What did you do on or to your other bike part 2

[peterbaron]

Beautiful late afternoon with +20*C and a 116 km loop.

[Gone in 60]

Nice! Sounds like a great find.

[Gone in 60]

Challenge: take a look at the two BMW factory installed horn/siren units attached to the police crash bars on my '21 RTP, and figure out which of the ten or so wires running into them are triggered by the factory horn switch on the handlebar. All of these wires were used to run the siren, PA system, and very loud police "get your attention" horn. Find the horn-specific wires, remove the police sirens, and just attach the wires to a regular horn. 

Reality: BMW made the wiring on the RTP so complicated and police-specific, that there are no wires that "just work the horn" among the ten or so wires running to the two siren units. But hey, good luck, I found the factory horn wires that would be used for the civilian horn, taped up under the fairing. Should be simple enough to strip these wires and attach them to a simple horn, mounted under the fairing. 

Reality 2: BMW programmed the ECUs on the RTP bikes specifically so that the factory horn wiring is non-functional. It can be made functional if the bike is taken to a BMW dealership and the computer is flashed from "service spec" to "civilian".

Gotta love how BMW makes things more complicated than they have to be. 

But, I did have fun, and took the picture of my coworker and me, ran it through ChatGPT, and told it to make us superheroes.

[Lord Popgun]

Ok Ponch and Jon…

If you look around out there you can find the best motorcycle mechanic ever. He wears a white lab coat and NEVER gets it dirty AT ALL. Specializes in Kawasaki though.

Cool outfits you have. I like them!

[Gone in 60]

Ok Ponch and Jon…

If you look around out there you can find the best motorcycle mechanic ever.  He wears a white lab coat and NEVER gets it dirty AT ALL.  Specializes in Kawasaki though.

Cool outfits you have.  I like them!

Ha Ha! Yes, and he has a handy truck to go pick up Ponch's bike every time he crashes it, doesn't he?

Every time I ride to the museum, I pass CHP headquarters in L.A., which is nestled below the interchange of the 10 and 110 freeways. I glance down at it and hum the theme song in my head...

[Cormanus]

I really like the way the capes embrace the bikes!

[Frenchie]

Haven't taken the Valkyrie for a ride in a while, so today was the day.

   

   

[Gone in 60]

So, during a conversation with the boss on Friday, he asked "How are you with applying decals?"

Sorta saw it coming. So far, he's applied all of the decals to the standard black-and-white bikes himself, and I figured he'd tap me in for the job at some point.

So, we coordinated. After I finished up at the museum on Saturday, I headed to his place, and traded the '21 R1250RT I've been riding for a newly purchased 2015 R1200RT still wearing its plain black and white police colors. He showed me how the blood bike livery decals, which are produced in England, are packaged. They're carefully wrapped in paper sleeves, with detailed instructions on where each of the dozens of decals are placed to form the hi-viz yellow mosaic around the bike, which is then topped with reflective decals. 

This will be a fun project!

[Gone in 60]

Haven't taken the Valkyrie for a ride in a while, so today was the day.

Wow, Frenchie, I don't see too many modern-era Valkyries. That is a very cool looking bike. I remember the West Coast press launch of the bike, which was at the Petersen. I accidentally stumbled into the room where the bike was being prepped to roll out to the press, and just stood staring at it for a while thinking of how cool it looked (and a bit sinister, I think). I was given a very stern talking-to from the Honda folks about getting a sneak-peek at it.

[the Ferret]

On today's ride, I officially doubled the mileage that was on Blue Bird when I bought it back in October.