Topic: Let's see your non-SOHC4 on the road

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Tom, thanks for that mate, it's a shame that you haven't been as well looked after by BMW as you should, I've always been very happy with their customer service, even down to them replacing the rear master cylinder on my 1986 K100RT that I bought used in 1990, when I put it in for a service. I didn't ask for it, they just replaced it with a new one, free of charge. Apparently there was a recall, but mine had been missed.

I definitely fall into the "Pussy" category though mate, I've had company cars ever since I left the Regular Army, so I only ride my bikes on weekends nowadays, and don't do anywhere near the distances that you do. Oh well, no harm done, I wear my "pussy-ness" like a badge of honor! All the best mate, and keep posting those pics, that scenery is superb! Cheers, Terry.

[Carver]

First time I ever rode a motorcycle that wasn't in the msf class, about a year ago now, 450 dohc. Bought it for $800 not running, changed oil, changed plugs, new battery, kicked it over 5 dozen times and it started, blew tons of white smoke from the exhaust and dumped fuel/oil from the breather hose. Fixed the carbs and rode it for 3000 miles before it lost compression (suspect a bent valve). Getting i back in a week and starting a frame off resto of it.

[Terry in Australia]

It looks great mate, are you sure it needs to be restored? Remember, a little age patina is more than acceptable nowadays, and it'll only ever be original once. Cheers, Terry.

[Sgt.Pinback]

Here´s my ZRX 1100



and here´s my Z1

[Terry in Australia]

Nice, I've owned a Z900 but not a ZRX, I just bought a Yamaha FJ1200 but if I hadn't, a ZRX would have been on my shopping list. Cheers, Terry.

[70CB750]

Here´s my ZRX 1100



and here´s my Z1

The main road sign, you never see that in USA

[Stev-o]

Here´s my ZRX 1100



and here´s my Z1

The main road sign, you never see that in USA

Yeah, what is that? Yield??

[MoMo]

Maybe there is a baseball diamond up ahead

[Wobbly]

Yeah, what is that? Yield??

On the contrary: this indicates that you are on a priority road. When stationed in Europe, you need to get a military license (USAREUR) which requires you to learn the signs over here. This friendly looking red circle is one, that isn't so good news when riding:

[Wobbly]

Yesterday:
Not the highest, but the most challenging pass I ever took with my RR: passenger, and luggage on washed out gravel, garnished with lots of rocks, super tight turns.
 Colle delle Finestre, (2,178 m (7,146 ft)



Col du Galibier, el. 2,645 m (8,678 ft.)



Col de l’Iseran, 2,770 m (9,088 ft), the highest paved pass in the Alps.




Final pass yesterday:
Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo, 2,188 m (7,178 ft)

[JBMorse]

Still don't have a SOHC4 ready, but am getting closer. So I've been riding the Transalp. Took it on a nice off road adventure last week. The road looks easy here but up that hill it was loose rocks and washouts. It was a workout but a ton of fun!

[jas67]

1973 BMW R75/5


2003 BMW F650GS Dakar (left)

[Terry in Australia]

My Yamaha FJ1200 and BMW K100RS are now legal! Sadly the weather here is horrible today, so I probably won't get either out on the road, but hopefully, tomorrow will be the day! Cheers, Terry.

[grcamna2]

Terry,
The rear luggage rack on the Yam. FJ looks hefty enough to carry 80 Kilo's 

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, that's a 1980's "Gearsack" rack, an Aussie invention. Back in the day they used a pic of a guy sitting on one backwards to demonstrate their strength. Sadly mine didn't come with the original "Gearsack", which was a seemingly bottomless pit that you could just keep throwing gear into, I keep looking at eBay for a NOS Gearsack, they really were a great bag. Cheers, Terry.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Did you say ON the road?!



Oh wait, this would be more appropriate 

[Terry in Australia]

Ouch! Did you ever get your Hog fixed Jerry? Cheers, Terry.

[Terry in Australia]

Well the clouds parted and the sun came out, and even though it was freezing I bravely braved the cold and took the Yamaha FJ1200 out for it's first legal ride.

I stopped at a gas station and pumped the tires up, they were both down around 10 psi, and after falling off the thing on my first ride when the tires were pretty flat, I've been careful to make sure that they're well inflated before I ride it far.

I was scooting up a road at around 60 MPH and I couldn't decide whether I was hearing something trying to tear itself off the bike, or if it was just wind noise, when something large and black whizzed past my left ear. Hmmnnn, did I hit an errant crow?

I rode on to another gas station, and discovered that the front section of my front fender was AWOL!





I put some gas in it and then rode back to where it came off, hoping to find it in pristine condition, but sadly although I found it on the other side of the road, a couple of cars had obviously run over it, and it was broken where it had torn itself off the forks, so I left it there as a memorial to 1980's Japanese superbikes.

In the process of riding the 10 miles or so back to find it, I managed to have a stop light drag with a guy on a Harley, and I think I broke his heart when I crapped on him, he wouldn't look my way when we stopped at the next set of lights, and he made no attempt to take off fast like he had at the last set. Then when I was merging onto the freeway, a jerk in a Merc tried to overtake me (on the on ramp, what was he thinking?) and I kicked his arse, by the time I hit the freeway I was doing over 140 MPH and he was a mile behind me, wondering how the hell a 27 year old motorcycle with no front fender could blow away his $100K piece of Eurotrash?

So even though I'm now in need of a new front fender half, all in all it wasn't a bad day really. Cheers, Terry.

[grcamna2]

Yeah mate, that's a 1980's "Gearsack" rack, an Aussie invention. Back in the day they used a pic of a guy sitting on one backwards to demonstrate their strength. Sadly mine didn't come with the original "Gearsack", which was a seemingly bottomless pit that you could just keep throwing gear into, I keep looking at eBay for a NOS Gearsack, they really were a great bag. Cheers, Terry.

I like the strong construction of that rack Terry.

[grcamna2]

Terry, is she idling smooth now after blowing out all that carbon    How does she feel up above Mach 1 ? 

[Bankerdanny]

The FJ does not lack in the accelleration department. There are only a couple of very high dollar cars that can even keep up with an FJ1200, much less pass it.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, is she idling smooth now after blowing out all that carbon    How does she feel up above Mach 1 ? 

It's a wicked old thing mate, the only bike in my garage that accellerates harder is my Triumph Rocket III, but it's got another 1100cc's on the Yam. The Yam is actually faster though as the Tumpy has an electronic speed limiter (as well as a rev limiter) that limits it to 136 MPH.

Not a bad thing really, over here, if you get caught doing those speeds in any state apart from the Northern Territory, you go straight to jail. Kind of a buzzkill, really..........

[calj737]

No worries, Terry. You meet the nicest people in jail who riding a Honda too fast 

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I reckon there's probably a few in there mate, it'd be hard to own say, a New BMW S1000RR, and not try it out at least once?

[calj737]

Ha! I think I've become too old and wise (read chicken into that) to run one of those to it's upper limits. As sorry an excuse as that is, at least it'll keep me out of the prison showers