There has really been nothing noteworthy in this year of this FatCow living with us!
It's been used as a commute, even though I still own that poor little KTM200EXC, which now has been transformed into a "Race" bike, which means lighter a few grams, minus turnsignals, passenger footpegs and the rear rack.
Back to the Gser however...
It's done about 20200km's so far, and most of them have been inside Athens, to be sure! In August 2002, I had new shoes on her, again those Bridgestone TW's. You might remember my rave report on them (based on looks, mind you!), when I bought the bike with almost 12000km's on. However, these little awful shoes lasted for the best part of the 20000km's!
Call it amazing? Not really... They managed to provide what I love in a bike: Predictable slidings, and PLENTY of warning before they slide. So, at about 19000km's I traded the worn-out TW's with new ones. So far, they managed to excite me on a 600km one-day trip to Messolongi, to meet some friends.
The last few days I was browsing through some BMW pages, among others the always entertaining and VERY useful technically ones at www.ibmwr.org , and another one in Holland, reading quite a lot about small and easy mod's to the bike.
So, this afternoon, I bought me a Sigma Targa bicycle speedo and installed it myself, alone with the help of Jason, as you will see, in about 30 minutes! That simple!
Alas, I've read all greek and other countries motorcycle mags' road tests of the GS, and they all complained on two things on the GS:
The turn signal switches and the inaccurate speedo, I decided I had to do something about the easiest of these two! Ha!
The second part however was another nuisance for me: At one time, on the motorway from Thessaloniki to Athens, I was travelling at a very fast pace, indicating all the time speeds in the regions of 160-190km/h, I had this Lada with both front windows open, chasing me for over 200km's of distance, SUCCESSFULLY!
The second part was better however: On the new road going to the Airport, one afternoon I'm travelling at about 150km/h, and after a sweeper I notice the cops aiming directly at me, as I'm coming their way ALONE! Shit, I think! But the cop didn't even give me a second glance! The speed limit was 120, and I was doing about 129... Not worth enough for them! (Greek MOTO magazine tested the GS's accuracy so that when it shows 150, it is actually doing 129 only!).
Update, Sept. 18, 2002:
Some of today's simultaneous readings of both speedos. On the left is the BMW, on the right it's the Sigma. (all numbers are km/h)
60 - 55
70 - 61
80 - 70
90 - 82
100- 91
110- 99
120-109
...the research will go on!
I first glued the speedo base right next to the throttle.
Next I routed the Sigma cables alongside the lefthand brake line.
I realized the cable was about 5-10cm short, to be comfortable when turning the steering to either side.
So, I cut the wires, and soldered the missing length from a spare tandem wire I found in my garage. Everything now is perfectly hidden under the front fender (you see the spliced wire was red-black!) and the pickup was ecured with two tiewraps on the left fork.
I first put Jason on the bike (engine NOT running of course) but still he was too light to make the bike stand on its rear wheel and the centerstand, so I put the first available thing that came to mind, right in the back seat! Then we tested that the new speedo can show about 10-12km/h speeds, when rotated furiously by... hand!
Then, Jason needed to know what all these buttons do there, so we had a once-over. (Yes the most intriguing button was the one of the alarm flashers and the horn!).
Instead of using the magnet supplied with the Sigma, I used the spare magnet from the Panoram trip computer I've used on my KTM. I glued the magnet on the left disk, using epoxy and making sure it would not interfere with the brakepads during the wheel's rotation.
Jason also insisted that I have a reason for calling the BMW a "FatCow" so he donated me a couple of stickers with a FAT COW and a butterfly, which he duly stuck on the tank, right below the BMW emblem!
Then the Narcissus in him wished for a pic of him taken alongside the new stickers!
A job well done!
...and then, in December 2002, we added lightning to the Sigma, of course!!!!