What Did You Did To Your Motobrick Today ?

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Wayne, where did you find that USB outlet?  Is it waterproof?  Does it need the hole to be enlarged?  Looks like a nice way to keep all the stuff in my tank bag charged.

[WayneDW]

I bought it from an ebay seller from China. If you search for it you will find literally hundreds of them.  I picked what appeared to be the smallest diameter unit I could find.  I just reamed the existing hole a bit with a 11/16" paddle bit and it slipped in nice and tight.  The dashboard material is kind of pliable.
It is designed to be waterproof but time will tell.  It included a clamp to clamp onto a handlebar. I just threw that part away and tightened up the plastic nut to the back of the dashboard.
Worked pretty slick I think.  My biggest concern is that I hooked it up to the same unswitched power for the mini-outlet so the blue LED is always on.  I may change that if it draws my battery down excessively.
Kris asked about where to get the power:  If you use a test light on the extra plugs in the box under the tank you can find a switched power on the white round one (only lights when the key is on).  Or, as mentioned just use the hot and ground already at the dashboard for the mini-outlet (un-switched).

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Wayne I looked on eBay and you are right, there are hundreds of these things.  I noticed that the majority of them have caps that have plugs that insert into the USB port openings.  I don't think those are as waterproof as those with a cap like yours.  Most of them seem to be dual output without an LED. 

I wouldn't worry about the LED.  At 10ma, it will draw about 1% of a 25AHr battery's capacity per day.  Probably take two weeks before you noticed the effect on the battery.  What I would want to know is what the current drain is for the voltage regulator in the unit.  It probably is on the order of microamps when in standby mode, but I'd put some sort of switch in the line to be safe. 

I'm thinking now that the best route for me would be to install a regular lighter socket, and use one of the many 12v USB adapters I have accumulated that came with an old cell phone or some such.  I can unplug when I am not using it and prevent the power draw.  I must admit though, that your installation looks much cleanerr. 

[WayneDW]

You can buy a patch cord that goes from the powerlet to standard.  I have one but found it awkward to use.  If you want to use the same hole location for something new be sure to find it as small in diameter as possible.  It looks like there is lots of room from the outside but the back side has a protrusion near it that will be in the way if the new item is too large.  The outlet I bought was about 3/4" in diameter and was about as tight as you can go and still have room for the nut.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Do you still have a link to the eBay posting for your outlet?

[WayneDW]

Do you still have a link to the eBay posting for your outlet?

Yep: http://www.ebay.com/itm/231468805925?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Thanks! 

[johnny]

backed out the snowblow... started up the moto... one push thats all... its fitty degrees...  going for a moto ride... yeeeehaaa...



more later...

j o

[F14CRAZY]

$353.05 is what it took to have BMW of Grand Rapids replace my steering head bearings today. My bike was either knocking over bumps or had a nasty notch when the one knurled nut was tightened. I watched a Chris Harris video but the job seemed like too much of a PITA for me to do.

They charged me for two tapered roller bearings and 2 "spacer for yoke" 's.

All seems well now.

Oh and I got the bike out of winter storage yesterday

[Chaos]

That's not a bad price considering.  I did it myself a couple years ago, you're right, it's a PITA, bit do-able without any special tools.

On another hand I got the K out of it's 4 month winter hibernation yesterday.  Didn't even check the tire pressure, just unplugged the battery tender, rolled it out of the back of the garage and after about 4 seconds of cranking it fired and ran perfectly.  What a great bike!

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Fired up the 75 and took it out for 3 hours and 106 miles. 

Felt pretty good to be back in the saddle again.

[Scott_]

I rolled the '95 off the lift last Monday afternoon and finished front brake fluid flush/bleed, put all the plastic back on. Rode it to work all week this week.
Put the '97 on the lift today and checked valves-- ordered 5 cam buckets for it. In the mean time till they get here, I'll get the oils changed on it.
I changed the coolant last year so I'll give it a pass this year.

[Elipten]

Changed the fork springs yesterday for Wilber's progressive and changed the fork oil..

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Applied the new graphics and tank badges to the freshly painted 100RS that is patiently waiting for Spring to pounce.

Only thing left now is new seals for the front master cylinder.

[detbmw]

Put fork gaiters on. I like the look.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Like that look with the gaiters, too.  Part of my attraction to the K is the lack of chrome that gives them such a business-like appearance.  Covering up those shiny fork tubes is a nice bonus to the seal protection the gaiters give.

[archy99]

Got a new Pelican-style case (Seahorse SE-540) with some custom foam (MyCaseBuilder.com) for carrying the cameras on the Hepco-Becker rear rack. It's a good fit. Previously I had a old Pelican with divider inserts and stuff would bounce around a lot in there. Wish I could find a quick-release for the case/rack.

Tim,
Hi to an almost-neighbor!  New guy here...been browsing this thread for a couple of days, soaking it all up (thanks for a ton of great info everyone, and providing some much-needed incentive to fix a few long term gremlins), and joined just so I could respond to this.  Now that you've let me in the door, I'm sure I'll be back often.

I added a similar trunk on my '94 K11RS a while back.   Honestly have never quite understood the tiny ones we see on a lot of bikes...I wanted something that would take everything I could throw at it (including, like you, a ton of camera gear), and if i took the box off, actually have a fully functional and seriously capable flat rack.  Since my wife had migrated to her own rig (the R75/7 in the pic), I opted to cover the rear seat with rack to keep the weight in a better spot.  Working with a buddy who machined stuff in his garage, we fabbed up a big slab of aluminum with a stiffener/ledge along the front, and built a set of tool steel mount frames to slip behind the bag mounts, right to the subframe.  Milled in some tie-down slots, coated it with Line-X, and powder-coated the frame pieces.  The deck of the rack extends about 4-5" beyond the sides of the Pelican case, so longer items can be lashed easily next to the case.  There is also room under the deck (above the bags) for sleeping bags, etc.

Lost a hard drive recently, so this is the only photo I seem to have where you can see it on the bike.  I'll have to dig a bit to find some pre-digital photos of the thing loaded up for a long-ish solo trip.  Best mod I ever made to the bike, truly...right behind putting my wife on her own bike, that is.  :)  It's hell for strong, since it doesn't mount to anything plastic or 'glass, and I can truthfully say that I have actually carried a pair of 80# bags of concrete on it....rode just like a good passenger.  Have actually had a passenger on it once or twice, as well...just short trips to the liquor store at rallies, of course.

Cheers!
Geoff

[billday]

Fired it up for the first time since November (after shoveling Friday's five fresh inches of snow out of the driveway). It was reluctant to start and all kinds of strangeness in the instruments. Did some reading that prompted me to pull the starter. I found one brush around 4mm, so today I'm ordering one of these

http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/NotesParts/12411459567_1_B.jpg

No. 11, p/n 12 41 1 459 567, $14.71 from Max.

http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/Diagrams/B0000290.png?v=04282014

Thanks to everyone who posted about this in the past.

PS I did get it started, after rolling it backwards in 3rd a la Johnny, and the engine ran like I'd never put it to sleep. Yay! Dying to ride.

[TimTyler]

I like the convenience of a large Pelican on the back, Geoff, but it makes the bike too long for me. I'll miss the extra space that I lost switching to the smaller case.

Let's ride the North Cascades Highway when the clearing crew opens it in a few week.  :riding:

[F14CRAZY]

Engine oil and filter change today with about 5k on the oil (and was last changed last season). Castrol 4T 20w50 was on sale at O'Reilly's for $4.99/quart. Used an AC Delco PF53. I tried a K&N as I didn't have my oil filter socket with me and those have the cool 1'' nut on the bottom but found it was too tall to fit inside the sump.

These engines probably last forever due to the massive oil filter. It's bigger than my 2.5L Subaru's filter and interchanges with engines up to Toyota's 4.7L V8. I don't see how they could ever clog up

[richarddacat]

Over a couple of days......added Progressive front springs and fresh fork oil.
I've got the nacelle hanging and waiting on headlight relays from Eastern Beaver.
Also relocated my horn from in front and below the radiator to behind the C-fairing.

Next rainy day project will be adding Led brake lights inside the taillight lens.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Couple days ago finished putting a fuel cooler on the RT.  Hoping to have some cool runnings mon, this summer.

[Elipten]

Can you supply source and details on fuel cooler?  That one looks very nice.

I also would like to know details on LED brake lights.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Here ya go...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201154322208?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370575124992?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Ya need a bracket to mount.  This one goes on the radiator bracket.  I swapped out for longer screws to hold it all together.  I am not a draftsman as you might see.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

The cooler is really nice.  3/8" thick welded end caps and an extruded body with interior baffle and interior fins as on the outside.  Really rugged so it doesn't need any protection.  On the K75 fits nicely below the radiator.

Cooler holds about 2/3 of a liter so the fuel is in it for about 40 seconds which I figure is plenty of time to transfer it's heat.  Plumbing needs the hose barbs, about 15" of 5/16" hose and a couple clamps.

I got a piece of .120" stainless at a fab shop and laid out the cut lines.  They cut it out for $20.  I want to say the whole thing cost me about 75 bucks.  Four 6mm x 12mm bolts hold the cooler to the bracket.