[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Adventure seat conversion. #8330

I have heard of people replacing the standard seat with an adventure seat, so the reverse should be possible as well. I suppose you would also need the pack rack.

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Show us your Airhead #8309

Now I know what an Air Head looks like I must have an Oil Head. 👿  Phil 😳

Snob 😀 😉

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: intro #8140

Nick, I am sorry if we are not on the same wave length. It's not the first time I have missed the point completely. Blame the modern bikes for the small amount tech talk, there is not all that much that goes wrong with them. The letter boxes and old buildings are a result of the tours that we do. I can't change your perception, as this is unique to you. The way I see it, people turn up to rides, and then enjoy a meal and a chat afterwards. Did you talk to people and found you had nothing in common, or were you waiting for people to approach you, like Peter did? I usually make an effort to talk to people, especially new members. However, I don't see myself as the official entertainer. We provide the opportunity to ride and meet and the rest is up to the individuals

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Rain-X or similiar, does it work? #5648

Looks like I am going to get wet on the way to work then, bummer.

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Leslie and Ingel’s Trip to Europe #7893

Hello AllNew pics via website.Cheers, Lesley and Ingel 20th August We left Bruce and Jane’s Sunday morning and rode south again over some of the same highway past Toulouse. For some time we had a goldwing and matching trailer following us. Several lots of showers on the way and we were hoping to be going south for the sunshine. We pulled into a services for gas and lunch and an elderly French couple parked next to us asked about the size of the bike as their son has a BMW. They were also surprised at where we were from and wished us “Bonne Route”. As we were backing the bike out I looked around and we had an audience of about 7 people at different points all watching. A couple of the men gave us the thumbs up and then all of them waved as we set off. Lovely. Fifteen minutes down the highway and the elderly couple passed us tooting as they did so. Nice. The grape vines around this area of Bergerac are only about 1 metre high. They must use little people to pick the grapes or at least people with very bent backs. I remember my student-grape picking days at Hotel de Vin where we had to reach up to cut our bunches. Obviously, different areas, different grapes, different heights. As we rode south there were many hillsides striped with lush green grape vines and every now and then we saw a chateau on the hillside lording it over all the surrounds. This region has field after field of sunflowers all with their golden rimmed faces turned towards their sun king for the last burst of energy in their life. They also are only about 1 metre high and many of them in the last throws of their cycle. Many fields were hosting sunflowers which were withering and dying in preparation of giving their seeds and oil to us. It is interesting to see the different stages each area is at in the cycle of their crops. We arrived at the resort at about 4.45pm to be told the weather this week is going to be bad. Hmmmmm just seems to be our luck. However, we at least do not have to worry about the tent blowing away as we are in a nice little unit and we have different parts to see. After 2 days of lazing and lying by the pool we thought it time to be on the bike again so Wednesday we set off at 8.30am for Spain to visit Barcelona and Montserrat. The 1st tolls in Spain shocked us at how expensive they were and we had only been on their roads an hour! An hour north of the city it started to rain and continued for most of the day. Emily was very confused by Barcelona’s one way system but we found La Sagrada Familia, the cathedral by Gaudi that has been under construction since 1882. It has a very weird collection of styles but the sculpting is phenomenal. As it was pouring with rain we decided to head on to Montserrat where we wanted to climb the mountain to see the monastery. Just as we reached the top (1236m), the sun came out so we were able to see the clouds swirling below us in the valleys and down on to some of the towns far into the distance. The monastery is built on the side of the mountain and is surrounded by really strange looking craggy rock formations. We had finished here about 2.30pm so decided to carry on to Andorra. Emily said we would be there at about 5pm – just enough time to do some duty free shopping thought I. It rained the whole way there but we were able to admire the towns we passed through which are all built from the local stone. Le Seu d’Urgell is so beautiful with all the buildings being built out of this stone. Imagine Queenstown buildings, but smaller. We crossed the border into Andorra and noticed the long queue of cars at customs going back into Spain. We wanted some of this shopping as well so pulled into a ‘commercial centre’ for some serious spending. It was like a huge department store with everything imaginable (except laptops which we were looking for) at cheap prices. We bought 2 dvds and a chocolate bar which I thought was very restrained for us. Emily told us the quickest way back to the resort was back south through Spain but we chose to carry on through Andorra to France. The capital is very pretty as are all the other towns we passed through. All built of slate or rocks and stones cemented together. There is a phenomenal amount of construction happening all through the country so duty free shopping must be profitable. It was now getting on for 7pm and still raining quite heavily. We saw 2 signs which said Franca via Pass 5km or Franca via tunnel 3km, distances from us we thought. I had done the pass before and told Ingel of the roads so he thought he would go that way. The roads were very twisty as we climbed to nearly 2000m and 3 degrees! As we came over the pass we knew what the 5km and 3km signs meant – traffic queues!! We were directed down towards a town and stopped at the top of a hill where we joined the queue. It took 1hour 23minutes to do 5kms and 1 hour and 2 minutes of that was to do 1km!!!!!!!! This was at 8pm and 3 degrees in the rain with fresh snow dusting the mountain tops 800m above us. People were buying up boxes and boxes of alcohol and tobacco and loading their cars with all sorts of goodies before the shops closed at 8-8.30pm. We saw laptops at good prices in shop windows but were loath to leave the line of traffic and give up our place.  The hold up was the customs going into France. When we reached them they were in no hurry and pulled the van in front of us over and waved us straight through - motorbikes can’t harbour too much over the limit. We saw 2 more customs roadblocks further on and one was hastily set up as the customs car speedily overtook us on a bridge to await someone coming along behind. We climbed again through the Pyrenees and dropped down the other side in the pitch black, rain and very twisty, greasy bends. Continually out of a left hander and into a right with only about 100m of straight in between. The BMW boys would have loved it!  Even I enjoyed it, but ssshhh, don’t let on to Ingel. We finally made it back to the resort at 10.45pm very cold and damp but what fun we had…..a great day. Unfortunately there are no pictures of Andorra because of the dark and rain. We would love to go back again and spend some time wandering round the little cobble streets and see the passes in better weather.

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Letterboxes, post them here #6808

Hope this works, been meaning to put it up for a while now. You can view it on Makarau road

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Scott was right – a very special weekend #8278

I must get out more, can't wait until I have more time. Thanks for posting these reports, you guys are having way too much fun.

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: intro #8138

By contrast, most other manufacturers BMW competes against are still building bikes that display clear lineage and DNA back through the last several decades.Thanks again for your thoughts.Nick

Hi Nick,I don't quite see what the problem is. BMW still has the bikes with the lineage as well as others. The K bikes go back to the early eighties. BMW used to build singles before the Rotax engines. At the end of the day they are a business and here to make money. They also have to keep up with the latest regulations on emissions etc. If you don't like the modern bikes, don't buy any. The old ones can be kept alive indefinitely. If you prefer bikes from other manufacturers, buy their product. It still won't stop you from coming riding with us. I have a feeling that your own attitude and I quote"I haven't been involved in recent times with the Register, as I feel that it has become increasingly irrelevant to riders of older bikes. Gets a bit tedious having folk who own new/near new BMW's regarding people like me as a little weird/living in the past/too broke to afford a new bike/a luddite/too slow to keep up/scared of modern technology/ or any number of other assumptions. It strikes me as slightly strange to be seen as "fringe" in a one-make club on one level, yet many one-make clubs seem to set pecking orders according to the value of members' machines."is the barrier. Unless of course you have been hanging out with the wrong crowd. You can't blame people for preferring new bikes to the classic ones. Not everybody has the skill, time or inclination to do their own work on the bike.Come to the next lunch ride (Tuakau), so we can admire your R90S.Cheers,Alex

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Motu-Matawai-Minginui Midwinter Madness 07 #8275

Excellent report, you are quite talented with a camera. I must check out Motu road one day.Cheers,Alex

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Leslie and Ingel’s Trip to Europe #7892

Hello AllNew pics posted via website. Cheers Lesley and Ingel9th AugustWe checked the weather forecast again on the net and everywhere we wanted to go, including Lake Bled where we had enjoyed 6 days were in for heavy rain. So the morning being fine and dry, we decided to pack and leave for Innsbruck. Our plan was to get south to some better weather but we chose to go through Austria and Switzerland rather than Italy. Interestingly, we travelled from Slovenia to Austria then into Italy and again into Austria all in less time than it would take us to travel from Auckland to Levin to visit Ingel’s Mum. It still amuses me the number of countries so close together. We left the highway behind as we crossed the top of Italy between the green tree clad mountains of Austria on one side and the tall, craggy mountains of the Dolomites on the other. We passed through many timber mills and timber businesses as this is obviously the predominant financial source of the area. There was also an archaeological dig just before Lienz. It appeared to be an old town being uncovered. The clouds hung around all day hiding the tops of the mountains and at times the mountain heads would break through and wear the clouds as fluffy collars or at times as frilly tutus, so low were the clouds and so high were the mountains. As we crossed the Brenner Pass (again) we were in and above the clouds. We made it about 6pm after leaving after lunch and had only a small amount of rain on the way. We tried to get a caravan at the campground we were at 6 weeks ago. No luck so we booked into the hotel just down the road. Ahhh a bed and not in the night’s rain. This meant we were able to get up and leave early without having to break camp and pack a wet tent. It was fine as we travelled away from Innsbruck but began to rain before lunch and continued to rain the whole day. We had intended to stop in Luzern to do the Pilatus trio but as it was raining again we kept going to get as far south as we could. We rode right through Switzerland until we reached Genève and crossed the border into France where we booked into a hotel again very, very wet. Our feet were soaking and we were really cold. The temperature had been 11 degrees most of the day with the high being only 17. How nice to have a warm bath. Again 3 countries in about 7 hours.We crossed - on high bridges, 2 very swollen and flooded rivers in Switzerland and many of the fields were in the same condition. They have had plenty of rain as well. We stayed in Genève for 2 nights and had a good look around the city. I like Genève because of what it stands for, what is here and because it has the air of a conservative older family member. We used up all our Swiss francs at a petrol station then crossed into France to look for an eating place for lunch. We came across a tiny town with 2 eating establishments opposite each other. We chose to go to the one with lots of people outside figuring that the reputation was better. We walked in looking for a table and everyone’s eyes swivelled to watch us. There were 2 women inside and close to 100 men. We threaded our way through the packed tables and a waitress stepped in front of us and pointed to a table for 2 – just where we had been heading. Immediately we sat down we were given a basket of bread rolls (yum, my downfall) and a plate each of various cold meats and a knob of butter on top. We looked around and watched the locals to know what to do. After polishing off the meats and buns our plates were spirited away and the waitress babbled to us in French. I replied “Pardon? I am sorry, je ne parle pas Francais” and she said “Oh no, I am sorry. You do not want $&^^*&%^%#$, chicken is not for you”. OK we thought, if not chicken, what are we getting? The little toothless man sitting to my left started explaining in French, “la vache, petit, la tête” were the only words I could pick up – the cow, small, the head. Hmmmm so veal’s head, and the waitress had said the chicken was not for us!!!! Grief, what part of the chicken was it going to be? The other man at the table when I asked in French if it was good, gave the sign for so-so, then said “Specialitie”. We had a good laugh and waited with some trepidation for our main course to come. When it did arrive it was chicken in a sauce with rice and more bread rolls. So the chicken was for us after all. After that we had cheeses and cake. My little toothless friend offered me some veal to eat and put a small piece on my plate. It was quite nice but extremely fatty. Part way through the meal we realised we had walked into a plat du jour restaurant and on leaving I saw a sign saying “Aujordhui – la tête veaux” (French experts, please excuse my spelling). We were also to have paid before we sat down, hence some of the stares. We had a good laugh and a good meal.We left Genève at 7am and finally arrived at a camp ground at 4.30pm! The journey was supposed to take 6 hours but we met several traffic jams – one of which was when the motorway split going one way to Marseilles and one way to Montpelier, another was 21km long leading into Montpelier and the third was when 3 lanes of traffic converged on 14 toll gates. Now pure logic and mathematics suggests that 3 into 14 should go very easily but no, it took 30 minutes to get through the toll gates. Most of the vehicles were campers, mobile homes or vehicles with thule boxes on top. Hmmmmm, we began to think….. French holidays? Sure enough, as we had not booked anywhere we left the motorway and followed road signs to towns we had discovered on the internet to have camping grounds. So eventually at 4.30pm we began putting up our tent in the 7th camping ground we stopped and asked at – all the previous 6 were “complet” (full). It was extremely hot, sunny, dusty and we were thirsty so we took it even though the woman in charge kept saying in French that there was no shade only in the sun. At this stage we did not care - outside the gates of hell would have looked good to us then. After pitching the tent we looked around and decided perhaps we were at the gates to hell after all. The camp ground is old, decrepit, smelly, dirty, dusty and ill-equipped. However, beggars can’t be choosers and we did want to get south to the sun – us and every other French family and tent load of young men. It is in the grounds of a Catholic school and was probably once a very good camp ground. It has a large disused pool and spa, many showers, many Turkish toilets and only 2 sit downs, no toilet paper, cold water for dishes, hands and clothes but the showers are good. Lesley Join Ingel and I on our journey through Europe at: http://www.geocities.com/ezpeznz/LesleyandIngeltrip.html

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: BMWOR AKL Lunch Ride to Tuakau (September 2) #7865

Hi Bryan,if you arrive there at 12pm you should be spot on. Cheers,Alex

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Off Road Website #8270

I managed to bite my tongue, which is quite rare as some of you may have noticed 🙂

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: Off Road Website #8266

Good find, I'll have a closer look later

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: How is this for a BMWral #4984

URAL Sidecars New Zealand, 52 Chelmsford Street, RD 1, Katikati, contact Kurt, Phone 07-549-4438, Fax 07-549-4431 or Email: redtriangle@xtra.co.nzThat's all I was able to find.

[Dave Ross]

in reply to: basic multimeter tuition wanted #8261

Electrics is definitely an area I know very little about. I think the theory is that you try to stop the smoke from escaping. If there is any smoke coming out of the wires you have got a problem.

[Author]

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