1997 BMW F650 ST Bluebird - Repair, maintain, ride.

[Hurco550]

Frogg Toggs got me through the microburst storm at Mid-O all dry two years ago.

Giving yourself the Dutch oven in a trash bag poncho is way better though.

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[pidjones]

We carry the Frogg Toggs on the GW and they have been good for both rain and (over the mesh armor) cold. Including a deluge from Chattanooga to Birmingham about five years ago.

 

[Maritime]

I have the frog toggs too but last ride to NH it rained so much I wore them the whole ride 8+ hours and they got ripped. Need a new set for this season but they are cheap and light so worth it.

 

[irk miller]

Every Wal-Mart in America has them.

 

[Maritime]

Every Wal-Mart in America has them.

Ha yes, however I got my set for $4.00 at Marden's in Maine LOL.

 

[adventurco]

So the prologue to the trip. Yesterday I got out of work early and did some shopping to pick up some last minute supplies. Came home and installed the modified/painted racks for the soft bags. Got those buttoned up, top box back on and then put a few misc parts on that have been hanging up since the head gasket, like the skid plate. I plasti dipped the silver plastic bits.

The other day I ordered the mid pipe exhaust gaskets I’ve been avoiding and they came in yesterday. At about 8:00 after I was mostly packed I decided fuck it, I’d install them. Well little did I know it would be a god damn fiasco. The old gaskets were shot, yes, but the mid pipe had been over tightened and it was all deformed so when I put the new gaskets in it leaked like a mofo. I let it cool, torques it all down again and no luck. At about midnight I decided to take it all apart again, use some high temp RTV On the joint and go to sleep. The leak was bad enough last night I wouldn’t run the bike this long for fear of burning up a valve. So by the time I went to bed after showering and finishing packing it was 2 am. The last thing I thought was “I hope this thing doesn’t leak in the AM”




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[trek97]

How'd it get along w the rtv or shims or both?

 

[adventurco]

At 5 AM yesterday I woke up with my fingers crossed. Fired the bike up only to find it was still leaking pretty bad. I let it get hot and stuck a box fan in Front of it to cool everything back down. Tightened everything up when cool and it seemed to quiet the leaks down. Definitely still not a perfect seal at the mid pipe gasket but nothing like it was. I set off and fueled up, listening for any signs of it getting worse and it didn’t, so on I rode.

We made it 500 miles to camp, the last 2-3 hours were in the rain but my gear and rain covers kept everything pretty dry.

I had to stop at a Lowe’s parking lot to rotate the shifter back. On the upshift stroke it hits the case when it’s rotated and it goes into every gear except second, which is dangerous and annoying as hell. So I just got used to shifting with the side of the boot.



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[Jimbonaut]

I don't see any beer in that last photo. I'm concerned. Is everything ok?

 

[irk miller]

I don't see any beer in that last photo. I'm concerned. Is everything ok?

Clearly, huffing too many exhaust fumes from leaky mid-pipes has impaired judgment.

 

[adventurco]

Yesterday was a good day. We got a late start after a wet night and morning, but the rain cleared out for some mid day twisties. Before the riding, we headed into Hot Springs and grabbed breakfast. Cool little city with tons of character.

Bike ran well heading up into the mountains. No issues other than a skid plate mounting tab breaking off the frame and the chain stretched to the point of slapping. Once we got to camp I zip tied the skid plate and tightened and lubed the chain. It was a cold ass night but we just grabbed breakfast and ready to head south.






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[adventurco]

Today gave us perfect weather, cool and sunny in the high 60/low 70s most of the day. We hit breakfast at the Ozark Cafe, and then rode on to Mount Judea which was about 60 miles of assorted tight switchbacks, long sweepers and damn near perfect pavement. Headed south from there up to Mount Magazine, and then south down 7, which from Ola AR south is absolutely fantastic. The 650 was right at home in 4th gear on the sweepers around 60mph. I may put on a 17T front sprocket to give me a little lower revs on the highway and a more versatile 4th gear. We blasted down the highway from there and wound up in El Dorado where we are staying the night.

So after the blast on the highway (which was wide open with very few cars), I topped the bike out at 90 - which ain’t right but I’ll look into that later. After getting off the highway I noticed a lot of chatter in the chain and it seemed really loose. We made it to the hotel and I checked it out and sure enough it was loosey goosey. So I set the tension properly and we headed to a local place for some grub. Kept hearing the noise on the way over and when we got to the restaurant I checked it again. WAY too tight. Anyways long story short I somehow roasted this chain. it’s a brand new DID 520 O ring chain (I say brand new, as in I just opened it - I guess whose to say it didn’t sit on a shelf for 20 years before I got it).

Anyways, here’s some pics from today.


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[Maritime]

Nice, that looks like a spot I need to get too someday. I think if I start planning now I might make 2 years from now's GTG LOL.

 

[adventurco]

Nice, that looks like a spot I need to get too someday. I think if I start planning now I might make 2 years from now's GTG LOL.

Yep I’ll be coming again.

So I went to get a new chain from a cycle shop local this morning but he didn’t have any 520. Annoyingly I had considered throwing the old chain I took off in my top case just in the off chance something happened. But I didn’t.

Next closest is a Honda dealer in Ruston which is about 100 miles south. Going to lube the piss out of it and cross my fingers that they have a chain.

 

[Maritime]

Weird the chain has stretched that much in so short of time? Sitting on a shelf wouldn't make it change, sitting in a pond would LOL. Good luck but check the alignment, sounds like you may have the wheel offset from the front sprocket causing a side load on the chain maybe.

 

[adventurco]

Weird the chain has stretched that much in so short of time? Sitting on a shelf wouldn't make it change, sitting in a pond would LOL. Good luck but check the alignment, sounds like you may have the wheel offset from the front sprocket causing a side load on the chain maybe.

Yep I checked everything. Alignment was good and sprockets were straight using a straightedge to check for runout. The chain is just toast. It’s a new O-Ring chain, the only thing I can think of is when I adjusted and lubed it on Saturday night, the chain lube broke down the o rings somehow and caused the rollers to wear. I’ll post the video later but there’s audible chatter and side to side play.


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[Maritime]

Shitty, hope you find a replacement!

 

[adventurco]

Yesterday morning I limped the bike along to Ruston and luckily was able to get a new chain. I paid for the o-ring chain and the kid at the parts counter cut me a standard chain the first time. So after about 1.5 hours of waiting to get the right chain (I have no idea what took so long to get it cut to length), I had a new chain in hand. Replaced it in the parking lot and adjusted the tension.

It turns out I was adjusting the chain tension wrong all along. It’s a little misleading because the manual and sticker on the swingarm say to check chain tension under no load. I took that to mean “back tire in the air” as the manual states to check it on the center stand, or on the side stand. Well the rear wheel is in the air on the center stand so I went with that. Turns out that’s useless, and what it really means is to check the tension with the bike under its own weight, but without a rider. So I had the chain too tight which resulted in my crappy MPG and absolutely roasting the DID chain I put on a few weeks ago. Transmission still works fine so my dumb mistake didn’t cause any lasting damage.

We blasted through Arkansas to Alexandria, LA where I peeled off the group and hauled ass back to Texas. Made good time and got back at about 5:00 after finally hitting the road at 11:30 or 12:00.

Total miles logged over the weekend was 1,440.

Other than the chain and a loose clamp on a coolant line yesterday morning, the bike ran like a champ and is thoroughly broken in now.

Next up are some changes I know I want to make after the weekend, including some bar risers and new bars, and a 45T rear sprocket to just slightly drop the RPMs. Oh and I definitely need some new rubber. Also going to start specing out a wheel set for the dirt.




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[adventurco]

A couple of my favorite runs from the weekend:



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[clem]

The bike held up great. That is a really nice feeling when you tear something apart then put 1400 reliable miles on it. Oh and I'm pretty certain that the white lines are dirt roads

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