BMW Diary March 2007
I booked a week’s annual leave to get the bike ready for the MOT that’s due on 4 April. Last year Spike passed it, but I could tell he was not going to let me get away with minimal maintenance indefinitely. He had been very thorough, including checking the tow-in, which turned out to be ‘tow-out’ – a novel concept for sidecar set-up.
He told me to clean up the wheels and spokes, suggested I convert the old hybrid cable/hydraulic front brake to an all hydraulic system, and to correct the tow-in (out). When Spike advises, you shouldn't ignore him. Not if you want your next MOT certificate. Spike giveth and Spike taketh away.
So here I was a year on, with none of it done. My recent trips to Bristol and Gillingham had prompted me to do an oil change, and to check the tappets. Oil was black as it comes, 2 years old. Not good to have left it so long – not as a pedantic BMW owner should anyway. The tappets have been very weird since the top-end rebuild 2 years ago. It hasn’t done many miles since but how long should it take for new valve seats to settle in? I adjusted them before going to Gillingham, only to notice, on the way back the engine go quiet and lack oomph. At the time I tried to convince myself that it was my imagination, but sure enough they closed up, - in less than 300 miles!
If I’m going to do my trip to France, I’m going to have to make sure everything is about as right as it can be. There is so much that could or must be done on the bike, I decided to concentrate on getting it through the MOT and to worry about the rest of it later. Minimum standards will do for now.
Last week I bit the bullet and ordered a twin disc conversion set with handlebar hydraulic reservoir, and a pair of handlebars. A lovely big box of bits arrived from Motoworks a few days later. It was like peering into a big box of meccano – so many bits to choose from! Lovely shiny stainless steel braided brake lines – I almost squeeked with excitement.
On Monday, Day 1 of my week off, I stripped down the front forks to replace the right hand lower leg for one that will take the second caliper. To my horror found that the top washer was completely missing from the right hand fork leg! I always thought it looked a bit odd, but put it down to disintegrated rubber mounts on the headlamp brackets. Rather pleased though to find something that might improve the wheel wobble without major expense.
Not long after getting down to work, I was just rearranging some tools and stuff to give myself better working space, leaned over to grab something from a box, and bloody well pulled a back muscle. Ain’t it great being 50! It’s not the immediate pain that is excruciating; it is the realisation of the impact this is going to have for the next couple of weeks.
I discovered more parts that needed replacing during strip down:
· gaiters – split or going that way;
· S/S bolts (luverly!)for mudguard mounting - (old ones completely seized in situ, and quite honestly couldn’t be arsed to fiddle around with heat and penetrating oil to get them out on the leg that was obsolete);
· rubber bungs for the bottoms of the bottom legs.
I started arranging the new handle bars and thinking about routing cables etc.
The bars are magnificent.
I got rid of the the master cylinder beneath the tank, and fitted the second disc to the front wheel. By the end of the day thought I only had a few other jobs to do other than refitting everything and setting up the new brake system.
Tuesday turned out not as straightforward as I thought it would. It is quite amazing how I don’t learn from previous experience. How many times has it really worked out as planned? It was a day of problem solving –in a 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycling' sort of way. I assembled the new handlebars, with the levers etc just to see what they look like. Wow they are great, just as I imagined they should. Luckily the left hand wire loom that I made a couple of years ago was just the right length. Phew. I was expecting to have problems with the right hand wiring, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that the actual wiring was nothing like as bad as the original left hand side had been.
Was a bit worried about a 1-off fault that occurred on the journey to Exeter 3 weeks ago. The indicators had decided to act as hazard warning lights at the services on Dartmoor. At the time I did the normal wiggling of switches and wiring, which for once actually worked. It has never re-occurred, which is good except that knowing it has happened once, there is always the thought in the back of my mind that it will happen again. At first when something like this happens you are on the lookout for it, which is a bit of a strain in itself, because if it does happen when you are going along you need to do something about it pretty well straight away. It creates anxiety, or at least a preoccupation which distracts from the moment you are in. “Don’t worry - It may never happen” but “...it probably will”. Now, whilst poking around the switch gear, I couldn’t find any obvious cause.
However, one of the wires came adrift from the switch block. This may seem like a minor inconvenience, as the obvious thing to do would be to PUT IT BACK. If only life were that simple, - where the wire was soldered to the terminal originally was now knee deep in grease and close to the plastic switch body making a DIY solder job impossible, even if I was good at soldering - which I am not. The only way to definitely sort it out would be to send away for a new cable and switch and to wire it in to the main terminal board in the back of the headlamp shell. I really did not want to do all that for the sake of one little loose wire.
About 5 years ago I impulse bought one of those miniature drill kits for doing fine drilling and modelling etc. It was very cheap, and not good quality. I have only used it about 5 times, but of those at least 2 occasions have made it worth the outlay. The first time was when Oska accidently broke a pendant that his Dad had sent him from NZ. There was no way it could be glued so I drilled very fine holes in each surface, less than 1mm in diameter, broke the drill bit into lengths to use as dowelling and glued it all together again with the drill dowels as pins holding it together. Brilliant fix. Needless to say Oska lost interest in it shortly after.
So back to the bike. I got the little kit out, still pristine in it’s cheap plastic case and found a suitably fine drill bit to drill down into the terminal giving a tubular hole just big enough to squeeze the bared wires down, and then crimped the tube giving a firm connection. It was pure dentistry!
28 March 2007. 3rd Day of working on the bike and still more to do! Parts arrived but gaiters don’t fit. They looked much less meaty than the ones that came off, although they are genuine BMW. When I tried one on to the stanchion, it was a sloppy fit round the top of the bottom leg, but worse, the top was far too big to clamp on to the stanchion. Motorworks explained straight away – you have to buy spacers to go in at the top – obvious really. They will send them today, post free which was good of them, although they didn’t guarantee I’d get them the next day. Spent the day cleaning and greasing wheel spokes, front and back. Just as Spike told me. A favourite job! Hasn’t been done for far too long.
I realise over and over again what a mistake it was to degrease so much of the external machine way back after I first did major work on it. Every part that hasn’t since been thoroughly greased up again has gone completely rusty. Not good for spokes, although by the looks of it, they were pretty much on the way to it before. I continued to suffer excruciating back ache and I’ve had enough of grease and mechanics. I
At times like this I want to give up and get a shiny new machine that I can just jump on and ride off. But it doesn't seem right somehow, at best unfulfilling, and at worst cheating. Like it’s just too easy. There is probably a deep and meaningful explanation of this that points to a severe flaw in my psychology. If so it really is about time I sorted it out, bought a modern trouble free machine and forget maintenance.
Anyway I'm not going to sort out my character flaws before I get the here and now mechanical ones sorted. Apart from cleaning the rims and spokes I had the back wheel off. Brakes linings are thin but good. Ok for a few thou I should think. If I get twitchy about them going to France I will change them, but probably pointless. That is what I’m finding about so much of what I have attended to in the past – it’s still good. This only goes to show just how little must have done in the last few years before I got it. Splines on the back were still well greased up, and I feel confident in that end of the transmission now.
Talking of electrics, not my favourite subject on BMW’s, there was another strange fault that developed on the way back from Exeter that caused me a severe problem trying to figure it out. I was approaching Truro when the lights flickered and I thought I saw sparks from somewhere down by the headlamp mounting brackets. Thinking there must be a loose wire adrift I pulled over and had a look. The short circuit that was causing the sparks was between the chaffed speedo cable and the headlamp mounting. On the face of it this should be impossible, as both are connected to the body engine and frame and should be earthed. Either the speedo cable or headlamp mounting must be live. It was very weird. My ever helpful neighbour, Treve, helped provide the answer with a fancy meter he has that shows you which side of a circuit is live. (I could have done it with an ordinary meter but he was there with his before I could even go and look for mine.) It showed that it was the headlamp mounting that was live, - and the headlamp case, - and the ignition switch! All these are isolated from the frame by the rubber mountings of the headlamp mountings. V lucky or the whole lot would have been shorted out. At best I wouldn’t have got home, at worst there would have been a fire, and it would have been goodbye to all the electrics and possibly the bike. When I took off the headlamp front the short circuit disappeared. Yet another mystery fault. I inspected the inside of the headlamp shell and rearranged things to make sure the headlamp does not press on anything when it is screwed into place. Hope it solves the problem.
Thursday The spacers didn’t arrive but I didn’t worry too much as I didn’t do much on the bike anyway as it was Freddie’s retirement do at work.
Friday, they still hadn’t come so I rang Motorworks. They hadn’t put them on the system, apologised profusely, and said they’d send them straight away and wouldn’t charge me for them. They arrived Saturday.
Saturday worked through until 8 o’clock. Thought I was going to get everything in place, with only final adjustments to do tomorrow. It wasn’t to be though, for the casing of the new 3-way splitter split!
Can’t do anything until Monday now.
Monday 2 April
Ordered another 3 way splitter from motoworks
Tuesday 3 April
It arrived, but I really couldn’t be arsed to go over to Stiths to fit it.
Wednesday 4 April
Fitted the replacement splitter after work, and ran through as much fluid as I had. It works but is very squishy. Nothing for it but to get some more brake fluid, by which time some of the air bubbles should have settled out. To be continued...
Good Friday 06 April 2007
Very slow start today for various reasons, not least of which, sleep deprivation combined with the first truly soporifically sunny day of the year. After the rigours of the previous week at work, and the unfulfilled efforts of the week before that, I just didn’t have the oomph to grapple with the final push to get the brakes set up properly. I need not have worried though, because in the event it all went ridiculously smoothly, and I test rode it round the village at around 5 pm.
By the time I was confident to take the outfit out for a proper blow, my whole feeling towards it was transformed. I cannot believe what a difference the new parts have made.I took it for a most enjoyable hack to Helston and back. It feels a completely different machine, easier to ride, more controllable (hence less stressful!) and most of all it stops when I want it to. It bodes most well for a European tour (a la France).
I continue to tell my friends what I'm doing, in order to make me do it. My friend reckons a 29 yr old outfit being got together for a tour is worthy of a story, - hence the blog!
So it is slowly becoming a reality.
10 April 2007
Yes, it's back to normal, - work, - but still a nice thought that it's another short week. I decided to keep the bike with me for the week as the weather looks like it's going to stay fine. It is a joyous way to begin and end the day - especially when it's running well.
But...as so often happens when everything’s going well..something has to go wrong. A constant lesson in life to never take anything for granted. On the way home from work I slid round a right hander and the back end of the sidecar started grounding horribly. I stopped and could see the back end was definitely lower than usual, and if I stood on the chassis it immediately grounded. I just could not work out what was going on. I took it gingerly back to Stithians for a proper look and discovered that one of the sidecar mountings had completely snapped!
There are 4 mountings, so the chair wasn’t in immediate danger of parting company Buster Keaton style, but it is still a major systems failure – a disaster!
It probably happened either when I went too fast over a level crossing with Tim in the sidecar on Saturday, or when I slid the bike round a right hand corner with Bethany on the back and Alice in the sidecar last night. I know... I KNOW it was not a sensible way to ride. It does serves me right...but it was great fun!!
I won't be able to ride it until it is fixed, and it is a specialist job which I am not able to do myself. Damnbuggerandsod. On the other hand, and in my defence, I do need to stress the bike beyond it’s normal operating parameters in order to expose any weaknesses before the trip to France. That’s my excuse anyway.
14 April 07
Nothing to be done all week, but on Friday Spike agreed to take a look if I could get it over to him. I rode it over to Spike’s on Saturday. Amazing how knowing the problem has a profound influence on one's sense of security. To think I was riding it with only 3 fixings intact for at least a day is quite frightening. At every bend or bump I imagined the remaining fixings flexing and fracturing along stress lines already weakened through metal fatigue.
Spike was his usual laid back self. He reckoned he’d have the bits and pieces laying around. So I just had to wait...
Saturday 21 April
This week I have mainly been concentrating on getting some of the boring paperwork preparations out of the way, in between work stuff.
I sent away for my European Health insurance Card, and it arrived yesterday. Then I set about getting breakdown cover for the bike (not me), starting with the RAC. Lovely person at the other end of the phone, when I said what I wanted; she couldn’t have been more helpful. Even offered to give me extra discount because she likes sidecars so much! (in a Wallace and Grommit sort of way)
However it was still over £95 – more than what I pay for a whole year for UK cover. I was sure I could get a much better deal on the internet. I was disappointed. There were much cheaper deals, but no one would touch a vehicle more than 15 years old.
I then went to the BMW Club site and found a posting from a bloke who said he had his premium almost halved through RAC because he was a BMW club member. I went straight back to RAC and asked if could have a similar discount. At first they said no because the BMW club wasn’t on their list of approved clubs, but when I persisted and asked if BMF was, as a BMW affiliated club, she said it was – and I got my discount. QED! So that’s sorted - £55 instead of 95 – not bad.
This morning Spike rang to say the bike was ready, which I was very surprised at as I was expecting him to take longer to get to do it. He had taken it to his mate’s farm, made up a bracket to replace the banjo bolt that had failed; it had it all back together. Spike reckoned that the bolt used previously had been a gate mounting bolt, and that it had failed from the day it was put on. The fracture marks, he said, were old and rusty, and it looked as though the bolt had been held on by only the last piece of flexing metal for quite some time.
Holy shit, as they say.
Anyway, the fix was done, even though not the best, as Spike admitted. He wanted to do a tidier job but doesn’t have all the bits and pieces to hand. He’ll have the bike back at the end of the year to do a ‘proper job on. In the meantime one thing for sure is, what he's done ain't gonna come adrift.
He said he had ridden it over to his mate's farm, justifying it by saying he didn’t like to leave bikes on the premises. It was not necessary; I was honoured that he had ridden it, and valued his opinion as a seasoned outfit rider. He didn’t like the awkwardness of the gearchange (but who does?) but otherwise rated it as 'a good ride'. The BMW gearbox and footrest arrangements mean you have to weave your toes downwards through a forest of metalwork, which is a bit disconcerting until you get used to it.
It was blissful to get back on it again... My determination to treat the long suffering and probably twisted frame with more respect lasted about 500 yards. I just can’t help it. And a little later, on the road from Truro to Falmouth, I overtook a car with a small boy in the back excitedly looking at the bike, and of course had to do a little chair lift for him as I came off the roundabout on to the Carnon Downs by pass.
I went back to Truro to get a few ‘bits and pieces’ – like the mandatory spare bulbs, hazard warning triangle, GB sticker, beam deflectors etc from Halfords. I walked out the best part of £80 poorer! God, this is getting expensive.
I haven’t even decided yet about accommodation – it looks like a borrowed tent is going to be it. And as for upgrading my riding gear – ha ha ha! I might just about manage a new visor for my helmet. And that’s IT!!
Now that I have stuck the GB sticker on the back of the battery case, - the only place I could find that didn’t completely ruin the colour scheme, and installed (albeit not wired in yet) the 12v power outlet (mainly for recharging the mobile phone), it really starts to look and feel like a touring machine.
There is something about an old fashioned oval, black on white GB sticker that evokes a pioneering spirit!
I took some more pics of the new front sidecar mounting arrangement for posterity, and adjusted the right hand disc brake attack angle (if that’s what you call it – only ATE brake owners will have any clue as to what I am talking about -,and they will all nod knowingly).
I then lavished several cc of new super duper wax polish on the paintwork just as an expression of my appreciation to have it back. So that’s about it for another week...
