A Christmas Story?

... A bit of history...

Earlier this year I bought yet another motorbike (It was after I had sold two that I already had though!)... Well, thats not surprising I hear you say!
Indeed, not surprising at all. :)
In this case, I was buying the bike for a specific reason, which was to get a bit more experience riding off-road before I head over to Africa.
So I bought a well used little dual-sport bike which is a trail bike that has lights and signals on it so that it can be road registered as well as used off-road.It was a 2001 Suzuki DRZ400.
So, over the summer I went on a couple of organized weekend trail trips and also did several of my own little jaunts into the dirt. I still have a long way to go before I would considder myself  a "competent" trail bike rider, but it did provide me with the experience I was hoping for, and as a bonus its a much smaller and more fuel efficient bike just for tooling around town too. In fact, I had decided to keep riding it through the winter months as my commuter bike rather thatn using my nice street bike (winter here is really hard on a bike with all the rain and the salt on the roads).

The bike as it was when I bought it..

... But then, one Monday morning when I headed out the door to go to work I found that the bike was not where I left it... A quick re-check of the situation confirmed that the bike was indeed gone and I still had the keys... Stolen!
In reality, it did somewhat serve me right... I had become very blase about vehicle security and I always park the bike on the street in front of my house... I take the keys but security for dirt bikes is pretty minimal and is really just the ignition lock... The bikes are pretty easy to hot-wire, and failing that, any two reasonably fit guys can just pick the bike up and throw it in the back of a pick-up truck and be gone in two minutes flat!.
So, not that I at all condone property theft, but I had made the bike an easy target and sooner or later it was gonna happen.

So I called it in to the police and made the required statements, and that was about all I could do... The bike was old and cheap (about $2800 in value) and so I had not bothered to put insurance on it for theft etc (many people with dirt bikes are the same here, though they mostly dont leave them parked on the street!)... So I could not make an insurance claim and the bike was simply gone!... Oh well... In fact, I was really quite pleased that my response to the whole situation was pretty un-flustered and I didnt really bother being upset about it at all... Though, make no mistake, suddenly being out $3000 is definitely a "big hit" to take on the chin for me, like most people!

So, it looked like Id just have to drive my little truck for the winter... I didnt really need the bike since I had got what I wanted out of it and id be off traveling to Africa next spring, so no need for a replacement bike.


But, then about a month later I got a call from the police saying that they had recovered my bike!...
Thats great!... But I didnt get my hopes up too high cos who knows what they ahd done to it...
A bit more information came through and it seemed that the bike was probably rideable cos apparently they had caught someone trying to jump-start the bike on a street somewhere (dead battery??)

Anyway, after a few more phone calls and me having to pay a couple of hundred dollars to the impound/towing yard I was allowed to collect my bike...
And indeed it was no-longer "the same" bike that had been stolen...

They (who ever stole the bike) had removed (and by removed I mean ripped and cut-off) all of the lights and instruments, and the ignition lock as well as some of the side pannels... And the bike would not start at all..
So, I spent about 20 minutes figuring out what was wrong with it, and it turned out that the only real problem was a blown fuse for the ignition/starter solenoid. After I fixed that the bike fired up imediately and the engine ran perfectly :)
That made me smile a bit though, the guy using it had probably tried to start the bike while it was in gear and the extra load on the starter had blown the fuse... which killed the whole ignition system and hence he couldnt get it started at all.... or maybe water/salt had managed to short out some off the "snipped-off" wiring. And then the police had found him with the bike with no lights trying to jump start it on a public road.... So he got caught and I got my bike back all because of a $1 fuse :))

But, there is still lots of expense and effort required to rebuild it, and again I can not claim insurance to pay for it...

The bike as I got it back (certainly not "recognizable")... new "custom" paint job!! (done with three cans of paint, a paint brush, and a very sloppy hand!)

No instruments or lights or turn signals and all the electrical wires are just snipped off!

Both the side panels that protect the radiator were just ripped off... as well as the mounting tabs on the rad.

So, I at least had the bike back, but after my initial assesment, I figured I'd just sell it "as is" and take the loss... But after some more consideration, I figured that there is quite a lot of value in the bike being a "plated" road bike... (its got road registration papers)... Id likely only get about $1800 for it just as a dirt bike (ie I lose $1000 in value).
So, I did some internet shopping and found that it was going to cost me about $600 to get the parts to "rebuild" it...
So, that is what Im going to do... Ill order tha parts and put it back together over the next few weeks. then Ill have the bike to ride for the winter again and after Im done, I can sell it for probably pretty much what I bought it for (I hope).

The whole episode has still cost me about $800, but its a lot better than having cost me $2800 which was the situation when the bike was stolen.... So, its a little Christmas Miracle for me :)

... Its great the way perspective can completely change the way a situation feels :))

Bike Options for Africa...

Well Ive had a look on the local web classified sites for South Africa (and also a bit for Europe), and there seem to be several options for an overland touring motorbike.

I have some “priorities” for bike features that are based on my experiences of riding the VSTROM through the Americas for a couple of hundred thousand Km… My main intent (compared to the bike I used for touring in the Americas) would be to maintain the reliability but reduce the “suffering” as much as possible for what I “imagine” the riding will be like in Africa (since I have not been there yet!).
Well, the main points of suffering were:

1)      Poor loose/rough surface control/durability … Need a 21” front wheel and longer travel suspension… Not Negotiable!

2)      Too heavy… Want the lightest bike possible… This is critical for sand/mud riding but the reality is there will not be that much of this type of riding (10% or less). Likewise, this is less of an issue if the wheels and suspension do a better job, but Id really like to be less than 170Kg for the bike if possible.

3)      Seating Comfort! ... The reality is that you get a sore ass regardless of the bike, and there are after-market seat upgrades that can be made on any bike, but it is a significant factor for comfort and I will pay close attention to this detail J

And, some points that I really would not want to sacrifice are:

1)      Reliability with minimal maintenance… The VSTROM was amazing on this front and will be hard to beat.

2)      Fuel range of 300Km or more. Again the VSTROM covered this point very well (over 400Km of highway riding on a tank!).

3)      Capable of carrying 150-200 Kg of rider/gear for trans-continental distances at reasonable speed (100Kph). You can always get by with less, but I think this puts the required bike in the 500cc – 750cc engine size range.

So, having looked at the bikes that are available in Europe and South Africa, there are several that meet the basic requirements… All bikes are in the 650-750 size range, and all have 21” front wheels and off-road capable suspension. There are all sorts of makes and many different engine configurations, cooling systems, and power outputs… And as an aside, it turns out that they almost all only have five gears, are carburetored,  and are “older” designs…. Newer bikes all have 6 gears and fuel injection but the manufacturers have been focusing on “street” riders who want to look like they are "off-road tourers”, and so the newer bikes simply do not have the real performance characteristics that I require… The only exceptions to this are the KTM990/950 which are too big and expensive for what I want, and the Yamaha 660 which I have included in the list.

On paper, the “rough” details are as follows:

The reference bike for weight, power and fuel capacity  is my old touring bike, the VSTROM 650:
Suzuki   DL650         189Kg    22L     67hp      2.8     650 liquid        $5000

The contenders:
Make          Model          Weight  Tank  Power PtW    Engine            Cost (used)
Suzuki        DR650        147Kg   13L    43hp   3.4    650 air/oil, carb        $3000
KTM           640/50        158Kg   28L    54hp   2.9    640 liquid, carb        $4000
Kawasaki   KLR650      176Kg   23L    37hp   4.75  650 liquid, carb        $4000
Honda        XL650V      191Kg   19L    52Hp  3.67  650 liquid, carb        $4000
BMW         F650 Dakar 177Kg   17.3L 50hp   3.5    650 liquid, injected  $4500
Honda        XR650L       147Kg  13L    55hp   2.67  650 air, carb             $5000
Honda        XRV750       207Kg  23L    61hp   3.4    750 liquid, carb        $5000
Yamaha     XT660Z        183Kg  22L    47hp   3.9    660 liquid, injected  $6000

I have an intended budget for the bike of about $5000 but that needs to include the bike and luggage and any required modifications/add-ons.... Prety much all the bikes will require a centre-stand, bash-plate, crash bars, hand-guards, heated grips and hard luggage... I may get one or two of those items when I buy a second hand bike but I need to factor that into the costs.

Fortunately, I have a set of side cases from my earlier trips that I can take and use for minimal cost, though I still need a “top-box”.

Now, a some “eliminations”…

The first one to go is the Honda XR650L… Its way too expensive compared to the Suzuki DR650 and as far as my riding is concerned, provides no advantage over the Suzuk.. Note that it’s the lightest and has the highest power-to-weight… It would be an excellent "full-off-road” choice, but that’s not what Ill be doing!

The next to go is the Yamaha XT660Z… Its just too expensive for me (because it’s a relatively new bike and still has high resale value) though it looks competent on paper :)
And the last one I'll eliminate is the Honda Transalp (XL650V)... Its too heavy and is more "road bike" than any of the others (the 21" front wheel not withstanding), so I think Ill try to get something else if at all possible.

That leaves 5 bikes, all with quite different “personalities”.

The Suzuki DR650 is the lightest and cheapest (both admirable qualities in my opinion!)… The big downside is the fuel capacity (about a 200Km range) and the minimal “equipment” …like the terrible seat!… It would need lots of bolt-on mods (bigger tank, sub-frame strengthening, modified seat) and that adds quite a bit to both the weight and the cost (so its not as good a deal as it might seem!).

The Kawasaki KLR650 is the least powerful by far (likely to be a real issue in deep sand but how much of that will there be?), but other than that, it’s a proven very reliable overland bike with pretty good on/off-road manners (if not particularly fancy )

The KTM 650 is light and has the largest fuel capacity and is very capable for off-road… The down side is the reliability, the tall suspension (stand-over height) and the discomfort of the ride (vibrations from the “high tuned” engine)... It undoubtedly has the best suspension of them all but Id be pretty concerned about reliability.

The BMW 650F is squarely in the “mid-range”… Its been used for over-landing by lots of people and has a good reputation… Im not sure how I feel about this one... reliability is a bit of a concern, and prices for spare parts in Africa too.

The Honda XRV750 is really heavy and quite expensive… But its immensely reliable and very capable, and is a classic bike to ride Africa on. Its called the “Africa Twin” and has a very devoted following and loads of after-market support for up-grades etc.

Note: If I ended up buying an XRV750 then Id very likely ship it back to Canada after the trip and keep it/project it and so Im a bit more willing to pay a higher price and put up with the heavier bike… I would not do this with any of the other bikes though.

So, those look like the main options to me (though there are a few other somewhat less likely options too), and they are all available second-hand in South Africa. Ive also looked into the buying/selling, registering, insuring, and exporting aspects from South Africa and it doesn’t look too difficult :)

At the other end of the trip (Im still not sure about start or finish) is Europe… Ive looked into the same issues at that end and it is MUCH more complicated and difficult! The same bikes are available there (and in larger numbers it seems) but the rules about registering and insuring and buying/selling are very restrictive and hard to get  around… That’s a bit of a bummer weather I want to start there and purchase a bike or finish there and sell the bike…

What looks like the best solution at this stage is to call my European end-point Ireland!...

 It seems a bit strange but apparently the rules are less stringent there and there are some good contacts to help out with the process… It means extending the ride to go from Italy/Greece to go through southern Europe for a few thousand Km (presumably on nice paved highways)… It could be done quickly (in about a week I guess) or extended as much as desired , though Europe is very expensive and more days is more dollars!

So, at this stage, those are my thoughts on the Bike options :)

North African Alternatives

It seems that things in Egypt are steadily deteriorating, so, while I sincerely hope that things in Egypt become more stable (for the sake of the civilians there primarily and much less so for my own travel plans) Ive been considering alternatives...
And it seems that there is a reasonable one that might well be workable...
From a S-N direction, rather than heading North from Sudan into Egypt, it is possible to head East to Port Sudan, and from there catch a ferry to Jordan (on the Red Sea)... And then ride overland to Israel and thence an easy ferry to Turkey or Greece.
The only significant issue is the long running political/military "tensions" that surround Israel... The result is that getting an Israeli stamp/visa in your passport can make it difficult to travel in the neighbouring countries. However, it seems that the relevant customs authorities are willing to accomodate travelers by putting their stamps on loose papers rather than directly on the passport pages...

So, it seems that there is a viable route even if things do continue to deteriorate in Egypt... I guess Id just have to check out the pyramids at some later date then...

Further Contemplation...

The next question to resolve, seems to be "What are my desired destinations within Africa?"
What is my hit-list of things to see and do?

Well, the list can be made as long as you like of course, but if I try to stick to some major interests then it would be something like this:

Egyptian ruins... Pyramids/Luxor etc.
Gorillas/Chimpanzees - Rwanda/Uganda (Virunga Mtns?)
Flamingo flocks - Kenyan Lakes
Mombasa Beaches - Kenya
Lake Victoria - Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda
Zanzibar - Tanzania
Serengeti wildlife (great Migration)  - Tanzania
Mt Kilimanjaro - Tanzania
Ngorongoro Crater - Tanzani
Mozambique - Beaches/Diving
Victoria Falls - Zambia (May-June)
Lake Malawi
Okavango Delta (wildlife) - Botswan
Kalahari desert - Namibia
Desert Landscapes of Namibia
Lithops plants - Namibia deserts

There are numerous excellent wildlife parks in many of the counties, but I figure you would get "all safari ed out" rather quickly, so for the time being Ive limited my intentions to two major locations for focusing on "big game", those being The Serengeti area and the Okavango delta area.
And of course there are infinite aspects of human culture all along the way too which Ill inevitably be experiencing as I go... But all-in-all, that's a basic list of places Id like to go and see that will give me something to try to stich a route together around :)

...and I think that will suffice for the purpose of inspiring my travels  :)


Then the next question becomes  "When is the right time to ride these different portions of an Africa route?" Essentially what are the seasonal conditions like along the way...

Well, again, tackling it from N-S, the first section is basically the Sahara desert!... No surprise here, but you really dont want to be doing this in high summer!!!... Thats the Northern hemisphere summer. So "Not from June to August" if you can help it, and it'll be nasty hot through-out April  to October.
Then the next challenging section is the equatorial tropics and the season to "avoid" there is the monsoon. The "Long rains" are the worst of it and its very wet from April to June with flooding through till August.
And South of that, its less critical and different areas have different "high and low" tourist seasons... So I should be able to work something out... There are two periods of "high season" for the Serengeti area (Jan-Mar, Jul-Sep). Botswana "high season" is Jul-Oct, and namibia is Apr-Oct...

But, what does that all mean for a route/schedule plan?
Well, Im loosely planning on taking about six months for this trip(6-10 I guess), and Im planning to commence the trip some time between February and April of 2014...(I could start at the earliest  in mid January, or could wait things out till May if its significantly more preferable)
Im also planning to fly to my start point and purchase and kit-out a motorbike there, rather than shipping a bike from Home... That will likely take a couple of weeks to a month to sort out.


So, if I started in the North, Id need to really "get cracking" pretty early... (I could maybe have a bike sorted by week 1 of Feb.)
Say Egypt - 3 weeks, Sudan, 2-3 weeks, Ethiopia 3-4 weeks, Kenya/Uganda 4 weeks, Tanzania 4 weeks... and then the southern section of the continent can be "addapted" as seems fit at the time :)
But, that all seems rushed at the top there, especially since I couldnt buy a bike in Egypt, and buying, equiping,shipping from Greece all inside a month seems a little over ambitous!

OK, so what about S-N...
I want to hit the southern edge of the tropics (Northern Tanzania) after about August
I want to hit the southern edge of the desert (Northern Ethiopia/Sudan) after October... Which suggests finishing  in Egypt around end December 2013!... But thats a very long trip... so maybe start later in April/May???

Hmmm... Well, it looks like either direction can work. But, for N-S it would be better if I started in December I think, while for S-N it would probably be better to start in April or May.

No hard plan at present... Ill play it by ear I thnk. :)

Contemplating New Voyages

Time for a blog post I guess...

I think I mentioned recently that I had been starting to think about possibly doing another motorcycle trip sometime soon?
Well, that thought has been growing on me and I guess Ive started to do some serious planning, so I guess the possibility is now real enough to write about.

So, having ridden about the Americas enough, I feel I want to consider other options on other continents...
And that can mean only about four possibilities (Since Antarctica really just is not an option for moto-touring! ). The possibilities are of course, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia... (although I fail to see why we still consider Europe and Asia as largely seperate entities? -Its just a hang-over from the Greek outlook of several thousand years ago I guess!! :)
And so I find myself considering which of those four destinations do I most want to see/travel through?
And which of those four destinations has the best potential for the most "rewarding" motorcycle tour for me?
And it turns out that the answer is reasonably clear for me... Its Africa!... The "Dark Continent"...
It just seems to me to have the largest amount of variety in cultures and climates and landscapes and flora and Fauna etc... So much variety, and so much of it in danger of disapearing in the near future (particularly the fauna and the nomadic cultures).
I have to admit though that there is also a strong urge to ride across Europe/Asia through Russia/Mongolia since it has some absolutely wonderfull moto-touring acording to the accounts of people who have done it... But my first choice is still solidly Africa, even though and perhaps partially because I also find the idea of touring alone through Africa on a motorbike to be the most daunting option!  :))


OK, so now the next question is what route through what parts of Africa?
Well, a quick review of international news in pretty much any news media site informs us that there seems to be an excessive amount of violence and conflict and suffering in Africa compared to pretty much the rest of the world all put together... This is not very encouraging I have to admit!
But, Im gonna try to not get too intimidated and Im gonna say to my-self that a lot of that reporting is coloured by the Western media and public's "pre-disposition" toward Africa, much like I found it was for Central and South America... But Im not going to be blase about it either... Im gonna look into it in more detail.

That said, there are definitely significant conflicts going on in a number of places in Africa... Too many places to look into all of them... So, what are the "likely" routes I might take?

Well, I like the idea of riding the length of the continent in some form (much like for the American continents), so that kinda leavs three possibilities... West coast, Central or East Coast.
Note that I dont know if I would go N-S or S-N but Ill describe the routes N-S as a start point.
A bit more reading and map consultation eliminates the Central option since its never been a noted route, I can find no reports of people who have done it in the last decade, and its almost all through conflict zones from Lybia, Chad, CAR, and DRCongo before things ease up once you get to Botswana and S Africa!

Right, so what about the Western route?
Turns out its not really that much better! It has lots more smaller countries to cross but that just seems to increase the probability of crosssing "politically unstable" ground...
It goes Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, DR Congo, Angola,Namibia, S Africa.... And of those, Mali, Nigeria, DR Congo are all having some serious conflict issues at present, and Angola is virtually impossible to get a Visa for as well!
But on the plus side this route does cover the very interesting and attractive (to me) area of the Congo basin ("Deepest Darkest Africa")... Another plus is that it apparently does not require a "Carne", which is like a passport for your motorbike and while expensive, does make importing and exporting your bike to all those countries much easier... And a point slightly on the negative side for me is that much of the Northern section passes through former French colonial areas and the language of choice is French (which saddly I dont speak)... Id rather not add to complicated boarder "negotiations" by the little detail of my not having a clue what any one is saying :)

OK, so what about the Eastern route?
Well, its kinda the same but different!
the route goes Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, S Africa... Lots fewer countries but still significant issues in Egypt, Sudan, and Mozambique...
Mozambique is the least issue since the violence of its recent 10 year civil war seems to have largely disipated recently and its just that travelers have not been there for many years and not much is known and the necessary civil services are yet to gear up for "normal" cross border activities... The country its self sounds quite interesting in many ways... And, failing all that, it can simply be bypassed by going inland via Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia (all of which I would intend to visit any way)...
So, the next bigger problem in my opinion is Egypt... Which is still in the throes of its political "rejuvenation"... It seems that things have turned toward unrest and are somewhat violent again in the last few weeks, and its not at all clear what it will lead to... But thats only part of the problem... You see, everything Ive read from people who have actually been there and done what I want to do (basically ride my motorbike through and see the sites) say that the place is an absolute nightmare from the point of view of beaurocracy and corruption... ... Now of course I wont know what its actually like till I go there myself, but the litterature I read seems to be pretty unanimous on the subject!  Pretty much anywhere else on the continent, you can get into and out of a country with your bike for between $100 and $200 at a maximum (often about $50) but for Egypt, its likely to take you about a week of effort at each end, and will cost between $700 and $1200.... Thats an order of magnitude more than anywhere else!!!... And then once you are in, they all say that the people are terrible to deal with (with an occasional opinion expressing the exact opposite!... just to confound things)... I guess they have had a few centuries of tourists flocking to the pyramids to get there "attitudes" to tourists "honed"! (I suspect is a case study in social co-evolution based around tourism and human frailty!) OK, that doesnt sound like fun, but at least it doesnt (for the moment) sound like its too "life threatening"... so Ill continue to the third and I suspect largest challenge...
Sudan!... And again, the current media reports say that a political situation that had been trending toward peace and diplomacy has very recently taken a turn for the worse and is becoming violent... on at least three fronts! To the West is Eritrea with rebles on the boarder, to the East is the Darfur conflict over Gold deposits, and to the South is the South-Sudan conflict (just recently declared its independence from Sudan) over oil deposits... And they are all "active" all at once!
But, looking a little closer, and the main road route from Ethiopia to Egypt seems to neatly avoid all of the conflict regions... And better yet, there is a new highway in the North that crosses into Egypt that was opened to tourist use in the last month or so that very neatly eliminates one of the well known "worst border crossing experiences in the world" for over-land travelers (the infamous Lake Nasser barge)... Hmm we shall have to see what develops here, but this still seems like a feasible route to me.
Other benefits of the route are that all countries except Egypt and Sudan are "Visa on arrival" friendly, so I dont have to do much pre-planning or application for visas for specific dates, and that the countries most common "foreign" language is English. Other detracting features of the route are mainly that there is no real potential for a "Sahara crossing" experience (like there is in Morocco or Algeria to the West) where you get completely off the roads and just ride through the desert on a compass bearing!; and there is no "Congo basin" either.

Now there are of course any number of alternative routes that could be done but thats the basics of the three main possibilities as I currently see them.
So, preliminarily, it looks like the Eastern route is the way to go for the moment and Im now going to try to figure out what places/things Id want to see on the way and when is the right time to see them (season wise).

... In the next post...

Recent Pictures and Projects

Went to see some tulips in Washington for a weekend trip recently...
Saw some very pretty ponys along the way.

Meeting of the Broncos :)

Then on to the tulips

Saw a street artists paints all spread out on the road... How does he know what colour is in which tube???

Bought an old camera from an antique shop... Its a Zeiss and is about 100 years old and is in pretty good condition (lense is not damaged and there are no holes in the bellows)

Its a "plate" camera that was designed to expose images on glass plates... Im going to modify the plate carrier packs slightly and use it to do some direct exposure photography on printing paper. That will get me "negative" images which I will then "contact print" to create positive images.
I did a bit of "pin-hole camera" photography when I was a kid and I liked the simplicity of it. This will be pretty much the same thing... All do it your self whith minimal fuss and no "middle-man" to process the film... Just me and a couple of trays of simple chemicals and a darkened room.
Its not going to happen immediately but it'll be another of my projects for the future :))

And one more project Ive been working on is to build a new bicycle. Ive got an old rigid-frame mountain bike that I commute to and from work with during the summer months... and it works perfectly well as it is. But I saw a very nice lite-weight "track-bike" frame for sale at a bargain price, and I thought I might like something a little nicer to ride :)

Again, Ive been sufing the web and slowly collecting parts to build my "perfect commuter" bike, and its nearly done. The wheel set were very expensive at about $700 but Ive got an internal 8 gear hub on the rear with a built-in "coaster" brake, so the bike will have just a single cable on it from a gear shifter on the handle-bars and no messy external brake levers or callipers... Clean and simple and effective ... Just how I like it :)

More Tinkering

Update on the bike project...

Ive been searching the internet for parts for the project bike and over the last couple of months Ive acquired most of the bits that I want and have started to install them ... Now that I have some room to work down in my garage since Ive sold a couple of my othe bikes :)

First up, here is a picture of the old carby arangement:

... And here is the new arangement:

 I got rid of the old engine cover with built in air filter box and have replaced it with a new "lower profile" fibre-glass engine cover and external air filters that attach directly to the carbys. Ive also removed the cable assembly for the choke and built two individual choke knobs directly on the carbys... I think it looks much cleaner over all :)

 The "sleek" new engine cover.

And then I replaced the rusty old exhaust pipes and headers for some new and shorter ones (again I like the look of the new ones more than the old ones on the "cafe style" bike. Ive also added "rear-sets" which move the foot controls about 15-20cm back on the bike which helps with the riding position for this style of bike.

 Picture of the new exhaust, rear-sets, and engine cover all installed.

And finally Ive decided on the seat style that Im going to go with... Classic "cafe". Its a solo seat with a fibre-glass tail cone (The starter battery has been moved to hide in under the tail cone section). The seat is not uphoulstered yet but you get the idea of what it will look like all the same...

The rear light has been changed but the original indicators are still being used (for the moment at least)


So, here is a picure of the bike as it was when I got it, followed by one of the bike as it is now.

Still quite a bit of work to do... but getting there :)

Exercises in non-Attachment

I've been doing some "letting go" recently... Some of it voluntarily and some of it not :)

Over the last couple of weeks there have been a number of changes that have all come along at about the same time for some reason...
The first thing to "go" was my little blue motorbike. It was the one that I was going to sell a couple of months back that caused me to "accidentally" buy the old BMW that Im working on.
It was a great little bike and was the same make model and year as the little yellow one that I modified a few years ago. I had been keeping it as my "back-up" which worked out well last year when the yellow one got damaged. But since then I bought the big black one and didnt need the little blue one... It was just going to sit there and slowly deteriorate without being used, so I decided that it was better that it "move on" and be appreciated by someone who would actually use it... So, I advertised it and after a couple of weeks I managed to sell it... and Im happy with that choice.  :)

Next thing to go was my beaten-up old touring bike... Yes, the bike that I rode all through the Americas for about 200,000Km... It was a great bike and Im sure it had lots more Km of life in it too... But, Ive done the big touring that I want to do in North America, and like the blue bike, it was sitting around not being used and slowly deteriorating.
But I had developed quite an attachment to the bike despite its decrepitude and un-aesthetic appearance, and it took me quite a while to come to the decission that I should "let it go"... But at the end of the day its just another piece of hardware that I have accumulated and that no-one else really cares about.
So, I advertised it and then waited for several weeks while the occasional person showed some interest, till eventually the right one turned up and I sold it... again, for not much money but Im happy with this choice too :)

Off to follow a new future with someone else! ...The old DL650 with the new owner.

And the next change was that my cat dissapeared! :(
I think I mentioned about 18 months ago that I got a couple of cats... And that all went well for a few month but then one of them dissapeared one night (I put in a cat door so they could come and go as they chose). The first cat to go was the very "flighty" one, and I have to say that I was not that surprised (though I was dissapointed).
But the other cat was much more friendly and stable... And after over a year of outdoor access without incident I thought she had probably figured out how to survive safely... But it seems I was premature in that outlook because a couple of weeks ago, she went out late one night (after I went to bed) and I have not seen her since... And it makes me sad that she is gone (and probably gone to a Coyote's meal too!)... But again, I dont regret my choice to let her have access to the outside (despite the dangers), and I certainly dont regret having decided to get the cats in the first place... Id do it again though it wont be immediately since Im planning to go on another big motorbike tour next year so I dont want to have to find a home for the cat while Im away.

The first cat to "go"... She was called "SuDon" and was very flighty!

The second cat was called "Alergen" and I miss her :(

And then the most recent "change" is that my current contract ended... I was expecting it to end of course, but there was a little miss-communication about the date, and it was a week earlier than I expected. But I have no problem with that because Ive been working pretty solidly for the last couple of years and I am well and truely ready for a bit of a break at the moment...
The only problem is that I dont really know what to do with my break...
Talk about a "first world problem"!  :)

Yes, I recognise how fortunate I am to have the dillema of not knowing what to do with my-self  or where on the planet Id like to spend my holiday time (rather than struggling to pay for a roof over my head and enough food for my-self and my family just to survive like most of the rest of humanity! ... I am so spoiled!

So, Ive been practicing "letting go" but Im
really not sure to what end just yet ??

Bike Update

I've been doing some working on the new bike...
First I gave it an all over wash and de-grease (badly needed)...

And then, once a few parts that I ordered on ebay arrived, I swapped over the handlebars, and mirrors while I did a detailed front end "inspection/clean-up".
And then I did a full service on both the carbys and the fuel taps (all of which were leaking terribly!)...
And  then I took a few pictures... it looks a lot better I must say :)

And then I stopped work for a week or so while I had family visiting... and we went to the Aquarium and I took some pictures of jellyfish and a pretty emerald python :)

And then the family went on their way and I did some more work on the bike :)
I was working on the back end this time and trying to decide what sort of seat arrangement I want and how to position the monoshock that will replace the two rather rusty and ratty shocks it has at the moment.

Im not sure if I will go with a short solo seat or a full length solo seat with an upholstered rear tailcone piece?

I got lots of the rust off the exhaust pipes, but they will rust up again pretty quickly so they will have to be replaced.

The mono-shock fits in there pretty snuggly! This bike is a "short wheel-base" version (from 1972 and before) and that means that I have about 5cm less space for the shock than in later years... I got the shortest one I could find and I think it will work. I wanted a shock that was simple and without the fancy adjustments and fluid reservoirs of modern shocks... It feels more "period correct" this way :)

The top of the shock fits up under the tank just behind the ignition coils... I think it will just require a couple of  small plates of 3-4mm steel to be welded under the frame top-tube and a hole drilled to bolt it on... minor job.

The bottom end is a bit more complicated but I think I can make a simple "U" shaped piece of say 20mm diameter thick-walled steel pipe that will bolt onto the existing lower shock mount points and wrap around the front of the wheel. the front section can then have a 10cm high "stand-off" (made of the same material) that can "clamp" to the front of the existing swing-arm with U-bolts... It will be completely "bolt-on" and will not require any welding to the frame or other unpleasantness, and as a bonus, its completely "reversible" if I ever want to restore the bike back to the two shock set-up :)

... and thats as far as I have got so far...
Now I need to order more bits on ebay to sort out moving the foot controls back to the rear foot-peg position... and new exhaust system, and new seat (more spending as usual!)

...in progress...

Im So Weak

Im pathetic!... Really I am.

Whenever I get bored I run to the same old habit of finding a "project".... And inevitably my projects are "expensive"...

Well, I finished reading the sci-fi books. And I finished modifying and upgrading my RC aieroplanes. And "Skeleton" season has finished, And Ive finnished working on the Bronco (my little truck restoration).
But, thankfully, Spring is about here now and although its still raining quite a bit, I thought Id try to sell that "spare" motorbike that I have in the garage... My garage is rather over-full at the moment since I bought that big new motorbike late last year, and having done that, I committed to my-self that I'd sell one of the other bikes this spring. So, last Fall, I did some final "clean-up" work on the bike I was going to sell and then hooked up a battery tender (so the battery stays charged over the winter), put a cover on it and have been waiting for spring so I could advertise it.
And last weekend, I went down to the garage and started the bike up (It fired up easily .. yay).
And so, during the week, I started looking at the listings on CraigsList to see if bikes were being advertised yet... 
... and I didnt mean too,  but,  well....

Yeah... I bought another one... Im really so pathetic! and weak... and predictable...

Anyway, this one is as I said, intended as a project, much like the Bronco was.
So, I bought an old bike thats in rough shape that Im intending to do a restoration/renovation on.
In fact its a model from the same year of manufacture as the Bronco is...
... and, like the last motorbike I bought, its also a Black BMW...

Its a 1972 R75/5 BMW

It looks pretty good in those pictures, and indeed, even though its fourty years old and has 550,000 miles on the clock; its virtually "complete" with pretty much all of the right parts in the right places (just a few "bits" Id need to hunt down to replace.
But the guy I got it from is, well, how would I put it... Shall we say,  fairly "mechanically dis-enclined"!...
Dont get me wrong, he's a great guy, and he has not abused the bike... in fact he really loved the bike and had owned it for 18 years! The only reason he was selling it was because he and his wife have just had a baby; So his life has "moved on" and he isnt going to have time for such "flippant indulgences" as motorbikes for quite a few years to come!... And adding to that, he really doesnt have any good place to store the bike either, and its just been stored out-side under a back deck in the open for the last few years...

And thats a telling factor for the bike too.
Its just so wet and humid over the winters here in Vancouver (remember those pictures of the moss covered tractors I put up a couple of posts back!) that anything thats left outside just tends to corrode and turn green!

So, when you look a bit closer at the bike you start to see how the weather is really having a bad effect on the bike and there is rust and corrosion and mildew and algae building up rappidly...
On the plus side though, he did use it as a "daily driver" so to speak and it was registered and running as recently as last August... And sure enough, once Id got it home to my place and put the battery in, it didnt take me more than a few minutes to get it fired up and running.... I was sure happy about that!

So the previous owner was not "abusive" to the bike but I do think he was taking it a bit for granted and the bike was having a pretty hard time.

But, not any more!
Now its at my place, and in the garage (which was already full!) where there is now barely room for a mouse to squeeze in! :)

So, now I have another fairly long project started... I expect it will take me a couple of years to finish this one... especially given that the winters are so long and I dont really have a good space to work on the bike (garage is small, crowded and not set-up well for winter work).
Im not yet sure what exactly I want the bike to be like when Im done... I dont think the bike is in good enough condition to warrant putting it back together as "exactly original" (If I really wanted to do that then I should spend more money and get a bike that is in much better condition to start with). And come to that, the bike is not that special or rare either... There are plenty of them out there that can be fully "restored" by any one who has the urge.
So, Im feeling rather tempted to head down the "renovation" rather than the "restoration" path...

Ive been looking on the web and there are some pretty nice ideas out there for "renovations"... I like this one the best at the moment...

but thats a while away yet... No rush to make any decissions for the time being...
Though I MUST now sell that other bike very soon...

note to self...
...I will not buy another bike, i will not buy another bike, I will not buy another bike, I will not buy another bike, I will not buy another bike, I will not buy another bike, I will not buy another bike...