20170830 - 73,214 - Total Cost of Ownership

Folks,

My bike is just off an annual maintenance and a huge front end repair.  I noted some wobble in the front end while on my last 6500 mile run, which I thought was a road issue.  Gateway BMW had another thought about it.  As soon as they put it up on the stand, they felt the front end shake.  I was able to get it back to my home dealer and wasn't about to attempt the repair myself.  There was something in there about needing head and a190 ft/lbs of torque on something or other.  I also thought that this would be better done with trained hands.  I'm a computer guy, not a mechanic.

While it was there, I had them do my annual maintenance.  I normally do that myself, but it was there, apart, and I was short on time.  The total bill for that service was $2985.65.

Always doing the numbers, I added that to my cost of ownership spreadsheet.

These are the numbers, by miles traveled:
 

73,214		Invoice	2985.65	0.51
60,000		Invoice	874.86	0.57
60,000		Invoice	348.87	0.55
54250		Invoice	114.46	0.61
51,000		Invoice - Filter	27.73	0.64
51,000		Invoice - Oil	28.26	0.64
47603		Invoice - Spark Plugs	135.6	0.69
47603		Invoice - Cylinder head gasket	115.52	0.68
47603		Invoice - Mouting and blanacing	98.67	0.68
47603		Invoice	684.36	0.68
41000		Z - Invoice	105.37	0.77
35866		Z - Invoice	1373.89	0.88
33092		Z - Invoice	793.89	0.91
20000		Z - Invoice	1176.74	1.47
18656		Z - Invoice	163.09	1.51
16370		Z - Invoice	445.52	1.71
11948		Z - Invoice	398.01	2.31
11162		Z - Invoice	235.55	2.44
6005		Z - Invoice	511.25	4.49
774		Z - Invoice	175.5	34.18
463		Z - Invoice	141.99	56.77
18		Z - Invoice	140.93	1452.27
1		Initial Cost	26,000	26000

It looks like I may be at an inflection point.  On this last trip, a check engine light came on.  One of my coils is going.  I may elect to replace them all vs. having another one go shortly after replacing this one.  I can do the job myself, but time is an issue.  Decisions, decisions!

20170827 - Grand Junction Colorado to Redlands California

I'm doing this out of order.  Yesterday was a long day, and today was going to be even longer.  We arrived in Grand Junction before dark.  The last 30 miles were hard as we were riding through the desert.  Desert heat takes away so much energy.
 
Jim had Marriot points and used them to get us two rooms.  We were staying at a Residence Inn, so it was a shame that such a nice room was only used for one quick evening.

While eating dinner with Jim, I discovered that the ride home was going to be 750 miles, not 500 miles.  That was a game changer.  I was expecting 500 because when I looked a map a couple days ago, I thought I was going to make it past Grand Junction and get 250 miles closer to my destination before turning in.  That didn' happen.

750 miles of mostly super-slab will take about 10 hours, plus traffic.  Temperatures were expected to be over 100 for a large part of the ride.  As above, this is very hard riding.  I planned to be up at 4 am and start riding to get as many miles out of the way as possible before the temperature got into the 90's.

Surprisingly, when the alarm went off at 4am, I was able to jump out of bed, get ready very quickly and had the kickstand up at 4:20 am.  It was dark, and I-70 doesn' have street lights.  It does have an 80mph speed limit though.  The good news was that at that hour, there aren't many vehicles on the road, so I was able to make extensive use of the high-beams.  I don't think I saw anything except the road from Grand Junction until I was half-way to I-15.  When the sun came up behind me, it illuminated some fantastic landscape.  The elevation was no more than about 7,000' at the highest, but the temperature dropped down to 43 degrees.

I was on I-15 by 7:45.  The temperature was climbing into the 80's already, and I was headed into the desert.  I was quite aware that it was going to be a hot day.  As it worked out, I managed to go get into Las Vegas while the temperature was just barely making it to 100 degrees, but temps greater than 100 degrees would last all the way home.  The high temperature was 111 degrees.  I only stopped for fuel and had breakfast bars to eat.  The one thing that was quite clear on this ride is that a breakdown in the desert would be very bad.  At those temperatures, it would be miserable waiting for help.  Hydration would clearly be an issue.

I arrived home just before 1:30 pm PST.  Here are the customary maps.  I didn't take any video today.  This is the whole 6500-mile trip.

20170826 - Salinas, Colorado to Grand Junction, Colorado

The morning plan was to get some breakfast and go to the Nissan dealer to find the part Jim needs for his Ducati.  We ate breakfast at a pancake house in Salinas.  The food was good and I'd go there again.

  The dealership, the dealership that Google said was in Salinas, wasn't there.   We rode across town a few times before coming to the conclusion that it simply wasn't there.  The plan was to move on to Durango and if there was a dealership there, get the part in Durango.

Words are insufficient to describe Colorado.  Gorgeous, un-polluted skies, crystal clear streams, and plenty of uneven terrain with enormous pine trees are everywhere.  Some of the streams are actually copper color; not the water, but the land the water runs through.  The water is crystal clear.  I also noted that there are a lot of fly-0-fisherman in Colorado.

When we arrived in Durango, we stopped for lunch in town.  It was interesting because when I travel alone, I don't venture in-town , and I should.  We were able to find parking and headed into a bar/grill.  I was nice to stop at some non-chain place for food.

Durango did have a Nissan dealer, and they had the relay Jim was looking for.  Jim bought 6.  They were only $2 each.  This brought up an interesting conversation between Jim and I.  Modern bikes can leave you stranded over a $2 part, and there are dozens of them on a modern bike.  Fuses, relays, switchesk, and computers can all leave a person stranded wi their bike in the middle of nowhere.  We talked at length about what should really be in the tool-kit.  Do you stop at fuses and relays, or do you search for other easily replacable parts that can break?  I plan to do some investigation into my bike top see what sorts of things can stop the bike from starting, or even turn it off while I'm riding.

After Durango, we got on the Million dollar highway.  The name is quite apropos.  The views are breathktaking.  I'm going to let some video do the talking.

<<<<insert go-pro video>>>

While we were riding, we stopped a couple times to shoot some drone video.

<<<insert drone vvideo from the turnout>>>

This video waas taken from a pull-out about 1/2  a mile from where we saw some wooden buildings in a canyon.  We decided to stop and send the drone in for a look.  This was a little scary.  We knew what direction the buildings were in, but we kweren't able to see the drone once it decended below thetree line.  It sure was fun flying the drone by looking through the camera.  This was really the first time I did that.  Enjoy the video.

<<<insert drone video of mining buildings>>>`

20170825 - Castle Rock, Colorado to Salida, Colorado

The plan was to meet at 8 am, fly my drone with Jim and his brother for awhile, get some video, slide over for some breakfast and start riding.  We had trouble straight off.

Jim's rear tire was flat.  He needed a new one, and the nearest repair facility wasn't open yet.  When they did open, they were very accommodating and said they would take us right in.  We were planning to leave and go south, but we were definitely heading north into Denver.

While Jim checked in his bike, John and I made the rounds around this motorsport place.  They have a ton of bikes.  Everything you may have wanted to buy was there.   After check-in, we went to have breakfast at a local breakfast place, and before too long, Jim's bike was ready to go.  Jim was worried that this was seriously cutting into our motorcycle play time, but these things happen and must be taken care of.  I was glad to see Jim riding around on new sneakers.  In his words, he's a 'spirited' rider.  The old tires would not do.  They simply needed to go.

We left Denver for some spectacular riding through the plains.  Jim was riding a Ducati Multistrada.  The bike is a beast.  John was riding a 2000 BMW GS.  John has a bike that can't perform like Jim's Ducatti or my K1600, but he rides it like a beast.  For hours, we were having a good time.  The sky was a beautiful blue with some nice white puffy clouds.  All that hung above the incredible pine trees, streams, and mountain faces.  Breathtaking is one way to describe it.  Here's a quick 2 minute part of our ride...


Shortly after this clip, we came to a stop on the road.  We had to wait for a pilot car to take us through a construction zone.  We waited for about 3 or 4 minutes, and then followed the car slowly through the construction.  It wasn't long after that, I saw 10 red bars and a blinking exclamation point.  My bike was hot and needed a break.


Fortunately, I had a GS-911 and was able to plug in and get some real-time readings regarding temperature, fan status, etc.  We were able to determine that the bike was getting cooled and the fan was coming on.  We checked the cooling fluid, and it was normal.  We packed up with the plan to keep a close eye on it.  I didn't have any more problems for the rest of the day.  One thing is for certain; when I get back to California, I will be due for major service, and the coolant will be flushed and filled.  Hopefully, I don't have any issues before then.

We rode and about 2:30 in the afternoon broke for lunch.  Jane's kitchen was the place and it was a local, something better than fast-food place.  It was nothing to write home about.  From there, we said our goodbyes to John, who had to turn around and go back.  Jim and I left for Durango.

It wasn't but 30-45 minutes later that Jim's engine simply stopped running while we were doing 70mph.  We got it to the side of the road, and after a few minutes it started again.  We continued, but it stopped again.  We coasted to the bottom of the hill and Jim called his mechanic.  This had happened before and required Jim to have it towed in.  We happened to be in luck.  The mechanic sent pictures to Jim about what he needed to do.  Basically, he needed to switch out a relay.  We also were lucky in that a guy riding a BMW RT stopped and asked if we needed help.  We did.  We needed Allen keys and didn't have any.  Ron had a full set.  That got us back on the road.

It was late in the afternoon, and neither of us thought it was a good idea to continue on until we could secure a permanent replacement for the bad relay.  The town of Salinas offered accommodations and auto parts stores.  We stopped at the Gateway Inn and got rooms.

After checking in, we went and tried to get a replacement relay.  Neither auto parts store had it.  We found out that the Nissan Parts store is in this town and would probably have it.  We will see tomorrow.  We also went back to where we were pulled over on the side of the road.  Jim left the cover plate behind.  That has not been found yet.  More on this tomorrow.

20170824 - Kansas City, Kansas to Castle Rock, Colorado

590 miles in this day, all of it super-slab.  Kansas is flat.  There wasn't a single elevation change until I arrived in Colorado; corners were elusive as well.  The good news is that it is gorgeous.  There was no weather to be had, but now that I'm in Colorado, the skies look like rain.  :-(  Hopefully tomorrow will be nice.

My route was Rt. 70 all the way to Rt. 86.  At that point I left the super-slab for 56 miles.  Colorado is simply gorgeous.  I can't wait to ride tomorrow and get some really nice pics.  My drone is charging now.  I may post a video of Castle Rock.  I need to make sure it's safe to fly around here first.

My today map and trip map are below.  So far I'm into this trip about 5,000 miles.

20180823 - Beaver Creek, Ohio - Kansas City, Kansas

After yesterdays service, I realized my tires simply were not going to make it all the way home.  It seems like everything happens with 3 minutes left in business hours.  That was again the case when I found a BMW dealer on my path to Colorado.  I wanted an early start, so I picked Missouri to start looking found Gateway BMW in St. Louis.  I made an appointment for 2:30 expecting traffic in Indianapolis.  The plan was to get new Road Pilot 4.  I have to say, these RP-4's really suck.  I really want to try something else, but I'd also like to keep the front and back the same.

Traffic was light and primarily truck traffic.  While going through Indianapolis, I saw a lady in the number 3 lane come out of the lane like a NASCAR driver into lane 2 and instinctively, I knew she was going to keep coming.  I had just enough time to start squeezing the brakes before she was in my lane.  I was both slowing down and moving left toward the concrete barrier to avoid a collision.  I wailed on the horn, and it was only at that moment she knew I was there.  I could see she was a combination of terrified, upset, and apologetic.    One would think that would be enough for her to slow down and be cautious about her driving, but that didn't happen.  She was just as aggressive for the next 10 or so miles that we were on the same road.  3 minutes after that first attempt on my life, a second idiot did it, although not as aggressively.

The rest of the trip was very uneventful, and I pulled into Gateway BMW 2:30 early.  The GPS on the bike led me astray, but Google came to the rescue and got me where I needed to be.  Shannon greeted me at the front desk.  Shannon open carries in appendix draw fashion and had 2 extra mags on his weak side.  He also carries a knife on the front of his belt.  I asked him about that, and he said this was a very bad area, and BMW lets him carry, so he does.  We are definitely off to a good start here.

The next discussion we had was about my oil consumption.  Shannon said I was on the bottom end of normal oil consumption.  BMW won't even consider it a problem until it is 1.4L per 6k oil change.  He also said it is the oil, not the engine.  He said what is happening is that the oil is breaking down and that I'm burning more oil in the second 3,000 miles between oil change than the first 3,000.  HE IS SPOT ON ACCURATE.  That is my experience exactly.

We took a look at my bike, and the front tire is at the wear indicator, so the discussion ensued about changing that.  I told him if we were to do that I did not want to go back to MP-4's.  He said my experience matches every other K16 owner he's seen, and all of them are shifting to Dunlop tires.  As I write, I'm waiting for them to put a new set of Dunlops on my bike - front and rear.  Hopefully, these will last longer than the RP4's.

As much as I want to get on my way, it is lunch time at the dealership, and he's hoping he can get me in sooner than my 2:30 appointment.  So far, I'm very impressed with the folks here.  Not only did they get me in on short notice, but they gave me a better explanation of my oil consumption problem than I've had yet.  Note these signs at this BMW Motorrad dealership:

Things didn't exactly go as planned.  Shannon called me in to review an issue he found.  As he was putting the bike on the center stand, he felt a rattle in the front end and on closer inspection, felt the wheel bearings were in need of replacing.  He could shake the front wheel and get movement out of them.  I authorized that repair.  They had the wheel bearings in house and could do that easily during the front wheel change.  The problem was they would have to reuse the seals since they did not have those.  They said reuse shouldn't be a problem.

Awhile later, they called me back.  This time, the tech was working on the wheel bearings, and Shannon showed me that the rattle was still there and some spent wheel bearings.  This was a multiple problem situation.  Next up the chain are the ball joints,.  We could identify movement in the upper.  The lower was unclear.  They did not have ball joints in-house and I could not wait for them to get them.  With very little play in the ball joints, I elected to get that repair done when I got the bike back to California.  They said I should be fine, but to avoid aggressive riding.  Rodger that.

I didn't leave the BMW shop until after 5 pm.  This was a bummer because I really was hoping to get further down the road; however, this was definitely necessary, and in the scheme of things, I could accommodate it.

New wheel bearings made things different for sure.  I still can't decide whether the more responsive front end is due to the different tires or the ball joints, and I can't decide whether the 'hump' I feel like I'm transitioning over during turns (about 5 degrees of lean) is the tire or the bushings.  I'm sure I'm more sensitive to everything going on in the front end and will probably have to wait until I have the ball joints replaced to know for sure.  Either way, I'm definitely not riding as aggressively as I have been.

20170820-20170822 - Laurel Maryland to Beaver Creek Ohio

The purpose of my trip was to attend residency for the doctoral program at Capitol Technology University.  The residency went from the 18th through the 20th.  The whole objective was to make sure I selected a topic for my dissertation and get it approved.  The mission was a success, much more successful than I thought possible.  Some really great doctors helped me along.

Residency ended at 1500hrs on Sunday.  This was good because I was very excited about seeing my friend Scot in Ohio.  I was six hours away and  by the time I checked out of my hotel room, it was 4pm.  I took the Baltimore Expressway to Rt. 70 because I was not going to let my GPS take me all over creation again.  Right around 9pm, I went through a cloud of something and my allergies were set off to the point that I couldn't see.  I had to keep squinting to push the tears out of my eyes.  I grabbed the next exit and found myself at a Best Western for the night.  I was only 2 hours out and I was going to make my 8am arrival time without issue.

5:30am came early.  I loaded my bike and got on my way  Everything was fine until I came into Beaver Creek.  Traffic came to a stand still.  What should have taken me 2:30 (on my GPS) took half an hour.  Scot was still making breakfast, so all was well.

Breakfast was home made sausage and gravy with French Toast.  Fantastic!!!  After cleaning up, we were on a mission.  We were going to change my oil, Scot was going to teach me how to weld, and we had to put his bike back together.  He had his rear end apart because he found a little puddle under his rear end earlier in the week.  With that mission, in mind, we began.  Scot's bike went back together smoothly, but we did need to go find a part and do a couple errands while we were out.  After the bike assembly, we decided to fly my drone for awhile.

After the drone flying, it was time to start welding.  Scot picked up some scrap metal, we pulled everything outside and began.  The welding was really about learning how to cut with a gas torch and run a bead.  I learned a lot and feel comfortable enough to buy my own rig and start practicing.

Unfortunately, I was working on a bladder infection and things were getting pretty painful.  Dinner was fantastic as always.  Scot is a fantastic cook.  Because of all the things were doing, we didn't get to dinner until 10pm.  At that point, I was in a bit of pain.  I knew it was a bladder infection because just 6 weeks ago, I had one.  I'm guessing that the antibiotic didn't completely rid me of the malevolent bacteria.  I would need to go to urgent care in the morning or find another way to get on antibiotics.

I didn't sleep well.  I was up often peeing after having a gallon of cranberry juice throughout the day; but, when morning came, Scot called his doc who called in a prescription for me.  Things were looking up.  I was going to be leaving today (Tuesday) by noon, but I simply wasn't in shape for that.  We also had an oil change to do.  Breakfast was a simple poached egg and English muffin, just what I needed.  After a bit of a delay, we picked up my prescription and were doing my oil change.  Scot was very impressed by the tool Paul made for me and I think about him every time I change my oil.  The oil change went smoothly.  I did note on my review of the bike that the back tire was toast.  I would need new rubber tomorrow.

Scot and I flew the drone on a mission.  It was a long mission, too long to complete.  The drone ended up coming back on its own because it didn't have enough power.  We shot 4GB video.  The video turned out out really nice and covered most of Scot's development.

Dinner was fish and spinach.  Scot and Marsha have a world class fish place near them.  The Chilean Sea Bass was fantastic.  Scot didn't put any butter on it, but it tasted like butter.

Just before dinner, I called Gateway BMW Motorad in St. Louis MO and made an appointment for tomorrow to get a new tire put on the back.  I think the front will last until I get back, maybe longer.

Tonight the plan is to go to bed early, get up early and be in St. Louis by 3pm at the latest.  After the tire change, I plan to continue riding.

Here is the map of the trip so far:

I neglected to mention that when I pulled into Scot's driveway, Gracie, his half-wolf, half-dog was waiting to greet me.  I pulled into the driveway and shut off the bike with the kill switch.  When she came over, I wanted to give her the attention she was demanding and forgot to turn off the key.  Needless to say, when I came back to the bike hours later, the battery was dead.  We put it on the trickle charger and it took hours before I could start it again.  We let it trickle charge over night.  I'm hopeful I didn't destroy my battery!