So the love affair starts.... BMW

I picked the BMW up this arvo. I know it is mine now. I broke the right hand mirror off on Canterbury Rd. I was trying to adjust the mirror and didn't know that it was really tightened down hard. It gave as I pushed it. Moved to where I wanted it. Then as I am riding along it flung itself off onto the road and was run over. At least the cops didn't mind me doing an illegal U-Turn so I could park and get the mirror. I shudder to think how much it will cost me to replace.

Handling is way different than the MuZ. I was used to the fat small front tyre. The front end seems to be squirming around on the BM. The steering head bearing seem ok with no chunkiness. It might just be me. I did find that the front tyre pressure was too high. So this might help. Will know tomorrow when I take it out for a ride.

The engine is of course like a tractor in sound and pulling. Man this thing has torque. I am not used to riding around in top gear at low revs and then opening the throttle and off it goes. Engine is making noises that I am not used to hearing. This will take time to get used to. Hopeful I can get at least 100k on top of the 148k it has before anything major has to be done.

The shaft has no where near the lift under acceleration that my Virago had. Must be some of that BMW trickery in there to stop this.

Gearbox is not like a Japanese bike one. It changes slower and is a bit clunky. Not that super slick changing as a Jap.

The bike has a Koni rear shock. Until I can fiddle with it and adjust the spring loading I will pass judgement on it later.

Nonfango topbox that has the stop light wired into it. Fits at least my open face helmet so far.

Heated grips that I put on by mistake and nearly fried my hands till I could work out what position to but the rocker switch to.

The mufflers are stainless Staintune ones and sound so good. Loud and grumbles nicely. It is popping on overrun a bit though.

I love the centre stand. It is so easy to get the bike up onto that stand. So easy to get off the bike too with the weight down so low. The side stand I hate. I can’t push it down as my leg gets caught up in the fairing lower. Therefore I can’t kick the stand out far enough to have the bike lean on it.

After owning it for 3 hours now I am happy. But riding it heaps more will show how much the BM and I will like each other.

Comments

Tuning 40mm BING CV carburetors for BMW motorcycles by ear.

Steve Doyle has put together this great and simple guide to tuning your Bing carbs. No need for expensive tuning equipment. So over to Steve...... Any feed back on this How To please email me and I will pass it onto Steve. There are 3 common methods to syncing the carbs. They will all work 1. Shorting the plugs. http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/synchcarbs.htm and http://www.airheads.org/content/view/216/98/ 2. Using a manometer of some sort. Carbtune, Twinmax or home made http://www.airheads.org/content/view/183/98/ 3. Using your ears. No comprehensive articles that I could find.. In the spirit of learning to service and tune at home and after lots of reading, I decided that for me the "by ear" technique might be the most useful, as it doesn't require any special tools and can be performed anywhere. There is no risk of electrical damage to the bike or the one doing the adjusting. It was very difficult to find a comprehensive description of the procedure, so using the combi

On a Sure Footing....

I love my BMW. More than any other bike I have owned. This doesn’t mean that it is not without its blemishes. Take the hair trigger sidestand. Known to fold up when an Alpaca herder in the Andres sneezes and the bike is in Australia. Many a BMW owner has found their bike on its side on the ground. Fairing broken. The sidestand has folded up into the raised position. Why? Because it likes to. Once the smallest amount of weigh transfers off the side stand it will fly up. Also if you have an RT type fairing as mine does you can not put the stand down when sitting on the seat. Well I can’t with my short legs. I have to clamber off the bike while holding it up right and then use centre stand. I don’t trust the sidestand. This Video shows how vicious the original sidestand is. Click on the play button. That all changed yesterday. I fitted a SureFoot sidestand . Moto-Bins in the UK supply these. They are of a very sturdy construction. Comes with full fitting instructions and 2 new

Ride impression of the Yamaha MT-03.....

Yamaha have realeased their new 660 based single. The MT-03. See I so want one....MT-03 The bike can be had in Europe but not here in Aussie land. I have asked Yamaha Australia if they will bring them in. They said "No plans at this stage to introduce the MT03 in to Australia." To rub salt into the wounds, axxess , the forum admin guy at http://forum.monoconnection.nl/ got to ride one. NOOOO!!! So unfair. He translated his ride impression into English for those of us who will not get to ride this. Thank you mate for doing this for us. So lets see what he has to say..... Saturday 16 February I could try the Yamaha MT-03 at Gebben Motors. I could try a brand new red 2008 model. After a short instruction and a warning because of the new tires we were ready to go! The first thing I noticed was the enormous wide steer and the upright riding position It gave me a feeling of absolute control and power! The seat was quit hard but not uncomfortable at all. Unless it was still freez

Wrench'n Ride'n

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