A friend and I each bought an R100GS and are planning a trip from SF to Baja to spectate the Baja 1000 and do some camping/exploring. We have lots of experience with Baja, but not much experience prepping airheads for a long ride. Here is what we have done so far. What are we missing? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!! Bikes: 1989 GS with 48k and 1990 GSPD with 75k -New oil & filter -New air filter -New battery -Rebuilt carbs & fresh fuel filters and lines -Inspected front and rear brakes -EuroMotoelectrics diode board wires and battery cables -New starter -Adjusted clutch -Adjusted valves -Wired for heated vest *Both of our transmissions function ok but do not have the circlip repair. We are knowingly taking the ride with this risk.
How old are the shafts? Are they still the originals? Aside from that, just get on it and ride. It sounds like the rest should be fine. How many miles do you plan to do? Where are you starting? I'm not sure if you've every tried wrestling an airhead through the really deep fine dust you encounter in baja, but it's a 'unique' experience. Enjoy. Oh, and welcome to the forum.
Thanks for the warm welcome. We are planning to ride around 2000 miles (road and various types of off-road) and leaving from San Francisco. The bike with 48k has the original shafts but are not making any noises that I can tell. The bike with 75k has rebuild shafts. We both have silt experience on dirt bikes but none on these big GS bikes :)
At least with the airhead, you can get both feet down and paddle your way through. My two Baja trips last winter were on my KTM 950 ADV-S. Now that made bottomless Baja sand a scary experience :eek1. I sold the KTM this summer and replaced it with the '92 R100GS . Can't wait for Baja this winter. Dave
How Many miles have you put on the bikes? If you have put 2k miles then they should go another with no problems.Change the gear oil and final drive oil if you haven't already. Make sure your plug wires are good and inspect the coils for any cracks.and maybe take a oil cooler bypass just in case. Pack lite, BIG BIKE soft soil way different than a Dirt Bike.
We have each put about 1500 miles on the bikes with only minor issues. Good point on the plug wires, gear oil and final drive oil. Ill add those to the list. We both have tires with ~1000 miles. I have Avon Gripters and he has Contintental TKC-80. Here is a "pre trip" shot. [/URL][/IMG]
It looks like you both have a rear suspension upgrade, that's good. I ran a TKC80 up front this season and have been very happy on gravel and road with its performance. Maybe pack a spare rotor, or at least buy one and have it boxed ready for shipping. Don't take too much crap, have fun and report back here.
Just dont go with any known issues you arent willing to work on there, and you'll basically be fine. I know kind of what I'd take, but I know my bike, kinda. Take an extra clutch cable, and keep it strapped on kind of in place. Mostly though I'd just make sure my homework was done beforehand. Not much that isnt a show stopper that cant be fixed along the way.
Prolly a stupid question, but you do realise the disparity in fuel capacity of the two bikes, don't you? If you are running BMW panniers, you will need to strap them on fairly solidly, they have a habit of going AWOL if left to their own devices. .
Called "bulldust" over here, Stagehand would know all about it. If you do need to negotiate any deep/loose sand, don't slip the clutch, fully in or fully out only.
Also, locktite or safety wire the bejeezus out of everything. Baja will rattle everything loose. Something about the harmonics of the dirt roads diwn there, its particulalry bad
I'm using Jesse bags and my buddy is reluctantly taking his BMW panniers. He is gonna have to strap em' down. As far as we know both bikes have the original top ends. I replaced my pushrod seals last weekend and de-coked the heads at the same time. No time for a new top end and I really don't think it's needed. Fuel capacity is going to be a huge issue, especially for the 89'. I'm thinking of strapping a reserve tank on somewhere.
