Around the World in 800 Days

Hey Ed, Nice pictures! I'm gong to have to school you on lightweight packing though

3 Sleeping bags?!?

Let me know if you need any help in Mexico, D.F. My Mom lived there for 20 years...Very cool but not the safest..

I'll e-mail you the contact info for some nice wineries in Chile and Argentina we were just at.

Cheers, James

Well qhfan2 is leaving for home and I will be leaving the life of a rockstar here at the Viewpoint and returning to my tent and the road
I am looking forward to the new discoveries but I am very comfortable here
And that is whats keeps people home and I dont blame them
But I have this one chance, the door is open and I am stepping thru it 'on the road to find out'

Ed, you might want to look at Picasa to store your photos on your laptop. Leave your camera setting at highest definition. Then using Picasa you can either 'export' or 'email' any pics you want. Picasa will automatically resize your images to whatever you choose in the 'export' dialog...creates a folder with smaller images. then just upload. bingo.

Sounds good
I will give it a try

Thanks

ed

I went to take QHFAN2 to the airport and the GS wouldn't start
It wouldn't jump start or bump start
After wasting time with that BS, we hitched a ride and she made it with just minutes to spare. But our driver scared the bejesus out of us making some crazy passes on the curvy road to get us there in time. I think he shortened my life by a good 3 years (but it is the last 3 years so no real big loss)
Now I am stuck here in paradise until can figure out what the problem is. I am hoping it is just a dead battery.
But it got me thinking..................what if this happened in one of the remote places I like to camp and spend the night? I would probably still be there.
And what's up with the GS not wanting to fire with a dead battery. There must be a way to get the bike going by push starting it. I think if the voltage is too low, the electronics don't do their thing to get the sparkplug to spark. I need to have some sort of back up for this to get my bike going so I am not stranded in some remote location (without cold beer)
Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated here!!!!
When I got back to the place here, I rode the crappy little Italika Mexican scooter down in to town for some street tacos and a beer. And I was bouncing down the dirt roads for my tasty tacos, I thought................this crappy little scooter is not so bad after all. It rides like shit but it starts, goes and does all the things that it needs to do. Unlike my BMW !!!!!! My GS manual says it has 110 horsepower. But right now it has zero - nada - zilch. That scooter has maybe 8 or 9 but it is simple and it goes.
It got me thinking if my BMW is too much. It maybe too complicated for a trip like this by myself. Maybe I should be on a bike with carbs and points and a distributer cap. Have things gotten overly complex in this world? Am I multiplying entities beyond necessity? Interesting arguement.................YOUR THOUGHTS???????

My bike won't start but I guess there are worse places to be stranded at.
Kind of like being stuck at the Castle Anthrax
As Sir Galahad once said............................. "Look, it's my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can",

I guess I fall into the "minimalist" camp here. I haven't had much money to throw into riding, so I do a lot of research, follow developments of products I have interest in, and save save save...with the idea that by the time I have settled on a product, and have saved up the money, often the price has come down, and reliability issues with first gen products have been ironed out.

I don't have a moped, but I'd probably be a guy trying to get to or from Point Barrow on a Ninja 250...but ddennis669 did that already.

I've offended some "driving enthusiasts" by insisting that beyond ego, prestige, and nuances of style or performance some econobox gets you down the road "just as well" as a high performance sports car...usually less costly to purchase, operate and repair. Oh, I understand that if you live for the nuance, "the spirited ride" or "a machine with soul", it is night and day, and there isn't really a "right or wrong". Its just a different focus of interest. But, if the real object is to "get down the road"... Its pretty amazing the psychological contortions and sometimes outright tom-foolery we pull on ourselves. But, "the heart wants what the heart wants", is in itself valid.

I like knowing I can work on my bike, just about anything shy of dealing with engine internals on the road. But it is a simple, small, utilitarian bike. I have read where a couple rode a ninja 250 two-up to Peru from Texas, not the best tool for the job perhaps, but it still got them there. As for myself, on one hand I would like something more robust and "up to the task", on the other hand, I daydream of doing a real RTW trip on one just to prove to the naysayers "it can be done". Heck, if a guy can ride a Postie from Australia to England...egads!:eek1"

I guess it may fall back to "there is no perfect bike". Expensive bikes designed for RTW trips occasionally puke their engines nearly new. Basic bikes can do the same. Cost tends to go with reliability, but reliability seems to be related to the "simplicity - complicated" scale. Some machines are more complex and redundant to prevent a simple failure from taking it offline, but with more complexity there is also more to go wrong.

In a world of trade-offs, I guess everyone just has to find what compromises they can live with? Somewhere I have read, "never undertake an adventure by taking anything you could not stand losing", that's an odd thought. Sorry, no real answer, but your question is thought provoking and sometimes overlooked.

Ed,

1. Does the bike turn over?
2. Do you have spark?
3. Fuel situation?

Check your side stand switch if it's not cranking over, then take a visit in the BMW section here, lots of good information. Mine being a 2001 is a little easier to diagnose, plus I have done some diligent foo foo removal on mine which all BMW's seem to have as the models "progress".

Cheers, James

I would venture to guess it's a dead battery- There is NO WARNING, they just go tits up. You have ridden that bike hard with over 20K miles per year, so a battery, if its the orginal could have died...

1-800 is muy bueno :jose

Hey Ed

I am glad it happen in paradise in stead of in the middle of Copper Cayon.:huh
Anyway check all the kill switch make sure they are clean, try to start with the side stand up. If it still not start I would use a multimeter to check the battery, R/R and the stator to make sure they are produce appropriate current or voltage. Check your fuel filter and fuel pump as well. Good luck and keep us posted of your progress.

congratulations, awesome !

Ed,

Any luck getting your GSA started?

M

Very well said Voidrider
The choice of bike is a big ego thing
Yeh, I have to say that I catch myself just staring at the bike sometimes
And I am not a big BMW guy
But it is an impressive machine
With all due respect, it gets more attention than a Ninja 250
And that is part of the attraction. It pumps up my ego
I see local guys riding 250's here in southern Mexico
But a big GS is a rare sight. And when you do see them, they have been traveling a long way
But like I said before in my RR, its the guys that are doing the RTW trips on the smaller bikes that I tip my hat to. I have it relatively easy compared to those guys (until my titanium piston return springs break)
In hindsight, if I had to do it over, I would still pick the GS. It is not the fastest bike in the world (especially when you are used to Ducatis, GSX-R's and such. But it is a lot faster than a KLR650. And I like a bike with some balls. Down here, you need to get around slower traffic all the time. I like that I can pass cars and do it safely (that is a realitive word). And the weight is a good thing as long as you are traveling more than 10 MPH. Less than that, I am wishing I was on a KLR650. And then there is the transmission on the GS. It feels like it was build before the war.........and not the Vietnam war or Korean war. Maybe not even WWII. It is just so clunky. Really BMW? On a $20,000 bike????
But it does most things well. It doesn't excell at anything but it will do just about everything. And to me, there is only one choice and it is the GS. I still wish Honda made a bike that compares but they don't. And I like the fact that it is aircooled.......no water pumps, radiators and such to worry about.
So back to my original post about multiplying entities beyond necessity, I am still happy to be on the GS. Trust me, I don't have an unlimited budget. I am camping most of the way or staying with friends. I went big on my initial purchases. It was kind of a priority of mine (to have the best equipment), just like it is important for some to sleep in a bed every night.
Any case, I am kind of rambling. I finished off the tequila tonight and i am about ready for bed. Thanks for the comment. I would love to hear from more people about this subjest and how they feel

Yep, just a dead battery
But I have to tell you the truth.................I think I left my GPS on
And that drained the battery
I put it on a charger and the bike started right up
It still doesn't explian why the bike would jump start
Do chock this one up to rider error
It's not the bike's fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took a tour of the Cuervo factory last week
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the 1800 Anejo
It is aged for 2 and a half years in oak
Almost enough to qualify as an extra anejo
And everyone in the town of Tequila told me that Jose Cuervo make the best tequila in the world.
Their Gold is crap
But the other stuff is not too shabby

Todo Bien
I put a charge on the battery and it fired right up

Muchas Gracias

It was just the battery