Richmond Va chatter

I bought her ammo, how thoughtful is that

Hey Bob. I think I will just stay out of that discussion. I have driven hacks and pulled trailers to long now to jump in on that thread and have someone who has not done it once tell me it's wrong or stupid. I like to ride and to ride AND carry all my paint tools on the bike a trailer is the only way to go. I will return your PM shortly. My hitch cost 3 times as much as any of the three trailers I have pulled It came from Australia so shipping was not cheap.

I saw a Klim bag at the house earlier this we & pretended not to. So we were in Charlottesville last night & Roanke tonight for a romantic get away...

Can't wait to see what's in the Klim bag...I'm no dumby

Okay - I'm hungry.

Where are we eating for RTE on Friday???

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Eddy. I would also be out for this weekend but if you put up at least a weeks notice, it won't be an issue.

Hey Todd,
Two romantic nights in a row? How many blue pills did you take? . I'm working Valentines Day and our anniversary this month. It's going to be very interesting at our house. :huh

RVA stickers .... Eddy, I still have a bunch. Not sure if any of them are reflective or not. I will look when I get home. I could still use some of that reflective tape. Can't believe how well it works.

Sorry. I can't check this site from work anymore. And my cell phone doesn't work in the Farraday cage. I can't check here often, and forget what goes on.

Thanks, Jeff. I believe Houston and I have it sorted out.

Good day all,
I noticed yesterday that my kickstand has rubbed a pretty good groove in my swingarm. I'm concerned about this, and not really sure how to get the kickstand to not rub, except to bend it outwards? I'm not sure grinding it would work, as the "foot" is pretty flush with the backside of the kickstand. Also, what potential does a deep groove in the swingarm for a failure of some sort? I'm not sure how thick the material is, and how does one go to repair something like this?

Thanks

Check your PM's.............

Replied.

Can you see it rubbing now? Mine has a mark/groove from a crash years ago. Mine does not rub on its own though. If you need a new kickstand let me know because I owe you one.

I brought my DR to work today to weld on a plate or tabs to attach the plate/light. I hope we have thin enough scrap metal here to fabricate something. The broken stock tabs that I am welding onto are pretty thin. She will get inspected and return to duty soon. Only about a year after the plate fell off on Dragon Run aka the Mud Road. I got the big box from Jesse yesterday with the springs for the DR350 and chain(525), sprockets (14,42,45), taillight/plate mount for the DR650. Cost a bit of coin and I need to find a place to hide my receipts.

Yeah just bend the kickstand out. Mine is about 3/4" away from touching. Think I would put a pipe wrench and cheater bar on the mount and try to get it back there.

Got a picture? If it's much more than a 16th deep probably replace it. Knowing it was there would gnaw at me. You could probably get one off ebay for not much more than the welding would cost. I see a couple now < $100 some < 50. And one for $700 That must be a bmw made suzuki swingarm.

I have Friday off so where is the RTE tomorrow?

I took the kickstand off, and closed the gap where it attaches. I get on the DR like a horse, and I was told that can spread the gap open. It worked, I have a good little gap between the kickstand and the swingarm now. I also stopped by Redline and spoke to their welder, he said it was an easy fix. He also said I didn't need it fixed and not to worry about it.





Any thoughts?

I rode my F800GS for the first time today. It's a very nice bike and am looking forward to many more rides, but a couple of improvements need to be done sooner than later. Any previous/current 800 owners please chime in or PM to offer opinions/recommendations or fixes.

1. I hate to use the word junk when discussing BMW bikes, but the fork spings are really awful! They compress like a pogo stick! And this is on a relaxed, street only, commute to work! I can't wait to see how they behave on something like Big Levels. New springs are mandatory. Fortunately, this is a "cheap", easily fixable issue and I may be able to buy 1" shorter springs too.
2. $800 heated Sergeant seat is angled slightly forward, and it's smooth so I slide forward into the faux fuel tank. This may be due to the fact that the grips are too far away for my reach and I am leaning a forward a bit. ROX risers will go on to see if this may fix this issue before selling saddle and going custom made from Russell or Mayer.
3. I love the look of the Deisierto 3 fairing! I need to make some adjustments to get that nice pocket of still air. It is adjustable for height and angle. If I can't find a nice pocket of nirvana, I may need to eBay the ($900 new) windsheild and call Aeroflow for half the price!
4. Wow! What crazy throttle response! It's either off or on! It's very touchy! I spoke with Dan Farson (800GS rider who won East Coast GS Trophy Challenge) recommended a 15T front sprocket and a $150 booster plug to make the bike behave much better at 1-15 mph.

Don't get me wrong, I like the bike a lot but think that after these issues are fixed, I will like it much more. The low and mid punch is nice but the top end rush is very fun and peppy for an 800 twin! It feels at least as fast, or faster than the 1200. It could also be that it's 50-75 pounds lighter!

Sorry for the long rant...just looking for other 800 owners comments/experiences/fixes... thanks!

Hey Eddy,
I'm not sure about the 800GS but the 12GS has a front and rear level adjustment so you can angle the seat forward or backwards. Look under the seat and see if it has the same adjustments. Personally I like the front of the seat higher than the back. It allows me to settle into the seat better. Hopefully yours has the same settings so its an easy fix.

Not an owner, but something to look out for...



Link

...make sure your top shock bolt is torqued properly. Many folks who have used the bike offroad, and it seems even some folks who never go offroad have had this bolt bent to one degree or another. When it gets as bad as the one above, it also bends the frame. That fellow had his frame replaced by BMW.

When the bolt is torqued it resists bending because it's basically squeezing a 2-3 part tube together, but when it gets loose the the tube can bend at it's joints. The problem was originally thought to be because of an aftermarket shock, but as the thread grew folks with the stock shock were having the same issue. It's a poor design, IMHO, with the bolt spanning such a large distance but it's totally fixable.

There's a fellow who makes a hardened 1 piece jobbie that supports the top of the shock correctly (the "Indy Kit"), but the stock bushing needs to be pushed out and replaced with his unit.

It's something I'd look into.

I was curious about this too, but looks like I won't be able to make it anyway. Finally sold our old van and the folks are coming by tomorrow around 11:00 to pick it up.

Durn for the RTE, but hooray the van will be gone.

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