1st Tech Daze SD

[skyskier]

I left at 6:30am so I could get down to San Diego early. I was planning on doing a valve adjustment and knew I would have to let the bike sit awhile and cool down before I could get started wrenching. Ride down the 5 was pretty uneventful, although riding through San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente it was so overcast that it was like it was raining for about 10 miles. Nice to have the weather protection of the RT-P. Got to Les and Jamie’s about 8:30, Tom had snagged the prime spot on the lift with Bob’s RT being next to Tom’s in the garage. Mark had his GS up on the carpet square left side of the driveway just outside the garage. That left the right carpet square in front of the garage for my RT-P. Jamie came out of the garage to welcome me and pointed me to the coffee and food in the kitchen. I went in to the kitchen and was welcomed by Bob’s wife Dianne and Leslie, who gave me my first of her patented hugs. I felt at home right away. Went back outside and talked to Keith and Mark. Keith was going to help Mark bleed his brakes, but for now we just stood, watched, and comment on Mark’s progress in stripping down the GS getting it ready for that brake bleed. After meeting a few other folks, Tom, Gary, and Bob, I decided I should strip the Tupperware from my bike and remove the valve covers as that might help the bike to cool down a little faster. I was also going to do a TBS after the valve adjustment so the Tupperware needed to come off anyway. As I was finishing up removal of my parts, Tess and Tim arrived. Tess pulled her RT up behind Mark’s GS so she could start doing her task for the day. She was putting new Olin shocks on her bike with Tim’s help. After introductions to Tim and Tess I returned to my bike to see if it had cooled down enough for me to start my projects for the day. After I got a consensus from Jamie and Tim that my bike had cooled down enough for me to start my valve adjustment, Tim helped me find top-dead-center on my bike so we could start to check the valve clearance. Note to self; next time use 5th gear when turning the tire to get the engine to TDC. It can be done in 2nd but it takes way to much effort to turn the tire. The valve clearences were all in good, except for the left intakes. They were a little loose so I made the adjustment and buttoned up the valve covers. Boy that was easy!! Thanks Tim!

 

Next the TBS, Jamie lead me through this procedure using his homemade manometer. He first showed me how to take the excess play out of my throttle, thanks Jamie that made drivability so much nicer. We then made sure the butterflies were closing all the way, checked the settings on the adjustment screws. Next we removed and cleaned the adjustment screws and the holes where they seat. Replaced and reset the screws started the bike with the manometer attached and holy crap the manometer went nuts!!!! Jamie thought we had a major air leak is the system, so we checked the connections around the throttle bodies, we checked the manometer and everything was good. So we started it up again and same thing it was just way out of adjustment. Jamie showed me how to set the balance at idle using the screws. The he showed me how to set the balance at running throttle using the cable adjustment. We played with that for a few minutes, went back and checked at idle and checked at running throttle again. It was now running at extremely smooth. Bill came over and we checked the balance again with his TwinMax. It was right on the money. I buttoned up all the Tupperware and reinstalled the crash bars. Now it was time to do some serious visiting with all my new friends. I helped Gary do the brake bleed on a very pretty black GS. We had a little trouble with the caliper that didn’t have a factory bleed screw, Gary figured it out and we got through it pretty quickly after that. All too soon it was time for me to leave, I had to be back up in north Orange County by about 5:30 and I wanted to take highway 79 back up since I had gotten my fill of slab this morning.

 

I was making good time up 79, cars were getting out of my way, I think the black and white really helps here. Then I came upon my first group of cruisers, about 5 bikes. I thought they would pull to the right of the lane and let me by when they saw me in their mirrors. Not a chance, not only did they not do anything to make it easier for me to get by, they were all over the road back and forth. There were plenty of places where they could have let me by very easily, but no way. I finally blasted by them at a very small legal passing spot, dotted white line, and as I finished the pass the lead rider flips me off. I just politely waved, all fingers showing and never saw them again. A similar experience with another group of 6 cruisers about 15 miles further up, I finally passed, no gestures were exchanged this time. The rest of the ride was great; cages let me by at their earliest convenience. The bike is running SO GOOD.

 

Thanks to everyone for all their help. I had such a good time, I wish I could have stayed longer and gotten a goodbye hug from Leslie. I can’t thank Jamie and Leslie enough for welcoming me into their home and making this whole thing such a wonderful experience. I’m looking forward to the next event that I can get to, so that I can see everyone again, and meet more of the wonderful people on this board. I know I missed mentioning some others that I talked with at this event and to those folks I’ll just say, see you next time!

[KMG_365]

Wow. Nice post, Steve and it was OUR pleasure to welcome you to the Tech Daze family!

 

You seemed well at ease stripping everything off of that beautiful RT despite the "extra" challenges of the crash bars, etc. (BTW, I just LOVE that black and white color scheme! ). Just about all that I know about BMW's I owe to the fabulous people here on this DB and I'm more than happy to pay that gift back and perhaps try to pay it forward--at least a little bit!

 

Sorry you couldn't stay longer, but glad you had a (fairly . . . ) fun ride home. See you down the road!

 

Leslie says she came home looking for her good-bye hug . . . but you were already gone!

 

. . . but it's always here waiting for you!