February

[riceburner]

So - we're still here!

My Rockster is now safely tucked up in the garage at our new house, I've charged the battery (came up to full within 24 hours, so I'm happy with that!)
Haven't had a chance to do anything else yet, still unpacking boxes and trying to figure out where everything goes in the new house!

Plans for this month are to check the front suspension is in place properly (I think the bushes might be slightly out of position, I'm replacing them anyway), check the tyres and get a few miles of riding done around the new home! I only commute about once a fortnight now, so mileage will be predominantly leisure.

What everyone else up to over winter?

[towerworker]

On that note......I've put my Rt in my garage for some winter service. I need to do an ABS service as well as TB sync and valve adjust. I have a new Odyssey battery to install as well. It's cold here with some snow still lying around and frankly cold weather riding is not the fun it once was. Some of that may be my age at 67.

Come on spring.........

[Mr.Frequent]

Great news,Riceburner.
At 14 degrees Fahrenheit, I'm not riding! I clean it off out in my garage
,check the battery, and daydream about a nice ride .

Stay safe, you too,Towerworker.

[Tigcraft]

Well I’m starting off with a very expensive bike for once this next chapter in my life, sold my Rockster last year as it was a seriously thirsty old bugger, also was running a frugal F800gt which didn’t help and showed it up on mpg, 35mpg vs 60mpg regular hard riding, sold also my modernish bonneville black as I needed a change after 7 years and I’ve gone 1200 RnineT. It was either a R1200r classic to remake it into a pretty bike or start with a pretty bike and go practical. This year I’m building a ‘Touring’ version of the 9T to prove it can be done by looking OEM factory style. Anyway what happened to this site as it seemed off air for ages???

[towerworker]

Tigcraft---
Looks like you've cleaned out the garage. I sure understand the desire for some change. I started on my RT two days ago and pulled off the fairing. As I got under it I find other stuff that I need to address (or should). The previous owner ad a rats nest of wiring for accessories. That has to be cleaned up and so I got on Amazon and ordered a Centech AP-2 fuse panel to go with the new PC-680. (Sure would have been nice if BMW had made it easier to get to the battery)
After pulling the nearly full tank I figure it's a good time for a new fuel filter. I had made an assumption concerning the QD's and ordered a brass set from Beemer Boneyard. But I found that BMW had upgraded the OEM's a bit. Each male half of the QD appears to be plated brass. Why they left the female part plastic is beyond me. So I may as well change out the set since I've got the good ones. This job s growing.

[Tigcraft]

Well there’s something always satisfying on an air cooled/oil cooled boxer to work on. They can be just good humble motorcycles. My day job mostly consists of being a vehicle restorer and the simplest vehicles do it for me. I’ve worked on premium classic cars with coming of age disc brakes and power steering but if you drive them they aren’t an impressive drive as you expect as today’s cars drive far nicer. The thing is if I drive a 60’s car for instance the I don’t want all the period gadgets but a basic car with a basic feel of the era. The thing with air cooled boxers are a kind of back to basics feel, sound and smell of the hot engine you just don’t get with water cooled.

[riceburner]

I need to sort out the 'extra' wiring on my bike too. My beloved pillion has expressed an interest in having her own heated garment for cooler days so I need to wire in a 2nd (more like 3rd?) relay for that along with a switch somewhere.

The list of jobs is never ending!!

[Tigcraft]

I do notice that wearing a heated jacket makes my headlight fluctuate at tickover when reflecting on the car in front. Wonder as we kind of run on car looking alternators that we can fit a Bosch oversize unit to the bike subject to space??

[Biff's R]

I've been shoveling snow, planning trips for the summer, filing taxes, and building data centers. Haven't started the F800GSA for at least 3 weeks.

[riceburner]

I do notice that wearing a heated jacket makes my headlight fluctuate at tickover when reflecting on the car in front. Wonder as we kind of run on car looking alternators that we can fit a Bosch oversize unit to the bike subject to space??

If the bike came with the BMW heated grips it should already have an uprated alternator.

[Tigcraft]

Both my F800gt (2013) and R9T (2019) have std heated grips and both do the same fluctuations at tickover. It’s not really a problem but it’s interesting. You’d have thought bmw would have left a bit of leeway as realistically you’d expect to do long distance on most of any one of their bikes. Now stick a shivering passenger on the back who’d want some heated creature comforts and that could become problematic.

[riceburner]

Both my F800gt (2013) and R9T (2019) have std heated grips and both do the same fluctuations at tickover. It’s not really a problem but it’s interesting. You’d have thought bmw would have left a bit of leeway as realistically you’d expect to do long distance on most of any one of their bikes. Now stick a shivering passenger on the back who’d want some heated creature comforts and that could become problematic.

Must be the new bikes - I've never seen the light output on the Rocksters change.

[Tigcraft]

Well I didn’t have a super electronic hot inner jacket until recently but bloody hell what a piece of kit I should have had years ago.

[riceburner]

Well I didn’t have a super electronic hot inner jacket until recently but bloody hell what a piece of kit I should have had years ago.

Which brand?

I recently (well - 3 years ago now!) swapped my (massively over-bulky) Keis heated gilet for a 'Warm-n-safe' heated base-layer which uses less energy because you wear it closer to your body.

[towerworker]

The R1150's came with a 700 watt alternator, and while I've never run two sets of heated gear (I wish) I've never had any low voltage symptoms of any kind. I typically run a full heated liner and the grips in the winter months. The F800's I understand came with a 400 watt generator. Not sure if there's an alternator upgrade. Probably a better route would be to investigate one of the new jackets, liners etc that use LIPO batteries. Battery technology has steadily gotten better and might be well worth investigating.

[towerworker]

Well I didn’t have a super electronic hot inner jacket until recently but bloody hell what a piece of kit I should have had years ago.

Which brand?

I recently (well - 3 years ago now!) swapped my (massively over-bulky) Keis heated gilet for a 'Warm-n-safe' heated base-layer which uses less energy because you wear it closer to your body.

I've been running a "Warm-n-safe" full liner for I think 15 years now. Love it.

[Tigcraft]

Well I didn’t have a super electronic hot inner jacket until recently but bloody hell what a piece of kit I should have had years ago.

Which brand?

I recently (well - 3 years ago now!) swapped my (massively over-bulky) Keis heated gilet for a 'Warm-n-safe' heated base-layer which uses less energy because you wear it closer to your body.

It’s GERBING. I got cheaper the one ( not by much) as I don’t need heated gloves and trouser power take offs. Should have bought one years ago!! There’s two main settings to start off. If not hot enough then there’s a third to call up but if that’s not hot enough then a forth but you’ve to bypass a sequence to do it as it’s a safety thing.

[Tigcraft]

The R1150's came with a 700 watt alternator, and while I've never run two sets of heated gear (I wish) I've never had any low voltage symptoms of any kind. I typically run a full heated liner and the grips in the winter months. The F800's I understand came with a 400 watt generator. Not sure if there's an alternator upgrade. Probably a better route would be to investigate one of the new jackets, liners etc that use LIPO batteries. Battery technology has steadily gotten better and might be well worth investigating.

The F800 isn’t a keeper and up for sale so it’s not important to modify it but it’s interesting what you’ve found regarding the alternator outputs. I’m curious now what the R nine t puts out although not looked into it.

[Tigcraft]

Was going to post a picture on here but as usual this forum is still impossible to post pics!! How do you do it?

[riceburner]

Was going to post a picture on here but as usual this forum is still impossible to post pics!! How do you do it?

Put them online elsewhere (eg flickr) and post a link in the thread