, chrome, studs, fancy paint and other accessories. They do likewise with themselves, buying themselves the “right” look, the ladies have pretty boots and exposed cleavage. No one will accuse this lot of being “serious” riders.

Can one conclude that serious riders do not have motorcycles for toys? Not at all. Many owners buy themselves seriousness. They have the best bike, the best gears and maybe they even go on the best rides. I can’t really relate to them either. I often find them a bore to talk to, and they condescendingly explain to me why what they have is superior to what I have. Big eye roll to them.

My bikes are neither toys nor essentials. And that brings me to my topic today. I’ve decided to take the K12GT off the road this season. It is an expense that I can not justify as I hunker down for a period of MIA income. It’s already registered, so I’ll keep that. I don’t owe any money on it. I did learn that I can’t drop the insurance on it in quite the way I expected. I was able to reduce the bill by 1/3, I was hoping to drop it my 2/3, but the insurance companies did not want me messing with their bottom line. Taking it off the road will save me at least a grand, in the tires and maintenance that won’t be happening.

I’m a little blue about this, but putting it into perspective, I’m not going too feel bad about having only one BMW on the road while other people are having their houses foreclosed on.

I am setting my sights at joining the ranks of the self employed. I am building my web, Photoshop and photography skills and putting together a business plan. I have spent to long getting paid well to do work I don’t particularly enjoy. So I’m bracing for the opposite, lower income, higher levels of happiness. Making such a move makes me very nervous. But I need to listen to my own advice – whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. I have eaten bigger elephants than this.

Lisa and I are flying (literally) off to St Louis. After the MOA Board Meeting, we’re heading downtown to spend the school vacation week. With camera in tow, and beautiful weather predicted, I know we’ll have a grand time. See you when we get back!

End Of Summer...Already?

September 1st, we all know it's the first day of fall, no matter what the meteorology people say. It is a beautiful time of year here in New England. Year after year we come racing into fall wondering where the summer went.

2008 was all about the price of gas. Staying closer to home or a tank away made a lot of sense.

April 25


May 24th


May 31st, this is the highest I can recall, and wouldn't you know I was filling up the car!


It was a quiet summer for us, relative to last years epic journey. Far more balanced with family and friends.

Some friends in New Brunswick


Some down the street


I think I'm passed the stage where riding is the be all and end all of my activities. I've been enjoying photography more this summer, and am noticing some pleasant improvements in my work.

Better Lighthouses


Better waterskiers


Oh, yes and better motorcycles!


Even if it's not a Beemer!


Looking back, it's been a very pleasant summer. Not challenging, not monumental, but pleasant. I hope your summer was everything you wanted it to be..

BMW K Bike Oil Change Pictorial

I asked Lisa for a hand putting the belly pan back on the GT. She asked me why I don't just bring the bikes in to get the oil change. Since learning how to do the oil, I've had the shop do it once or twice on the GT, the last time was in January and it was in for service anyway. I realized that I have failed to teach my daughter that there is a huge sense of accomplishment learning to master maintenance tasks on your own.

Many years ago a friend showed me how to change the oil on my bike, the task seemed daunting just reading the manual. So this time I brought my camera along. If you've never changed the oil on your bike, I hope you might be motivated to give it a try.
(these are not step by step instructions, just a little humor, a few real tips, and pictures they don't put in the manual)

An old pot will do for dropping the oil. Call it Yankee Frugality, but why buy another oil pan when this pot does a fine job?

Oil draining from K75. It will have plenty of time to drip as I attempt to remove the plastic parts from the GT

On to the GT
How to remove the belly pan:
- Spend lots of time finding the right tool for the job.
- Promptly misplace that tool.
- Search all over; find it under a paper towel.
- Find the hardware connecting the Tupper Ware and remove.






Lower belly pan, remove that one last screw you missed.


Is that crack or rock salt falling out of the belly pan? Either way it's probably a bad thing.


That’s really black…ok, so I messed up a little. My maintenance spreadsheet has a little error on it…the cell that told me how many miles until my next oil change (or how much I was overdue) was pointing to my 2007 miles. Which of course means I never needed an oil change. I was, shall we say, a little over due…


View from below. Despite the 16 year gap in their ages, the oil change for both K bikes is the same, sometimes it's hard to distinguish the pictures. At this point, the oil has drained from the drain plug, the cover that protects the filter has been removed; now I’ll just take the filter out.


Taking the filter out is easy enough; the trick is not letting it dump into the waste oil. I’d been out riding all morning; even after sitting 2 hours, the oil in the GT was still quite warm.


Twin Killing…out with the old


In with the new. Despite the 16 year gap in their ages, the oil change for both K bikes is the same. Same filters too. That's either great or kinda lame.


Drink Up. Before putting in the new filter, give it a little drink.


Going for a spin. Once the filter has oil in it, spread a little bit on the seal. Load it into the wrench. If you forgot to flip the dial on the wrench, try to do so without flipping the whole thing upside down. DOH!


Right to Tight. Hand tighten only! I went through a lot of gloves.


Forget something? If the oil filter wrench gets stuck to the filter just give it a tap with the wrench to loosen the seal.


Cap it Off. I'm sure this has some sort of official name. All I can tell you is that the screws on this cap are not symmetrical, it only goes on one way. It took me about 3 years to learn that the BMW roundel needs to be at 9:00 (if you are facing the headlight).


Fill ‘er Up. Filling up the bikes differs greatly! The K75 has a perfect design, you don't even need a funnel to put the oil back in.


Getting Oil into the GT is just plain foolish. The one good thing about doing an oil change on a hot day is the oil is more viscous.

Check the spy glass, clean up and enjoy a refreshing adult beverage.

Summer Riding

Summer must be here, the Z-tech windshield is on the GT. Not only does it look great, but with the Joe Rocket mesh jacket, I'm very comfortable even in the high 80's.

Taking the road less traveled seems to be the theme this summer. Yesterday we were recovering from 4th of July by scooting around the back roads of New Hampshire. I found a couple of nice roads and made a couple U-turns, but that's par for the course when exploring.

Oops, dirt!


Stone Arch Bridge

A Tank Away...is OK

Province Lake, Effingham, NH

Everybody is talking about the price of gas, filling up a motorcycle has become real money. I have a range of about 170 miles on my K12GT, that's about 40 mpg. Not all that efficient. I can afford to keep filling up, question is, do I want to? For the past 5 years I've packed on the miles, about 20,000 a year. There are many meaningless miles in that pile. In the past year or so, I've been trying to make those miles more meaningful.

The price of gas is a good excuse to explore closer to home. I've not explored New Hampshire for years! I was reminded of that this weekend when Kevin and I headed up to Mount Washington. It's a crown jewel of a New England riding experience, the best auto road on the east, right in my back yard, and I've been ignoring it for far flung destinations.

With my SD750 strapped around my neck, and my Canon Rebel in the bag we headed North. Here are some pictures from the weekend. I hope you get out and explore your home state too!

A Rare Clear Day - 61 degrees at the summit!


Scenic Vista...not much traffic


Got Guard Rails?


Got Pavement?


Cog Railway

Will Ride for Content

It must be winter. Many of my favorite blogs and motorcycle forums are screaming for content. Sometimes you've just got to grab the keys yourself and go out and get some content. This is my way of saying, I got my first ride of the year in today.
The poor K75 has a dead battery, the GT started up without hesitation. I donned my layers and headed out under partly sunny skies temps approaching 40. I wasn't sure where I was going to land, but I had my camera and tripod with me, in search of content.
I headed for the highway because one of my favorite winter riding activities is hitting on & off ramps, they are a lot of fun for leaning and speeding. I set cruise control on 70 and scanned the sky. There were more clouds than sun, but it looked good enough to head to the coast. I could use some new water pictures for the photo forum. The one hour ride to the coast is one of my favorites. I got off 101 for gas and stayed on 27 East until 111 East, which will bring you all the way to Ocean Blvd. Ah the coast, the salt air, the twisty road...where the heck did all these people come from? I'm not the only one who is partial to a brisk winter day at the beach.
I parked and brought the tripod down to the beach, leaving all of my riding gear on. I resisted the urge to ask some of the other beach combers if they were cold, dressed as they where. I shot off about 150 ocean/wave/seagull/rock pictures. I've been exploring new settings on my camera and I was pleased with the results.
But alas, the real opportunity for motorcycle content came on my ride home as I encountered snow squalls just East of Manchester - of course I was not about to stop on the highway to take pictures! I need to get one of those handlebar mounts for my camera.
It was a chilly gray ride home, I'd lost all the sun. I did have a nice chat with a gentleman at the gas station. In fact the two people who did stop to chat with me today where both nice, they spared me the lame winter riding comments and just wanted to talk bikes and spring. I can get into that any time!
It was so nice to sneak in a ride today. Now I can't wait for the next! Hope you get out for a ride soon!