AdamChandler's "Rosie Red" 2018 GS Adventure Build Thread

Lol at the cut zip tie collection on the floor.

I wasn’t kidding. There are zip ties everywhere.

Rosie Red weighs 667 pounds wet and fully fueled. Adding the Jesse boxes adds 24 pounds. 691 pounds. Stock is 580.

Trust me. I was expecting 50 pounds less.

Just lose your winter barley-pop weight and you’ll be golden!

Man Adam, you've gone full anti-Colin Chapman.

Yup- getting a little tired of it here too. Snow overnight here, but- NO SALT!!! Only a heavy dusting in middle MA. Going riding tomorrow - should be in the 50's by mid-day.
Damn that's a heavy bike!!!
And- just because the build is "done"- the thread can't end -as we'll need updates as to the performance of installed parts in the field as you ride Rosie.

To keep this thread from being iced, I’ll probably take the @Plawa route and create an epic rides thread for adventures and activities. It also coincides with my requirement of promoting riding and such as an MOA regional coordinator....not going to be in peopel’s face about the MOA but I do go to a lot of rallies and rides so documenting those in a central location on all of my bikes is the best route I think.

This thread will remain only to discuss mods done to the bike and over time reliability, experiences and such. There are mods that have and will come off this bike. I think it’s good to document things taken off over the year that contribute nothing but weight.

It’s really good to mention that I did not expect the attention to this thread that I did receive. 150K views, 100 pages and a mostly civil conversation with only 3 instances I remember when I felt beat up about the modification process from people who just think it’s a waste of time. The mods allowing this to flourish into a place where vendors drop in, I get to occasionally share a link that makes me 1% back (disclosed of course) and occasionally go off-topic, has been really great! And Like I said on the first post, this was a hell of a lot better than what I did last year where every post went into “what have you done”. It really was a distraction I think among all of the other posts that were more suited for that thread.
——-

BTW, the Machine Art Moto MudSling is off the bike. It does not work with either the Touratech ESA Module that bolts to the rear subframe or the Jesse Luggage Rack base plate. So that’ll go in the for-sale pile. Anyone here with a Maier guard & Tractive Shocks & Jesse luggage want to confirm figment or do I need to order it and just see if it works?

Adam, my 2014 GSA had Tractive shocks, Jesse pannier system as well as the Maier guard. There were no fitment issues at all. By the way, your new ride looks great!

Mike

Thanks! Ordering now.

Tank slapper successfully applied.

Nice work!

Passed 1,000 Uploads on YouTube. Quantity over Quality is the name of the game.



Seriously though, damn. 1,000 videos all around 10+ minutes so around 170-200 hours of content. Just insane that people take time to watch these. Thanks all.

For those curious, here's the folder that contains almost every YouTube video I've uploaded:


It aint easy doing all of these videos. These are just the final videos. I don't save all of the original files. I couldn't afford to store all of them without a serious second NAS.

Not to mention your time spent on post.

For the past 3.5 years, it's roughly 2 hours 3 days a week + about 2 hours a week of recording. JVB and I agree that filming a bike / car project easily doubles the amount of time it takes. So if it's a 1 hour mod, it's 2 hours of filming and then an extra hour at least of editing.

I really do enjoy it and while some people are like "OMG, you make $400 a month on Youtube sWEET!!" yeah but divided by hours and then paying 30% tax on the revenue, it's really more like $6.50 an hour of actual earnings. You have to love it. Motorcycle mods for the R1200GS are a very niche space. I'm better off reviewing the newest Jetta or F-150 or doing a lifestyle Vlog to make real money.

Exactly why I don’t do many vids...I hate video production. I think I’m using Movavi which is similar to iMovie but it’ll run on Windows and that’s somewhat easier but I still hate it.

Definitely doubles the time, or more, to do anything when filming it. Took me a week to film the farkling of an R1250GSA. It will take me at least a month to edit it. All for maybe 1.5 hours of video.

Adam, your mistake was not weighing the bike first. Motorcycle Consumer News weighed their 2017 test bike and came up with 594 pounds wet. I had heard that the TFT equipped bikes in 2018 had gained 5 pounds or so. That puts you closer to 67 pounds or less of weight gain. That seems much more realistic than the 87 pounds that you came up with.

You're probably right. like there's anyone on ADVRider with a fully stock GSA but if anyone wants me to weight their bike, come on over.

The number seems even higher when you remember the fact that most of the mods were like 4 like. I removed OEM racks, seat, crash bar, skid plate, windscreen and a few other bits before adding replacement items which were heavier, I know nothing I added was a weight savings but we're talking only a couple of pounds of weight gain per mod with the heaviest items being the Jesse racks and AltRider skid plate + crash bars which I know are pretty darn heavy compared to stock.

Last Captures of Rosie before she's covered in road-grime, salt, sand, mud and tar:

Me now that all of the modifications are done:


My guy who picks all of the cardboard boxes for recycling: