What have you done to your GS or GS Adventure today?

Mobile Bay ferry loop with Battleship Memorial Park visit.

Took #EchoTheMotoDog for a cruise.

1st half of the day:



2nd half of the day:



I was going to go do some fly fishing for the 3rd half of the day but the monsoons kicked in...

Life is good.

Over a decade ago, here on ADV in the Rockies Regional Forum we used to do a yearly ride called the "Big Dog Ride" that included Weston Pass as part of the day (and Mosquito, etc etc).

It was always a great time.

In 2008 a group of us were going over Weston Pass "at speed" on that ride, and a guy on a V-strom who was trying to keep up actually snapped his swing-arm in two.

Pic from the top of Weston that day - August 24, 2008:


Weird little co-incidence:

The person that organized that ride was ADV'er @Hondo .
Even though I've considered Hondo a good friend for over 15 years, I haven't seen him in person for a couple of years but he dropped by my shop TODAY (a couple of hours ago).
It was great to catch up with him.

ADV really is an awesome community

If you feel you need to reroute them its fairly painless. Pop off the plastic caps to each fork tube and undo the nut. On the center stand it takes minimal effort to compress the fork to sneak the wires around

Your pictures kill me the most. Bikes and Jeeps make for a great day.

I went up there last year with the HP2. Seemed a little tougher this year. Have to take the HP2 back up there.

My AltRider crash bar reinforcement braces finally arrived. It had been so long, I'd forgotten I ordered them. So, installed them but found it super irritating that the mount bolts were about 2 threads too short to bite easily. Turned something so basic into a hassle so I had to get a couple that were slightly longer (the black one in the pic). Otherwise happy with the quality.

Also installed a Wunderlich dual USB to replace the DIN. Took 5 minutes and it's excellent quality though stupid expensive. Will make me think twice buying other stuff from Wunderlich but again, very nice quality.

Tore it up to install wiring for lights, and added the Denali light bar.

So after the drdata ABS/Servo heave ho I was not content with flipping the front brake junction fitting and contorting the brake lines to get them to work or the alternative spending $15 on premade jumper so I showed'em whos the boss. I spent $19.00 on a bubble flaring tool and $9 for a 36" section of 3/16 brake line. Ha, take that!


Really almost anytime I set out to roll my own it cost significantly more that just buying but I like to make my own and this only cost double. Cheap in my book :)


6-1/4: section of brake line with the ends trued up. The bent in a "U" with a tubing bender with one end 1/2" longer than the other. Slipped the brake fitting on and flared both ends. Then reduced the radius of the "U" even further around a ballpeen hammer then bent the tag ends against a piece of 1/2" PVC.

Rode into the sunset

With wind in my sails from the success of the front brake jumper I also tackled the rear brake.

now all the braided hoses maintain the factory position

With good ADVice from many of you I lubed my Rear Spline and Replaced it's rear Gaitor (boot). Used a cork to keep the newish rear fluid in, 10mm = 0.4" hole). Gaitor kinked, rubbed inside and cracked at base of kink on my New to me '13 R1200GS which has 17k mi. and the spline was somewhat dry but looked perfect. Have lubed K100RS splines many times, no failures. Thank you all.

Nice to see that someone uses Torque Wrench when maintaining the bike - usually that activity is frown upon as peeps rely on mechanical aptitude instead...

I’m really making an effort to follow torque values now that I have the 1250. My garage is actually slowly becoming a gs repair/maintenance spot.

That's the way it's supposed to be - well done...

And just keep doing what you're doing and your bike will thank you and reward you adequately!!

@Heather_B and I went to the VERY FIRST BMW Vermont breakfast of this year's riding season. We had one 'winter' breakfast in March but then cancelled the rest due to 2020 bull**** but today we capped the occupancy, stayed outside, did brown bags and everyone had a great time. Our breakfasts have upward of 55 bikes usually so it's weird being such a small group but it was great to see everyone.

Unfortunately, when we arrived our president just heard of a lifetime member of our club was in a hospital after being side-swiped by a car just that morning. They were helicoptered out and we didn't know what hospital they were in. One person went up with their truck to go retrieve the bike. If anyone here is in the Vermont club, I'll be sending out an email once we know more information. It put a complete somber mood on the entire breakfast. I've only been a member for 5 years and this guy was huge both in personality and contributions to the community. I really hope he gets through this quickly. This guy rode for many decades and a car doesn't see you and it changes your entire life. sigh. Terrible situation.

It did mean the hour long ride home, heather and I on comms talked about the risks of riding, the importance of training and gear and how quickly things can change for someone when they choose to hop on 2 wheels and go out in the open road.

Anywhere, here are some photos.

And just what the heck is wrong with:
"Half a turn before it breaks"?

That is a legitimate torque value, ya know!

Sure - I can't see what can go wrong with that "mechanical aptitude" approach...

It is just that all fasteners are NOT created equal and sooner or later above mechanical aptitude will bring "how do I extract broken screw/fix cross-threaded oil-filter nipple/else..." threads of which we may have had two too many in recent past around here...

(...puhleeze note the "nipple" which is related to the oil filter mounting before your dirty imagination takes you side-ways... )