For the few of you reading this blog - I've decided maintaining separate blogs is too time-consuming. Plus all those passwords to remember!
Anyway, I've resurrected my ages-old blog on LiveJournal that I abandoned when I started my Prophets blog (for my old band). I'm in the process of adding in all my old blog entries, so I may not post new for a while, but that's where I'll be - motorcycles and music and everything else all together in one convenient location!
Go here: Chiba's Place on LiveJournal and please update your bookmarks!!
Peace.
chiba
Snap!
There's nothing quite like breaking a bolt on your motorcycle.
Over the weekend, when I got together w/Bob to chat about BTS, I noticed he has these foot protectors installed on his bike. They're basically mud flaps affixed to the back of the cylinder heads that help keep yoru feet warm & dry.
When I bought the R850R, the seller gave me a set of Wudo foot-guards. I decided to install them.
Instead of attaching at the cam covers like Bob's though, mine attach at 2 of the 3 bolt locations that also hold on the cylinder guards, the little hard plastic things that melt onto the cylinder covers if you should drop your bike.
The left side one went on with no problems at all.
The right side, however... well, one of the mounting points is underneath the head, and that's the bolt I had a hard time getting back in when I did my valves last month. It (the bolt) was still only halfway in.
The mounting bolt for the foot-guard was a bit shorter, so I figured it'd be OK.
WRONG!
It snapped off, of course. So not only did I have to take off the other foot-guard, I had to remove the cylinder head guard thingies as well so my bike would at least look symmetrical.
I have no idea how to remove a snapped-off bolt.
SWEET!
Over the weekend, when I got together w/Bob to chat about BTS, I noticed he has these foot protectors installed on his bike. They're basically mud flaps affixed to the back of the cylinder heads that help keep yoru feet warm & dry.
When I bought the R850R, the seller gave me a set of Wudo foot-guards. I decided to install them.
Instead of attaching at the cam covers like Bob's though, mine attach at 2 of the 3 bolt locations that also hold on the cylinder guards, the little hard plastic things that melt onto the cylinder covers if you should drop your bike.
The left side one went on with no problems at all.
The right side, however... well, one of the mounting points is underneath the head, and that's the bolt I had a hard time getting back in when I did my valves last month. It (the bolt) was still only halfway in.
The mounting bolt for the foot-guard was a bit shorter, so I figured it'd be OK.
WRONG!
It snapped off, of course. So not only did I have to take off the other foot-guard, I had to remove the cylinder head guard thingies as well so my bike would at least look symmetrical.
I have no idea how to remove a snapped-off bolt.
SWEET!
No replies - reply
BMWBMW and the BTS newsletter
I'm not much of a joiner, never really have been since the Boy Scouts booted me out back in aught-6. OK, seriously, it happened in 1985 and I'm not even gay or anything. Long story that involves a fire. A big one.
Anyway, the last time I had a BMW I spent quite a bit of money on maintenance. I can't do that now, so I'm far more motivated to learn how to do these things myself. I've got the Clymer manual (excellent), the Haynes manual (not so excellent), and even the factory service manual (hard to understand, but very clear pictures) for my bike - and I've studied them quite a bit. I'm carrying around a bunch of technical minutia in my head.
The BMWBMW tech days have given me a great opportunity to put these details to work. I put nice new cam-hole covers on my bike the other day with nary a thought or hesitation. Towel to soak up dripping oil, 5mm socket for the bolts, flathead screwdriver to pry the old covers loose and 5 min. later, bingo no sweat.
I know myself well enough to know that if I don't stay involved with something, anything, I'll soon lose interest and drift away. Very soon after my first tech day, I talked to the editor of the club's newsletter, Between the Spokes (BTS), about doing some writing. He seemed psyched, so I jumped in.
It's pretty cool, you know, participating. I'm in the middle of two new articles, looking at a monthly column, and actually enjoying it.
Getting together next weekend with my buddy Mark to do some riding out west of here, should be a good time.
Anyway, the last time I had a BMW I spent quite a bit of money on maintenance. I can't do that now, so I'm far more motivated to learn how to do these things myself. I've got the Clymer manual (excellent), the Haynes manual (not so excellent), and even the factory service manual (hard to understand, but very clear pictures) for my bike - and I've studied them quite a bit. I'm carrying around a bunch of technical minutia in my head.
The BMWBMW tech days have given me a great opportunity to put these details to work. I put nice new cam-hole covers on my bike the other day with nary a thought or hesitation. Towel to soak up dripping oil, 5mm socket for the bolts, flathead screwdriver to pry the old covers loose and 5 min. later, bingo no sweat.
I know myself well enough to know that if I don't stay involved with something, anything, I'll soon lose interest and drift away. Very soon after my first tech day, I talked to the editor of the club's newsletter, Between the Spokes (BTS), about doing some writing. He seemed psyched, so I jumped in.
It's pretty cool, you know, participating. I'm in the middle of two new articles, looking at a monthly column, and actually enjoying it.
Getting together next weekend with my buddy Mark to do some riding out west of here, should be a good time.
Valves, tools, tech day joy
toolsI've lost my (mechanic) cherry.
When you have an R bike (that is - a BMW with a horizontally-opposed twin-cylinder engine), one of the things you have to pay attention to is valve clearances. Too loose and things get crazy. Too tight and valves burn up. The crick is you're supposed to check (or have checked) the clearance every 6,000 miles.
For a lot of "bikers", 6k is once a year - maybe once a year. For me, though ... well, let's just put it this way. I bought my R850R in mid-June with 18,407 on the odometer. This morning - late August - there's 21,898 miles on it.
The previous owner, a really nice guy with a bunch of bikes, bought the 850 brand-new in early 1997 (it's a '97 model). In the 9 years he owned it, he averaged about 2,000 a year. I've surpassed that by half again in only about 10 weeks - and that includes the 2 weeks that riding was incredibly dangerous due to the torrential rains.
OK so enough of my bragging
When I had my R1100GS from Sept 2001 til July 2003, I never once adjusted the valves. The first service I had done at Morton's - I wasn't confident enough to take it on, plus I had bought the bike from a guy in South Carolina. It needed tires, brake pads, and some other stuff as a result of him just riding it all the time. I figured I'd have Morton's do everything all at once, which they did.
In the spring of 2002, the GS developed an oil leak somewhere in the left cylinder. I had Morton's fix it; it was a bad gasket where the cylinder meets the engine block. Turned out it had been a recall, but the recall hadn't been done on my bike, so IIRC all I had to pay for was the parts since I wasn't the original owner. When they fixed that problem, they had to re-do the valve clearance anyway due to taking most of the external cylinder parts apart anyway.
It kept leaking though, and Morton's stepped up and re-did the gasket service about a month later or so. I had them do one more valve check in early 2003, but they didn't need adjusted and that was that - I sold the bike that summer.
I got through the ownership of my first Oilhead without ever doing the valve clearance myself. I did a bunch of other stuff - routine maintenance and minor mechanic stuff, but I just never had the confidence to do the valves myself.
Now with the R850R though, money is a lot tighter than it was then. Rent & bills are up, student loan payments are f'ing killing me (over $700 a month!), and I just can't afford to have Morton's (or anybody else for that matter) work on my bike if it's at all something I can do myself.
Oil is $8 a quart. Gas is $3.25 a gallon. Valve check & adjustment by a real mechanic would probably be in the neighborhood of $200 at least, plus a day off work because the work has to be done with the engine cold, which means riding to the shop and waiting for several hours until the surface temp gets below 95 degrees F.
I decided, then, to tackle my valve clearance. I knew Robert had the bike serviced at 12,000 miles and an oil change done at 18,000, but the valves had not been checked then because he had to get back home (he lives near Gettysburg PA and the shop he went to - Bob's BMW - is in Maryland near the Beltway, probably a 2.5-hr round-trip for him.
Through the great folks at BMWBMW I've made great strides in both my knowledge of and confidence in working on my own bike. JVB (R1200GS) has been especially helpful in this respect, and Dude! (R1100GS) has as well. When a tech day rolled around on 12 Aug, I felt it was time, and gathered my gear together.
It was time to do a full fluid change anyway, so I had 4 qts of oil, oil filter & crush washer for the drain plug, and a quart of BMW-branded synthetic gear oil (75W140) for the final drive and transmission. I spent some quality time reorganizing my tools; I ditched my small tool roll and filled up my larger one, which enabled me to cut down on the tools in my little parts/tool bag.
My tool roll is pretty simple and really takes off where the onboard toolkit stops. Here's what's in the roll:
3/8" ratchet driver, stubby, w/articulated grip
3/8" sockets, 8 through 18 mm, 12-point
3/8" sockets, 3 through 10 mm, hex
socket extensions, long (about 10") and short (about 2")
3mm hex ("allen") key, long-handled
combination wrenches, 6 through 22 mm, regular & stubby
adjustable wrench
"vice grip" adjustable wrench
flathead and crosshead screwdrivers (1 ea.)
selection of feeler gauges (not a whole set, just what I need for this bike)
old toothbrush
wire ties
Leatherman multi-tool
I also carry a 3/8" drive torque wrench with me, but that doesn't fit in the roll! There's some tools I need the onboard kit for - spark plug socket and the spark plug wire puller thingie especially. My oil filler cap requires a special tool to remove, and I tucked the two feeler gauges I need to do the valves in that kit as well so if I ever need to do it and I don't have my main roll, I'll be set.
The roll itself is kind of heavy, so I have to be careful where I pack it on the bike. One of the clasps on the drawstrings broke, so I got some canvas strap and buckles from a fabric store and made my own closure straps, one of which is long enough to help secure the roll to the bike if necessary (pretty smart, if I do say so myself).
OK anyway - so I set out to a BMWBMW tech day, loaded for bear and ready to rock my valves into their proper clearance. I started by setting up in Jim's (JVB) gravel driveway and draining the oil from the engine; replaced the oil filter and put the drain plug back in. Luckily I kept my BMW filter wrench when I sold my GS and boy was the filter in TIGHT! Somebody commented that the heat/cool cycle makes them extra tight sometimes, but it felt like a gorilla had installed the thing. I made sure to put the new filter on appropriately - spin it with your hand til it makes solid contact, then wrench it about a quarter turn more. The drain bolt takes a 17mm wrench.
Some oil stays in the cylinder heads no matter what (unless you tip the bike from side to side, which I wasn't going to do), so I got a drip pan to put under them and got set to pull the cylinder head covers off.
Whoops - I have cylinder head cover protector thingies - hard plastic to keep the shiny engine parts from getting scraped up. Three 5mm hex bolts per cover cover. Four 6mm hex bolts per cover - only they don't come all the way out, they're captive, so you have to pay attention to that.
A few minutes later, I was staring at my rockers! Woohoo! Now to let the engine cool off.
I drained the final drive (easy) and then realized I didn't have replacement crush washers for any of the other bolts. Whoops! A fellow club member came to my rescue with a little crush washer kit. Last week I ordered a bunch of the appropriate cw's so I can not only give him a set back, but also so I can have ready-made sets for my next few full-fluid change sessions.
Learned a pretty simple common-sense tactic - always remove the FILL bolt FIRST. You'll be fine from that point - if you can't get the drain bolt out, no worries - just replace the fill bolt and go on your merry. Think about it though - if you remove the DRAIN bolt first, all the fluid flows out. Then if you can't remove the fill bolt - you're stranded!
At any rate - the 4 drain & fill bolts for the final drive and transmission were a combination of 5mm and 6mm hex, I can't recall which was which any more. The final drive drains & fills easy, but the transmission is a pain in the ass. Firstly, you have to cover your exhaust pipe under the trans drain channel (yes I said channel - keep reading) or you'll get gear oil all over your exhaust - and THAT will stink to high heaven when that pipe heats back up! I was just going to wrap some newspaper around it, but Jim suggested (and supplied) aluminum foil, which worked great. Once that was in place, I removed the fill bolt (came out no problem) and ... well, remember when I said channel? Yeah - the trans drain bolt is at the back of this 3" or 4" channel. Out came the long extension and the drain bolt along with it, and true enough the oil went directly onto the aluminum foil over my exhaust pipe and into the drain pan.
Filling the final drive is easy. Filling the transmission is a pain in the ass, as the hole is level with the ground, so if you don't get it right in there, it dribbles right back out. Plus when you've got it full enough, it runs out anyway! That got all done though, messily done but done.
Once the engine was cool enough, I was able to actually do the valves. Jim showed me on one pair, suggested I trim down one of my feeler gauges to fit better, and then supervised as I did another pair. He approved and went off to help somebody else while I did the other cylinder myself. I had him check them, they were fine, and I set about reinstalling the cylinder head covers.
BTW - tools needed to do the valve clearance check:
6mm hex wrench/socket - to remove the cylinder covers
10mm combination wrench (use the closed end) - to loosen the set-nuts on the clearance rods
3mm allen key, preferably long-handled - to actually adjust the clearance rods
.15mm feeler gauge - intake valves
.30mm feeler gauge - exhaust valves (more out than in, eh?)
With the appropriate feeler gauge under both valves, it's actually pretty easy to set the clearance - you just let the (minimal) weight of the 3mm allen wrench do the work. It's probably harder to explain than do - if you saw somebody do it once you'd be able to do it yourself. The hardest part was finding TDC (top dead center) on each cylinder; to do that you have to put the bike in 5th gear and manually advance the rear wheel until a small arrow appears on this little gear wheel AND both rockers are slightly loose (you can move them with your hand) - that's TDC and it's in a different spot for each cylinder.
Anyway, I got everything put back together, filled the engine with oil, checked all my drain & fill bolts, and set off for a short test ride. I noticed immediately that the engine ran smoother and quieter (slightly). One thing it took me a few minutes to notice was the oil spurting up in a hot, searing arc from the left cylinder.
Whoops. That can't be right!
Took everything back apart on that cylinder and discovered what I missed. Between the cover and the cylinder is a thick rubber gasket that surrounds the hole the spark plug passes through. I got this gasket bound up when I put that cylinder cover back on and it split slightly, causing oil to leak out on every compression stroke! Luckily another club guy had one of those I could use, which I did, and when I got everything back together I proceeded to clean the oil off my cylinder, boot, leg, bike, etc. I also ordered several of those for next time around, plus one to replace the gift.
All in all a good tech day, lots of people and lots of fun. I learned a lot about my bike, and I got to help out some other folks too by loaning tools and just plain helping out (like picking up this guy's bike when it fell). I now feel perfectly confident to do my own valves, so when 27,000 (or so) miles roll around, I'll take another stab at it.
Peace.
When you have an R bike (that is - a BMW with a horizontally-opposed twin-cylinder engine), one of the things you have to pay attention to is valve clearances. Too loose and things get crazy. Too tight and valves burn up. The crick is you're supposed to check (or have checked) the clearance every 6,000 miles.
For a lot of "bikers", 6k is once a year - maybe once a year. For me, though ... well, let's just put it this way. I bought my R850R in mid-June with 18,407 on the odometer. This morning - late August - there's 21,898 miles on it.
The previous owner, a really nice guy with a bunch of bikes, bought the 850 brand-new in early 1997 (it's a '97 model). In the 9 years he owned it, he averaged about 2,000 a year. I've surpassed that by half again in only about 10 weeks - and that includes the 2 weeks that riding was incredibly dangerous due to the torrential rains.
OK so enough of my bragging
When I had my R1100GS from Sept 2001 til July 2003, I never once adjusted the valves. The first service I had done at Morton's - I wasn't confident enough to take it on, plus I had bought the bike from a guy in South Carolina. It needed tires, brake pads, and some other stuff as a result of him just riding it all the time. I figured I'd have Morton's do everything all at once, which they did.
In the spring of 2002, the GS developed an oil leak somewhere in the left cylinder. I had Morton's fix it; it was a bad gasket where the cylinder meets the engine block. Turned out it had been a recall, but the recall hadn't been done on my bike, so IIRC all I had to pay for was the parts since I wasn't the original owner. When they fixed that problem, they had to re-do the valve clearance anyway due to taking most of the external cylinder parts apart anyway.
It kept leaking though, and Morton's stepped up and re-did the gasket service about a month later or so. I had them do one more valve check in early 2003, but they didn't need adjusted and that was that - I sold the bike that summer.
I got through the ownership of my first Oilhead without ever doing the valve clearance myself. I did a bunch of other stuff - routine maintenance and minor mechanic stuff, but I just never had the confidence to do the valves myself.
Now with the R850R though, money is a lot tighter than it was then. Rent & bills are up, student loan payments are f'ing killing me (over $700 a month!), and I just can't afford to have Morton's (or anybody else for that matter) work on my bike if it's at all something I can do myself.
Oil is $8 a quart. Gas is $3.25 a gallon. Valve check & adjustment by a real mechanic would probably be in the neighborhood of $200 at least, plus a day off work because the work has to be done with the engine cold, which means riding to the shop and waiting for several hours until the surface temp gets below 95 degrees F.
I decided, then, to tackle my valve clearance. I knew Robert had the bike serviced at 12,000 miles and an oil change done at 18,000, but the valves had not been checked then because he had to get back home (he lives near Gettysburg PA and the shop he went to - Bob's BMW - is in Maryland near the Beltway, probably a 2.5-hr round-trip for him.
Through the great folks at BMWBMW I've made great strides in both my knowledge of and confidence in working on my own bike. JVB (R1200GS) has been especially helpful in this respect, and Dude! (R1100GS) has as well. When a tech day rolled around on 12 Aug, I felt it was time, and gathered my gear together.
It was time to do a full fluid change anyway, so I had 4 qts of oil, oil filter & crush washer for the drain plug, and a quart of BMW-branded synthetic gear oil (75W140) for the final drive and transmission. I spent some quality time reorganizing my tools; I ditched my small tool roll and filled up my larger one, which enabled me to cut down on the tools in my little parts/tool bag.
My tool roll is pretty simple and really takes off where the onboard toolkit stops. Here's what's in the roll:
3/8" ratchet driver, stubby, w/articulated grip
3/8" sockets, 8 through 18 mm, 12-point
3/8" sockets, 3 through 10 mm, hex
socket extensions, long (about 10") and short (about 2")
3mm hex ("allen") key, long-handled
combination wrenches, 6 through 22 mm, regular & stubby
adjustable wrench
"vice grip" adjustable wrench
flathead and crosshead screwdrivers (1 ea.)
selection of feeler gauges (not a whole set, just what I need for this bike)
old toothbrush
wire ties
Leatherman multi-tool
I also carry a 3/8" drive torque wrench with me, but that doesn't fit in the roll! There's some tools I need the onboard kit for - spark plug socket and the spark plug wire puller thingie especially. My oil filler cap requires a special tool to remove, and I tucked the two feeler gauges I need to do the valves in that kit as well so if I ever need to do it and I don't have my main roll, I'll be set.
The roll itself is kind of heavy, so I have to be careful where I pack it on the bike. One of the clasps on the drawstrings broke, so I got some canvas strap and buckles from a fabric store and made my own closure straps, one of which is long enough to help secure the roll to the bike if necessary (pretty smart, if I do say so myself).
OK anyway - so I set out to a BMWBMW tech day, loaded for bear and ready to rock my valves into their proper clearance. I started by setting up in Jim's (JVB) gravel driveway and draining the oil from the engine; replaced the oil filter and put the drain plug back in. Luckily I kept my BMW filter wrench when I sold my GS and boy was the filter in TIGHT! Somebody commented that the heat/cool cycle makes them extra tight sometimes, but it felt like a gorilla had installed the thing. I made sure to put the new filter on appropriately - spin it with your hand til it makes solid contact, then wrench it about a quarter turn more. The drain bolt takes a 17mm wrench.
Some oil stays in the cylinder heads no matter what (unless you tip the bike from side to side, which I wasn't going to do), so I got a drip pan to put under them and got set to pull the cylinder head covers off.
Whoops - I have cylinder head cover protector thingies - hard plastic to keep the shiny engine parts from getting scraped up. Three 5mm hex bolts per cover cover. Four 6mm hex bolts per cover - only they don't come all the way out, they're captive, so you have to pay attention to that.
A few minutes later, I was staring at my rockers! Woohoo! Now to let the engine cool off.
I drained the final drive (easy) and then realized I didn't have replacement crush washers for any of the other bolts. Whoops! A fellow club member came to my rescue with a little crush washer kit. Last week I ordered a bunch of the appropriate cw's so I can not only give him a set back, but also so I can have ready-made sets for my next few full-fluid change sessions.
Learned a pretty simple common-sense tactic - always remove the FILL bolt FIRST. You'll be fine from that point - if you can't get the drain bolt out, no worries - just replace the fill bolt and go on your merry. Think about it though - if you remove the DRAIN bolt first, all the fluid flows out. Then if you can't remove the fill bolt - you're stranded!
At any rate - the 4 drain & fill bolts for the final drive and transmission were a combination of 5mm and 6mm hex, I can't recall which was which any more. The final drive drains & fills easy, but the transmission is a pain in the ass. Firstly, you have to cover your exhaust pipe under the trans drain channel (yes I said channel - keep reading) or you'll get gear oil all over your exhaust - and THAT will stink to high heaven when that pipe heats back up! I was just going to wrap some newspaper around it, but Jim suggested (and supplied) aluminum foil, which worked great. Once that was in place, I removed the fill bolt (came out no problem) and ... well, remember when I said channel? Yeah - the trans drain bolt is at the back of this 3" or 4" channel. Out came the long extension and the drain bolt along with it, and true enough the oil went directly onto the aluminum foil over my exhaust pipe and into the drain pan.
Filling the final drive is easy. Filling the transmission is a pain in the ass, as the hole is level with the ground, so if you don't get it right in there, it dribbles right back out. Plus when you've got it full enough, it runs out anyway! That got all done though, messily done but done.
Once the engine was cool enough, I was able to actually do the valves. Jim showed me on one pair, suggested I trim down one of my feeler gauges to fit better, and then supervised as I did another pair. He approved and went off to help somebody else while I did the other cylinder myself. I had him check them, they were fine, and I set about reinstalling the cylinder head covers.
BTW - tools needed to do the valve clearance check:
6mm hex wrench/socket - to remove the cylinder covers
10mm combination wrench (use the closed end) - to loosen the set-nuts on the clearance rods
3mm allen key, preferably long-handled - to actually adjust the clearance rods
.15mm feeler gauge - intake valves
.30mm feeler gauge - exhaust valves (more out than in, eh?)
With the appropriate feeler gauge under both valves, it's actually pretty easy to set the clearance - you just let the (minimal) weight of the 3mm allen wrench do the work. It's probably harder to explain than do - if you saw somebody do it once you'd be able to do it yourself. The hardest part was finding TDC (top dead center) on each cylinder; to do that you have to put the bike in 5th gear and manually advance the rear wheel until a small arrow appears on this little gear wheel AND both rockers are slightly loose (you can move them with your hand) - that's TDC and it's in a different spot for each cylinder.
Anyway, I got everything put back together, filled the engine with oil, checked all my drain & fill bolts, and set off for a short test ride. I noticed immediately that the engine ran smoother and quieter (slightly). One thing it took me a few minutes to notice was the oil spurting up in a hot, searing arc from the left cylinder.
Whoops. That can't be right!
Took everything back apart on that cylinder and discovered what I missed. Between the cover and the cylinder is a thick rubber gasket that surrounds the hole the spark plug passes through. I got this gasket bound up when I put that cylinder cover back on and it split slightly, causing oil to leak out on every compression stroke! Luckily another club guy had one of those I could use, which I did, and when I got everything back together I proceeded to clean the oil off my cylinder, boot, leg, bike, etc. I also ordered several of those for next time around, plus one to replace the gift.
All in all a good tech day, lots of people and lots of fun. I learned a lot about my bike, and I got to help out some other folks too by loaning tools and just plain helping out (like picking up this guy's bike when it fell). I now feel perfectly confident to do my own valves, so when 27,000 (or so) miles roll around, I'll take another stab at it.
Peace.
everyday riding
Normal, day to day riding isn't exactly the pinnacle of the motorcycle experience. Yet I'd rather be on my bike any day rather than in my car.
If I'm going somewhere by myself and everything I need to take with me can fit in my side cases or be strapped to the passenger seat, I'd MUCH rather be on my motorcycle than in a car.
Pros of a car: air conditioning/heat, music, always dry, can eat/drink (easily) while driving, low noise (in a good car with the windows up), can talk on the phone when lonely or bored, air bags
Cons of a car: not a motorcycle, poor gas mileage compared to most motorcycles
Pros of a motorcycle: high gas mileage (I get 40 mpg commuting & 48-50 mpg on the open highway), can't hear the cell phone, intimate connection with the road & environment
Cons of a motorcycle: exposed to the elements (sometimes uncomfortably so), have to constantly keep your balance, sore ass/legs during a long ride, lame & inattentive car/minivan/SUV drivers accidentally trying to kill you, Interstate highways
Yeah, it gets hot (or cold or wet). People always ask me, "So what do you do when it rains?" My answer is always, "Get wet." Simple. Sometimes I have my rain gear, sometimes I don't. Right now I don't have a good waterproof jacket, so both times this summer I got caught out in the rain, I simply got soaked. Meh. You dry off soon enough. Getting wet in the summer isn't that bad - it actually helps you cool down. Getting wet in the cooler months of the year can be dangerous; being wet in the winter can be deadly, which is why as soon as I get paid from my part-time job on Monday, I'm buying a new 3-season (i.e. "waterproof") jacket.
Hot? Definitely. This week's been pretty nice, but as my friend Kate said, last week it was eleventy billion degrees outside and that kind of sucked. Especially since I always wear my jacket, boots, full-face helmet, and gloves. Heck, my BMW buddies frown on me at that level - most of the people I know subscribe to the ATGATT concept - All The Gear, All The Time. I'm more of a Half-GATT or Most-GATT. I never go anywhere without my jacket and helmet, ever. Well, except maybe to the end of the driveway - but even then I put on my helmet.
I'll go without gloves for a short ride and sometimes I don't wear my boots. This past summer, I'd sometimes ride to school in my sneakers on the nights when I knew I'd be delivering an especially long lecture. My boots are good, quite comfortable, and well broken-in, but they're still not up to my heavy ass pacing the front of a classroom for 2.5 to 3 hours.
Between late October and early April, most days it's just plain uncomfortable to ride without the gear on. It's a lot easier to stay cool on a bike than it is to stay warm - to stay warm, you need help. Layers, mostly - but in those really cold months a nice heated liner (vest or jacket) does wonders, and you gotta love BMW's heated grips, which get hot enough to feel through medium-weight leather gloves on the high setting.
Today I needed to break out my late spring/early fall gloves for the ride in - it was 62 degrees outside at 7 this morning! Had to put the liner in my jacket too; it's "just" a mesh jacket for the summer, so without the windbreaker liner I'd have gotten pretty chilly.
Being a motorcycle rider does do one thing to me that kind of bugs me - it makes me buy clothing. We call it "gear" to alleviate some of the discomfort of "shopping for clothes", but that's what it is nonetheless.
I have 4 pairs of boots - my main everyday boots (Hi-Tec Magnum, 6-hole over-the-ankle w/zip sides & steel toes); my backup/extreme hot weather boots (Hi-Tec as well, 9-hole, leather & mesh), cold weather boots (generic insulated work boots), and a heavy-duty pair of extreme cold-capable waterproof boots.
4 pairs of gloves - summer gloves (leather palms, fully vented otherwise), cooler but still hot weather gloves (fully leather but w/vents in strategic locations), plain leather gloves for most other weather, and thick insulated winter gloves.
Jeez - shoes & gloves. Just like a girl hahahaha.
Bags... don't get me started on bags. I have 3 different messenger bags (different sizes) and a briefcase that has built-in bungee cords.
I'm really excited about getting a new 3-season jacket - looking at the First Gear Kilimanjaro!
OK that's enough for now
If I'm going somewhere by myself and everything I need to take with me can fit in my side cases or be strapped to the passenger seat, I'd MUCH rather be on my motorcycle than in a car.
Pros of a car: air conditioning/heat, music, always dry, can eat/drink (easily) while driving, low noise (in a good car with the windows up), can talk on the phone when lonely or bored, air bags
Cons of a car: not a motorcycle, poor gas mileage compared to most motorcycles
Pros of a motorcycle: high gas mileage (I get 40 mpg commuting & 48-50 mpg on the open highway), can't hear the cell phone, intimate connection with the road & environment
Cons of a motorcycle: exposed to the elements (sometimes uncomfortably so), have to constantly keep your balance, sore ass/legs during a long ride, lame & inattentive car/minivan/SUV drivers accidentally trying to kill you, Interstate highways
Yeah, it gets hot (or cold or wet). People always ask me, "So what do you do when it rains?" My answer is always, "Get wet." Simple. Sometimes I have my rain gear, sometimes I don't. Right now I don't have a good waterproof jacket, so both times this summer I got caught out in the rain, I simply got soaked. Meh. You dry off soon enough. Getting wet in the summer isn't that bad - it actually helps you cool down. Getting wet in the cooler months of the year can be dangerous; being wet in the winter can be deadly, which is why as soon as I get paid from my part-time job on Monday, I'm buying a new 3-season (i.e. "waterproof") jacket.
Hot? Definitely. This week's been pretty nice, but as my friend Kate said, last week it was eleventy billion degrees outside and that kind of sucked. Especially since I always wear my jacket, boots, full-face helmet, and gloves. Heck, my BMW buddies frown on me at that level - most of the people I know subscribe to the ATGATT concept - All The Gear, All The Time. I'm more of a Half-GATT or Most-GATT. I never go anywhere without my jacket and helmet, ever. Well, except maybe to the end of the driveway - but even then I put on my helmet.
I'll go without gloves for a short ride and sometimes I don't wear my boots. This past summer, I'd sometimes ride to school in my sneakers on the nights when I knew I'd be delivering an especially long lecture. My boots are good, quite comfortable, and well broken-in, but they're still not up to my heavy ass pacing the front of a classroom for 2.5 to 3 hours.
Between late October and early April, most days it's just plain uncomfortable to ride without the gear on. It's a lot easier to stay cool on a bike than it is to stay warm - to stay warm, you need help. Layers, mostly - but in those really cold months a nice heated liner (vest or jacket) does wonders, and you gotta love BMW's heated grips, which get hot enough to feel through medium-weight leather gloves on the high setting.
Today I needed to break out my late spring/early fall gloves for the ride in - it was 62 degrees outside at 7 this morning! Had to put the liner in my jacket too; it's "just" a mesh jacket for the summer, so without the windbreaker liner I'd have gotten pretty chilly.
Being a motorcycle rider does do one thing to me that kind of bugs me - it makes me buy clothing. We call it "gear" to alleviate some of the discomfort of "shopping for clothes", but that's what it is nonetheless.
I have 4 pairs of boots - my main everyday boots (Hi-Tec Magnum, 6-hole over-the-ankle w/zip sides & steel toes); my backup/extreme hot weather boots (Hi-Tec as well, 9-hole, leather & mesh), cold weather boots (generic insulated work boots), and a heavy-duty pair of extreme cold-capable waterproof boots.
4 pairs of gloves - summer gloves (leather palms, fully vented otherwise), cooler but still hot weather gloves (fully leather but w/vents in strategic locations), plain leather gloves for most other weather, and thick insulated winter gloves.
Jeez - shoes & gloves. Just like a girl hahahaha.
Bags... don't get me started on bags. I have 3 different messenger bags (different sizes) and a briefcase that has built-in bungee cords.
I'm really excited about getting a new 3-season jacket - looking at the First Gear Kilimanjaro!
OK that's enough for now
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