keepemflying Headin’ off to Mexico
By Matthew Parkhouse #13272 ALMOST
READY
to go! I’ll be off in a bit more than two weeks from now. The Mexico Bike, after receiving a fair amount of repairs and improvements,
got pushed back into the yard, where it now resides under a foot of snow. Now that I have a plan that is essentially identical to last year, I’ll need to replace the rear tire before leaving. If I was only going to the Mexico City area, the tire on the bike would have been sufficient. This trip will be about six thou- sand miles altogether, so I’ll start with new rubber all around. The bike got all the long
wheel base stuff bolted on, so it is
sporting the old seat off
Strider, my main bike that I purchased in 1972. Strider has a new, reproduction seat on the way. As Susanna will be on the back from Cancun to Merida and back once again, I hope the extra two inches of seat length will provide more comfort for her. A new, larger battery sits in the frame; this will be handy, as I have a few more bits of electrical heating equipment to wear on the way south. A few years ago, I replaced the 180-
watt Slash Five charging system with a 1974 Slash Six alternator and diode board (240 watts and bolts right up). As I now have a proper Gerbing coat liner (Thank you, Accessory Pit for the lovely door prize at the Sipapu Rally!), last year’s home-made “core heater” that I fabricated out of
52 BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2016
nichrome wire has been reworked into a pair of upper leg warmers. As I did that bit of work, I made sure that there was enough resistance in the wiring so that it would not melt my polypropylene long underwear, as it did on last winter’s trip. I also have a pair of foot warming units, a jacket liner and the heated grips that were with me last winter. I
ride through. Leaving the main H-4 head- lamp off will give me 45 more watts to spend on staying warm as I head south. These halogen lamps are a nice addition to any airhead (except for RTs and RSes). If you do a search for “BA9s halogen,” you will find a number of venders
selling these
lamps. They go for under $5 each. The LWB (long wheel base) project
included the addition of a post-1979 cush drive driveshaft. I took every- thing off down to the clutch in order to clean and inspect the driveline. The few test rides I’ve taken show me that the bike rides and shifts VERY nicely. I need to install a different set of bag mounts. I’m planning on pulling a set off the R 100 S for this trip. After lengthening the wheelbase, I
pushed the bike out of the shop to do some test riding. Now that Susanna and I have chosen our route (same as last time), I now need to install a new tire and finish up the electrical work. Of course, at the moment it is under a foot of snow! We just received one of those not-every-year massive snow storms. The new tire will wait a few more days. Last year, to obtain my Sanborns
The day after our city-stopping snowfall. The bike is now two inches longer and has a new front tire. The speedo unit has been replaced and the wiring looked after. A new rear tire and bit more attention to the wiring and I'll be off!
figure the total amperage will run around 10 or 11 amps. I spent some time going over the electrics, replacing a couple of relays as I worked. Two accessory plugs have been added; I had simply clipped to the battery terminals for the electric heating on my last trip south. I replaced the four-watt “park” lamp in
the headlight with a 10-watt halogen lamp. During the day, this will put out plenty of light to satisfy any “headlight-on” state I
Mexican insurance I spent about three hours calling ahead and then wander- ing around El Paso before I crossed the border. This year? I just finished talking to the Progressive Company
and got the needed policy in about ten min- utes. The cost was $152 for the month-plus I will be in Mexico. This year, I can just blow through El Paso and be on my way. What can go wrong? All the “stuff I
carry,” detailed a couple of months ago, is still in the box, ready to go. I’m sure SOME- THING will be needed, especially after last year’s roster of issues. The issues ended up totaling seven distinct problems. Here’s a list of what I have worked on:
TECH
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132