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Hola, XLADV'er! Why do I feel like I'm doing this wrong? Submit Topic? Am I the topic? I think I'm doing this wrong...this is normally the time when I stop and check my map but...against my better judgement I'm gonna type the things and click the "Submit Topic" button... I've been meaning to become more of an active member of this group for so long!! Finally able to sit down and read all the great adventures everyone is having. Maybe I just miss my BMW's...all the pandas are sad. Anyway a little about me. I'm a taco lover from Seattle...much love to the PNW!! In a past life I was a Submariner, then an Aerospace Mechanic...but for the last 3 years I've been travelling the world, riding motorcycles, taking pictures, meeting bikers, enjoying tasty things...you know, the usual. I don't do a good job of sharing the stories about my travels...I do a better job at sipping beers with new friends in cramped smelly pubs! But hey, lifes about trying new things, right? Tell that to my friend who pestered me to take salsa lessons with her here in San Cristobal, MX...she pestered me until I finally relented! So we go to the class and I straight murder her feet...the instructor actually asked me how I could be SO BAD! ...now she doesn't want to go with me again. Hey, I tried. So now I'm gonna do the thing where you type the words and attach the pics...maybe a vid or two. Prob gonna murder the screen but hey, I'm trying! Here's one of my favorite pics I took in the Himalayas after spending a week in the Nubra Valley, India. I love India...lets be honest, its a hot mess but...so many amazing people. Another thing about me...I'm slow. Literally and figuratively. When the scenery is good, I drive slow, when the food is good, I eat slow, when the beer is super tasty, I drink slow. I also travel slow. When I get a visa in a new country I think, hmmmmm I need to use every day of this visa! I'm the guy who rents an apartment in a new place that seems cool rather than just stay for a day or two and jet. I guess I've made peace with the knowledge that I can't see it all so I better enjoy the F out of the places I love! My favorite adventures have been the ones where I get to help others along the way. Years ago I went to a presentation put on by Helge Pederson...If you dont know who he is you may want to google his name...anyway, he talked about riding through Africa and taking photos of people in small far off villages. Then he would print out those photos of the people and deliver them on his next trip! Brilliant! For some reason that stuck with me, so I copied him, because I'm slow (so its ok).I added a picture of me giving a picture to my good buddy Lim in the Jungle of Cambodia...hes a cool guy, and his wife makes the best food in Cambodia...no joke, super tasty. Well, This took me like 5 days to write so I think I'm done. I need a taco. Ride Far friends! Brad

ohh boy woke up to some Kenda Big Blocks at the front door this morning! Going to do some spooning this weekend! I use these on the F 650 GS Dakar as well. dig it. Will be taking the R1100 GS 1996 out for her first adventure! still lots to do, more armor, Transmission guard reinforcement plate came in and hope the Acerbis Pro Rally Handguards make it on time!

Hey XLADV'ers I wanted to share this one thing I'm doing. I'm bad at sharing. Please judge silently, please So this one time I sent an email to Lockheed Martin that said, "Hey dudes, I'm working with this Non-Profit called The Muskoka Foundation (a 501(c)3) and we are trying to get laptops to my buddies school way out in the Jungle of Cambodia. So, you guys down to give me some laptops or what?" --some time passed-- They replied,"Hey Buddy, how many do you need? Is 40 enough?" --I waited a bit, cuz I didnt want to be creepy or anything-- I replied, "Sure" So now we have all these laptops we need to mule into Cambodia...First world problems right? Well, I put together a team of riders from 3 different countries, two from India, 3 from the USA, well 4 if you count me, and one from Canada. 2 moto-ladies and 4 strapping moto-lads I want to tell you all about the trip but I'll be honest, this post alone took me 2 weeks to write! So I think I'm gonna outline the trip in sections, lets be honest 90% of you clicked away after reading "Judge Silently" I get it, no worries, LOL! Heres a short video about the trip...gonna do 4 more, got a lot of people to introduce...so click the link thing if you are interested..if you already clicked away I understand, cuz well Internets are fun to click around on. Ride Safe out there! -Brad

Don't worry about it, about 3 more posts and you'll be an advanced member as well... Nothing a few beers can't handle ;-)

Got my video together from pitting for Ken this past weekend. This should give you an idea of what it's like from the pit side!

I think the colors are how advanced the route is, but I am not sure. I load them in Locus Pro on a older HTC M8 phone and navigate that way.

@westenrogers I'm new to instagram but I'm trying to take pictures everyday of me doing ridiculous things on my GSA

I usually used REVER just to record my tracks but used it to track pre-saved tracks at the Honda CRF250L Rally launch and it worked great! But then I upgraded the app to I think 3.0 and used it in Utah and it kept crashing. They've fixed that now though.

hmmm, not sure I want to send the wrong signals, LOL!

Thanks dude - You're speedy! I see you got passed "Judge Silently" That's why YOU are an Advanced Member! I appreciate your comment.

Thanks "Advanced Member"...oh wait thats not your name...Is that your status? I'm impressed! Now I wanna be advanced. Just another wish in the bucket of life... Honestly, I'm just happy that all those key stokes made it on the interwebz I guess I clicked the right things!

Awesome project!

Welcome Brad! By the looks of it you're really enjoying yourself (albeit slowly )!

WOW, like a dream...

all set, just "copied to my ride" feature. I intend to continue to test Rever app while out in the field and use the "ride it" features and follow the blue line. I have been testing it out on local rides and it works pretty good. however there is not turn by turn. I will however use my spot tracking device to bread crumb too.

found them. "High Sierra White Mountain 9/4/16", "High Sierra Saturday ride 9/3/16","High Sierra Scouting 9/1/16" for those of ya'll on Rever.

You can find last year's tracks in last year's thread. They are on REVER too. Just friend me and you can see them. I think I created a group ride there called High Sierra

Or expedite the process of turning the dust cake into cement... Looking forward to seeing you Jason.

Do you have this as GPX? I don't pay for Rever. Also, Cam probably knows I'll take my GSA where I shouldn't so he might want to point me somewhere and follow with a GoPro for entertainment value

Here is the tracks posted last year: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9Q_N_YOQsQfdjZTR2RGRlNaSG8 Thats my personal google drive.

I've bought a new softbag, in preparations of the two-weeks long trip in Sardenia I'll have at the start of September. I'm gonna keep the two alu panniers, and get rid (for the trip), of the topcase. It's made by Amphibious (Italian brand), it has a capacity of 60 liters (HUGE improvement over the stock aluminium topcase by bmw/touratech) and... the pillion says it's cute, so that's obviously what matters the most. I'm also considering buying a TomTom Rider 400 nav.

Will need a fresh set after this ride for sure!

Initial impressions... so admittedly this new bike is a lot to take in. The DCT poses a challenge as does the traction control, gravel modes, abs modes and drive modes. It's something that will take time to figure how which mode works best in which circumstances. I'm primarily interested in seeing how this does in the dirt and how I can best access the right gear for what I want to accomplish. I really want to master these new features because I hate when people diss something and it turns out they were doing it wrong or didn't understand how it's supposed to work. But sure enough, when I went to pull out I reached for that "clutch" lever (it's a parking brake). It's like riding a scooter! You just twist and go!

Slight upgrades so far: FAR (KTM stock) foldable mirrors and the Acerbis Rallye Brush with spoilers. Next week there will be a few new parts, right before i leave for 4 days gravel roads in Friaul (Italy), I'll keep you posted

I'm number 151.... woohoo . Just went through the entire thread, interesting stuff in the sense that is amazes me how people can react when for example you're not reposting their images enough. I joined IG just over a year ago when I was looking to get a new bike, and wanting to start a motovlog. The time to actually do the motovlogs has slowly deminished after doing only 8 videos, so really can't call that endeavour very 'successful' although I did have a lot of fun making them. So back to IG, I really like the way it enables connecting to likeminded people. I did however recently decide to unfollow a number of accounts that never attributed their reposts. I've also been trying to make sure to like the original image in case it's a repost, so I can check the persons account at the same time and see if it's worth following. Another thing I noticed is that posting non-motorcycle-related content is always a surefire way to loose some followers. My initial reactions to this happening quickly went from 'but why?', to 'who cares!'. It the images I post of my 5 Siberian Huskies annoy you, that's fine Admittedly, I ride my bike mostly as a daily driver (It's my 'company motorcycle'), so the photos I make are mostly from detours or other not so scenic locations. With a girlfriend, a 2yo son and 5 dogs at home actual mototravel is scarce. Maybe in about 10 years when my son is old enough to come along (can't wait). Interestingly enough, the most liked image I posted recently is of a bike that's not even mine So anyway, my 2 cents. And my IG account: @motopreneurtv btw, tried the followercheck.co but for some reason it's running into all kinds of errors.

It's interesting to see how many of you guys I already follow. Great photos everyone, btw IG is great for letting me see all of the places I need to go visit - and certainly helps feed the moto addiction. Don't have a huge following, most of my pics are just shots of a bike or two either upright or not LOL - @braapshit_crazy