First Long Ride: BMW R100RT
Ricardo Perez
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| Thirty One Years of RT Innovations: 1979 & 2010 |
On Thursday morning I prepped my 1979 RT by draining the gas tank and installing two new gas petcocks as well as a new rubber sealer for the gas cap. I refilled the tank with the same gas and added some techron fuel additive to offset the ethanol now used in most fuels. We'll be riding Friday morning to Kerrville and then on to San Antonio and back.
On Friday we took off on the first extended ride for my 1979 R100RT as I logged approximately 730 miles on Friday and Saturday. The bike ran flawlessly the entire way. We stopped in Dilley, Texas at Hank's Motoshop so I could get my carbs synced, as well as replacing the seal where the shifter goes into the transmission. While there I also switched out my transmission and rear-end lube to Redline 75-140. The carbs didn't exactly sync so I'm going to check and replace the needle valves, floats, and diaphragms.
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| Roadside Park Near Three Rivers |
At this stage, I am very pleased with the bike. I hit a top speed of 86 mph (as per Garmin GPS). The bike gets a little wavy in the rear end as you pass those big rigs which create all that wind turbulence, but other than that, it's very steady at highway speeds.
The small seat I have is a must go; not very comfortable for a long day's ride so I'll be checking out a Corbin touring seat replacement.
On Sunday I pulled the oil pan and replaced the oil pan gasket as well as change out the oil filter and new oil filter gaskets (including O-ring) and a new oil pan plug with new crush washer. The pan had no thick oils stuck to the bottom of the pan and everything looked clean.
So my short list of things I'd do after my first extended ride:
Replace seat with a touring type seat;
Replace Windscreen with a shorter Recurve Type;
Replace Rear Shocks;
Modify Kickstand with extension so it's easy to reach;
Clean front rotor so brake doesn't slip and grab unexpectedly;
Fix Odometer.
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