Wrinkles

I am, to some extent, a skeptic therefore, I tend to look over my shoulder when something is going way too smoothly. Conversely, when I run into problems, I know that dealing with them is just a part of life; the normal course of things. This may seem strange coming from what may be the most non-spontaneous planning-type, always travel with back-ups guy. Yes, I do like to plan, think through what may happen and be prepared for the worst that I can imagine but even with all that planning, the world still throws stuff at you from places that you never considered. When I tour on the motorcycle I have three flashlights, three keys, two sets of maps, four pairs of gloves, waterproof gaiters to pull over my waterproof boots in the rain and on, and on, and on!!

With all that planning I was running around today looking for a backup battery for my digital camera and ended up going to three locations before finding what I was needed. I saw that inconvenience as one of those things that life throws at you and I gladly associated it with the trip so that I can travel in peace knowing that something already “happened” so I should, knock on wood, be okay.

Well, one of the most important things you have to make sure you do as a motorcyclist is overtly make yourself visible. An important tool in this endeavor is lighting, especially at the front of your bike. This motorcycle has a headlight assembly containing five light bulbs. I so totally LOVE that!! My last three motorcycles only had a single bulb!! Anyway, when I bought this bike I had the dealer install a pair of driving lights mounted down low so that there are three bright points of light to alert motorists; the headlight assembly, and the two driving lights. My left driving light had a seal that was not properly seated and it allowed moisture to get inside the housing, moisture which corroded the lens and deteriorated the lumen output of the lighting unit. I want the driving lights to be as bright as possible so anything below 100% is unacceptable to me. I called in the warranty and the manufacturer honored it and sent replacement light bulbs to the dealer.

I went out to the bike this afternoon with the intent of replacing them today and, almost immediately, ran into problems. The moisture had corroded the inside of the unit to the extent that one of the wires popped out of the ceramic insulator. I went to the dealer and they did not have a replacement in stock so I have to call in the warranty tomorrow and have the manufacturer overnight the replacement set to the dealership so that I can have them installed before I leave in a few days.

I thought it would be a quick job but in looking at the wiring harnesses that come with the lights the bodywork of the bike has to be removed and that is supposed to take a while. I know that this coming week will already be a short one at work and I have a TON to get done before I leave for the trip so I cannot get the bike to them in the middle of the day and leave it there for them to work on so any warranty work will have to be done in the last half hour the workshop at the dealer is open.

So, I took out the old toolbox and stripped the bike of its bodywork and learned that it does not take entirely too long but it is a pain. This is indeed a wrinkle in my planning!! I thought that all I had left to do was go over my packing list and get ready for the trip but now I have an extra complication. I really do not need to take my bike apart in the days before a trip but, that is life!!

With my bike in a few pieces I learned that there is a seal, maybe two that is/are allowing oil to seep out. This at 23,000 miles on a BMW!!! Bavarian Motor Works, MOTOR is right there in the name!! This is way too young a motor for that to occur!! I sent an email to BMW of North America as well as my dealer in order to let them know that this is something below my expectation of this motor!

Here are photos of the bike prepared for the lighting warranty work. Yeah, yeah, I know photos of breathtaking mountain views are preferable but I have yet to point the bike to the western horizon and rolled on the throttle, ticking over the mile markers as my iron steed, locked on the imaginary line at the limit of my terrestrial vision, the line we call the horizon, a limit that beckons to me with that most tempting promise of adventure.

Please click on the photos if you would like to see a larger image. Captions are above the photos.

Below is a photo of the bike's bodywork on the shelf in preparation for the warranty work on the driving lights
















This is the left side of the bike seen without the bodywork that makes it so beautiful to many an appreciative eye.

This is the right hand side of the "naked bike."

Below are the offending lights that need to be replaced. I call them offending only because of the last minute work ahead of the trip. They do light up my presence and, hopefully, alert inattentive motorists of the presence of a motorcycle.