August 2-6, 1998 Bodegraven, Netherlands - {Thomas & Katja's house} While at Thomas' and Katja's house, making use of their excellent motorcycle workshop... I relubricated the transmission input splines on both bikes. This is a big operation done as preventive maintenance on the bike. It involves separating the transmission from the engine which in itself means the removal of almost the entire back end, allowing me to give the bikes a good going over. The bikes had gone over 20k miles since the last time this was done. I figured it would be a good idea. Going over the R80G/S I was able to find traces of the ?mechanic's? work done in Buenos Aires. ------- Gripes on the Buenos Aires BMW butcher who I will refer to as HC... In fairness to BMW, he didn't work for BMW, nor do I think he could have. When I removed the valve covers, I found 3 of the six washers missing. These are easily lost unless one takes care not to. Being on the road without easy access to replacements, I always take care, and despite this have managed for 3 years not to lose one. I had seen HC adjust the valves without retorqueing the heads. This is something always done together, and takes just a couple minutes. Not doing it can potentially lead to a blown head gasket, and other problems. I thought I might have just turned my head when he did it, but now noticing how unusually off the torque on the head nuts were, confirmed my suspicion that he hadn't retorqued them. I found a BB or ball bearing stuffed in the vacuum tubes of the carburetors. blocking the synchronizing action of the carburetors, and may be why these carburetors were not properly synchronized. Obviously they stuck this in to isolate the carburetors, and forgot to remove it. One side burned too rich as a result. I saw HC wipe clean the heat sink compound from my ignition control unit. I bought some at Radio Shack and reapplied it..before my control unit burned out. I didn't say anything at the time for fear of wounding his pride/insulting his ego, and also taking an educated guess that he probably doesn't have any to reapply. When HC removed the front engine cover, sparks flew as he touched the diode board with it. Every repair manual (Hayne's, Clymer, BMW) warn to disconnect the battery before removing this cover for just this reason. The chance of frying the diode board is very high from this, not to mention the danger of sparks flying in a mechanics work shop potentially full of oily rags laying around. HC cleaned the air foam filter oil in my air filter. I had just recently applied some, and it was still a bit wet with the sticky stuff. While I didn't like this at the time, I thought I wouldn't interfere. What I didn't realize until now is that he had not reapplied any air foam filter oil. The foam filter has been running clean and dry which offers little protection, and contributes to quick engine wear especially in sandy areas like the Sahara desert in Morocco.... The left head has been leaking oil since Buenos Aires every time it's parked. I thought this was because the valve cover gasket needed replacing, so I put a new one in despite the fact that it looked fine. As I closed it up, I discovered that the center valve cover nut was loose. My stomach which is capable of detecting stripped screws told me so by churning. I tugged on the bolt by hand and it came right out with part of the aluminum head still in it's threads. The manual gives this stud a low torque value for just this reason. Before I could stew and get really pissed, Thomas produced an electric drill, and stood in front of the aluminum head about to plunge in. His body motions said "step aside..." Anxiety instantly set on high, I reminded him "you're about to perform brain surgery on my child". In his off humor he said, "No, a lobotomy". He needs to work on his bedside manners... He drilled out the hole that the former stud resided, threaded the hole, and then twisted a stainless steel heli-coil, screwed in the stud with some super strength loctite. The head no longer leaked oil from the top end. I have since lost all respect for HC, the mechanic in BA despite his claim of 25 years of service. He butchered my bike and charged me a fortune for it. I think he's in business because he's the only mechanic in a place that has very few BMW's. The motorcycles probably all die off prematurely at his hands. The only positive thing I can say is that he had the part I needed when I needed it, but charged me premium prices for it... --------- Other modifications performed in Thomas' garage: R80G/S: - brake fluid changed (DOT4) - brake calipers cleaned and relubricated - new brake pads added... Old ones were glazing, and so would have lasted forever, but not been very effective. - brake rotors ground down to remove deep ridges that had formed. The rotor width is still above the minimum. Thomas had a lathe at work. - retorqued heads, and adjusted valves - regapped the plugs - checked the NGK ignition wires to see if they still read 5 ohms. yep. - replaced the front left turn signal bulb, and broke the right rear bulb. - changed the oil in the final drive, drive shaft and transmission with 90W Bell Ray gear oil. - pushed through some MoS2 grease through the swing arm bearings. - cleaned and relubricated the front axle and spacers with lithium grease. - lubricated transmission input spline with BMW #10 red lithium grease. - got the top box, and right side pannier fixed at the welding shop. - put in a new battery - wired up a little positive terminal octopus for all the accessories that run off the battery. - applied a little more marine GOOP to the left heated hand grip where it had ripped during the accident in Morocco. - new valve cover gasket. R100GS - changed the oil in transmission, and final drive with 90W Bell Ray gear oil. When draining the transmission, again I pulled the engine drain plug by accident. Last time was in Costa Rica. I need to paint this fluorescent orange or something so I don't do this by accident again. Given the prices of motor oil in Europe, this mistake probably cost me $10-$15. - relubricated the transmission input spline. visiting the weld shop... Thomas took me by a machine shop where he was friends with the workers. This welding shop was different from others on our trip in that it was spacious, clean, and the welders all wore uniform overalls. They had a clean carpeted dining room. It was the same as all welding shops around the world in that it had a picture of a topless woman on the wall. I suspect these come in the box with the welding machines as they are as standard to find as the welding machines. While we didn't have time today, Thomas let me borrow his Renault mini van to take my aluminum boxes the following day. Today just served to introduce me, and tell them what my problem was, which was a good idea since they spoke little English, and I spoke no Dutch. The next day I showed up with the boxes. They were reluctant to weld the side pannier saying that the aluminum was too thin, and came up with a better idea of bracing it with a steel corner brace, that was overly strong, and added about 10% to the weight, but I won't be nervous about it breaking. I showed them the top box. It was agreed that this could be welded, and further reinforced with some aluminum corner pieces. I was sent off with one worker. While initially I had no doubts, I was assured that he was a good welder by another worker. As I later watched him work, I could see why I was told that, and why yesterday they had jokingly asked if I could weld aluminum. I noticed the tungsten on his TIG welder was about as dull as a pencil eraser, when usually it should be as sharp as a sharpened pencil tip or else the arc from the TIG will be undirected, moving every which way. I didn't say anything, partly because of the language barrier. I watched from a distance, looking distracted as he screwed up burning holes in the corner and going off to the grinder to fix them up, more than four times. Coffee break time came. I told them I would be back in 45 minutes. When I returned, he had given up on welding, and pop rivetted the box to an aluminum corner reinforcement piece. The Al Jesse pannier they didn't attempt to weld, but rather built a steel corner reinforcement which strengthened it considerably. They spent 2.5 hours working on my two boxes. When all was done, the owner charged 50 guilders ($25), which given the normal rate of 60 guilders per hour plus materials, the owner was giving me a big discount. I'm not sure if that was because as Thomas said they were nice guys who like to help individuals and bill the industrial clients, or because the owner was slightly embarrassed at the work... I noticed that the welders wore the stereotypical Dutch bulbous toe wooden clogs. However, these Dutch shoes had steel toes. ---- Thomas and Katja enjoy their food, and so did we. The first night Thomas made a wonderful BBQ. The second, we took them out to the New York (seafood) Restaurant on the harbor in Rotterdam. Formerly it was the launch point for emigrants heading from Europe to the United States (Ellis Island?, NY). Excellent seafood in a very alive eclectic atmosphere. The next night we had excellent take out Egyptian food which was wonderful. For lunch, we chomped on some raw herring with chopped onions. Holding it from the tail, One rips down the center which separates the two halves, and the bones just come out all together. Then stick the raw herring into the onions so that they stick, and put it in your mouth. I thought the raw herring and onions were delicious. Sharon tried it which was the first time I've ever seen her knowingly eat raw fish. She was surprised at how un disgusted she was, and that it was appealing to her, but she didn't have more than that one bite. [Later correction from Sharon... She said she ate more than one bite, and that she didn't initially know it was raw, but thought it was pickled or something...] Our last night we went to an excellent French-Dutch restaurant in Goudha. Kangaroo which is grown on farms around here was one of the dishes on the menu. Never having had Kangaroo, I ordered this. Dutch refer to this as eating "Skippy". Just like we would refer to eating rabbit as "Thumper", or deer as eating "Bambi". The Kangaroo was delicious. It tasted just like beef except it was extremely lean like venison. It had no gaminess at all. Thomas and Katja really enjoy port wine, and so we shared some of our 20 year Noval aged tawny that we brought with us from Oporto. Note: Goudha as in the red wax covered cheese sold back home, is pronounced here as "Gowda", not "Gooda". Also, I'm told, that cheese isn't from Goudha, but from near by. We had some cheese that was local to Goudha from Farmer Brahms, that would compete with Reggiano for flavor crystals and is cheap enough here to be so common. August 7, 1998 G, Netherlands - {Camped} R100GS 34966 R80G/S 46360 We finally left Thomas' and Katja's place around 4:00pm. We wanted to take off before they got home, so as to free up their time. They had let us stay at their house for almost a week without ever making us feel like we were wearing out our welcome. They always made us feel comfortable. It goes with out saying how much better one can understand the local culture living and talking with a local. Thomas is quite vocal in his distinction between German, Belgian and Dutch cultures. Getting such a late start, we only made it to near the border of Germany, which worked out well since we still had Dutch guilders to spend. We camped at another one of those permanent trailer parks. Thomas had described these camp grounds as a place where only a certain type of Dutch person will live. Thomas and Katja had some name for them which translated to the type of person who would put gnome lawn figures in their front yard.... The equivalent of plastic pink flamingo lawn figures back home... At this campground, Sharon saw a Dutch woman wearing traditional big wooden shoes with the pointed toes painted bright yellow standing in front of the mirror with an electric toothbrush in her mouth. The kind of shoes that are sold at tourist shops in Holland Michigan. She wore knee high wool hand knit socks and a denim skirt, while her blonde hair sat piled on top of her head. She probably had gnomes lawn ornaments in her front yard. We held out on filling up our gas tanks until we crossed from Holland into Germany. Gas is 10-20% more in Holland than Germany. Last time we filled up was in Belgium. August 8, 1998 Germany - {Camped along the side of the road} As we were pulling off to a rest stop, the charge light indicator lit up. I turned off the engine, and then turned the key back on and noticed the charge light was off when it should be on. From a past experience of a failed rotor, this is a possible indication that their is a fault in the charging system which would mean the bike is depleting the battery leaving a limited time before being stranded. Since we were in a bad spot to work on the bike, We moved on to a more suitable spot. From the voltmeter installed on the bike, I could see that as the engine revved up, so did the voltage meaning that their is nothing wrong with the charging system. I did notice that for a while when I turned on the turn signal indicator, the charge light would come on, and then later nothing. Also, the horn later no longer worked. We had an early lunch and I went over the electrical schematic. The common element between charge light, turn signals and horn is fuse #4. I opened the fuse box, and yep it had blown. I looked around, and saw that the left rear turn signal which i had attempted to fix at Thomas' had been dangling in front of the exhaust, and had melted shorting the wires causing all of the above troubles. I had been anticipating something more severe like a burnt out rotor for so long, that I had initially overlooked something simpler and more obvious. The fact that the neutral light and oil light didn't come on would be further clues. North of Hamburg towards the ferry crossing to Zealand, Denmark, our map indicated many camping grounds which to me, probably means a lot of competitive, nice, low price camping in an area worth camping in. We were sadly mistaken. While there is certainly plenty of campgrounds. quality, price, and scenery didn't seem to factor in. We spent three hours in this area looking for a place to camp. We must have passed thirty crowded unattractive camp sights that were so full that it was often hard to get anyone to talk to us to tell us they were full. While German's think it's funny foreigners flocking to see Glockenspiels and beer gardens, they can be teased for flocking here. It was becoming late, and still we hadn't found a campground that was not full and would let us in. Fortunately Sharon had spotted an area where people were parking along side the road. All obviously having the same difficulty finding a place to sleep. We pitched our tent there, and considered it a more comfortable spot than any of the campgrounds we had seen allowing us much more space, quiet, and costing us nothing. August 9, 1998 Kalvehave, Denmark - {Camping M0nbroon} R80G/S 46810 R100GS 35408 We filled up with gas in Germany before boarding the ferry to Denmark. We were told Scandinavian countries are even more expensive for gasoline. It's a shocker to spend US$60 to fill up both motorcycles gas (benzine) in Germany 156.9DM per liter ($3.32 per gallon). In Denmark the same gas sells for 6.2Kr per liter ($3.49 per gallon) We boarded the ferry taking us from Germany to Denmark... cost was 40DM for both of us and the motorcycle. On the Danish side, our passports were stamped, which was the first time in the European Union since we flew into Madrid. We stopped off at M0ns Klint which is a national park peninsula that juts out into the Baltic sea about 60 miles South of Copenhagen. The cliffs are made of chalk which turns the surrounding water white as it is eroded by the sea. In their information kiosk which told about the formation of the cliffs, they had a picture of one bog person from a bog in Jutland. This person was found in 1956? perfectly preserved in the bog. He lived over 2000 years ago. He was so well preserved that he looked like he had died just that day. He was found naked and strangled in the bog. We drove up the road to just outside of Kalvehave where we found a beautiful campground near the bridge crossing into Kalvehave. Our tent was set up 10 feet from the Baltic sea. Beautiful camp spot, but the mosquitoes were fierce. August 10, 1998 Helsing0r, Denmark - {Camped} R80G/S 46946 R100GS 35542 Sharon pulled over and said, "I think my clutch just went out". I looked at her bike. The bike was running, and she was stopped holding the clutch in. I said, "Why do you think that?" She said, "I can't get it to change gears." We pulled into the McDonald's parking lot 2 blocks ahead and I took a look. The bike was stuck in second gear. I'm familiar with this problem. In fact, I wrote an article on it entitled "Stuck in 2nd gear, or how to fix a pawl spring" that still appears on a BMW web sites. This is a common problem failing on BMW motorcycle before 1984, The R80G/S is an '81. However, fixed once, it never reoccurs because the replacement pawl spring is much stronger. It's a job that typically cost US$604. $600 for labor, and $4 for parts. 2/3 of the operation is a repeat of the work I just did 3 days ago at Thomas's garage when I was lubricating the transmission input splines making that work redundant. Since I wanted to be close to the bike while it would be in pieces, we found the local campground which is in the city of Helsing0r. Unlike last night, this one would make agoraphobic cozy. Our campsite which was arguably among the best there, was 20 feet from the train tracks of which the train would pass every half hour except from 12:30am-5:30am. The clientele included purple and blue haired kids, 100lbs+ overweight Scandinavian woman lounging around in their bras and underwear, middle aged men walking around in their bikini underwear, and the Swedish bikini team no where to be found. We stayed out of necessity. Everyone was friendly and considerate given the close living quarters. While Sharon set up tent and made dinner, I tore apart the R80G/S, and pulled out the transmission with the intention of taking it into Copenhagen tomorrow. The tools needed to open the transmission are special, and not one's that I took along. The next day, we took the train to Copenhagen carrying the transmission with us to the BMW dealer. At first the transmission felt like 40lbs, but by the time we made it to the mechanic, it had gained about 20-30lbs. Hot, sweaty and exhausted, we finally found the BMW mechanic shop. A white haired bearded mechanic in blue overalls was standing outside and looked at us as if to impatiently say "Well? what do you want?" I showed him the transmission and asked if he could open it up. The only thing that came out of his mouth was a quick terse "Vee have no time!" as he quickly walked off. Not yet discouraged, we hung around hoping someone with a little more people skills might show up. Fortunately someone did. The other mechanic, a young smiling guy came up to us and asked what he could do for us. I showed him the tranny and told him we were stuck in 2nd gear, and that I thought the pawl spring would need to be changed. He said fine, and that if I came back in two hours he could work on it then. We had lunch, and walked around Copenhagen. 2 3/4 hours later we returned. He had already opened up the transmission, changed the pawl spring, and closed it up again with a new gasket in place. I was disappointed that I didn't get the chance to see inside and have another change made. I asked how much, and Mr Vee-have-no-time said 500kr ($83). Shocked, I asked how long it took. and was told 1.5 hours. This is how long I would expect to take with my home made tools back home. I had expected a professional with the correct BMW tools to take 30 minutes. Since we were carrying minimal cash, planning to be in Sweden at the soonest, we only had ~400kr. He said they didn't take credit cards, so we left looking for an ATM. When we came back to pick it up, I realized I also needed some more transmission oil. The friendly guy dug around the back for an empty liter size bottle, then pumped some Castrol out of the barrel. Since oil prices were high throughout Europe I was prepared for a shock, but was still surprised. He asked for 80Kr for the liter ($13). I pay $2 for the same thing back home. I paid without hesitation, or showing any displeasure. We rode the train back up to Helsing0r... While I worked on putting the bike together, Sharon cooked up a wonderful meal. She made very spicy meatballs, and an Italian red sauce also very heavy on the Italian spices served on pasta. We had some South African red wine called Good Hope which we hoped would be a nice table wine, and it was. Note: The McDonald's at the North Station in Copenhagen has a big banner that says 10Kr for a cheeseburger. When I was here in '91, I remember that this same McDonald's had the same promotion going for the same price. August 12, 1998 Sweden - {camped} R80G/S 47064 R100GS 35656 I finished putting the R80G/S back together, and by the time we were packed and on the road it was 12:30pm. Before we got in line for the ferry, we picked up 3 bottles of wine. Helsing0r (Denmark), has an unusually high number of liquor stores. This is because alcohol is quite a bit more expensive in Sweden, and Helsing0r is the closest to Sweden. We got in line for one of the two ferry companies. There are several ferries every hour 24 hours per day making the 25 minute cross from Helsing0r to Helsingborg. As we witnessed, even the passenger trains drive onto the ferry and cross. We were charged 198Kr ($32) for the two motorcycles and us which we paid by credit card since we ran out of Danish currency. We had lunch in Helsingborg, Sweden. At an outdoor cafe in front of the castle of Helsingborg. We paid 110Kr ($13.75) for two pre-made sandwiches and two cans of pop. It was delicious, but the cost was a surprise. Later, with much patience, I filled up at an unmanned gas station which takes payment by credit card or cash from a kiosk machine that only displays instructions in Swedish. The cost of gasoline was 7.89Kr per liter. It was past 5:00pm, and Sharon was getting tired so we started to look at camping accommodations. We checked out a few camp sights by following signs on the road. These camp sights had 4 stars, which indicate how much like someone's back yard the camp sight will be. We prefer zero stars. It seems in Europe the word "camping" bears little distinction between trailer park and tent camping. About 50 miles South of Go:teborg we found a horse trail off the secondary road we were on. I went off on the trail and found a nice moss bed camp site under pine trees, taking advantage of Sweden's camping law which allows camping on all public property. August 13, 1998 Sweden R100GS 35771 R80G/S 47170 This morning it sprinkled while we lay in the tent, so we didn't get an early start. We were on the road by 12:30pm. We stopped in Go:teborg at a gas station with attached mini grocery store and made up some sandwiches for lunch. I picked up a liter of what I thought was blueberry juice to drink. However, It was so thick I think it was intended as a blueberry pure' soup to have with ice cream or other deserts. I drank it anyway. It was called blabars soppa. We sent a FAX, announcing are proximity, to our friends in Oslo Christian and Tone who we met in Villarica, Chile riding the same motorcycles we are. They had invited us to stop by. Christian said he had a shop for working on motorcycles that he offered the use of. I attempted calling Christian first. I put a 5Kr coin in ($.62) and it ate it in less than 15 seconds. The phone was still ringing unanswered when I ran out of time. I was surprised that being only 190 miles away that a pay phone would cost so much. The digital billboards announced that it was 16 degrees (58F). I was bundled up with two liners and the rain poncho, and winter gloves I bought in Southern Patagonia. Sharon had her electric liner plugged in and turned on with the heated handgrips going. A sprinkling of rain made the afternoon cold and dreary. We stopped off at a little resort place I had told Sharon about when I was here 7 years ago. It was 75 miles South of Oslo on E6. They have cute little cabins located on what appears to be a lake, which is actually a deep inlet to the Baltic. Sharon thought it was much more pleasant than my fond recollection had led her to believe. Although nice, I didn't find it as charming as I remembered. I had forgotten about the occasional wafts of sewage on the breeze, and someone had since stolen the canoe that I had enjoyed renting and paddling out on. There were recreation vehicles scattered about which given that I was previously here during low season, these things were not here. The first thing we did on arrival is attend to our neglected personal hygiene. We both took a long hot showers that we weren't able to do last night. Note: Sweden has the highest number of telephone lines per person in the world. 70 lines per 100 people. 40% of all Swedes have have mobil phones. This is expected to rise to 60% by the year 2000. (source International Herald Tribune 8/22/98) ---- Dave Thompson thompson@pdnt.com www - http://sdg.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~mag/Thompson Net-Tamer V 1.09 Palm Top - Registered