Hmmmm

Well, I guess this is as good a time to start as any...

Thus far this trip is only an idea, but the idea is this: Get on my motorcycle and ride around the country for sixty days and get to a meeting every day (those of you in the know will know what I am talking about). Although an official launch date has not been decided it will likely be sometime in early June (I have a project for work that I need to get finished before I go, and my sister will be in town in late May and if I miss that I will be shot).

As of today I have started some of the preparations of the bike, a 2002 BMW R1150RT, including general tuneup and maintenance, and attempting to get rid of the dreaded R-bike surge. After several throttle body syncs and other minor tweaks I decided to remove the throttle bodies and clean them thoroughly. After cleaning they were put back on the bike and I used the zero=zero method for setup. This means that the throttle position sensor (TPS) is reset such that when the butterflies on the throttle bodies are fully closed the TPS accurately reads as much. After that it was a standard throttle body sync with a mercury manometer, and re-tweaking cables, etc. Now the bike runs great! I can't wait to get out on the road.

Along with the tuneups I am working my way through things like replacing the speedometer after it ate itself in New Mexico last year [Now the bike has 17 miles on it ;-)], replacing fork seals because one blew up in Idaho last year [Thanks, Dennis], replacing shocks because they are over 40,000 miles old, etc. Also on the list; thermometer and altimeter/barometer. I have grand plans to use them for predicting weather on the trip, but it is also likely that they will just be fun to look at. I installed custom seats and bar risers last year, so I do not need to do that. Tires may be in order prior to departure, but they might also just get replaced along the way. I am also still considering a GPS installation rather than having my Garmin Nuvi in mapholder on the tank bag, but that might be a little too much. There is something about navigating by a map that I really enjoy.

So I guess that's about it for now...more to come!