VIA MEDITERRA - The journey around the Med with an HP2

[kktos]

Originally Posted by Angelos

Boy,you know how to built up saspens...

Indeed ;)
The man is a pretty good storyteller !
I remember some time ago at Lefteris`s place in Athens where we had the first glimpse of the story with pictures and movies......
Man, Lefteris and i were totaly baffled! It was simply amazing :)
For the lucky ones living or passing by Deutschland, go to watch one of Dirk's diashow, u'll understand what i mean.

[mart´n]

Please go on.......today!

:-)

Absolutely stunning picture of that fearless construction worker, and the rest of the pictures are world-class, as always.
Hard to decide which one to use as background on the ´puter

[BSTT]

Hey Dirk,
these contrasts of oasis and desert are wonderful in this photo.


Keep on with the good stuff.
Ciao Gero

[jab1026]

nice picture... more update please.. thanks

[kktos]

Dirk, what are you doing !?!
We need updates !!!
Keep going, Mein Herr !

[kimangao]

Hi everyone, sorry for the long duration between posts. I was knocked out for a while by a nasty influenza. But here we go again:


After i did some kms on a stony track I found that irritating feeling in the handlebar that tells you: Your front tyre will be flat in a minute. Ok, things happen, so let's start working!





The first little dilemma I'm running into is the absence of a main stand/central stand (or how do you call that in proper English?). There are only rocks around and I soon find a decent one to support the bike. That beast is as heavy as three beer crates with the slight disadvantage that you cannot drink it after work is done.

Next dilemma: The tyre sticks that tight on the rim, I simply can't get it of the rim.



To my surprise, two friendly Moroccans stop and offer their help. Highly aprreciated! We work for about 20 minuntes on the tyre and ... the d*** rubber still sticks to the rim. The younger of the Moroccans starts to pray to Allah, I shout out a collection of German swearwords and? The tyre is of the rim! Looking back to the situation I hope it was because of the prayer ;-)



I kindly thank the two Moroccans and they move on as I do some minutes later. Meanwhile the sun has set and I've done only a few klicks until I have that feeling in the steering again. NAAOOO! Not again!

Now that I know that I won't be able to fix the tube I decide to ride towards the lights in the horizon. 14 kms with a flat tront tyre. Maximum speed: 5km/h




At 21:00 I find the workshop of my confidence in Agdz. The mechanic is on his way to the Mosque but is willing to repair the tube before he leaves. Waiting for the job to be done I smell a nasty odour: Petrol! Seeking the origin of the smell I have to realise ....



... that it comes from my bike
How comes? The tank is a prototype, it was nearly full when I had the puncture. Due to the heat from the engine (14kms in first gear) and no cooling wind, the plastic will have expanded untill it touched the burning hot oil-cooler. And that thing melted a slim fissure into the left tank that now lets the 11 liters follow gravity. I cut off the connection to this tank and make my way around the Med with now 23 liters. Should be enough anyway
(The series tank were lateron equipped with a heat protection shield and were given a greater distance to the oil cooler)



To keep a long story short: At 2 in the night I have the next puncture Can that be true? After I vent my anger I start smiling: Everyone who does a longer trip knows that he'll encounter a certain amount of hassle and bad luck. But if that concentrates in a few hours that can only mean that the rest of the journey is free of trouble!




I arrive in the early morning hours in Zagora to meet again with Remi, Thierry, Thomas and Benj. But after this night I need a little nap first!



Cheers

Dirk

[kktos]

ah ! He's back !
Just found on the web the man will be South of Germany to show this journey:
http://www.mundologia.de/festival-programm/mittelmeer/
got me thinking bout a trip North ;)

[PorLaTierra]

The first little dilemma I'm running into is the absence of a main stand/central stand (or how do you call that in proper English?).

As a buddy of mine once said, "a motorcycle without a center stand is a useless motorcycle." Nothing against your HP2, its a fantastic machine, but I hope you don't get to many more flats. Even my 30 year old Yamaha SR250 has got a center stand. I thought they came standard on BMWs. My dad's airheads have all got them and my F650 had one.

I usually use the center stand to not only change flats but to get the tire of the rim as well, by carefully placing it under the center stand and using the weight of the bike to break the bead.

Most of us dont get too many flats on one trip so I think your good for a while! Youve had your share!

I love this RR.

[kimangao]

Thanks Ryan,
considering that the HP2 was never meant to be a travel bike I'm pretty happy that, at least to me, the lacking center stand is the only disadvantage I could find on this bike for roughly 70.000kms now.
And yes, I've never had a flat tyre after that day in Morocco.

Hasta luego ;-)

Dirk

Originally Posted by PorLaTierra

As a buddy of mine once said, "a motorcycle without a center stand is a useless motorcycle." Nothing against your HP2, its a fantastic machine, but I hope you don't get to many more flats. Even my 30 year old Yamaha SR250 has got a center stand. I thought they came standard on BMWs. My dad's airheads have all got them and my F650 had one.

I usually use the center stand to not only change flats but to get the tire of the rim as well, by carefully placing it under the center stand and using the weight of the bike to break the bead.

Most of us dont get too many flats on one trip so I think your good for a while! Youve had your share!

I love this RR.

[PorLaTierra]

the lacking center stand is the only disadvantage I could find on this bike for roughly 70.000kms now.

And that, my friend, is why we ride BMWs. You rode it around the med and Im sure its just getting warmed up! 70,000km is young for that bike. I love your photos, I eagerly wait for your next update.

[JediMaster]

Hi Dirk, Welcome back!

I made a bike prop out of an aluminium walking stick. Its about 30cm (12") long when closed and weighs very little. Adjusted to length I can use it for either the front or the rear.
Its seen a fair bit of use and works well as long as the ground surface isn't too slippery.

I store it on my bike like this..




In use it looks like this...

[Deadly99]

[Blader54]

Glad you are feeling better! That influenza can really knock a person down for a while! As always, loving your report!

[kimangao]

Originally Posted by Blader54

Glad you are feeling better! That influenza can really knock a person down for a while! As always, loving your report!

Thanks mate, I'm almost back to life ;-)

[kimangao]

Originally Posted by JediMaster

Good idea! It's at least not as heavy as my solution

Dirk