Something new, something won!

Today I got from the Sena facebook promotion a free SMH10!

It allows me to connect a walkie talkie to the bluetooth system in the helmet! This gives me more autonomy to talk further (up to 16kms depending on the walkie talkie) and I can talk to a car with a wlkie talkie! not bad!!!

I´ll have to test it after the walkie talkies arrive with the move though..... a post to come!

First motorcycle fall in about 10 years....

First motorcycle fall in about 10 years....

Silly fall, I was stopped at a red light. When it turned green i turned to the left when the rear wheel lost traction (didn´t even accelerate that hard), the bike started to fall - managed to keep it in the curve but then it gained traction and spit me off.

Nothing serious happened to me (pride hurt mainly) or to the bike, just a tilted handlebar joint, some scratches and a very damaged fog light. I managed to take her home despite the handlebar behind 20º off. Was repaired in a week.

BMW F800GS: 20000kms revision

Today did the 20000km revision at BMW (19700 kms on the dial).


The actions they did:
- Oil change
- Filter change
- Valve clearance check
- Air filter change
- Front and rear brake pads
-

Mounting the panniers

The panniers arrived quickly, had to pick them up with the car as they come in HUGE boxes (why does BMW need to pack it so big?),

Mounting the panniers is pretty straightforward. Here is the bike before:

The most complicated part is dismounting the rear of the motorcycle, and passing the iron conectores of the main rear support of the frame through the ¨mud flap¨, and attaching to the frame bar through two bolts. Other than that it´s pretty straightforward and quick - 30 mins top!

To note, I had EXCELLENT help:

 Here the  bar where the support connects and the support of the frame mentioned above already mounted:

 And here is the frame mounted on the bike. To note a cloth protecting the muffler - very easy to scratch!

Preparation post 1: Which Panniers!?

Luggage! That's a problem for a 3M kms trip with my current set-up of only a topcase!
I'm looking into some aluminum panniers, however find them pretty expensive... also, since I won't be using them much so I wouldn't like to see the mounting frames permanently on the bike.

The full list of panniers I found available were
- Touratech Zega Pro 31litres left / 38 Litres right
- Touratech Zega special for BMW F800GS 41/41 litres
-  BMW adventure cases with matching key locks
- SW-Motech Evo quick lock system (advantage being you can remove the bars)
- with ... Sw-Motech Trax panniers
- Jesse Safari II total 79litres
- Metal Mule unbalanced system (without changing the Muffler): 31 + 38 lts
- Nolan
- Caribou unbreakable cases

Lots of choices, each one with cons and pros.

At the end I chose the BMW for three reasons:

- Fits with current Vario topcase (same mounting system)
- Uses same key as motorcycle - no need for more keys
- Quality: Are actually made by Touratech and have approx same pricing

also, they don´t look like luggage (caribou) and aren´t as pricey as Jesse's

UPDATE July 2010:
- Build quality is EXCELLENT, bike had a fall and these bars saved it from major damage - didn't even bend!

Portugal Lés a Lés

Today I sent out the inscription for the 13th Portugal de Lés a Lés, which translated into English means something like Portugal from Breadth to Width. It's a touristic motorcycle rally that goes through the back roads and lost villages of portugal from North to South. It's not an enduro race as it's for any type of motorcycle and it's normal to see Vespa's, scooters, vintage bikes up to a Honda Blackbird CBR1100XX. The organization has a couple of surprises along the route, like passing a small stream, or going up a gravel route, nothing that any bike can't cope but a lot of fun. The rally is 1000kms long, and joining that with coming back and forth I'll be doing some 3200kms in only one week. 

I'll be going on the '09 BMW F800GS and will be accompanied by my father on our old Honda Transalp from '94. Our biggest concern is if the old bike will make it till the end.  It's never let us down before, but a 17 year old bike with +150000 kms isn't at it's prime!

The map of the complete route is

Expect some preparation posts coming up!