BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Went out for a ride, put the bike in the garage when I got home. Let it cool down for an hour, then came back to move the bike into the 'bubble' for the night. I guess I don't know my own strength, the bike was on the side stand, I grabbed it and pushed it over towards the right...I guess I pushed a wee bit too hard because the next thing I know, is the bike is falling over on the right side. Darn... The worst thing, is that my 35 year old aluminum charcoal grill, a treasure of mine..was next to the bike and took the brunt of the tip-over. I ended up breaking two legs off my grill..sigh. I also put a nice scratch in the right valve cover. I took off the valve cover, tomorrow I'll sand it out, put some bondo on it, and spray paint it with my trusty can of Wal-Mart matching silver spray.

I was so surprised when it happened...I've never had this happen before, at least not quite like it went down!!! Oh well...I'm glad BMW makes these bikes tough! Or...maybe I can use this as an excuse to convince my wife that it's time to trade it in on a new R1200R !!!! Yeah...thats the ticket!!!

Mark
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member #3 since 2001

Edit

non members should still be able to see it mike..I left a shadow in off topics...

Mark

ps - ooopsey...Guess I didn't see this coming.. Normally, you can 'move' a thread and leave a shadow. BUt since I moved it to 'members', it requires you to be a paying member to see the shadow in off-topic. But, here's the kicker...I cannot moderate the 'members' forum, only Doug can do this. I can move thread to it, but once moved I can't do anything. So, I screwed up! Forgive me!! It might behoove you to repost the thread in off-topic again. I promise I won't touch it, then I'll delete the original, or at least try to delete it...not sure if I can do that either...sorry...Mark

So Mark - in light of your thread topic, what were you drinking in that hour between parking and coming out to move the bike?

Mark! Be nice to your bike dude. You just throw her around the garage and she'll eventually get revenge.

Hey guys..when I took off my valve cover a plastic part fell out. I don't know where it goes. Heres a picture of it..anybody know what it is and where to put it?



Mark

88

I only move my bike in the garage when I am on it, because I am afraid of doing just what you did. I see these guys at motorcycle dealers moving lots of heavy bikes around like they are Bianchi's, and I always wonder how many get dropped.

Beemeridian wrote:It's a rubber buffer
Look at picture #21 on your OVAD.pdf and you will see that it fits under the exhaust valve side of the rocker arm supporting bracket.

Thanks Beemeridian...but squze my ignance...what is an OVAD.pdf?

Mark

55

Mark this would have been a good candidate for a "Know Your Bike 101" thread.

I figured you would get more suggestions of where to put it.

77

On walking your bike around from it's left side there is one very important point that must always be followed. That point is to keep 20----50 lbs (9---22.7kg) of it's leaning weight leaning TOWARD YOU. When turning left, use the higher weight. You can easily handle 80 or 90 lbs (36.3---40.8kg) leaning toward you but you're helpless if only 20 lbs (9kg) of leaning force is pulling it away from you after a wrong move. A common novice mistake is trying to maintain it right AT the balance point.




That part is a rubber bumper that appears to be there for both noise reduction and to to keep the valve cover from getting knocked too far out of place in a crash or a tip-over. The valve cover is all rubber mounted. It's weakly located by the large outer gasket, and both the bending and clamping forces of the 4 cover studs. The add-it-later look and placement of that rubber part certainly tells me there was enough of a need for it that the engineers made it happen.

It's soaked in oil . . . . so . . . how did you get yours (in the pic) so clean?

CycleRob wrote:.It's soaked in oil . . . . so . . . how did you get yours (in the pic) so clean?

Leave it to Unca Robby to have the "scientific" answers!!! To answer your question, I cleaned it with an alcahol wipe. It's sitting in my dresser drawer right now, as I havent put the valve cover back on.

Mark

Question: are there (supposed to be) rubber bumpers on both cylinders?

Question: are there (supposed to be) rubber bumpers on both cylinders?

Yes. But they're real easy to knock out of place and lose on the floor during a valve adjustment. Don't lose your bumpers!

Mark.....it appears that tipping the bike over is a recurring condition with you......sanding, bondo and grey paint.....

I'd like to take it a step further and offer you my automatically retractable leveling stands. It consists of two side stands, attached to the valve covers. In normal operation they deploy and retract just like the original side stand. The operating mechanism consists of a mercry bulb, like the one you find in the AC/Heat mechanical thermostats, installed right to left on the bike and in perfect balance when the bike is upright.

As the bike tips, right or left the mercury allows current to activate the solenoid to lower the leveling stand on the side of the fall. Once the bike is upright the stand retracts automatically. Neat....

Being that you are my friend, I can make you one and paint it your favorite color for $29.95.....I can even throw in a cup of Java and a bedtime story by Boxer.....if you think that is not enough I'll have Mike Cam tuck you in......whadda you say......

As my Jewish grandmother used to say: "Such a deal!!l"





Mark

ps - Al, I really miss your "southern" sense of humor. We need..one more 'bash'..like the old days!!!!