Saturday, July 14, 2012

The bike goes - and now stops

I spent a large part of the day working on the R60 to get ready for the ride to Ohio.  Hooked up the last of the wiring, installed some hardware on the saddle bags and checked a million fasteners.  I also spent some time with my friend Rick who is still cleaning up his yard for the June 30th weather event and needed to use a chain saw.  He has a bike like mine and is a ham radio operator, so we have a lot in common.

I also took a one hour walk with Hero on the Huckleberry trail.  It was only 85 degrees but was very humid and it was not that much fun for either of us, but we will not complain about spending time together and Hero got to meet some new dogs and people.

On my morning test ride I discovered that the front brake was dragging, and I wanted to balance the front wheel anyway so apart it came.  Balance was easy with my new Marc Parnes balancer and I installed new Bench Mark Works brake linings on the front shoes, reassembled and adjusted according to my friend Duane's directions and took a short ride to see if that fixed the issue - it did. I recall from the last time I did the linings that they get better as they wear to conform to the shape of the drum, so I'm looking forward to better braking after a few hundred stops.

We had a little electrical problem on our mountain this evening and, as hard as it is for me to deal with it today, we are once again without water! I suspect they will fix it tomorrow.  Bath by bucket tonight. Sorry - no pictures of that.  Good night!

Lesson learned: Take bath before the water goes out!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The old bike runs again!

Rick and I wasting time last year
On June 28th of last year I wrote this entry about my 1968 BMW R60/2 failing just before departure time for last July's big trip.  My friend Rick, who owns a similar old BMW, spent a lot of hours trying to get it running, but to no avail.

It was a failure of a part of a modern electronic ignition system and for over a year that bike sat in my house awaiting a final fix.  I ordered and procrastinated installing a new wiring harness (yes, BMW still sells parts for the old bikes) and after installing it the same failure was persisted.

An internet friend in California imports and supports these electronic ignition systems, which also provide 12 volts for better lighting (and charging gadgets like GPS, ham radio, cell phones) and making replacement bulbs much easier to find along the road.  Anyway, after many emails and shipping parts back and forth, today the bike started.  It is a happy day as I will now be able to ride that bike to Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio sports car track next week. Amazing that after sitting a year, it took only two kicks to get it running once that spark returned. Darned little black boxes.

I have many last minute fixes to complete and will take a test ride this weekend to make sure it is up for the ride. I know that I am!

Not only did this happen today, but we got electricity and water back at our home after more than a week without as a result of the Derecho on June 30th.  Reminded me of our years in Haiti, but houses here are not designed to live in without power. Many friends were gracious to let us use their water and bath facilities

Lessons Learned: 

Be patient - sometimes it takes longer than you expect [to fix bike/get power restored].

Recognize the partners in your quest.

Enjoy the process - disregard the frustration.

Look forward to riding it.  Yes, that is the goal.

Don't forget where that screw came from after 12 months.