Shake-Out Ride

After the repair of my R1200GS Adventure it's time for a shake-out ride.  Back on March 23rd the motorcycle suffered a drive shaft failure.  During the repairs, covered by an extended warranty, I also had the clutch plates replaced as the bike had 123,000 plus miles on the odometer.

So, today I'm heading out to one of my favorite places to ride;  West Texas.  I want to put some miles on the motorcycle to get it ready for the service I have scheduled for May 10th.  During May I'm doing about a 7,500 ride to accomplish a couple of Iron Butt Association rides.  More about that adventure in my next blog posting.  And, speaking of mileage....check out this odometer mileage on my GSA.


After spending the night in Fort Stockton I headed north to Pecos and the vast desert formed by the Permian Basin.  This geological formation is the bottom of an ancient ocean that formed some 300 million years ago.  I was riding to the northern reef and shore line of Permian ocean, the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  It's a bit off of the beaten path and not many people take the time to visit the park.  But its spectacular West Texas scenery is worth the ride.  Besides, it's another passport stamp in my collection to qualify for the IBA National Parks Tour Master Traveler - Gold certified ride.

I continued riding west to El Paso.  I wanted to visit the US Army Sergeants Major Academy located at Fort Bliss, TX.  I am a graduate of this military professional development institution attending while I was on active duty.  I graduated with Class 34 in 1989.  I haven't been back since so it's a bit of a ride down memory lane, or more specifically, Sergeant Major Blvd.

Leaving El Paso I head east to Van Horn.  I can't tell you how many times I have ridden I-10 both east and west.  But each ride is an adventure and I enjoy the vast open spaces not to mention the 80 MPH posted speed limit.  I turned off I-10 at Van Horn going south east on US 90 then over to Fort Davis.  Noticed a couple of wild fires in the Davis mountains.  West Texas was hit hard by wild fires the past couple of years and these were not a good sign.


Fort Davis stands unique among frontier forts in that it became the Regimental Headquarters for all four Buffalo Soldier regiments that served during the last decades of the 19th-century. Troopers of the Ninth Cavalry were the first Buffalo Soldiers to garrison Fort Davis. Arriving in the summer of 1867, they reoccupied the fort that had been abandoned by Union forces at the outbreak of the Civil War. In addition to helping construct a new post, they had the responsibility of protecting travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, a segment of the southern Overland Route to California.


I checked into a quaint local motel, enjoyed a TexMex meal and settled in for the night.  After a cup of morning coffee I headed to the super slab.  Stopped in Fort Stockton to gas up and another cup of coffee to go with my Cliff protein bar.  It's 325 miles from Fort Stockton to home near Wimberley.  I didn't stop until reaching home.  What a great shake-out ride.  The bike ran great.  But I did experience an annoying issue with my Spot GPS Messenger.  The "Custom" messages did not register to my account.  The unit acquired the GPS location and emailed the position to the Spot servers but did not text or email my contacts.  I use the "Custom" message to let my contact list know I'm parked for the night or an extended rest period.  I contacted Spot via their customer care site to get the issue resolved. 


Here's a SpotWalla Map in case you want to follow along.

Mechanical Failure

Back in the saddle, again!

UPDATE:  Back in the saddle again!

Picked up the GS Adventure today from Lone Star BMW in north Austin.  They replace the entire drive shaft and the swing arm along with all the seals and such.  Total cost for the mechanical repair was $2,032.85.   All covered by my extended warranty.  While Lone Star BMW had the GS apart I had them install a new clutch plate.  The original plate still had about 10,000 or so miles on it but I figured it was a good opportunity to replace it.  Saved half the of labor hour costs according to the Service Manager. 

Now the GS Adventure is in the garage and chomping at the bit to go for a ride.  Hummmmm....let me check my calendar.

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Saturday, March 23, 2012

After 123,000 reliable miles my 2008 BMW R1200GS Adventure suffered its first major mechanical failure today.  I was on my way to a rider course training class in northeast Austin when aound 7:15am the drive shaft failed.   I started to smell something like rubber burning and felt a roughness in the drive train.  Then the failure happened and I lost all drive power to the rear wheel.  When it failed I was traveling about 70 miles per hour. I put on my flashers, downshifted to neutral and coasted as far as I could, which put me at an exit ramp to the northbound frontage road.  I had the push the MC about a quarter mile to get it to a safe location off the roadway.  I suspect the "U-joint" just aft of the transmission judging by the scorched and bubbled paint on the swing arm. 

Yup, looks like a drive shaft problem.  Called the owner of Moto Fun and told him I wasn't going to make class.  He told me no worries and would get another Rider Coach to take my place.  I called home to arrange transport and to let Judy know what had happened.  Then I called Progressive Insurance to arrange roadside service.  Nothing to do now except wait on the recovery teams.  I poured myself a cup of coffee from my portable container and grabbed a seat.

Got to Lone Star BMW around 9:45am.  The tow truck pulled up several minutes after.  The service writer did a quick inspection and said, "Tim, this is going to be expensive."  I said, "No worries, Mate.  I have an 84 month unlimited mileage extended warranty, with a zero deductible, that covers everything not normal wear & tear."  He said, "Smart man! We'll get right on it."