I would also suspect fuel filter, but could be that cheap chinese battery you bought. Try riding it with your X battery and see what happens.
It comes without a warning on a dashboard - engine just cuts out, all the lights look nornal. I reckon if it was the battery, it would happen more often. Right now it seems to be very random. We rode 500 km without a problem and then it happened after just 40 km. And the battery wasn't cheap! It was 15$! I'll check fuel filter today since there is nothing better to do, but even if it works after that it's hard to tell if it won't happen after another 10 or 1000 km. This bike is like cheating partner - we trust it's not going to happen again, but it's hard to trust with such a bad record...
I put torch on Jonathon balls and he confessed that there is something weird on the dashboard after all - during engine cut-off gear number dissapears. I'm sure is should help solving the problem, but I've got no idea how. Any ideas?
Have you tried posting on the ADV GS650/800 thread: http://www.advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=77
Of course, I'm also posting RR and problems on Polish forum so I hope there will be someone who can help.
Day 27 and 28 in one go – Terekty - Almaty <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> 27’th day of our trip is worth remembering for two reasons. The first is that Jonathon’s bike ran without any problems. No flat tyre, no engine cut-off, nothing. For the first time in two weeks. The second is that police stopped us. Lunch break: <o></o> <o></o> We were dodging the storm all day: <o></o> <o> </o> Last look at the tubes, before they landed in the bin: <o></o> <o> </o> Up tp this point we’ve done a few kilometeres. 7000? 8000? Something like that. There was a swarm of police near Vladivostok, due to president’s visit I guess. Further away much less of them. In Mongolia we saw maybe two patrols. One was guy in undone shirt running police lights on a chineese motorbike in one of the small cities along the way. Dinner must had been ready I reckon. In Kazakhstan it was back to Vladivostok standards. Every couple of k’s there is police with speed gun. I’m sure that we were measured speeding couple of times, but no one tried to stop us. John in the lead, I’m in pursuit. Super-cop from outer space chasing bad German. Makes sense. <o></o> In general I think that everyone braking speed limit on the roads we travelled deserves a bloody medal. For bravery or stupidity – there is thin line between these two. Roads are just crap. Potholes the size that could swallow family car, roadwork consisting of pile of gravel in the middle of the road and nothing more than that and something I’ve never seen before – washboard on a tarmac. How do they achieve such a result? There must be some special machine for that or they just pour liquid shit on the road. Would you dare night travel? <o> </o> Anyway... John had 80 km/h ona 50 km/h zone, I had 77. I accepted invitation to the prolonged negotiations in a police car. Where from, where to, how much it all costs and all this kind of talk. Their offer to exchange bike for a police gun was politely declined. Just as the next one – to visit their house, kill the goat and give bike in exchange. They were just as solid in declining my offers. Official booklet was grim – our sins were worth about 200$ each. That is a lot, even in my world. <o></o> So what do we do? Should I write the receipt? What for, General? I don’t need this paper. We were joking, swearing and threatening each other for good 15 minutes. At the end they wanted just 4000 of the local currency. I left them with 3000. After all they caught us with our pants down... <o></o> <o> </o> <o></o> <o> </o> <o></o> <o> </o> In the meantime ignition barrel in my bike starts to act funky. Mud bath wasn’t the best idea I guess. After pouring a lot of WD40 it still refuses to work from time to time. No real drama, but sooner or later I might need to do more bush mechanics. <o></o> Two Italians and Kiwi on a bloody 80ccm bike, met along the way. They stopped for a piss, we stopped to check if they have any bladder problems: <o></o> <o> </o> Road was really nice at the times, but drivers thought it was multi-lane motorway: <o></o> <o> </o> Country’s finest is looking at this all with a smile: <o></o> <o> </o> Entry to Almaty – a lot of casinos and Ali Baba’s house: <o></o> <o> </o> At the end of the day we made it to Almaty. Hotel was chosen basing on distance to the BMW dealership. It was bad, really bad. No internet, bathroom looks good only in total darkness and the floor makes you want to walk in riding boots all day. But they had a laundry service! I was left in one pair of shorts and the least stinky shirt. Trip to the Tajik consulate was the first target for the day. It’s a bit off the city centre, hidden between tyre shops and a petrol station. <o></o> <o> </o> Consul offered to make everything ready for Monday. Good, but I’m sure he could do better than that. I made the Puss in Boots-like eyes and proposed to pick them up after lunch. And GBAO permit as a bonus. He’s such a nice guy. It was ready at 4 pm. <o></o> <o></o> I might not like cities in general, but this one has a nice background at least: <o></o> <o> </o> Next thing was to visit BMW dealership. It was awesome to ride in just shorts, no undies, sandals and t-shirt. Traffic jam everywhere, very little risk of serious accident, 35 degree heat – it would give me a heatstroke to ride in full gear. Riding was so awesome, that we were invited to the next police car. U-turn on double solid line seems to be illegal here, especially on a street with ‘no bikes allowed’ sign. Initial 200$ was negotiated to 0$ in about 10 minutes. I’m getting better at this. They still don’t have diagnostic tools here after all. Bike was running fine, so we didn’t really need that. Mechanic found some stone if John’s fan – the reason for oil light to come up in dense traffic every now and then. I swear the fan was spinning freely when I checked that... <o></o> <o></o> <o> </o> There was snapped rear rack on my bike – fixed in 5 minutes. Ignition barrel was unfixable – it’s just a mechanical lock for the steering anyway. It connects two wires only, so if it dies I can splice them anytime. <o></o> <o> </o> ABS stopped working too, but it was too hard to find the reason, so I ignored it. Most of the time I run with ABS switched off anyway. There was an opportunity to use their high pressure washing machine, so I jumped at it. Bikes are almost as shiny as at the beginning of our trip. After all it was cheap as chips – 13$ for mine, 30$ for John’s. At the end we recieved a city map with most of the roads forbidden for bikes: <o></o> <o> </o> Around 4 pm we picked up visas. Consul stuffed it up a bit – he filled mine with John’s details. A lot of liquid paper (aka whiteout), few additional stamps and my visa received a truly Tajik makeover. The master plan was to leave in the morning, heading for Kyrgyz border. <o></o> Stats for two days: <o></o> <o> </o> <o></o> <o></o> Map, also for both days: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/324911 Bart
I just had to rip my apart during my last trip. You don't have to take the steering lock off, only the two phillips screws that attach the ignition switch to the steering lock. The switch itself was never suppose to come apart, but with some careful prying you can make it happen. Here is what it looks like on the inside. The black/gray gunk on the switch contacts was keeping the bike from running. A quick wipe with my shirt solved the problem. And here it is back together. We used plumbing tape to close up any holes or gaps (it also is holding the switch together because the plastic broke when we took it apart). Awesome report!!!!
Somehow I don't see the photos, but I understand it's easy to do. So far it works semi-fine, good enough to ignore it. I noticed there is one connector coming from under the display that needs to be disconnected and spliced in case of serious problems, so having two possible solutions makes me happy. Thanks, Bart
This guy is a Kiwi and his ride is just half the size of a postie bike! 80 ccm of pure fury! He's got a fair share of flat fronts as well - something like up to 10 per day at some stage. It's somehow comforting to know, that we are not the olny retards on this road, not knowing how to fix it properly.
We tried to leave Almaty and were pretty good at it. Up to about 40 km. Then John's bike started to stall - it was just like before, but because we thought problem is fixed we were a bit worried. Just in case we decided to get back to Almaty and try to look into it again in BMW service. The only thing they could do really is to check fuel pump and fuel filter. Not much, but at least that is something. The only problem was that we had to wait untill Monday, so this time we checked into proper hotel. For just 20$ more we've got Internet, breakfast, swimming pool and general hygiene. It turns out my Dad is coming here - he will be at the airport on Tuesday night, so I decided to use his courier services to deliver some goods - proper battery, new front tyre for me (I'm pretty sure that Mefo Explorer could last all the way to Turkey, but it's got about 13000km and shows weired wear pattern) and few proper front tubes. I hope they will work like a talisman - the more of them we've got - the less chance for a flat. Our cunning plan is to leave on Wednesday, heading to Bishkek. Sambor1965 is there, we've made some sort of contact so at least if we break down again - we will be in good company :) Bart
Fingers crossed for your guys.. A few days off....time to get medievil on the GS800 Might be worth stripping the GS down to minimum and checking all electrical connections and junction points for moisture/looseness etc... I'd also run it while she's stripped and jiggle connections points /earth etc, disconnect systems etc while it's running. I'd unplug everything electrical on the bike bike that did not stop it from running as a way of narrowing down the issue.... and trouble shoot from there.....spray all connections and devices with a CRC type repelant and remove any corrosion from joints. Also the extra gear being carried on the bike may be rubbing or putting weight on an electical connection ? Just a simple little thing...... Hope I'm not stating the bleeding obvious to you... Just really enjoying your RR and wan to see you guys back on the road... Horseman
Excellent RR! Please, give Sambor my regards (tell him it's the crazy Portuguese Africa Twin guy who's been talking to him about the Aral Sea). Have a safe journey.
Typical tradesmen.. Never around when you need them... lets go and get this report happening. Horseman
I made it to Dushanbe - I'll try to get some breath and post updates soon. Spot decided to ignore it's duties. It looked normal but couldn't send message. Bart
Hi Bart, Just sat down and read all 7 pages of your reports. Outstanding adventure, and very funny writing. Looks like you are my new hero. Please keep up the contact. Really lifted my day out of the doldrums. Regards, Cornay.
Hi Cornay, Thanks for your kind words. To keep you interested - there is Superman stunt coming in next few episodes! Although I've got not enough skills and it hurt a lot
Day 30 to 33 - Almaty to Bishkek <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> After all we made it out of Almaty. This city was like a swamp for us – not that nice, not that interesting and very expensive at the end. We wasted three days here, saw a few interesting buildings and a lot of expensive shops. They have money here, but it’s very unevenly distributed. John wanted the service guys to check his bike as good as they could. They don’t have bike mechanic, but somehow managed to plug car diagnostics into the bike. The only error they found was something with grip heaters – irrelevant to our problems. Just in case they clean out the fuel pump and tank. It’s not like they didn’t try or wanted to rip us off – they were super helpful and wanted us to leave and not come back again. I realise that getting all motorbike bonanza just for a couple of tourist is not worth investing for them, but I BMW chipped in more bikers would feel safe doing such a trip on their machines. Anyway, 90$ was the damage and a lot of praying was advised. It can be said that they did all the Voodoo I did, but with more impressive workshop. Almaty is bordered by the mountains on the South. There is a lot of water flowing down the gutters - handy, when you need a flushed toilet on the way home late at night. <o></o> <o></o> Meeting my Father at the airport was super cool. We haven’t seen each other for something like almost three years so we talked one over another. He brought new battery for John, front tyre for me and a couple of front tubes. My front started to wear out in weird way – every second knob was shorter. It’s still god for a couple thousands k’s, but I figured having good knobby for Pamir and keeping old one for tarmac in Europe would be a smart plan. I ended up looking like a Gypsy of course and it annoys me so there is a chance I’ll change my mind and leave old tyre somewhere. <o></o> <o> </o> Few random photos from Almaty: <o></o> <o></o> Having all tyres is overrated: <o></o> Low rider: <o></o> <o></o> Remember I said something about lack of ‘no bikes allowed’ road signs? Scratch that. <o></o> ‘New’ enters the ‘old’ territory just like it did in Poland in 90’: <o></o> <o></o> Pretty much the only touristy thing we visited – apparently the second tallest timber building in the world: <o></o> <o></o> To be a true macho, Kazakh must train or realistic target: <o></o> <o></o> Local communists are a bit like Satanists – they’ve got similar ideas and they didn’t put much effort into trademark design: <o></o> <o></o> We got to the border without problems, there was just one hiccup – we didn’t register ourselves in Kazakhstan. Apparently you have to do this after 5 days of staying, but it escaped our attention. Some more sweet talking solved the problem and we went to Kirgiz side. Passports got stamped and that was it. No rego papers required. Biskek is just a few kilometres from the border. Sambor1965 invited us to stay with him and we were happy to do so. He knows this area like no one else so it would be a great chance for us to ask about route options. After loosing Izi he works with Aussie Steve (from Townsville, QLD), so he was curiou s to see another Polish-Aussie couple on the road. They were invited to see local motocross track, but because of us they were running late. We joined them, chasing Sambor through Biskek traffic was exciting – luckily there is still some orange hoon in my blood, so it was a great fun. People were leaving already, but one guy invited Sambor to his night club. Steve launching ‘Dirty Slut’ into orbit: <o></o> <o></o> The plan was to catch a taxi and split as we were not invited really, but somehow we ended up together. Owner was super generous – waiter was running like he had a weak bladder, beer and food was in abundance and at the end there was no bill. Traditional Russian hospitality, although we felt like a pair of weasels still. <o></o> Stats: <o></o> <o> </o> Map - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/342346