UberHack 3.0 (“WarBird” GS) Build Update - Twin Shocks, Stroker Wheel, More . . . .

[mikepa]

Jay, Doug, and the crew at Dauntless Motors have been steadily working on my new rig, UberHack 3.0 (handle “WarBird”), my 3rd BMW-based rig, and my 2nd with an R1150GS Adventure for the tub, and good ol’ Ural Russian Iron for the tub.

If you’re interested in rewinding to the original post, the link is below:

A Preview of Coming (3-Wheeled) Distractions

So, here’s a foto of the boring side (note, this is the shop at Dauntless, not mine (wish it was)):




Things get a little more interesting from the angle:




The coolest new “feature” - yet another of “Stroker’s” wheels. I’ve been super impressed working with him, and his work is absolutely top shelf. Gone are the days of getting only 3,000 miles from the tug’s pusher. For me, the issue was less one of the cost of replacement tires, and more one of logistics. I usually guide one or two 6,000+ mile tours a year, and having to arrange for hauling and/or shipping of tires (hard to come by BMW-sized dual-purpose tires in Siberia or the Kalahari) has always been a hassle. As advertised, it was a direct bolt-on installation:




Here’s the view from the other side. Note the cool wave disk rotor. Not my choice, the tire only came with a whitewall stripe, of course, it went to the “inside”. Having seen the fit and finish of this wheel, I'm ordering up a 2nd one for the tub.:




The tire has a wonderfully aggressive tread, and note the holes for tire studs (yes, I do go to a local campout called “Snow Camp” every Martin Luther King weekend):




Here’s what the rigging and sub-chassis look like:




The cool feature here, the twin shocks. If you followed my Tierra del Fuego trip report, you’ll remember that I had a “catastrophic” shock failure, and I’ve had the same on other tours. I’ve learned to carry a spare, but hope to avoid further failures on tour by reducing the working load on each shock, and double-redundancy is a very good thing. If course, I’ll still carry a spare:




Here’s the set-up from the other direction. I’ll take two inexpensive shocks over one high-end and wallet draining “high performance” shock any day, as I’ve had and seen Ohlins, Fox, and WP shocks fail in the same manner as the Progressives (am waiting to hear how Abenteuerfahrer like his Hyper-Pros):



I’m “borrowing” another one of Stroker’s mods and had a 3rd Ural tub shock bellows added, as I plan to do a lot of touring with my wife using this rig (I believe Stroker has 4 on his), and wanted to compensate for the extra weight. I know some tubs are hard mounted to the chassis, but having owned five Ural Gear-Ups over the years, I really like the additional suspension offered by these bellows, and my wife says this tub rides as nicely as her car. An added benefit, these bellows provide shock isolation for everything in the tub, not just the passenger, but also all my gear and kit in the boot:




And, having added some upgrades in terms of reliability, I also had Dauntless re-do the external fuel filter mod that had been (poorly) done by the former owner of the tug:




Am hoping to take delivery of the finished rig early next week, so more pics of a completed “WarBird” are up next.

Best Regards,

[Mr. Fisherman]

You just keep raising the bar...
You must be happy with an 1150 as a tug...
Do you miss reverse or 2WD?

Have you had a Ural?

That rear tire looks AWSOME! I wonder how the final drive will hold up with the extra mass

[TouringDave]

Oh, oh, oh, hack porn! I love it!

[Stroker]

the wheel weighs about the same a the stock wheel, and has been tested in EXTREME conditions. Just ask Beemer Chef!

[mikepa]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fisherman

You just keep raising the bar...
You must be happy with an 1150 as a tug...
Do you miss reverse or 2WD?

Have you had a Ural?

That rear tire looks AWSOME! I wonder how the final drive will hold up with the extra mass

Hi Fisherman -

As far as GS Beemers are concerned, I've owned the R100GSPD, R1150GS, F650GS Dakar, R1150GS Adventure, and an R1200GS. I currently own three hacks (well, technically five, more on that later): two powered by R1150GS Adventures, one by an R1200GS.

Between the oilhead and hexhead, for the "super duty" work required of a tug, I do believe the oilheads are more robust (and definately easier to service and repair) vs. the hexheads. Within the oilhead family, the Adventure variant gets the nod mainly because of greater fuel capacity, the lowered 1st and 6th gear ratios, and larger output alternator.

2WD drive can be fun, nothing like roaring along a (legal, of course) beach and throwing twin rooster tails to attract a crowd of gawkers, but in reality, the application is limited. From my 4-wheeling days, the best approach is to never get into a situation where you need the extra traction (or a winch). So no, don't miss it.

I do miss reverse. Especially for a disabled driver (like yours truly), being able to back out of a parking spot is a huge plus. I've thought and discussed adding some sort of reversing system to a hack with many, but none of the ideas were elegant or sound. The good news, the rolling friction of a BMW rig is way lower than that of an Ural, so it's easier to push around if needed. As I'm sure you know, a hack pilot is somewhat like a glider pilot. The glider pilot seeks out thermals for lift, I always keep an eye out for "reverse slope" when parking so I don't get stuck "nose in".

Urals? Yes, I have owned a total of five Gear-Ups, bascially every model year from 2005 on. In fact, I still own two (which are on consigment at Raceway Services in Salem, OR if anyone is interested ).

I know of at least a couple of hack pilots who have put Stroker's wheel on oilhead hacks, and they have logged a lot of hard miles without breaking the wheel or drive-train. Time will tell!

Best,

[Abenteuerfahrer]

Oh, MikePA....you da Man! Lovely, inquisitive..so well thought out

Did I notice that you have Jays new GRP fender or is it the same Ural fender? No Tilt actuator this time..? Noticed that you also seem to have an ABS ring on the rotor but also sans brake?

Got to find a way in cushioning the Tug a bit. Mine sits flat on the bars!

External fuel filter ?, another filter to assist the one in the tank?

Love the Stroker wheel..oh, my...hope he's hard at work making one for the 1200 GS'es. Good luck on you upcoming shakedown and keep us envious Hackers posted.....

Cheers

[mikepa]

Originally Posted by LiteWait

If the whitewall bugs you...

Miller Tire Black:
http://www.millertire.com/repairs.asp

Hi LiteWait -

Thanks for the link, I'm placing an order next!

Best,

[mikepa]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

Did I notice that you have Jays new GRP fender or is it the same Ural fender? No Tilt actuator this time..? Noticed that you also seem to have an ABS ring on the rotor but also sans brake?

Got to find a way in cushioning the Tug a bit. Mine sits flat on the bars!

External fuel filter ?, another filter to assist the one in the tank?

Love the Stroker wheel..oh, my...hope he's hard at work making one for the 1200 GS'es.

Hey 'Farher -

Nope, that is the stock Ural fender. It had been painted with the "camo" scheme before I left for Tierra del Fuego (when I discovered that the stock Ural light assemblies pretty much self-destruct), so I decided to adopt a wait and see attitude. Dauntless did make reinforcing brackets and struts for both the front and rear of the fender (they are so good about dealing with new mods even with a build in progress, I like that!), so maybe the fender shake I experienced will be mitigated somewhat.

About the tub sitting "hard" on the chassis, yes, Jay and I have agreed to disagree about that. I thought about using one of his M72 fiberglass tubs (nice product all in all), but decided against it when I saw how the tub was affixed. My EZS tub sits on shock isolators, and the Ural tubs pivot at the front and are cushioned by those bellows at the rear. From both my 4WD and touring experience, I've found the value in trying to shock isolate anything that has a lot of mass, and I personally feel more comfortable having the tub's body on some sort of suspenders. Given the dynamics of the whole system, shock isolating the tub has to reduce the instantaneous shock loading to the Progressive shocks too.

The external fuel filter is not an assist, it is a mod that some oilhead riders have made. Your R1200GS has its fuel filter in the tank, but it's a trivial matter of removing the cover panel to replace it. On the oilheads, you have to remove drain all the fuel, remove the tank turn it on its side, and remove the entire fuel pump/filter/pick-up/float assembly to replace the fuel filter. This mod essentially "remotes" to the fuel filter to a more accessible location. I suspect BMW wisely put the filter in the tank because it's a fairly high-pressure system, and wanted the filter in a safe location in case of a leak or rupture. Given the hassle of replacing it, I'm willing to trade off any risk for ease of service. Plus, I've never heard of a fuel filter rupturing, and should it leak, well, I assume I'll smell if not see it.

If one rides fast enough, one can probably stay ahead of the flame front:

Trust me, I've been dogging Stroker on a wheel for the R12GS. He's got a bit too much on the plate to tackle that project right now, but I've offered to ship him a rear wheel off my R12GS rig when he's ready. Good man there.

Best,

[Bozola]

Oh great. I've got "fat tire envy" all over again.

Very nice, Mike.

[tony the tiger]

Sweet!

[W. Boyter]

There's some sweetness about that...

[mikepa]

Originally Posted by Bozola

Oh great. I've got "fat tire envy" all over again.

Hola Bozola -

Don't mean to rub it in, but, you know, to help our nation's ailing economy and all, after actually seeing Stroker's wheel for the first time when I went down to shoot the fotos, I ordered a 2nd wheel for the tub as soon as I got home.

Gee, anyone interested in buying some hardly used "Adventure Blue" Cross-Spoke rear wheels? I (now) seem to have a couple of extras lying around . . . .

Best,

[Abenteuerfahrer]

Originally Posted by mikepa

Hola Bozola -

Don't mean to rub it in, but, you know, to help our nation's ailing economy and all, after actually seeing Stroker's wheel for the first time when I went down to shoot the fotos, I ordered a 2nd wheel for the tub as soon as I got home.

Gee, anyone interested in buying some hardly used "Adventure Blue" Cross-Spoke rear wheels? I (now) seem to have a couple of extras lying around . . . .

Best,

Just curious...why would you bother have a Stroker wheel on the Tub?
Oh, sure you can swap when the pusher tire when it wears..but doesn't the pusher tire last at least 30k miles? More width, less tire sinking on the Tubs side than the Tourances?

[mikepa]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

Just curious...why would you bother have a Stroker wheel on the Tub?
Oh, sure you can swap when the pusher tire when it wears..but doesn't the pusher tire last at least 30k miles? More width, less tire sinking on the Tubs side than the Tourances?

In NASA-speak "triple redundancy". I've had every component in my Pingel shifter fail, so I carry a full set of spares, in addition to having a heel/heel shift pedal that allows me to shift most of the time without looking down to see where that foot is.

I've had Progressive shock failures, thus, the twin shock set-up on the new rig, and I'll still carry one more spare as a back-up.

In case of a tire puncture, I always carry tire plugs (which work far better than those mushroom widgets). In case of a sidewall puncture, I carry spare inner tubes. But, in the case of a REALLY big sidewall tear, I want to insure that I have, with me, a spare tire for the pusher. Worst case, I can run the tub's wheel without a tire, may not be pretty, but I could limp along like that. With the same Stroker wheel on the tub, I have a back-up for the tug's rear wheel. This gets me down to only having to carry one spare for the front tire (or, have one in the chase vehicle if I'm guiding a tour).

It may be a bit obsessive, but I've learned to be exactly that. I hate being stranded, and if you ride enough off-pavement long enough, there is a chance of getting a sidewall tear big enough that even an inner tube is not a safe repair. And, it's bad form for the guide on tour to have to have his bike or rig recovered due to a tire problem, and a tire problem is the most common reason we have to recover a bike en route.

Oh yes, did I also mention that I'm anal? I like to have things match where possible, have things interchangeable where I can.

Of course, YMMV!

Best,

[mikepa]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

Just curious...why would you bother have a Stroker wheel on the Tub?
Oh, sure you can swap when the pusher tire when it wears..but doesn't the pusher tire last at least 30k miles? More width, less tire sinking on the Tubs side than the Tourances?

Also, check out this somewhat relevant post as to why from from HogWild from another thread:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9625735&postcount=6

Best,