Henceforward this blog will etch into history my adventures on the BMW K 1600 GT - people, places, calamities, happenstance and all joyous occasions. Read on about my journeys, maintenance, equipment reviews and more.
About 2 years ago, I met a friend up in Minnesota that was into ham radio. He, like me, was an avid motorcycle rider. We talked about how sometimes, particularly in the mid-west and west, you're nowhere near a cellular tower. Those are bad places to be without communications. Actually, in a pinch, I could press the alert button on my Spot tracker; but, that is a one way communication and the person on the other end really doesn't know what's going on. Enter ham radio. At the time, he was able to carry a portable radio in his saddlebag; but, nothing more. I thought about that conversation often and while I had some down time, I decided to study for the Technician exam and get licensed. I started studying the week before field day, 2016 and during my study, I learned that there was a field day. I sent a quick message to one of the local club members and the next thing I know, I was helping set up antennas and listening to guys chatting with folks all over the country. It didn't take them long to convince me that I needed to get my Technician and General, so I started studying for that. The next weekend, I sat for both exams and passed. Introducing KM4VGK, a General.
I've been trying very hard to wrap up projects and not take on new ones until I've wrapped up old ones; but, that did not happen in this case. I've been working on setting up the motorcycle so I could use ham radio while riding. Several other things have been put to the side...finishing the carburetor rebuild on my Harley, home repairs, maintenance and decor for the new house, selling some stuff I want to get rid of and more. About the only other project that's survived is cutting the lawn and keeping up with the weeding.
So, there are really 3 parts to this project - mount an antenna, mount a radio and connect the two. Simple, right? Not exactly.
I started out trying to build my own mount. My idea was to use the luggage rack and mount the antenna to the side of the trunk mount. My metal fabricating skills are non-existant. Even still, I didn't do a bad job. The only thing was that the antenna wasn't exactly rigid and moved around too much. I couldn't have that.
So, moving right along, I decided the best way to do this was going to be to mount the antenna directly to the trunk lid. It was clear to me that in order to provide some stability to the antenna, I was going to need a piece of stainless steel on top of the fiberglass and one under it to support the leverage produced by the antenna moving in the wind. I can drill holes in fiberglass and in stainless steel; but, I can also wreck a 1,000 trunk. The other complication with this is that the trunk is not flat. It has some contour to it.
Living in Florida, I have access to boat stuff. Boat repair people know about fiberglass and mounting things on fiberglass. Boat repair people deal with grumpy people who are very particular about their toys, so quality workmanship is expected. I brought the trunk, antenna and mount to Hudson Marine and explained the project to them. They said they were equal to the task. Actually, they said "hell yah, we can do that." Well need to put some stainless steel top and bottom and rivet the two together to make it stable. Well also need to waterproof it. Well, the first part I thought of, the last two parts I did not. A couple days later, I got a call that it was done. It was harder than they thought. The contour of the trunk top gave them some issues. They would not explain to me the trade secret of how they bent the metal to match the contour of the trunk. Here are some pictures:
The antenna is mounted in this one; but, blends in with my house.
I am very impressed with the job they did. the only thing I don't like is that the trunk lid isn't even all the way across (the gray piece in relation to the lower black piece). This could totally be my fault as this bike did fall on it's sign and could have taken the trunk out of alignment; and I just didn't notice. I brought it back to them and they said there was nothing there to adjust it with. I believe them. The other thing is that inside the outside rim is an inner rim that is sealed with a gasket. I'm confident that my belongings aren't going to get wet. I'm also going to test with a garden hose.
So, moving right along, we have an antenna. The second piece to this project is mounting the radio. I don't have many choices. I exchanged emails with Ram Mount as they have many options for motorcycles. I saw a picture of a K1600GTL Exclusive with a tank mount base and inquired about that. They said it will fit my bike. They also said that the handlebar mount will work. I liked the handlebar mount better, so I ordered that. It did not fit. I then ordered the gas tank mount and it should arrive either tomorrow or Thursday. I'm betting that it will not fit either. The GTL Exclusive had screws on the gas tank filler plate. It is those screws that this mount attaches to. My filler plate has no such screws and I'm not about to start drilling and tapping on an expensive bike. Update forthcoming.
So, getting the antenna and the radio connected is the third piece. The antenna cable fitting is not the same as my radio, so I bought an adapter cable. That works. The cable is routed under both seats. What I don't like and can't change is that the wire travels within inches of the battery. I don't know if that will have any bad consequences for the radio signal. Also, the full cable length only gets me about mid way up the gas tank toward the filler neck. It is unlikely that the cable will reach the radio if I were to mount on the gas tank as planned or have a local metal shop build me a custom mount for the handlebar. I'll need another extension cable. I think the extension cable I bought for this occasion was $40 something dollars with shipping, which leads me to a short rant.
I hate doing business by mail order. Order something, pay ridiculous shipping costs and then wait a week for it to arrive. If the part is wrong, you get to re-order and wait again. I would much rather drive or ride hours to get what I need the same day. If it doesn't work, you can take it right back in and exchange it for what does work. Not all Internet things are good. Rant over.
OK, so Ram sent me the gas tank mount. They said it would work. I trusted them. Bad on me. The problem was as I described above. Thinking through this, I thought there might be an easier way, Velcro. My gas tank has a gentle curve to it, so Velcro isn't going to provide as tight a fit as it would on a flat surface; but, I wanted to give it a shot. So, off to Walmart I went. The end product really is not bad at all. Everything is stable, particularly the radio (and the Gerbings thermometer, bottom). The least stable thing is the Sena SR-10 at the top. This is where the most curvature for the tank is. I will ride it like this for a little while to see if I like it. If I don't, I can mount it on top of the gas tank filler plate. There is enough room up there for the handlebars to clear it. Not pictured is the PTT switch on the left hand grip. It connects directly to the Sena.
Originally, the plan was to ride with the Tampa Bay BMW group. They have a Sunday ride. I didn't leave until late and the ride is supposed to leave at 10:30. I knew I'd be late and they would probably be gone. I went anyway; thinking that they might leave late. As luck would have it, I got there at 10 till 11 and they were still there. They were just sitting and chatting. They weren't planning on doing a real ride today. Almost everyone was going to do something else. The temp was already over 90. 2 people were going to ride through the Florida National Cemetery for Memorial day and asked if I wanted to join. Of course I did.
There were 3 of us for the ride. Frank leading, his wife and me batting last. Frank had a new Yamaha 400CC bike with a kick start and he was breaking it in. He said he wouldn't be doing more than 45; but, we were at 60 several times.
The Florida National Cemetery is a very big place. I rode through today with a couple friends. I really had no idea just how big it is. There are rows after rows of grave stones in fields after fields. It goes on for a long time. I understand that there were several fields that we didn't even ride past. At first, I thought all these people died in battle; but, I was told that any military person from Florida can be buried there.
After doing a little research, 624,999 service people have died
in combat since and including WW1. That does not include all the wars
that preceded that. The number since and including the American
Revolutionary War would be 1,319,943, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
There are probably a few more to add to this total for Syria and
probably even more for casualties that occurred during black ops. That
is the number of American troops I hope you are thinking about this
weekend ... like before you order your Triple, Venti, Half Sweet,
Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks and before you start debating
the merits of who can use which bathroom at Target or anywhere else.
These things we would not be part of our lives without the people that
made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
The Florida National Cemetery, as of now, has 129,000 interments. I didn't see them all and that is only 20% of the total from WW2. It's sobering how many people have given their lives.
...
After the cemetery, we parted ways. My friends were planning on getting on their boat and relaxing on the water. I was planning to put some miles on the bike, although, I didn't have a destination. The first order of operations was lunch though, so I decided to go back to The Yearling and get a Shrimp and Alligator Po' Boy. Willie Green was there, singing the Blues again. I talked to him a little bit after I was done eating. He's having some heart troubles. He's still happy to be singing the Blues though. I wished him well, having created a plan to ride up to Fernandina Beach in the far NE corner of Florida.
I chose Fernandina beach because I like the northern tier of Florida better than much of the rest of it and I'd never been there. I also knew there was a river crossing ferry up that way, so I thought I'd try to find that.
I forgot to take off my fanny pack after lunch, so I stopped right off Rt. 301. Right there, there's an old fire truck. I took a picture of it with my bike. There's always a reason to take a picture of the bike with a firetruck...old or new.
I didn't make it all the way to Fernandina beach. Traffic started getting pretty dense and I had no desire to stand on the pavement at traffic lights in 97 degree temps. That was the OAT as displayed by the temp gauge on my motorcycle. It was probably a bit hotter for me since I'm riding on top of the engine that is getting air at that temperature. Anyway, there was no way I was going any further on A1A, so I scrapped the idea of riding the coast south and opted for less traffic and more of the northern tier of Florida for the return. I was trying to select roads that I didn't think I'd been on before. It's getting pretty hard to do that now. While I was riding, I decided to that I wanted to find out if I'd ridden in all the counties in Florida. I have the data to figure that out, so I think I will do that.
On Rt. 90W, coming into Macclenny, a turkey vulture left it's perch and started flying on a course that would cause me to hit it. It came off the left side of the road, crossed traffic and was headed right into my path. It was trying to climb and turn away from me. I was going pretty fast at the time and had to grab the brake lever to avoid hitting it. It was close. The updraft created by my windscreen lifted it high enough that it barely cleared my helmet. I don't think it would have been all that bad if we had collided; but, I can't believe that I've had 2 close calls with large birds in as many months.
I chose 129 S. to avoid intercepting rt. 19 and having to ride that all the way home. 129S is a nice road and took me all the way down to Chiefland Fl., about 2 hours from my house. I stopped at a shrimp place in Ingress for dinner. I needed to cool down, even though I was only an hour away from home. I shot this video of their fish tank. They have 2 plecos in their 40 gallon tank. 1 is 10" and the other is 12". Too much pleco for that tank!
Today was one of those rides that you don't want it to end; but, at the same time, you can't wait to get home to start writing about.
When I got home the other night, I realized that I was about 250 miles from rolling 50,000 miles on my odometer. My bike is 2 and a half years old and while that may sound like a lot of miles to some, it's not in the crowd I run with. My 'peers' seem to be able to do that in a year and I am also aware of 1 guy who regularly rides 100,000 per year and gets a new motorcycle every year. It has something to do with work. I've also heard what I think is folklore - people that have ridden over 1M miles in less than 3 years. I digress. I wanted to cross the 50,000 mile mark this weekend and I couldn't think of a better way to do it than to take a run up to a restaurant I was introduced to in Cross City. I knew that they had a fantastic Po' Boy sandwich and a blues singer that came in once in a while.
I always want to travel new roads, so I decided I'd ride 50 East to 19 North and then in Marion county, get off on some back roads to the restaurant. I'd ridden the 50E part many times and some of 19, but the county roads in Marion would be new. The route would also be largely through Ocala National Forest.
As Florida scenery goes, it was nice; but, nothing great. I've seen a lot of Florida now and most of the landscape falls into 4 general categories - The Keys - a landscape all to themselves. Nobody has more ocean. Populated areas - all southern Florida from Orlando south along both coasts. Horse Farm land - lots of it north of Orlando to the northern border and over grown vegetation growing in sand. That would be nearly everything in the middle of the state from the everglades to the northern border except for over populated cities and horse farms. Ocala national forest is that. It lacks the magnificent views of the Appalachians. It is very flat. The perspective changes when buildings appear. That said, I'll take overgrown forest over cityscapes any day. I arrived at The Yearling Restaurant at about 2:15, only 30 miles short of my 50,000 mile goal. The place was packed; cars everywhere. Somehow, I managed to get a spot right outside the front door. By the time I left, there would be 3 Harley's partially sharing my spot and extending down the row.
When I opened the door, awesome blues music spilled out. There sat Willie Green strumming his guitar. Willie had many fans there and he knew it. I had to wait for a table; but, it was worth it. I was seated just to the side of Willie - a front row seat. What is particularly notable is his voice. It's fantastic. I love the blues and this was a very nice treat. Here's 10 seconds of Willie:
In keeping with the plan, I reviewed ordered a sweet tea from Jamie, my waitress. I also noticed that Willie didn't have anything to drink by him and asked her to get him whatever he wanted to drink. She said that he drinks water. He's a diabetic. I remarked to her about what a fantastic sound he has and then Jamie gave me the story. Willie lives in a nursing home fairly close by. They pick him up and take him to the restaurant, where he plays and plays and plays. They pay him something. He also has a tip jar and you can buy his CD's there. You can also buy T-shirts. Largely, he was covering recognizable songs by Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke and BB King. Sometimes, he would riff on something I had never heard before. He plays guitar and mouth harp at the same time. I bought his first CD and am listening to his music as I write.
More pics:
After a while, Jamie came back for my order. Actually, it was quite a while. I had a sweet tea in front of me and I wasn't complaining. Had I been at a chain restaurant, I would have lost my patience. [Sidebar: I am requesting a complete refund on my education. I was advised by a 6th grade teacher friend that patients and patience are two different words. I only knew of the first one. This is the second time in less than a month that I found out something I should have known a long time ago. Maybe I'll only get a partial refund. After all, I can make change and do other nifty things with my education..perhaps some in the upcoming generation can't do.] Back to ordering. I ordered the Shrimp and Alligator Po' Boy. On the menu it's one or the other; but, you can get both. I wanted both. I ordered that with cheese grits (something I'd never had before) and a cup of New England clam chowder.
The New England Clam Chowder is so thick they should just call it New England Clam Casserole
I'm going to get my southern on today!
How about with the cheese peeled back so you can see all the tasty morsels in there. I think this would be better if none of it were breaded and fried...use the same seasonings and broil it. That said, it was fantastic.
So, I'm finishing up and two ladies walk in. They had clearly been here before and came to see Willie and after we started talking, I found out they also come in for the 'Sour Orange Pie.' What???? Sour orange pie? I didn't know such a thing exists. They said that one time they got here and only 1 piece was left, so they had to split it. Now, they order it first and then order their meal. They said I had to try it. So I did. Jamie asked me if I wanted that with chocolate syrup on it and whip cream. How should I know? I never had Sour Orange Pie before. I considered it for a moment and I couldn't think of a meal that would be simply ruined with chocolate syrup and whip cream, so I said yes. I should have taken a picture and I did not; sorry. It was very tasty and now it would seem that my meal at The Yearling could be cemented in place. Then again, there are other tasty things on the menu. A return trip is in order for sure.
Back on the bike...like an hour or so later, I decided to do a compass run back - just follow the compass. I know I need to go south and west. Florida is easy to navigate. Since I live on the West coast, I am going to run into one of the major highways that will get me to Spring Hill ... 19, 41, 75, 301, 33/19 ...those would be US highways and 75 is an Interstate. All the major east/west highways are numbered between 40 and 70 for most of the state. I prefer county roads though. Those are all 3 digit numbers and it's anyone's guess where one goes, other than odd numbers run north and south and even numbers run east and west. That said, I follow the compass on county roads.
Let me tell you about road engineers. Federal road engineers - Interstate architects are very uptight people. They don't like more than 10 degrees of turn. They like wide lanes and unified direction of travel. They like consistent, predictable entry and exit points. The signage is impeccable. All Interstates either take you directly through a major city at some point or around it, like a beltway. If these people weren't engineering interstates, they would be doing some other job that required tedious attention to regulation and standards. These people are no fun and would not be expected to show up to a Saturday night dance..under any circumstances. Should something happen that they accidentally tripped and fell into the room and couldn't get out, they would be stuck fast to the wall paper. Boring people. State roadway engineers are slightly more fun. They are happy to design a road with traffic moving in both directions, passing zones, and an occasional sweeping turn; but, are also very moody and will slam a blinking light or traffic sign right in the middle of things. They will run their road right through a town, keeping the market space for 25, 35, 45 and 55 mph speed limit signs alive and well. These engineers, with much trepidation, would be dragged to the Saturday night dance and when they danced, they would barely move their feet, be stiff as a board. We'd all be glad they are there because we can dance better; his/her significant other...not so much. Then there are county road engineers. These guys architect roads while smoking weed. I can clearly hear the conversation. 'Dude, let's put a giant sweeping turn right here, and then another giant sweeper going the opposite way right after it. We'll put a 45 mph speed limit sign on it to make the bureaucrats happy; but, every motorcycle rider will love us. They'll come from miles around and go around these curves with their helmets on fire.' These are the guys that will come to the Saturday night dance. They will have fun. Their significant other will have fun and everyone near them will have fun. I like county road engineers. I imagine Tommy Chong. None of this applies to road engineers from Montana. I'm convinced all of them are smoking crack. I've been on two lane windy roads in Montana posted at 75mph. These guys go to the dance and rig the equipment to play the music double speed. Everyone becomes confused.
So, back to the county roads. I was on many and as a result, forgot to pull over when I hit 50,000 miles for the obligatory here's my 50,000 mile picture. When I remembered, I was only slightly past it. So, here's my 50,004 mile picture. At the time, I was listening to 'Don't fear the reaper' and thinking 'I need more cow bell.' As for the rear pressure indicator, my rear tire was not flat. The bolt that holds the tire pressure sensor broke and it won't be replaced until I need to mount and balance new tires...hopefully in more than 10,000 miles. 2400 miles is the number of miles since I was at Scot's house doing the last maintenance and yes, I was in Dynamic mode grabbing lots of throttle through the twisties designed by someone that reminds me of Tommy Chong.
I found this great bio of Willie Green. It's worth a read. Here's are the maps. It's all about making new lines on the map.
All good stories start with "There I was" or "This is a true story," so:
This is a true story. There I was in Orlando. The temp was reading 100.7 and I was on E. Colonial, a very busy road with lots of traffic lights and too many vehicles. There are multiple lanes in each direction. I was traveling east, GPS navigating to Starbucks to kill some time before I meet with friends for dinner. In the previous 5 miles, I probably sat through at least 6 traffic lights, each 3-5 minutes. I was hot, sweating and every time I looked at my GPS, it was telling me that the Starbucks I was going to was just another intersection away...and then it would zoom in a little more and put another 3 intersections between me and it. It's safe to say I was hot and really wanted to get off the hot pavement. It's safe to say that I had less patience for the situation than what was called for.
So, I'm in stop and go traffic, inching along and my GPS is calling for a right turn (into Plato's Closet). I'm looking for the Starbucks and I can't see it...largely because the GPS had it on the wrong side of the street. Not wanting to miss the turn, just in case I didn't see it, I looked right (much too quickly) and started moving into the lane to my right. As I started crossing the line, I saw the front end of a burgundy / burnt orange car bearing down on me. He, or she saw what was happening and locked up the brakes. At the same time, I let the clutch go and added a fistful of throttle. We did make contact. I'm pretty sure of it. There was no crunch of breaking plastic and it didn't destabilize my bike. I pulled into the next parking lot to see what damage was done; but, the driver kept going. I can't say whether or not I'm surprised about that. It's entirely possible that he/she had no idea that our vehicles made contact. I think when I wash my bike, I put more pressure on the plastic parts than that car put on my bike; but, I will say that it felt strangely like my dad pushing me forward when I was learning to ride a bicycle - just a gentle tap.
Now I suppose if you ride long enough, something like this is going to happen. In all honesty though, that's not good enough and I need to own it. An argument could easily be made that the car was going to fast. Traffic was going 10 miles per hour or less in my lane and he/she was going much faster than that. That said, I know that I looked to my right an appropriate distance for the speed I was traveling; but, did not look far enough back in the lane for the speed he/she was traveling. I turned my head to look. I did not check my mirror. Perhaps if I had, I would not be writing this. The fact is, I got damn lucky. Had that driver been heads down texting or otherwise distracted, I'd have to change the ending to this story. It was both our reactions that contributed to a positive outcome.
May is motorcycle awareness month. I really need to thank motorists that are not distracted and who, I am now sure, have saved many lives by seeing and avoiding motorcycles. I think a great many riders would like to place blame for traffic accidents with motorcycles squarely at the feet of motorcyclists; but, my experience in this case is that is not always right.
So, there I was over 400 miles from home at 6:30 in the morning when I get the flashing triangle thingy and the headlight with a zero symbol. Ignore everything else in the picture. I took this when I was safely at home, the bike was on the stand and I had a cold one in hand.
I was leaving Atlanta on the last leg of my journey (400+ miles), when I got the flashing yellow warning triangle and the headlight with a zero indicator. I didn't know what that symbol was as I was riding. My eyes aren't what they used to be when I was 20 and even at that, I wouldn't have guessed that was a headlight symbol. What I new was that the following things happened with the appearance of that symbol: The cruise control turned off, I couldn't move the wind screen up or down, my radio station was locked in. I couldn't go through any menu items. The good news was: The bike had power and brakes. The battery wasn't discharging. Right then, I had a choice to make. I could either navigate to the nearest BMW dealer and wait there for them to open or press on. My GS-911 was at home and even if it weren't, I couldn't get a replacement part until a dealership opened and, more likely than not, they would have to order it unless it was a maintenance item. I decided to press on and see what I could do while riding to further diagnose this problem.
Realistically, my biggest concern was that I was going to eventually have to fill up and when I did, I would remove the key from the ignition to open the tank. At that point, I had no idea whether or not the bike would restart. There are some things that can happen where the bike will keep running until it is turned off and then it will not start again until the message was cleared. By my estimation, when all that happened, I would be about 60 miles from another dealership with the diagnostic equipment to figure this out. That would mean a tow if I couldn't get it to start. I would still be over 300 miles from my house, so parking it, going home another way and coming back with my trailer was possible; but, a serious time consumer. I hoped that I'd be able to get a dealer on the phone with me while I was still riding to see if there was anything I could do to avoid a shutdown, if that was a possibility. Unfortunately, I would be out of gas before anyone even turned the lights on. Another thought I had was that I needed to stop at a town with some infrastructure...gas, hotel, auto parts, etc. It works out that I ended up stopping just north of Valdosta Ga. Before I turned off the bike, I pulled out the manual from the trunk. TAKE NOTE: THE MANUAL IS UNDER YOUR SEAT WHEN YOU GET THE BIKE. PUT IT IN THE TRUNK. YOU NEED THE KEY TO GET UNDER THE SEAT, WHICH MEANS TURNING OFF THE BIKE. The manual said this was a headlight with a zero and that the cause had something to do with the computer not knowing where the headlight was or a bulb being out. It said nothing about whether or not I'd be able to start my bike. Throwing caution to the wind, I turned it off, filled it up and fortunately, was able to turn it back on.
Back on the road, with the warning light still blazing and electrical function still hit and miss, I called BMW Jacksonville to solicit their advice. They said that there was nothing I could do from the roadside and that normally, the indicator is limited to headlight issues; but, since I'm having other issues, the problem is deeper and will require a diagnostic module hookup. This was not good news because my windscreen was now in the up position and I was going to be riding into thunderstorms. I like to get the windscreen down in heavy rain. I had a big bag on the back, so riding from the back seat wasn't going to happen either. I put the bike into rain mode and that was when I realized that all functionality lost was on the left cluster. Horn, high beams, hazards, plus the stuff already mentioned were gone. Additionally, everything on the left fairing (radio controls) were also gone.
As predicted, I got within 60 miles of home and ran into heavy rain. By stretching, I could get my eyes over the windscreen. Visibility was poorer than poor; but, I made my way. At some point, I noted that the indicator had gone away. I immediately lowered the windscreen and changed the station I'd been listening to (POTUS) for the last several hours. I engaged the cruise control to finally give my right hand a break. Intermittently, from then on, the failure would happen until I got home.
My understanding is that there are two campaigns out on the K16 that could be responsible for this - one is the handlebar cluster (which I've had replaced twice) and one having to do with software.
I will update this post once I run diagnostics on the bike and get the issue fixed.
----------Update----------
See my 48,000 mile maintenance report to understand why I won't go back to Eurocycles of Tampa Bay anymore. Even after I discussed the broken bolts and rounded out bolts, they would not take any responsibility for any of it. I'm done with them.
The next closest dealer is in Orlando (Magic City Motorsports). Orlando is a two hour ride for me, as opposed to just over an hour for me to get to Tampa. If you want service that is/might be covered by BMW, you have to go to a dealership, so off I went.
Mike is the Service Manager. He answered the phone when I called a week ago and described the problem as being the L cluster switch. He looked up my VIN on the spot and said that the switch had been replaced back in July. He also said that this is a known issue and that he could probably get the switch replaced for me free of charge, even though my bike is thousands of miles out of warranty.
Steve was the tech that was going to work on my bike. He noted that the tire pressure indicator was showing no pressure and I explained to him the history of that. He really wanted to fix it because he doesn't like letting bikes go out that aren't perfect. Unfortunately, they didn't have the bolt. This is my kind of technician. Steve agreed that the problem was the left cluster switch and replaced it. I was in and out in an hour or so. Magic City Motorsports replaced the cluster switch with no charge. The cluster switch itself costs over $400. Steve said that BMW has gone through 3 different manufacturers of this switch and knows they are still having issues. BMW seems to think that the problem is manufacturing related, not engineering. I hope they are right and that this switch doesn't need to be replaced!
........
If you're curious about everything else in the picture above:
The top two symbols are absolutely normal on startup and disappear when the bike starts rolling. Ever noticed them before? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. The top most one is about the abs check being in progress. The second one I don't know. There's an explanation of all of these in the manual, except that one. Maybe I just haven't read the section where it appears with an explanation...you'll never see this, so don't worry about it. Moving right, I had less than 25 miles in the tank, was in neutral and had the fog lights on. In the next panel, I was riding through thunderstorms, so I was in rain mode. Again, I'm in neutral, the engine is off and mostly cool, I'm nearly out of gas. I did my own 48,000 mile service, including a tire change. The pressure sensor was broken and it was late on Saturday. There was no chance I was getting a new one, so I get a tire pressure warning until I swap out the rear and put the sensor back. I really like the 80's on 8. The only other channels I listen to are 70's on 7 and POTUS. Yes, that's a decent amount of miles for a bike that is only 2 and a half years old. I'm 2026 from my last service. I had a boatload of stuff I was packing for the ride, so the suspension is set for two up and yes, I like my long distance rides to be in comfort.
First, let's talk about money and the cost of owning a BMW K1600GT. Then, I'll give my notes on the 48,000 mile service. Below is my maintenance and cost log since I bought the bike new. It's everything I've done to the bike, except upgrades and any repairs that were my fault or the dealers fault... like replaced Tupperware, broken off bolts, etc. When you add the total cost of maintenance, plus the cost of the bike and divide by the number of miles, you get $0.55/per mile cost of ownership. That doesn't, of course include gas. That varies highly based on country, state, locality, political fervor, foreign nations praying for our ruination, wind and the position of the moon; among other things.
I decided to start doing my own maintenance. The bike is out of warranty. This experience taught me that dealers aren't treating my precious bike nearly the way I want it treated, so I'm glad I'm doing this. Since I am mechanically inclined; but, by no means a motorcycle mechanic, I sought help from my good friend who is that and more. Scot and his wife invited me into their home, where I stayed a week. We swung wrenches, barbecued, cooked and had a good time together. There were delays, trips for parts and tools, etc.; but, we got through the entire 12,000 mile maintenance schedule and the annual maintenance schedule. I estimate the dealer charge from my 36,000 mile invoice ($1373.89) + new tires + new brakes + labor to do all those things at $2500. We did all the work for $1030.00. In the process, we found 2 bolts with their heads completely snapped off, 1 that was rounded out and 1 that was missing altogether.
Below is the list of things that need to be done as part of 12,000 mile service. In addition to that, I'm losing 500ml of oil every 5,000 miles (I measured). There is either a leak somewhere, or the engine is burning oil. In addition, the rear tire pressure sensor is lying to me. It's reading no pressure in the rear tire, when it is actually at 40psi.
* Run the vehicle diagnostic system
* Valve check and adjustment
* Replace all spark plugs
* Oil and Filter Change
* Air and Filter Change
* Oil Change Rear Bevel Gears
* Drain Condensate Hose
* Visually inspect brake pipes, brake hoses and connections
* Check front brake pads and disks for wear
* Change brake fluid, front brakes
* Check rear brake pads and brake disc for wear
* Change brake fluid, rear brakes
* Check clutch system
* Check coolant level
* Check ease of movement of side stand
* Check was of movement of center stand
* Check lights and signaling equipment
* Function test, engine start suppression
* Final inspection and check of roadworthiness
* Run the vehicle diagnostic system
* Setting service-due and service countdown distance
* Checking battery charge state
* Confirming BMW Service in on-board documentation
First up, sourcing the parts... For this, I shopped at Morton's BMW online. I spoke with Cassandra, who was very helpful, although, we missed ordering the spark plugs. Morton shipped the tires, oil change stuff, air filter change stuff, rear differential oil, pads, brake fluid all for $30. Later on in the service, I needed some ideas as to how to get the air distribution rail off. I called their service department and they were very happy to help me. They certainly didn't have to and they got nothing for the advice, except the likelihood that I'd do business with them again...and I certainly will.
Right off the bat, and at the top of the post has to be this awesome forum with the service manual in PDF format. If you can get the DVD service manual, please do. It will be much faster. If you don't, you'll still have the information; but, you'll have to hunt for the pages.
Tires
I went with Michelin Road Pilot 4 GT's. I was happy I ordered these online. It seems that every time I go into a dealership for tires, I come out with a mismatched set. Last set was at 33,092. I had an RP3 on the front and an RP4 on the back. Interestingly enough, I got about 14,400 miles out of the rear and the front tire. The front was ready to replace, by conservative standards; but, the rear was worn out; any more, I'd be into the belts.
Getting the tires online leaves the DIY guy with a problem - either mount and balance yourself, or find someone willing to do that for you. It's not easy being a BMW rider. Many shops will not work on BMW tires. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Still other shops won't mount and balance unless you buy the rubber there. Deepening the problem is that every BMW dealership is always 500 miles from your present location, unless your're actually making the pilgrimage there. Fortunately for me, my friend Scot found a local shop that would do the work, since we didn't have the proper equipment to tackle the task.
The next issue is getting the front axle out. To do that, you have a couple options while your bike is on the center stand. All options involve weighting the rear of the bike to lift the front wheel off the ground and then supporting the bike in that position while you do the work of removing the front wheel. Scot and I are a couple of burly guys, so one held the rear end down while the other worked the front end magic. I had to buy a tool for the job, a 22mm hex axle removal tool. In order to mate this tool, which is driven by a 3/4 inch driver, I needed a reduction socket. All that cost $76; but, won't be included in my cost of service because it's reusable and I could have gotten it much cheaper online. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to wait for delivery.
Off to the shop we go to have the tires mounted. When they got the tires, Gary, our technician, discovered, without any prompting from us, that the rear pressure sensor was broken. The issue here is that the rear pressure sensor is held in place near the valve stem. Apparently, it had worked it's way loose. How anything, traveling at speeds varying from 0 - 70 something something miles per hour could work it's way loose is beyond me; but, it did and, they didn't have the specific part to do the repair. As good luck would have it, the tire could be mounted so this could be addressed at a time that wouldn't ruin the rest of my travels. I left the shop with new rubber on my rims and a pressure sensor in hand. They charged me $98 and change for the service. I was still way ahead of where I would be if I walked into a dealership. Here's a picture of the new sneakers.
This guy gets the nod for how to change the wheels on a K1600GT...
Brakes
While the tires were off, it was time to take a look at the pads, hoses, pipes and disks. I ordered pads for the front and the rear. I happen to be pretty hard on the rear brake, mostly because I do a lot of slow riding with trail braking. I really like slow riding, so I do it a lot...much more than I use the front brake to stop the bike. I typically scrub most of the speed with downshifting. As expected, the rear brake pads needed to be replaced; but, the front brakes weren't too bad.
We noted that the brake rotor in the rear is starting to develop some grooves. It's not bad; but, should be replaced. That will happen next time I'm ready for brakes. I will change the rear pads and rotor at the same time. The cost of a new rotor is $700 and change from BMW. I am told there are good aftermarket rotors available at substantially less cost.
Interestingly enough, the service manual does not seem to supply a torque setting for the bolts that attach the calipers to the bike. This is unfortunate because I really like to torque things. Keep that in mind if you do this. All aspects of replacing the pads, dumping the brake fluid and replacing it are very straightforward and intuitive.
Front Brakes
Rear brakes - all cleaned up!
One thing that I'll note is that while the tires are off, it's the perfect opportunity to do some cleaning. You won't get that at the dealership. Yeah, they will wash the bike for you; but, everything under the wheel guards will be caked with more road grime than you can imagine. I bought a box of disposable shop rags and a bottle of Simple Green for the purpose. I'll be surprised if I have any of them left.
Bleeding the brakes
Bleeding brakes is pretty easy, and even easier with a friend and a mini-vac. These brakes required a little patience. Initially, we couldn't figure out why the brakes would not bleed and were looking for another bleeder screw. The shop manual indicates there is a bleeder valve right by the master cylinder; but, there is not one there. We consulted YouTube for someone who may have done a video on this and ran into a problem when a video, about another bike with linked brakes, indicated that there was as second bleeder valve on the rear caliper, as the linked pistons were independent of the rear brake pistons. This made perfect sense, so I looked for another bleeder. There was another rubber cover on the rear caliper and I pulled it off. Unfortunately, it's not a bleeder, it's a rubber piece that allows the pads to 'float. We couldn't get it back on. I asked in the K6gt forum for thoughts on this and got no reply. The solution was to pull the caliper off and separate it into two halves. From there, the rubber piece is inserted into the caliper from the inside, using the blunt end of a dental instrument to push it through from the inside of the plug. Any thin, blunt object will do, even a bolt.
Oil Change
Changing the oil requires steadfast attention. Getting the oil out of the pan isn't the issue, it's getting the oil out of the sump. When the oil starts to rush out of the sump, you have a problem. Hot oil is running down your hand and arm, you can't move the bucket anywhere to get better position and so, your arm is contorted into this awful position whilst trying to balance that little plug on the end of a tool. I happened to lose it in the commotion. Fortunately, simply inserting the outer plug with it's magnet was enough to pull the sump plug over and I managed to recover it without any issues.
Air Filter Change
A busted bolt. It looked like 1 of the 3 bolts were simply not reinstalled; but, on closer inspection, we realized that the bolt head was snapped off. This was probably the result of someone using a power tool to reinsert the bolt and it got cross threaded. We tried backing it out; but, that wasn't happening. We used the cutting wheel on a Dremel tool to cut it flush and next service, I'll replace the air box...that is made in Vietnam and sent to us via Germany through whatever dealer we use...most certainly it will be Morton's again. It will take at least a week and we did not have the time for that during this service. I'll order it in advance of my next service.
Rear Bevel Gear Fluid Change
Well, here, things took an interesting turn. BMW, in their infinite wisdom, put the filler hole under the rear rotor. That means the rear tire has to come back off. If I had read all the procedures before I started doing the work, I would have known this; but, I was reading them one at a time as I went along. Sooooo, the rear wheel came back off. When Scot and I went to drain the rear gear oil, we noted that the drain bolt was rounded out. This is really bad as we can't drop the oil any other way. We ended up buying an impact wrench, that we didn't use. We were able to tap a hardened easy out bit in there and turn it with vice grips. Once that was done, we drew up 180 ml gear fluid and pushed it through the filler hole. Mighty Vac sells a hand vacuum that worked perfectly to accomplish this; although, I've read about people using other, less expensive items. The hand vacuum also came in handy for evacuating the coolant reserve; so, it was a good purchase.
Coolant
This was a major surprise. The overflow was dry and we couldn't see or feel coolant in the radiator. What wasn't a surprise is that we had to remove more Tupperware to get to do the refill. I'm very curious about why this was so dry. Was it missed last service, or did I just use it all? Note that I've never seen a drop of anything under this bike.
Spark plugs and Valve Adjustment
Initially, the plan was to leave this part to the dealer; but, because we had to wait for a rear bevel gear drain plug to be shipped to us, we took it on. Scot was really stoked about this. I was quite skeptical. There are a lot of pieces parts involved in this step. This is, as they say, where shit gets real. Here's the list of what has to be done, just to change the spark plugs. The only step beyond this to check the valve clearance is to remove the crankcase cover. This is also the part where we're most likely to determine the cause of the oil leak or burn.
Bad BMW for requiring all this just to get at 6 spark plugs. Removing the radiator to access the spark plugs is completely ridiculous and compounds maintenance costs for this bike. It's no wonder why BMW riders a pissed off about BMW maintenance schedules and costs. BMW, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Tear down - Getting the Tupperware off
Get your T-25 torx wrench out. The side panels need to come off, as do the lower panels. There's plastic bits that go over the radiator, the radiator itself and the mounting piece of plastic that's behind it.
To get to the plastic, we had to remove the Wunderlich engine guards. These hefty bars get bolted into the engine and protect things should the bike go down. They look like this:
While removing that, I noted that one of the 3 bolts on the right side guard was broken and just hanging there.
Here's what was left of the bolt above, after we got the cover off to see if we could deal with this.
Fortunately, there was enough there to get vice grips on and back it out. I was also lucky that the threads were not cross threaded and the new bolt slid in pretty easily. This makes for the 3rd bolt that was either rounded out, or the head was taken off altogether. It begs the question; how much of this sort of thing is caused by service technicians who should know better. At a minimum, if they didn't do it; but, see it, they should tell the owner. I'm glad I'm taking responsibility for my bikes maintenance now.
After completing this mini-project, we got back to removing all the tupperware on the front end of the bike. At this point, I found evidence of my oil consumption problem that is making me lean heavily toward the possibility that this is a leak from the valve cover gasket. When I went to remove the right lower cowling, I got a handful of oil. It would seem that oil is coming off that gasket, dripping onto the cowling, where it runs off the back side as the bike is moving. I've never seen a drop of oil under the bike. This would be the result of the last valve clearance check, which was done by my local dealer.
This is what came out of the Tupperware on my radiator when I removed it.
Draining the cooling fluid the BMW way. I think it's easier at the radiator; but, who am I?
This crispy little guy was wedged somewhere in the Tupperware on the bike. The bike is an absolute bug killer. I found two dragon flies of this size.
Here's a view of the left side of the bike once the Tupperware is off and the radiator out of the way.
Once the radiator is off, you can get down to the business of removing the air distribution line, the coils and spark plugs. I called Morton's service department for assistance in removing the air distribution line. I am using an online manual and can't click through the links as I should be able to. I was unable to find the procedure for getting this off. Morton's was very helpful and indicated that heating up the metal with a hair dryer would help. It just pulls out. We did that and removed the plugs and ignition coils.
Removing the crank cover gasket is problematic as there are two bolts holding it on that are in a place where a torque wrench will not fit. There is not enough clearance. I put a question out to the forum above and hope for some suggestions tomorrow. Getting it off isn't the problem. Getting it back on at the right torque is. The solution turns out to be a torx bit that would go in a driver, operated by a ratcheting handle. These will have to be carefully torqued by hand based on the feel of properly torquing the others.
After removing the crankshaft cover, we got a look at the valve gasket, which didn't look so bad; but, when we put a flashlight behind the cylinders, we could see oil that had been leaking at some point. There was also oil on the outside left front of the cylinder cover, I'm really thinking that the oil leak was most likely the cylinder head cover. I ordered a new gasket.
Here's a good pic of the engine with the crankshaft cover off. We measured the valve clearances and they are all well within tolerances. In fact, I'd say that they are barely worn. I had to buy a ratcheting wrench to slide over a torx bit in order to get the rear bolts off the cylinder head. Note that there is a big risk of dropping the bit down one of the holes for the direct ignition coils. Use paper towels to block these holes and prevent all sorts of aggregation, frustration and general discontent.
The valve clearances are all within spec. A couple intake valves seem just a smidge tight; but, better tighter than worn and loose. One thing I didn't mention yet was the cover for the access to the crankshaft. That cover provides access so we can turn the crankshaft during the valve clearance check. It was entirely missing one bolt. That leaves open the possibility that oil could have been leaking from there as well.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
We can't go much further without talking about this dirty rotten scoundrel. She is this absolutely adorable 50% wolf, 50% German Shepard mix named Grace. Those precious brown eyes and seemingly innocent looking face are a disguise. She is a thief, a burglar, a pilferer, a sneaky robber who stole a plastic bit of my motorcycle and absconded to the back yard with it. Fortunately, she didn't chew it to pieces. There are only a couple small tooth marks on it and now, I can honestly say my motorcycle was bitten by a wolf. Gracie, thank you for your contribution. Don't do it again.
GS-911 to the rescue
The bike didn't start up on first attempt after we got it back together. We couldn't find anything to let us know what was wrong. I bought a GS-911 and had it shipped to me. It bricked 10 minutes after I got it. All I did was register it and update the firmware. Fortunately, we were able to find a back version of the launcher software and get it to do what we needed to for this service. Support says I need to ship it back.
Wiring
The GS-911 pointed out that the crankshaft sensor was unresponsive. The cause was that it was plugged into the wrong harness. That was my fault. This brings about a very critical point. Wires are not labeled. Label them before you separate wires from harnesses and save yourself the trouble.
Cooling System
Make sure to burp (bleed) your cooling system. Failure to do so will result in your engine overheating. Here's the issue. When your bike hits about 230 degrees, the cooling fan will come on. Under normal conditions (proper radiator fluid at capacity), the radiator will cool the cooling fluid down to about 200 degrees F, and keep the bike in that range. If, you don't bleed the cooling system, a tiny air bubble could keep the proper amount of cooling fluid from being in the bike. You'll see this after bleeding because once that bubble is gone, your reservoir will dump into the radiator. Less cooling fluid = less ability to cool the bike. The fan will still come on; but, there just won't be enough medium to move the heat away from the engine to the radiator. Burp the cooling system and verify that the cooling system does not red line. If you have a GS-911, you'll be able to watch the temperatures directly. If you don't, make sure you test for at least 15 minutes at idle. The fan should come on and you should never hit red line. On mine, I get about 7 bars under normal operation.
Tupperware
There's a lot of it. Putting it back together is a trial and error experience. You have to be careful about what panel tie into what and make sure that you account for all places that a bolt is supposed to go. Failure to do so will result in an insecure panel and my bet is that at 70 mph, it might depart the bike with plenty of damage to go with it. My suggestion is to get out plastic baggies and put all the bolts for each panel in it's own baggie and tape them to the Tupperware in question, or number them, or mark them in whatever way makes you comfortable. You will spend more time putting it together than you spent taking it apart. I also recommend that the next time you happen upon a BMW dealer, or come across them elsewhere, you pick up a couple dozen T-25 Torx bolts for the Tupperware parts. It's easy to drop one and not find it until the next time you take the bike apart, or never.
I still haven't gotten the order down to science yet. So far, I've figured out that the top 3 panels can go first. The piece on the bottom by the radiator can be placed at any time before the lower panels and the big middle panels have to go in before the lower panels. The biggest pain in the neck are the fog lamps and you will have to be patient with getting these right. If you have crash bars, take note of what bolts you need to use for those and make sure you don't sink them in before you have the crash bars on.
Final notes and impressions:
1) With 48,000 miles on the bike and the non existent wear on the valves, I'm considering not doing the valve clearance check at 12,000 mile service intervals. The BMW dealer said that they rarely have to do a valve adjustment and I'm seeing negligible wear. Every time you remove the gasket, you risk damaging it and creating more problems. 12,000 miles seems like too often. I'm considering also moving the spark plug maintenance and the valve clearance to 24,000 mile intervals.
2) There is a lot of time involved in this maintenance. Lots of it is wasted going on tool runs, parts runs, waiting for parts to be delivered, taking tires for mounting and balancing, trying to do the maintenance on the garage floor, etc. If you're serious about doing this yourself, you might consider getting a motorcycle table lift and being sure you have everything you will need at your fingertips and the bike is in a position where you don't have to get up and down every couple minutes for a tool. Being able to mount your own tires would also be very worthwhile.
3) Having the GS-911 or the BMW tool is a must. The service for all service intervals calls for reading the diagnostics and it is also necessary to reset the service reminder. If anything goes wrong, you'll need to have it on hand to diagnose the problem. I originally was going to do the service and just drive it in to a dealer to reset the service reminders. I've come a long way from that way of thinking. There are plenty of switches and such that the rider never even knows about. If any one of them go bad, you'll need this tool to diagnose the problem. That crankshaft sensor, for example, will not prevent a running bike from continuing to run; but, the second it's turned off, it won't start back up.
The question usually goes like this...I'm riding on the highway and there's construction up ahead. They are paving a lane and I have to merge into the new lane. The pavement level of the new lane is higher than the pavement I'm on.
The picture below is an alley way in Chicago. I was approaching this for the second time to access a garage down the alley to the right, after that brick wall. The first time, I took the center because my bike is wide and A) I didn't want it near the garbage cans B) Even more, I didn't want it near the brick wall and C) that center piece is wider than my tires, so it shouldn't be an issue. The first time, I was paying attention and did this without problem. The second time, not so much.
The second time, I was focused on something else. I don't know what it was. It could have been a bumble bee in my helmet or a chipmunk running up that drain pipe. It doesn't really matter what it was, I wasn't giving this obstacle the attention it deserved. My front tire edge caught the pavement's edge ...I think the left side of my front tire contacted the raised pavement on the left side. I was launched at the brick wall. The distance between the center and the wall is less than 4 feet.
Right about now, you're probably wondering what happened. I did not wreck; but, I'm absolutely sure that an inexperienced rider would have either hit the wall or dumped the bike after narrowly missing the wall. It was a violent event. I was fortunate, my reaction was the right one and that's why I want to share. Every situation is different, so your mileage may vary. Don't take this as an instructional post - just the thoughts of someone who's had the experience.
My reaction wasn't to grab the brakes. This would certainly lead to a wreck. Why? Because when you grab the brakes you change the geometry of the bike and destabilize it. The faster a motorcycle is moving, the more stable it is. Try riding 1 mph and compare that to 70 mph. At 70, your bike is rock solid at 1 mph, it's as unstable as Charles Manson on crack. My response was to turn away from the wall and keep my speed unchanged. Pressure the left handle bar and lean. I stayed off the throttle. My thinking is that once the bike is back upright, it's a good time for brakes. Throttle, uncontrolled could send you into the opposite wall...and that would bad. Bouncing off the garages all the way down the alley, like a pin ball, would not only hurt; but, it would probably wreck your bike.
So, there it is....what happens if your tire catches an edge. Going back to the highway example, you probably have a much greater time period to deal with the problem...lest you merge really late and find yourself face to face with some road signage. Attacking the obstacle deliberately is the best approach, just don't be but, wishy washy about it. Don't lose your focus. Commit. I wasn't paying attention and nearly payed for it with a wrecked bike.
