Well, here I am in my tent hole up waiting for the rain to pass . Rode up here to the mountains of Northern PA to escape the weather only to have it follow me.Looks like I’ll be stuck here for the next two days until it clears and I can make my get away heading east towards home.It.s Tuesday and I want to be home by mid day Friday so what I’m going to do is head out Thursday when the weather breaks and do a 300+ mile ride across New York State to the ferry to Long Island from Bridgeport CT. This is life on the road.Left home last Thursday and rode 325 miles to the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Show at White Rose MC in southern PA. It was sunny and hot with temps in the 90’s . The bike passed the first test!  Yes ,this trip is a test of my new old  1988 BMW K100 RS . It did just fine in the heat and did ok in the drizzle we had on & off at the event.Rode in on & off drizzle Sunday 250 miles north to a state park in the mountains of north central PA and today got to try her out in heavy rain as I tried to escape that crap only to ride into worse. So, the bike passed all my tests with flying colors and after going out in pouring rain to shop for food here I am warm and dry in my tent .The story begins here. White Rose was fun.I spent the weekend with old friends and old motorcycles riding between the bouts of rain when the sun would come out and bake us.On the ride down I had no use of my rear view mirrors because of my pack.This was a problem and I spent hours thinking about how I could overcome this.Now I’m at a Japanese bike show right . Well Friday morning I’m walking thru the swap meet and out of the corner of my eye I spot this BMW stuff that looks to be K100 ! I look closer and it’s a tail section from a K75 which is exactly the same and then I see two mint stock mirrors.The 75 uses the same bar controls so these will fit and also solve the whole problem just by putting them on and tightening two small nuts ! What a score for 50 bucks I now am safe and I have a rear tail section with a rack that I can paint to match my bike and have a better solution to packing my gear.That made my weekend! Sold some dirt bike crap I had and got a hundred dollars so I’m ahead now.My friends all liked my new ride and it was good hanging out .Changes are coming to White Rose ,new guys are running the place and doing a crappy job .Robin, the guy who runs this meet, is looking into another venue so this might be the end of a 27 year run at this place. Well, next year with any luck I’ll be out west and not in attendance . Time to shut this down and make some lunch while the rain has let up some.  .Keeping my fingers crossed for good weather but even if it rains I’m outta here Thursday. Time to end this trip and get back to work  getting the down payment money together for that house in Arizona .Getting dark now.The wind is picking up, it’s cold and wet here in Northern PA  .Hit the road early Thursday. Got on the interstate up in Western NY and pointed the bike east.Rode all day hard and fast.I decided to just do the trip in one day and head straight for the ferry at Bridgeport skipping the stop at Rhinebeck. The bike ran great.I made it to Danbury and hit a wall of traffic.Was aiming for the 5:15 boat and as I was going thru the town of Danbury the bike quit.It was like I just turned the key off.I rolled into the parking lot of this ice cream store where there was shade thinking I was just out of gas.Asked the woman behind the counter if there was a gas station near by and she told me one was down the street about one block so I started walking.Bought a small can and a gallon of gas . Back at the bike I put it in and still no luck.Called up my friend Craig who lives in CT.He was busy with work and told me he’d call back in a few minutes.After talking with him the first time my mind started to work right again and I started figuring out what it could be.Pulled off all my gear and turned on the key with my ear on the tank.No fuel pump noise ! Pulled off the side cover and found a blown fuse.Swapped it with the tail light fuse and the bike started! Called Craig back and he found an auto parts store near by for me on his computer.This was a big help. As I was heading to the parts store I saw a muffler shop so I stopped there.He had the fuse and gave it to me free with an extra just in case . He wouldn’t take any money. I thanked him, fixed my tail light fuse and made the 6:15 boat back to Long Island and home . It was a good trip and a good test of the bike.I found it to be comfortable and it handled well in all the conditions that I will encounter next year when I head out on a real journey cross North America for 3 months. There are a few things I want to do and need to overcome.After doing fork seals and new steel braided brake lines ,pads and a fluid change the brakes grab and pulse .It’s rideable but it needs to be fixed.Other than that I’m real happy with this bike. It rolled down the road all packed with gear with no effort at all and did well .

Great report Yamaguzzi.

Pity about the inclement weather, those north eastern states seem to have taken a bit of a weather battering these last few months. The weather channel was full of it when I was basking in the sunshine of the Florida Keys back in July.

Glad to hear your inaugural outing was pretty much a big success and you had a real win with getting those bar end mirrors. Some useful lessons learned too, ahead of your big ride which will serve you well in the future. Always worth having a selection of fuses and bulbs in your come-in handy bag of spares. I carry a spare clutch cable too (some people rig it in parallel with the fitted one to make a road side repair really easy, if needed...which of course it won't be, if you have the spare - sods law working in your favour).

I did a similar practice ride before my first serious outing across to Ireland a few years back - really helps build confidence in the bike, identifies a list of things to fix or adjust for the better and helps refine your luggage plan.

Great stuff.

A great trip report. BAE I think you have a challenger :-)

A challenger for sure and I was going to say that you're right, but that my ride reports aren't a patch on TWBs who really sets the bench mark for pictures and emotive descriptions of the minutia of what he sees in everyday things going on all around...and then I see he has posted another one and proved me right!

I'm going to have to work hard on my next ride report form way down under!

Crickey that bike is "loaded for Bear" Yammaguzzi ! Good trip tho'

I know someone with two sets of mirrors on his RS, I could never understand why until I read your report!.

Happy motoring.

Born Again Eccentric wrote:A challenger for sure and I was going to say that you're right, but that my ride reports aren't a patch on TWBs who really sets the bench mark for pictures and emotive descriptions of the minutia of what he sees in everyday things going on all around...and then I see he has posted another one and proved me right!

I'm going to have to work hard on my next ride report form way down under!

Here's a trip report from the past when I went out for 3 months on my 1975 Moto Guzzi 850-T in 2010. I love documenting these rides I go on ! https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/02/riding-in-canadian-rockies.html

My hat's off to you for being able to handle that RS with all the stuff you tour with.  I expect I wouldn't even be able to mount the seat if it were me trying to ride the machine.
Do you know the reason the fuse blew?  

brickrider2 wrote:My hat's off to you for being able to handle that RS with all the stuff you tour with.  I expect I wouldn't even be able to mount the seat if it were me trying to ride the machine.
Do you know the reason the fuse blew?  

I'm thinking it was an original part and it just got hot and failed. I rode the bike for 7 straight hours and it was hot out then got stuck in a huge traffic jam for almost a half hour before my exit off the interstate.The heat coming off the motor was high. The fuse blew minutes after I got off the interstate and once replaced worked fine for the 60 miles to home and since. I am replacing all the fuses with new ones and getting a good supply of spares as well. Riding a packed bike is no different than riding with a passenger except that it's a little easier because the pack obeys and doesn't move around .After the first 10 minutes of the trip it's like it isn't even back there and after a day you don't even think about it.

88 wrote:I know someone with two sets of mirrors on his RS, I could never understand why until I read your report!.

Been thinking about doing that myself. As soon as you get anything on the pillion (including a passenger) the mirrors go from brilliant to useless in less time that it's taken you to read this.

Dai wrote:

88 wrote:I know someone with two sets of mirrors on his RS, I could never understand why until I read your report!.

Been thinking about doing that myself. As soon as you get anything on the pillion (including a passenger) the mirrors go from brilliant to useless in less time that it's taken you to read this.

I found that out as soon as I sat on the loaded bike.The only problem with the extra mirrors is that your turning radius is inhibited .This isn't a problem when riding but if you need to do some maneuvering in a tight spot they hit the body work.I'm thinking about getting some cheap aftermarket ones and bending them to overcome this.

I fitted Blackburn bar end bicycle mirrors to eliminate blind spots $40.00 Au a pair. They work as intended totally eliminated blind spots, and can be easily folded in for tight parking and lane filtering.
Regards Martin.

MartinW wrote:I fitted Blackburn bar end bicycle mirrors to eliminate blind spots $40.00 Au a pair. They work as intended totally eliminated blind spots, and can be easily folded in for tight parking and lane filtering.
Regards Martin.

That's a good solution ! I'll look into that . I'm thinking of taking it on another trip in a few weeks and trying to reduce the pack size some with less clothes ,a smaller sleeping bag , and a smaller duffel bag .

I'm mentally working through another solution at the moment, involving using the pod mounting plates as the aux mirror mounting points. The old axiom 'if it's too good to be true' keeps coming to mind because the answer I currently have is very simple. Maybe too simple.

Can't wait to see this solution !

Imprinted onto the mirror glass of a Harley-Davidson certain cruiser-type motorcycle: "Caution, objects in the mirror are behind you".

.....or in front of you going 12 miles an hour below the speed limit having no clue you are behind them for the last 10 miles.

I have to say that not all Hardly riders fit the "12 under" model.

Yesterday I took a 200 mile ride down into the Southern tier to a restaurant near the PA line.  Out of a group of nine, Kenny and Bill were two of the five Hardly riders.  On the way down we pretty much stayed at the posted limit to keep the group together, but on the way back we took the twisty route, and Kenny set the pace at the legal limit(10 over) and the three of us quickly lost sight of the other 6.  To say I was impressed by how they handled those 900 pound beasts would be an understatement.

Kenny and Bill aren't out of the traditional Hardly mold.  Although their bikes look like they just came out of the dealer, they have mileage on them like you would see on a well-traveled Brick.  They do a five week 10,000+ mile trip out west every year and never trailer their bikes to get there.  They have ridden a lot of the iconic roads and have done it at speed.

Certainly not your typical tavern-to-tavern Hardly riders.

Yes, it's unfair to accept the stereotypes of some brands -- worse still to carry that tendency over into other aspects of our lives. 
I recall following a guy down in New Mexico one year.  He was on a "cruiser" - riding two-up - and was probably averaging 90 mph over extended periods out in the desolate roads of that part of the world.  I have no doubt his bike was far from stock, but I was still impressed with the performance of both the machine and the rider. He must have been one in 10,000 owners....

As it was meant to convey a sense of humour borne of frustration with having to ride behind hordes of slow-moving HDs and other brands at Sturgis this year, the last time I went two years back, and the time before that. I will amend my quote to read it as it should have been. I regularly ride with an ex-Bandito HD pilot and he spares no throttle in his right hand, his tyres perform beyond their design limits, the footpegs have tell-tale scrape marks, and he's smiling at the end of the day as he has a smoke at the roadside and waits for the others to catch up. 

We should give Yamaguzzi his thread back. Pardon YG

"Caution, objects in the mirror are (stuck, waiting impatiently) behind you".

A few years back I met a Yamaha rider who's mirror read "objects in mirror are losing".

OK I just tossed my broad brush in the trash.
Yam, thanks for sharing your ride and I for one appreciate the fact that you like to keep an eye out for what is happening behind you.

I love all motorcycles ! It has nothing to do with brands or country of origin . For years I heard remarks about my "Jap Crap" and thought to myself "what morons these guys are " while I was out there on the interstate packed like a horse on my 1971 Yamaha R5 350cc two stroke  blasting down the road doing 500 miles a day.
Even with all this junk tied on the bike it still rolled down the road just fine and handled fine in the twisties and on dirt road.There is no such thing as a bad motorcycle and there is no one brand that is better than the others.The fact is they are just different from each other not better or worse .It's the riders that make things better or worse.My first long distanc trip on a bike was in 1966 at age 17.I had been riding 14 months at that point and I was on a twin cylinder 100 cc Yamaha known as a Twin Jet 100. I rode that thing up to Boston from New York on a Friday afternoon my chin on the gas cap the motor screaming going 65 mph at best on the interstate with the trucks. Got there by nightfall and returned on Sunday. Two years later it was a 250cc Yamaha that took me and my best friend fron NY to Los Angles California  where we used it for a year while we were in collage.A year later that same piece of "Jap Crap" carried me and this girl I met back to NY.



Here is that bike today 50 years later with me still on the thing at a bike show in NY City.

ALL MOTORCYCLES ARE GOOD !

You'll get no disagreement from me.

If your rode that Yamaha (YDS-3?) from coast to coast, I hope the bike had an autolube system so you didn't have to mix fuel on the road!

brickrider2 wrote:If your rode that Yamaha (YDS-3?) from coast to coast, I hope the bike had an autolube system so you didn't have to mix fuel on the road!

1965 was the first year for oil injection so yes it and my other two before it were injected. Some 64's had it late in the model year. 2 stroke oil was sold at every gas station and wasn't an issue

Awesome thread !

@ Yamaguzzi : LOVE the bikes, all of them ! And thanks for sharing the epic photos.
Is your RS white, grey or some other funky colour ? She looks mint. And the belly pan of course gives that extra touch. I have one myself, however it is nearly destroyed by now. My bellypan I mean, not the bike fortunately.

Sharing with you the link to my summer vacation ride report around the European Alps (France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany) :

http://www.chromeheads.org/index.php?threads/einars-road-trip.33042/

Mostly pictures, and it wasn't done with a K-bike, but the pictures are still telling a nice story, in my opinion. Here's the itinerary.

ERasberg wrote:Awesome thread !

@ Yamaguzzi : LOVE the bikes, all of them ! And thanks for sharing the epic photos.
Is your RS white, grey or some other funky colour ? She looks mint. And the belly pan of course gives that extra touch. I have one myself, however it is nearly destroyed by now. My bellypan I mean, not the bike fortunately.

Sharing with you the link to my summer vacation ride report around the European Alps (France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany) :

http://www.chromeheads.org/index.php?threads/einars-road-trip.33042/

Mostly pictures, and it wasn't done with a K-bike, but the pictures are still telling a nice story, in my opinion. Here's the itinerary.

Great stuff ! It sounds like you had an incredible ride . Someday I hope to ride in your part of the world , it looks like such an amazing place to be on two wheels. My RS is silver. She is all original with low miles.A good friend gave me this incredible machine as a gift . He is a fellow collector like myself who I have restored a couple bikes for .He bought it back around the turn of the century ,had tires mounted and a tune up and oil change done then rode it 120 miles when he decided he hated the bike.Go figure ! Well,he parked it in his sons heated basement where it sat for 15 years. When he went to bring it back to life he discovered it was beyond what he could do and BMW wanted more than the bike was worth to fix it so knowing I'd fix it he gave it to me. That was in late 2014. I knew nothing about working on these bikes.All I ever worked on was old bikes from the 60's and early 70's so I spent a year learning what I needed to know before I started the work. With the help of many people here on this forum I learned and then attacked it head on.Got her on the road last October .She had 12,000 miles on her when I got her and now has just under 17,000 a year later.I LOVE HER ! Next year I will be on her wandering North America for 3 months .Like you ,I'm a traveler.Here is something I wrote about a road trip I took back in 2015 up to Eastern Canada for 5 weeks on my 1975 Moto Guzzi 850-T https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-post-from-past.html  Perhaps one day you can show me your part of the world and I can show you mine.