Topic: 24 Rides in 2024, Frank's New Years resolution that we can all enjoy.

[PeWe]

Congrats for 3rd ride Kevin!
I will hopefully get my 2nd adventure ride within 2 weeks

Shell VPower ok to store a while.
The latest refill my bikes got before winter was early October last year.
My K6 ran fine a week ago. I had started both bikes mid winter to idle up the float bowls, filled with new.
My K6 had too low idle, 1000 rpm with higher compression and very  responsive carbs make take offs a pain.
I'm eager to test 1300rpm idle and just flow away.
My almost stock K2 makes therefore a very relaxing ride.

[Kevin D]

I wish it would warm up enough to get the cb’s out….

Lash do you use heated gear?

[newday777]

Riding season is just getting started for all you ice cave people, right?

I resemble that remark Jim....
Thankful for a good pellet stove!

[newday777]

Ride #3. Today was the 1st long ride this year on the K5. I had it out to Bike night Wednesday but that was only @10 miles...
71 miles today. Started off at 55° F. 4 hrs with a 1 hrs stop by long time friends, they rode with me in high-school (and they rode on a CB175 in the summer from NH to Washington state and back, in 1975).
All back roads today and the K5 ran Marvelous. 71 miles today. Ended back 4 hrs later, warmed up to 61°F. I made a few stops for pics and relief....

[lash]

I wish it would warm up enough to get the cb’s out….

Lash do you use heated gear?

I have heated vest and gloves but I only use them if it gets down around +2c on the KLR or the CB’s. The wing has heated seat and grips.
After 3 days of rain the sun finally came out and the wind dried up the road enough that I got out for ride #24 - 100 km
Pic is Conestoga dam. I had hoped to get a pic of the Ospreys in their nest but they weren’t home. Maybe next time!

[Terry in Australia]

Well done Kevin, I really enjoyed my ride yesterday, motorbike riding is great for our mental health. I’m about to go over to Spotty’s place and do an oil, filter and coolant change, and if the sun stays out, take it for its first ride in 9 years. I’m getting excited!

[PeWe]

Well done Kevin, I really enjoyed my ride yesterday, motorbike riding is great for our mental health. I’m about to go over to Spotty’s place and do an oil, filter and coolant change, and if the sun stays out, take it for its first ride in 9 years. I’m getting excited!

+7 on all!
Just cruising around on nice good country roads with little traffic is a balm for the soul.

[Terry in Australia]

I wish it would warm up enough to get the cb’s out….

Lash do you use heated gear?

I have heated vest and gloves but I only use them if it gets down around +2c on the KLR or the CB’s. The wing has heated seat and grips.
After 3 days of rain the sun finally came out and the wind dried up the road enough that I got out for ride #24 - 100 km
Pic is Conestoga dam. I had hoped to get a pic of the Ospreys in there nest their but they weren’t home. Maybe next time!

Winner! Well done mate, you might have to wait a little while for your “First in” trophy as we hadn’t expected anyone to get 24 rides in before around mid year, but we won’t forget you. Keep going, I’ll be interested (and envious) of how many you get in by the time we get to 24!

[lash]

Thanks! I’m hoping that my total this year will include at least 24 CB750 rides. Glad I got the ride in yesterday, after 3 days of rain it turned nice for the afternoon and then snowed overnight so I don’t know about going anywhere today. Maybe forced to catch up on some work around the house!

[Kevin D]

I wish it would warm up enough to get the cb’s out….

Lash do you use heated gear?

I have heated vest and gloves but I only use them if it gets down around +2c on the KLR or the CB’s. The wing has heated seat and grips.
After 3 days of rain the sun finally came out and the wind dried up the road enough that I got out for ride #24 - 100 km
Pic is Conestoga dam. I had hoped to get a pic of the Ospreys in their nest but they weren’t home. Maybe next time!

Congratulations on achieving 24 rides lash, surprising.
That Gold Wing is a beauty, I thought it might have some heat directing vents.

Is the dam set on the Niagara escarpment? I have been on the escarpment at various points but not in your territory. I think it would make for some nice riding. No secret, I’m not a geologist, I didn’t even know that the escarpment runs through Michigan. I’m imagining a thread: “best escarpment roads”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Escarpment

[BenelliSEI]

I wish it would warm up enough to get the cb’s out….

Lash do you use heated gear?

I have heated vest and gloves but I only use them if it gets down around +2c on the KLR or the CB’s. The wing has heated seat and grips.
After 3 days of rain the sun finally came out and the wind dried up the road enough that I got out for ride #24 - 100 km
Pic is Conestoga dam. I had hoped to get a pic of the Ospreys in their nest but they weren’t home. Maybe next time!

Well done! It’s snowing here too!!!

[lash]

I wish it would warm up enough to get the cb’s out….

Lash do you use heated gear?

I have heated vest and gloves but I only use them if it gets down around +2c on the KLR or the CB’s. The wing has heated seat and grips.
After 3 days of rain the sun finally came out and the wind dried up the road enough that I got out for ride #24 - 100 km
Pic is Conestoga dam. I had hoped to get a pic of the Ospreys in their nest but they weren’t home. Maybe next time!

Congratulations on achieving 24 rides lash, surprising.
That Gold Wing is a beauty, I thought it might have some heat directing vents.

Is the dam set on the Niagara escarpment? I have been on the escarpment at various points but not in your territory. I think it would make for some nice riding. No secret, I’m not a geologist, I didn’t even know that the escarpment runs through Michigan. I’m imagining a thread: “best escarpment roads”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Escarpment

Not sure if it qualifies as being on the escarpment. It is about 30 mi. northwest of Kitchener, On.
There are no directional vents on the wing, they do make them but I have never seen the need for them.

[jgger]

Awsome job lash! You managed to get all 24 in less than 4 months, but if I remember, you didn't get any rides in January,  or at least late January. So that would be actually between 2 1/2 - 3 months! Now that's showing us all how it is done.

May there be many more and often.........Oh Fearless Leader 🫅

[budman]

Congratulations, lash.

[lash]

Thanks! The next week or two doesn’t look very good for adding many more but the weatherman has been wrong before!

[Kevin D]

Lash, please PM me with your address, as I will be mailing the awards out.

Your early finish has made my head spin. I stepped back a bit from SOHC4 this winter and I wasn’t anticipating the need for awards until August, September, October. This is the second year offering awards.

We are so fortunate here to have Budman on board, contributing his time, equipment, talent.
Terry provides the framework and is the able master of this thread.
Frank was the initiator of 20 Rides in 2020. This is the 5th year running!

First in is nice, but this thread is far from over, and I will enjoy reading your ride reports, from around the world. I hope to earn my own badge this year.

[lash]

PM sent and thanks! I have 24 in but I’m still a long way from finished. Now if only the weather would cooperate, we are around 10c below normal for this time of year with seemingly constant rain and wind. Tomorrow looks promising though…

[Kevin D]

Yes the AC was running a couple days ago, furnace is running tonight and a frost advisory was issued.

[RAFster122s]

Congrats Lash, quite the achievement to be on the bike a lot, hopefully it does your mental health and happiness good.
Stay safe guys! Amber or yellow lamps really stand out, so adding a set and some lighting towards the sides or on the sides can make a difference in being seen. Saw a modern adventure bike running an expensive set of yellow lamps during the day mounted on his crash par frame and it was daytime and they were really intense. That made me a believer so I bought a set of inexpensive amber fog/spotlight to do similar on my VStrom. Picked up some high brightness amber LED strips to light under tank and fenders to light the bike projector g the amber light towards the ground. The bike might glow at night... No one will hit me at night and be able to claim they didn't see me. I may put a pair of amber "9w" LED Eagle Eyes on the tag to make it rear firing so the bike is being seen easily when someone is overtaking me.

I am hoping everyone has Safe rides and smiles and more  good riding weather than bad...
Granted we don't want drought conditions but having the rain not be a daily event is ideal .unless that is normal for your areas certain times if the year, then you do not want that to change so plants and animals , even the 2 legged varieties be impacted negatively.
David

[Terry in Australia]

If I was a pessimist, I'd probably have necked myself many years ago, but being a ridiculously positive optimist, I'm still here, and still thinking that my glass is half full. my last couple of rides have resulted in my Suzuki T500 limping home (quite happily) on one cylinder (new Vape electronic ignition on it's way) Yamaha DT250 new electronic ignition/12V conversion losing lighting power after only 35 miles or so on a new, $600 ($400 USD) ignition/12V conversion crapping out, and yesterday, problems with my BMW K100RS.

Spotty and I had replaced the fuel pump, cleaned and tested the injectors, changed the oil and filter, drained and replaced the coolant, and cleaned out the ABS braking system. All was good, ran like a switch watch, and life was good. Yesterday I gave it a good wash, and found some "Detail Doctor" to shine up the black details. It looked magnificent.

BMW Sunday 21 April 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I hit the starter button, and it purred like an angry kitten, thru the "Luftmeister" exhaust. No smoke, no leaks, no worries! I jumped on, and headed up the road. I'd heard on the radio that the Hume Freeway was closed for resurfacing, so rode a longer route to Wallan, on my way to Kilmore via my favourite "Hidden Valley" near Pyalong. Leaving Wallan, the oil light came on. WTF? I got off the bike, put it on the centre stand and with the engine running looked thru the oil sight glass and could see plenty of oil, and could see that it was moving, so wondered if the oil light was just an electrical fault, which isn't unusual on BMW's.

I continued on to Romsey, the temp gauge was still low, the engine sounded OK, but I was sure I could hear a faint knocking. Bugger. I swtched it off and had a cigarette, in the car park of Saint Mary's Church.

BMW Sunday 21 April 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

BMW Sunday 21 April 2024 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I went back to the bike, hit the starter and it fired right up, but I was sure I could hear a knock. Oh well, I rang the Auto Club (RACV) and ordered a tow truck. The wait was gonna be an hour, so I went for a wander and found a charcoal chicken shop. As you all know, I don't each much, so asked for a small piece of chicken and some coleslaw. Even this was too much for me, but it was lovely.

BMW Sunday 21 April 2024 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I threw away the remains of my lunch (about half of it, I don't eat much) and then this little guy turned up. Sadly I'd dropped my scraps into a bin a few hundred yards away so I couldn't give him a feed. We did have a good chat though.

BMW Sunday 21 April 2024 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The tow truck arrived, and the driver was a great guy, we got talking and he told me that he had done 17 years in the Indian Airforce, as an anti-aircraft "Bird Gunner". That was Ironic, as I work with radar equipment linked to anti-aircraft missile systems in my day job. He drove like an F1 racer, but I didn't mind, I was enjoying watching him screaming around corners in a big truck, that was pretty quick. We parted friends.

BMW Sunday 21 April 2024 9A by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

I got home and dropped out the oil. Nothing exciting to see, just looked like oil. I covered it overnight so as not to contaminate it, and tipped it into a container for disposal. There was a little bit of tiny particles of "Gold", which could have been bearing material, or could have been some of the "Pro-Ma" additive I always use, which contains copper and lead. I also removed the new K&N oil filter that Spotty and I had installed on Saturday morning. I then refilled it with fresh oil and installed a new BMW filter that I found in the garage, and fired it up. It fired right up, but the oil light was flickering at idle, and I could hear a faint knock, so switched it off again.

Well there you go, another "project". I love this bike, so contacted an old guy who's selling one that has had a small fire, when the main fuel line from the tank to the injectors had split, and sprayed fuel onto the cylinder head. Not too much damage, and the engine's only done around 33,000 miles, or around half what mine has done. I'll eventually rebuild my engine, but for the time being, will use his. I'm picking it up on Thursday.

Terry’s replacement K100RS 22 April 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry’s replacement K100RS 22 April 2024 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The only good news is that my poor old BMW did 86 Km (53 miles) before it died, so ride #17 is done. Hopefully I'll have the "Frankenstein BMW" back together for more rides soon, but if not, there are a few bikes around here left that I haven't destroyed....... Yet.

[newday777]

Terry
Bummer about the bemmer knock and having to get a ride back on the truck.....but good that you have another motor available.

[BenelliSEI]

Terry….. That’s a shame. Great looking bike, but not good news…..

[lash]

At least you only have one tow truck ride this year, so that’s a good thing!

[PeWe]

The BMW looks really good, Terry.
A must to get it fixed and continue the first ride.
This is only a temporary obstacle to get your fantastic rides on the German Autobahn locomotive

Fight the evil forces that want to stop you riding a BMW. I remember the pothole bike.

[jgger]

Shame about the Beemer Terry. I hope that the oil light / pressure turns out to not be something catastrophic.  Do you swear that this isn't an elaborate ruse to buy another bike, and the knock is imagined? "Hi, my name is Terry, and I'm a bikeaholic".

And they all said  "Hi Terry, welcome to the program".

That would be nice wouldn't it? Hopefully this will be an easy fix for you. Best of luck to you on this one.