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The solution for carrying more cargo on BMW adventure bikes Sandpoint, ID, December 18, 2015 - Black Dog Cycle Works (BDCW) announces their new BDCW Pillion Rack for BMW R1200GS and GSA Liquid-Cooled motorcycles. For solo adventure riders, a great solution for carrying more cargo is to replace the passenger seat with an integrated rack. BDCW's new rack puts the additional weight immediately behind the rider where motorcycles were originally designed to carry it, making it the ideal location. By moving the weight forward from the rear of the bike, riders should expect greatly improved balance and control. The BDCW Pillion Rack is a highly functional, rugged yet beautifully-machined product that greatly increases the carrying capacity of the Big GS. And, it works especially well with the BDCW Multi-Function Rear Rack for the GSLC or GSA-LC, but is compatible with most rear racks from other manufacturers, as well as the factory grab rails on the standard GS and GSA. Avid adventure riders will appreciate how the BDCW Pillion Rack mounts to their bikes. "Unlike other versions on the market, we intentionally engineered our rack so that it doesn't use the mostly plastic stock keyed release system. We found that the stock release doesn't take to the off-road punishment many of our customers give their bikes. Ours bolts directly to the frame." says Kurt Forgét of BDCW. The BDCW design has several notably unique features and benefits: A great compliment for the BDCW Multi-Function Rear Rack for either the GS-LC or GSA-LC Made of industrial grade gauge 1/4" aluminum Bolts to the frame for solid mounting-designed to take a beating while securely hauling gear Quick and easy removal with four bolts to replace the passenger seat Generous-sized perimeter holes give multiple tie-down points for gear Compatible with the factory grab rails for both the standard GS and the GSA. Anodized hard black for a durable finish Spacers and stainless steel hardware provided Approximately 12" wide x 14" long Designed, tested and manufactured in the U.S.A. MSRP: $195.00

Topic for my upcoming plans with the BMW R1100GS. Some of you might know/saw some video's or pictures of me and know that I have Big plans for my Hyperion. I'll try and keep this topic updated with our progress. First of all we are trying to get in perfect riding shape. This is going slower than expected because of money, time and most irritating of all, delivery failure of some parts. Very short, we want to get a Dakar fairing and a selfmade subframe on it. Kinda like the one Touratech made, but then lowbudget ;-). When we bought the 1100, it wasn't in a good shape, hadn't seen a toolkit in years and almost everything needs a revision or has to be renewed. Summary *October 2014 : bought the bike, placed new battery, sprayed the windscreen yellow, installed new gear box *November 2014 : steel brake lines *January 2015 : new throttle cables, synchronisation, risers, crashbars, new rims with Heidenau M&S TO DO : * mount crash bars * revise Wilbers suspension * decide which fairing kit to use and adjust * do I want a lowering kit or not? * mount slimmer heated grips * GPS-device START BLOG Hyperion is a R1100GS from 1994 and had 147 000 km on it when I bought it. I have full confidence in that he will take me everywhere to see the world and explore what our earth has to show. He wasn't the youngest one on the market, but we have a saying, you gotta learn how to ride on an old hag... The biggest reason we chose this R1100GS was the price, for 2500 euro plus he had Wilbers suspension and a set of R1150GS Panniers. (And maybe I did like the color) So, this is him when he first got home. Me getting a lesson on how to get my bike on his centerstand. So I didn't like the silverish windscreen, got a yellow spraycan and got rid of the silver. More important was, during my first rides I noticed that I couldn't wheelie the bike. The bike just popped out of gear whenever I tried. Our first cost was a new gearbox then. We found one for about 175 euro and placed it ourselves. The operation was a succes,+ fitting in a new battery, and now Hyperion happily lifts his front wheel in the air. With the costs from the insurance, the gearbox and the bike itself there wasn't much to spend left, so I kep riding with it like that till November. In November it was really time to do something about the failing rubber brake hoses. The brakes got stuck because of mush that came out of the brakelines that were detoriating from the inside. So we bought some steel brake lines and that made a big difference. Instead of slowing the bike down, I was now able to stop it completely... I did not like the positioning of my arms, it looked as if I was on the road with daddies bike. My upperbody was pushed to much to the front which had a big influence on my technical riding. We ordered risers for my handlebar that inclined backwards too. Got no problems with the cables, everything still runs smoothly. Positioning on the bike is great at the moment ! Got him synchronized this week too, both cilinders got calibrated and now he runs brilliantly. Gas respond is so much better. If anyone still rides with an older version, get that thing synchronized. It is unbelievable how smooth the engine runs now. In the beginning when standing on idle, the bike rocked between my legs, now it just rests at one place. And last for now, but not forgettable. I bought new rims from the first owner and mounted them with Heidenau M&S, Scout. Was an excellent choice, but I'll leave this open for a tyretopic. ;-) Greeetz Sjiriki

I was going to start the thread with a I've been doing a lot of LDR lately (Long Distance Riding, duh!) and I need more gas crap, but to be honest, I love how the extra fuel canister looks on my bike. The problem I had is that I didn't want to the rotopax to be on the sides or the back but on top of the side aluminum cases. Right under my Wolfman rollie bags. But there was no way to strap them properly so I had to improvise. Total cost of project: $15 Total man hours spent: 1 Total beers consumed: 3 Industrial Revolution Vanilla Porter (I love living in CO) Enjoy! Your standard ADV side case Your standard BMW straps Using the Wolfman rollie alone with the straps: perfect! Using the Wolfman rollie and the rotopax with the straps: disaster! The rotopax will just fly away with the slightest bump. The solution: Footman Loops for next to nothing (here) I also needed some STAINLESS STEEL hardware as well as some pieces of an old bicycle tube Marking the “G” spot Measurements because OCD Am I actually drilling a hole on my sidecar? I wonder if this will void the warranty… The tube will help the water to stay out (in theory) Screw -> hook -> washer -> tube in this order Thank the OCD for measuring… How did I make it crooked? Screw tight (boom, phrasing!) Cut the edges. Final product And here’s the magic! Yes, these are the original straps that came with my bike… This rotopax, won’t go anywhere! Not bad, right? http://i.imgur.com/9yhErV9.jpg Best think, I can still open my side cases with everything on them! Now I’m ready to go to my local Starbucks. Oh wait, I’ve got extra fuel! I can go to the one across town!! WOOHOO!!!! This post has been promoted to an article

How to remove the rear shock, replace a clutch slave and fill/bleed a clutch line on a (2011) BMW GS Adventure One of the cool things you may have found over the years of motorcycle ownership is first that you’re probably a decent judge after all of what’s really wrong with your bike and that you’re quite capable of fixing a lot of things by yourself. At least that’s what I learned in this case. It all started after completing the COBDR in July ’13. After this gnarly water crossing where I was going too fast through some too-deep water and the engine sucked in some water requiring a trail side air filter, oil filter and oil change, I started to also have an issue with my clutch. It was primarily on the way home. I was riding through some pretty hot weather from Steamboat Springs headed back to Irvine and it was probably Grand Junction when I first noticed the problem. I was coming off the freeway ramp and downshifting when I noticed there was almost no play in the clutch lever. The bike stalled because I couldn’t get it into neutral or use the clutch lever to disengage the gearing. I managed to park it at a Wendy’s, had lunch and then when I came back out and started it up again, the clutch was fine! It was something about the warmer temps or when the engine was hot it would act up. After I got home, I took it into the dealer to check it out and they said it was “just a bubble in the clutch line.” They flushed and filled and it was working fine. Well, it did work fine until the weather warmed up and it started to do the same thing. I then took it to an independent mechanic (since I was now out of warranty) and he said it wasn’t clear to him what was wrong. He did mention the push rod looked a bit worn and replaced that, but it’s only like a $9 part. He did run the engine quite a long time in order to try and recreate the problem but it wasn’t happening. Sure enough, when it warmed up again (WMRS ride in Aug ’13) the clutch went out again. At this point I had learned quite a bit about what types of clutch problems tend to crop up and my #1 theory was that the clutch slave was bad and needed to be replaced. I ordered a new clutch slave for about $155 (plus some new crush washers) and bought some special BMW clutch fluid ($26), although you can find a brand by Magura (Royal Blood Brake Fluid) at your local bicycle shop is essentially the same thing (Magura is the mfg of the clutch slave). The replacement process was really a breeze! So why did the slave fail in the first place? Was it defective? Was it normal wear and tear? Poorly designed? I think the most likely culprit is thermal shock, where the hot engine encounters cold water at a water crossing and that somehow compromised the slave. There is no gasket where it attaches, so I’m thinking that’s the most likely reason. We all like to blame the mechanics too, but I think the nature of this problem (only acts up when hot) makes it hard to diagnose. I will lay out the basics here, but the more detailed instructions are in the attached video. I figure not many of you will need to replace a clutch slave, but many more will need to take the rear shock off and perhaps bleed your own brake lines (every two years), so this should be helpful. Remove rear wheel Remove exhaust muffler Remove the top bolt of your rear shock under the seat. Using a strap to raise the swing arm high enough, remove the lower shock bolt and remove shock. You may notice you can’t get in there with a torque bit unless you raise the swing harm high enough. Two screws will remove the clutch slave; clean out back of engine w/brake fluid and install new clutch slave. Before you re-attach the clutch line to the master cylinder up top and the new slave below, flush it out with brake cleaner, then air to dry. Reattach clutch line using new crush washers top (near master cylinder) and bottom (at slave). Refill the master cylinder reservoir and attach ¼” OD vinyl hose to the bleed valve at the bottom. Using the process described in the video, pump the new fluid through until you see no bubbles. Tighten it back up, re-install rear shock (red loctite and proper torque specs) and exhaust and you’re ready to go!

Scotty Breauxman writes for Adventure Motorcycle Magazine as well as promotes an event called Baja Rally. I first met Scotty at AltRider's Taste of Dakar in 2013 and have since run into him again in Baja as well as the last Taste of Dakar in Mar of this past year. http://www.adventuremotorcycle.com/reviews/24-reviews/bikes/699-bikes-project-2014-bmwf800gs-urm#.VK71jSvF_To He had this BMW F800 GS put together and billed it as "The Ultimate Adventure Riding Machine" with some help from BMW Motorcycles of Escondido, AltRider, Konflict Suspension, Woody's Wheels, etc... When I saw him at the TOD event earlier this year he said he'd just picked the bike up the day before and was excited to ride it. He said with the suspension, damper and Flexx bars that he called his "butter bike." There's many interesting comments on that page like how it's still way too heavy, too expensive, etc... At some point I'd like to do something similar, like an XLADV project bike. We're obviously don't (yet) have the reach of an ADVMoto to attract sponsors like that but I'm sure it won't be too long

I'd like this thread to be a place where we can put videos of big bikes being ridden well. Videos you look at and you're like "wow, I wish I could ride like that!" Something like this... or