BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Following a loooong day at work in Jerusalem, I decided to unwind by going to the gym. Parking on the side walk in front of the gym, as Israelis tend to do, I rolled up upon two locals getting off a scooter, gawking at my bike and muttering something in hebrew. I informed them that I don;t speak hebrew, as i normally do and one of them replied "Wow, that is like the bike of the devil", either the coolest or most ominous thing I've heard someone say about my bike. It's normal for Israelis to take a second glance at the r1150r as they don't have many out here and the regular retail price would be around $45,000. Other then a day at dealership here for service and my buddy's Harley, my bike is probably the biggest that I've seen out here.
Following the gym, I stepped outside into what looked like one huge cloud of dirt. It turns out that Jerusalem was succumbing to a dust storm, which is supposed to be normal. NOrmal or not, it sucked to ride in. The roads were slick, my rear tire almost slid out on me at every light and you could barely see the road ahead. My tires been sliding a bit lately since I had a puncture repaired. Maybe I need to put more air in or it may be the nasty film on the roads. Anyone have tire slideing problems after a repair?
I plan on riding the 3 hours down to the Sinai Peninsula this weekend, where Israel meets Jordan and Egypt for some diving in the Red Sea. Look out next week for "Riding the Red Sea" a continuation of my first post "Riding the Dead Sea" with what will hopefully turn out to be some nice pictures.

"Wow, that is like the bike of the devil".. ..

You may need to check or replace your air filter..it may be full of sand...just a thought.

DJ

Karter wrote:Jerusalem was succumbing to a dust storm, which is supposed to be normal. NOrmal or not, it sucked to ride in. The roads were slick, my rear tire almost slid out on me at every light and you could barely see the road ahead. My tires been sliding a bit lately since I had a puncture repaired. Maybe I need to put more air in or it may be the nasty film on the roads.

Karter, I rode in a light dust storm here in Saudi the other day, probably the same one you experienced, and noticed the traction was not quite as good as normal. I presume the sand particle act like little ball bearings. I don't have a great deal of street riding experience on dusty streets (yet), but I do have quite a bit of experience riding and driving in deep desert sand. An old trick is to reduce tire pressure to improve traction--I'm not sure how well that would work on the street. As for me, I treat the dusty roads as is they were wet and I take it easy on the corners.