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9 degrees F here in Vermont this morning, but no snow on the ground in this El Ninio weather pattern. We have real winter tires (Bridgestone Blizzaks) on separate wheel sets for both of our 4WD vehicles. Without them we would not be able to get home sometimes. They go on at Halloween and...

Learn to ski?

52k miles. They are big diameter flat shims. Nice thing is the shims go over the buckets, so you don’t need to remove the cam to change shims. Just make or buy a tool to depress the valve. Same setup as a K100 that I owned many moons ago. Bad thing is they are definitely case hardened since...

I still have my Africa Twin, which is comparable to your BMW F twins. This will see mostly Vermont dirt roads, and has Shinko Big Block knobbies on it, but is more street capable than the XR650L it’s replacing. I’ve already had much of the stuff from underneath the faux tank out, which is...

I recently re-joined the BMW kool-aid drinkers. Bought a well used 2003 F650GS Dakar w/ 50k miles on the clock for a princely sum of $2k. Bought it to replace the ‘93 XR650L that was last year’s winter project bike. Then this past summer my son decided that he really liked that bike, so he...

Yes. That is what any pre-load adjustment does; it changes the ride height. That is all that it does. It doesn’t make the spring any stiffer. The shock will still compress the same amount with a given added load, just starting from a higher point. Note: The lever on an “A” (non-ES) is not a...

I’d bet not. I’m not looking to sell mine either. I have 4 other bikes in the garage, all of them have chains. I’m not anti chain. They are easy to service. With modern o-ring chains you can either lube the crap out of them or not. Doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference. I squirt some...

Weird. I thought the insufferable owners all drove Priuses and Teslas. I’ve owned many different motorcycle brands over the years, including a few BMWs. The old ones weren’t all that hard to work on. Certainly not at the Ducati level, but even those could be worked on if you were...

Racing is all good. I wouldn’t choose a nearly 700 lb mega sport touring pig rig for my ride, but we all do crazy things. I happen to know some people that take stupidly fat 500 lb. ADV bikes down slippery, snotty trails, just to see if they can get through (guilty!). And sometimes we fail...

Lap times on a track <> street riding.

That is one sweet ride, Ray.  I hope it works for you and you have many happy miles together.

If you were going to attempt commute on it, or try to tour long distances, I don’t think I would choose a Moto Guzzi.  But if you are just wanting it to scratch an itch, toodle around town, maybe ride a few dirt roads, hell ya, why not? I was thinking of possibly picking up a smaller Goose, a...

I went with the Amazon wheels with tires, same size, for my old utility trailer earlier this year. They are exactly the same as what they replaced, only sparkly new. I actually needed new wheels too because the old ones had a lot of rust, but the whole wheel cost the same as just the tires and...

Nice ride, Enn. There’s a really good reason all the ADV bikes are so popular: it’s because they are fun! And you don’t really give up all that much. I’ve always said that if you can only have one bike it should be an ADV. lucky for me I can have more, so I kept my FJR.

Thats the secret. Stop messing with it! Hey, you are lucky enough to have the option to ride. We are still looking at another several weeks before getting out on two wheels.

Yeah, I was right there with my WR450. Really wanted it to work as an ADV type bike, but with 5 hour recommended oil changes, which translates to about 250 miles on main roads (5 hours at 50 mph). Even if you stretched the changes out times 5, thats still an oil change every ~1250 miles. The...

Apples and oranges. KTM 500 EXC is a full- on dirt racing bike with a plate and a headlight. It would be miserable to ride on road more than a mile or two. Compare that bike to a WR450F in terms of purpose and weight. Adding a second cylinder, and the ability to go 4-5 k miles between oil...

I couldnt wait any more when the Africa Twin is available now at deep discounts. Longer suspension, bigger fuel tank, humongous range if you go for the Adventure Sport variant (I didnt). But my 2017 AT weighs 500 lbs. and 50 lbs difference is a pretty big deal off pavement. 450 lbs is nearly...

Coming to the US 2nd half of 2020 also. https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/adventure-touring/models/tenere-700 Some specs are available. Not all of them impressive. Suspension travel 8.3 in. Front, 7.9 in. Rear. 4.2 gal. Tank 215 mi. Range Two important ones that are conspicuously absent...

Ive been bouncing around on different off road and dual sport bikes for decades. Grew up riding trail bikes and MX bikes, and had an XR400R Honda for a long time, but trailering to a riding area doesnt have much appeal to me anymore. Had a KLR650 briefly, but it was a dog, IMO. Had an Aprilia...