Spanking the Cow- The continuing saga of an R100GSPD at the Races

That reminds me sooo much of my days in the garage

Have you had any brake issues from it hitting? I've wrecked my bike a thousand times but I keep the boxes on so my arm never touches down.

I've not had a chance to try it out in practice, yet, but I will say the lever and cable are both currently bent from hitting in the rocks when it was down, precipitating me turning it upside down

Man I wish I had more days in the garage I just dont want to be unemployed to do it

Thanks... theoretically I'll have #102 all next year

Yeah, I hate how work cuts into my free time, too.

Wow!!! That is pretty incredible!!!! I mean, I know you're good...but daym!

This picture reminds me to check the stud that you are mounting that bracket to. I have always tightened the shit out of that nut when putting the shock on, but (and you may be aware of this- I don't check here that often) one of our guys here recently had a prettty bad crash when that stud failed and just what you would think would happen happened.

That stud has always stood out to me as a glaringly bad idea. Something that takes that much load, in a swing arm with so many bearings that are prone to knock, using a piece of steel pressed into cast aluminum and put in simple shear? Yikes.

I know about Shaft's crash, and its odd. I'm trying to look up the shear strength for an M8 stud or whatever it is, just to have an idea in my head. I know as a rule of thumb, we in the staging business use a minimum 3/8" if there's going to be a human on it, so the thing is bigger by a little than that...ANYhow it would be the second failure I've heard about this stud if I heard about another one other than shaft's.

Despite the stud's possible dubiosity, the brake bracket gets almost no force one way or the other, I think. It shouldnt add much if anything to the bolt's shear load, I dont think, is what i'm trying to say. Please tell me if you think different!

Go look at it, Dan, I would be curious about your opinion.

That bike is a grin machine, aint it

225 today...3 tags....
The /2 would have cut me in half...lengthwise...

You arte too kind, really. Its really more a question of who has participated the most. I made three rallies last year, most guys only made one or two. No disrespect to Jim H, he is a great rider, but I am technically faster than him on the dirt. (He's primarily a street racer) but he went to Rally Tennessee, and was the only competitor, (!) and since it was technically a long enough race that under the rules, its a double-score rally, he got two first place points. Add to the fact that he then participated in both RWV and BRS and he accumulated enough points... same as me, sort of. Lots of faster guys, they're just not showing up

Racing is kinda funny like that. It only really proves that you happened to be the faster of the choices that showed up that day.

Nevertheless, I REALLY want to get back into the thick of it and twist teh grip with purpose.

:dg

Don’t sell short the value of showing up. Gotta do that to be able to finish. Gotta finish to score points.

Well, I'm unemployed and have lots of garage time...wifey happy I'm out of the house

I found that if a brake cable in ANY configeration is mounted above the pivot points of the swing arm, it will cause the brake cable to pull in, i.e. apply the rear brake when the suspension is being compressed. It might only do this when your suspension is fully compressed...but that's not a good time coming off a jump or going through a rough section to apply the rear brake :eek1 I've been working on a home-made bracket that bolts between the rear shock and the existing brake cable mount at the bottom of the final drive. This will bend the cable up to the upside-down brake arm while the pivot point is below the pivot point of the swing arm.

If I'm still unemployed at the time, I'll think about joining the Airhead Racing Team for the next Sandblast Rally.

Start saving your pennies....it's 260 bucks for rally fee and then you need a licsence. Yikes!

I'll make sure you have a sticker if you do

I wonder if this is the reason the brain trust in the BMW world hasnt embraced this simple idea. Maybe its because the forward point is below the swingarm pivot? If it was directly in line with it it should work, regardless... I just cant figure the way it shouldnt work, unless the actual distance when its run over the swingarm just gets too long.

Touratech makes a doohicky like the one I think youre describing.

To finish first, first you must finish. Or first you must be Finnish, haha, depending on the racing youre talking about.

+1. that rocks! And you did on an air-cooled bike. Anybody can win...but can they win with style

Man I want to get in to racing. That looks like soooo much fun. My aunt gave me a truck (busted fuel pump. $200 & 6 hours and I got a 4x4!) so the G/S isn't my only form of transportation anymore. I've had nothing but a bike for 6 years. I reeeaaally appreciate being able to drink a cup of coffee while I'm going down the road I'll strip the racks and fairing off and I'll be looking to get a small tank. Of course, that's dependent on me getting a job and money Even then I may not be able to get off work. I might be one of those guys at the bottom of the list because they could only make it to one race.

Hey I won a bunch of gear at the BMW MOA Trials, and it finally all came in

A Klim Latitude suit, from Klim,

a pair of SIDI Rain boots, by MotoNation

and an Arai XD3 helmet. by Aria.

Also fully responsible is Ian Schmeisser, of MOA fame, and the world. thanks man.

I'm guessing that you are getting that little girl amazement/shock/disapproval look. I know it well. I'm typically on the receiving end of it.



PS - CONGRATS!!!!