K1200RS Transmission Repairs Started

Last weekend, my friend Chuck saw a K1200RS transmission on eBay with a buy it now price of $300 located in Norfolk, NE, about 80 miles from my home. Chuck is a pretty good mechanic. At his encouragement, I took my K1200RS and Clymers manual over to his house where he had recently obtained a motorcycle lift. Over the next 3 or 4 days, Chuck tore my bike down quick to find the problem. I was pretty busy and was not able to help. Chuck determined the transmission output shaft splines and the clutch plates where completely worn (as in nearly gone on the clutch plates).

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

I have had various problems with clutch and transmission ever since the dealer tried to resolve some broken seals on the bike when it had about 20K on it back in 2005. Over the next few years, a gear shift indicator was fixed, two clutches were replaced and a shift problem was resolved. After 65K and the second clutch, the bike was having problems at times shifting. After initially arguing that the problem couldn't be duplicated, the dealer finally agreed there was a problem, but explained to me that probably wasn't that bad and that if I had him tear into it while under my extended warranty and just wearable parts were worn, I would be responsible for labor and parts. Its a very expensive job, so I stupidly let my extended warranty expire without taking the bike back. I figured I would ride it until the clutch completely wore out again.

In late April this year the bike finally failed on the on ramp to Hwy 20 near home. The engine sounded fine, but when in gear it sounded like gravel had been thrown into it. I trailered the bike home and put off doing any additional repairs. I was thinking about trying to take it apart and fix it myself this fall.

Back to the top of this story. On Wednesday evening Chuck called with his diagnoses. We figured replacing the transmission was a lot easier then trying to fix it. Chuck contacted the eBay seller and got his contact information. Thursday afternoon I called the seller and made arrangements to visit that evening and take a look at it.

At about 6 PM Thursday, Chuck and I took off for Norfolk on a road trip to visit this Todd Dickie of PowerSportsNation.com. When we got there we found 3 K1200RS transmissions. Todd said we could have any of them for $300. They all looked good, but we picked the cleanest one with the best splines. Todd told us that bike had 1600 miles on it, so we basically got a new transmission for $300.

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

Todd is the owner of PowerSportsNation.com. His number was 402-371-7002. He and his wife were great. We plan on visiting with him again. His location was 84786 N Hwy 81, Norfolk, NE, about 4.5 miles north of town next to a large used implement dealer who he has a shared driveway with.

Iowa Girl Hits 5 Deer In One Year

Maybe a new record, but a girl in Conrad, IA (<- link to article... Is "What's Up" still in Conrad?), has hit five deer (we assume different deer) within a one year time span. Our corn-fed Iowa deer are becoming pretty dangerous. Not to be out done, one of my co-workers has had two different collisions with deer this year.

Our 2010 Summer Vacation Ride & Darth Vader GPS (funny)

L and I got home safe, but worn from our summer vacation last night. The family pets were very excited to see us. We spent eleven days riding to and from the 2010 BMW MOA International Rally in Redmond, OR. With nearly 10 days traveling in the saddle and just a little over one day at the rally, we were able to ride some of the best roads and even found a couple new roads to add to our favorites list. There are lots of photos; we spent a lot of time with old friends and made a few new ones, and we did battle with a plethora of weather and mechanical elements. I will post a day-by-day trip report and some photos in the next few days. It will be good.

To Funny - Darth Vader TomTom video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ljFfL-mL70

Stan's Last Ride as a Free Man

Our good riding buddy Stan S. is getting married next Friday (June 11th) and we are very excited for him. We were going to have a ride for him, but the weather did not cooperate. Instead at the last minute we changed the ride to a get together down at Mac Behrs. Susie whipped up a special cake for Stan. I got him a practice pillion rider so he could practice riding 2-up (Steve L. had to inflate her, no one else seemed to be able to figure that out). Stan also got some beads to use for whatever he wanted. Jim said Mari, the wife to be, had him no strippers, but Jim ignored that advice and bought a couple of them for Stan anyways (in 16 oz cans). It was a nice party. Stan is sure excited about getting married.


Stan with practice pillion rider.



Stan with his cake!!

Bonzai!!

Made it on Piglet (DL650) to Winona MN Rally in morning. Wake up is at 4:50 am. Packet hand out is at 6 AM. Rally goes from 7 AM to 7 PM. Doug, Jim and Stan are here. Dave W. and I have a strategy planned to do our routing faster. Wish me luck. - Sent from cell phone/edited later.

Brewing Beer

Not motorcycle related, I spent late Saturday afternoon and early evening at Dave's as we tried to figure out how to make beer. Here is a photo of Dave stirring our first batch of "Burgfechtel's Perfectal Indian Pale Ale". The whole process was reminiscent of how to get a Flux Capacitor operational using 1885 technology.

Stopped at KC

I can take eating at LC's BBQ in KC off my bucket list now. We stopped there on the way home Monday. Its about 1.5 miles off of 435 East on Blue Parkway in KC. Slim has been talking about this place for years. Its not fancy, but the BBQ is famous.

-- Photo and original text sent from cell phone, edited later.

Raspberry Station Breakfast

Shot with and sent from my cell phone from the uni-sex bathroom at Raspberry Station on Saturday morning. The people of Missouri have a unique sense of folksy humor.

-- Photo and original text sent from cell phone, edited later.

Friday Morning, Eagle Rock Mo

Sitting under deck on patio, watching the sun come up. Rain hitting metal above me. I'm looking at Table Rock lake, listening to the birds doing their morning post rain singing songs. Its going to be a nice day! Randy and I are heading to Rockbridge for Trout Ranch, if we can get hold of Steve. Stan and Jim are headed there from Jasper Ar.

Made It

Made it to Eagle Rock, MO - Mom and Dad's place. Randy and I had a good day of riding.

Washburn,Mo

Stopping at Warner Kwik Shop in Washburn, MO after we managed to get on Hwy 90 in southern Missouri. Hwy 90 is great. We did a bunch of gravel to get there after starting out on Big Sugar Creek Road in Pineville, MO. Probably rode twice the miles we should have, but it was fun.
I water logged Pig just east of Pineville, MO, but she made it across the ford crossing before she died, so no swimming was required. Big Sugar Creek Road follows Big Sugar Creek.

The water at the ford (called "Deep Ford Access" on Google Maps) was deeper and colder then it appeared. I thought it was just a few inches deep, maybe a foot at most. I first crossed it and then crossed back because the road on the other side was really rocky (not good) and because Randy wouldn't cross. OK, I admit I was momentarily lost even with the GPS when I first crossed it.

On the return trip back across, I went to a little too fast because the water came over the top of the windshield for a second and that is probably what water logged Pig. Randy caught the entire incident with his helmet cam. Later learned I should really have pulled the plugs before I started Pig back up, because the water could have damaged her engine. After trying every minute, after 3 minutes she started. Water in her must not have been that bad because she still runs fine.

The next ford on BSC Road was a lot lower then last year when we got there. While we were discussing whether to cross that one, we watched an oncoming pickup truck cross from the other side. The water on that ford runs fast and came up above the top of the wheels on the 4x4 pickup. The road in this particular ford was also very narrow. The guy in the pickup joked at us as he went by, telling us to "hit the gas and giver hell". We decided we weren't ready to try that, so we took dirt road we took last time which followed a ridge line around. Maybe next year, hehe.

-- Photo and original comment sent from cell phone, updated description added April 28th.

Historical Powell Iron Bridge near Powell, MO

We saw a sign for Historical Powell Bridge so we had to stop. Its on Big Sugar Creek near Powell, Missouri. Bridge makes kind of strange groaning sounds when you walk on it.

-- Photo and original text sent from cell phone, edited later.

Pineville, Mo

Randy and I stopped at Pineville, MO to take a quick break. We asked the lady working in the store how the country road was east of town and the lady said it was fine. This was a road we tried to ride down last year, but found it was impassible then because of high spring water.

-- Photo and original text sent from cell phone, edited later.

Leaving Trent and Shary's in KC

Jim's son Trent and his wife Sheri put Randy and I up with Jim and Stan Wednesday night. Its nice to be able to roll in their garage and just leave the bikes. This is a photo of Stan and Randy waiting for Jim and me the next morning on the street below their steep driveway.

Photo - Stan and Randy waiting for Jim and I.

-- Photo and original text sent from cell phone, edited later.

Disappointments with parts and service

I have been trying to support local companies by buying parts and services locally when I can. This seems to often be an uphill battle and is often discouraging when it comes to motorcycles. I'm starting to think Internet shopping sites are not only generally much less expensive, but many cases they do a better job and provide a higher level of service.

A couple weeks ago I had the radiator off L's Shadow. There is a widely discussed shop on the net which is a highly regarded which specializes in aluminum motorcycle radiator repairs. The shop ussually charges $35 + shipping for most repairs. A friend had used and recommended a radiator shop in South Sioux City, NE last year after they pulled him out of bind and fixed his son's Honda radiator. So I took over to that shop and they said they would run pressure tests for me for no charge and if it needed repair they would try to fix it. I went back the next day and they told me it didn't leak, but they had gone ahead and cleaned it for me (not discussed or needed). With 2 clamps (the clamps did not fit btw) the total cost was about $20. The first problem I noticed was that they had scraped a lot of paint off and bent a lot of the fins on the back side of the radiator. I wasn't very happy about the damage, but since the same may have happened had I sent it in the mail, I decided to avoid conflict give them a pass on this. So a couple days later I put it back on the bike, replacing the thermostat, and finished flushing the entire cooling system on the bike. No sooner than I had everything back together, I noticed that radiator was leaking slowly, just as before. After pulling the plastic radiator guard off, I was quickly able to find the leak with a bright flash light. It was near a mounting stud at the bottom. I ended up taking it to a different radiator shop locally (in Sioux City proper) and they listened to me, did a great repair, and repainted the areas the other shop had beat the paint up. Their cost was $40 even. Total cost now $60 and a slightly beat up radiator. By the time I got the radiator back on, I had lost another week to work on the other bikes.

The next week, after some discussion, I ordered 2 wind screens (for VFR and GS) and a air filter for my V-Strom. The dealer convinced me to buy a paper filter, after telling me they were better and that the K&N was $83. I had been reading about this discussion on the web and there seemed to be a lot of different opinions on paper vs. reusable filters. After a few days both the big ticket items, the wind screens came in. After about 12 days I finally asked where the air filter was and the person working the parts counter could not find the order. So I asked them to cancel the order if they ever found it, and went bought a reusable K&N filter on the web (I ended up paying $48.30 with discounts and free shipping). The non-reusable paper filter was approx. $46 with tax locally. The correct K&N filter arrived 2 days later in the mail and I was happy. This process threw me back another week on getting the V-Strom ready.

Finally, last week after changing the rear tire on my V-Strom I found that the rear pads on it were nearly gone. The next day I dropped by yet another local dealer to buy some new pads. They looked up the part number and sold me what they said I needed for $43 + change. Over the weekend I tore the brake apart and noticed the old pads looked nothing like the new purchased replacement pads. So today over lunch I returned the pads and ordered a set from SW Moto Tires for $29.95 with free shipping. The Strom is still on the paddock stand and I have managed to drag it to the side of the garage so I could work on the GS.

The worse part of all these trials is all the wasted time working on the bikes and running around town. The whole process is taking too long and I don't seem to be making much progress on my spring repairs.

To top everything off, my K1200RS chewed up the engine output shaft about 10 days ago within 14K of my second clutch replacement (hadn't shifted right since the repairs). Part of that clutch repair service should have included inspection and lubrication of that output shaft. The service cost to get to the clutch plates is over $600. Frustration! Maybe I should sell the bikes and build radio controlled airplanes like Ryan.