Feeling Better in Baltimore...

MikeO

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
May 31, 2002
Messages
12,150
Reaction score
198
Location
Dereham, Norfolk, today...
2nd October

I have a crap night’s sleep – this is not the best part of town and, despite how I’m feeling about the Adventure at the moment, I’m somewhat relieved to find it unmolested overnight. I’ve decided I’ve got to get some things on the bike sorted – I can’t carry on riding with these faults. I check to see the nearest BMW Dealer I’ve heard of (BMW dealers in the USA are a very mixed bag – and since I’ll be turning up on spec, I want to try and find a good one). I’m pleased to see that Bob’s BMW (who I bought my throttle lock from and were very pleasant people to do business with) are only 140 miles or so to the north east and directly on my route to Newark. I check their website and find they’re open at 0900, have a quick shower, pack the bike and set off by 0800.

It’s another foggy morning, though visibility is good enough to keep up 55-60 mph. I stick to the main routes – keeping the bike upright and at a constant speed is the easiest way to ride it at present. The bike’s running pretty smoothly – although I’m aware that the humidity in the air always has this effect – foggy days are a good time to sell a rough running car or bike :D

I’m reminded of riding up to BMW Salt Lake on Good Friday, my rear tyre down to the canvas – I’m equally concerned about the safety of my rear tyre now.

Eventually, after going around the ring road (called the Beltway) of Washington DC, I arrive at Bob’s BMW at 1030…

9302750-L.jpg


..as usual, the BMW Dealer locator, programmed into Bettie at birth, has pointed me to a location about a quarter of a mile away, in another industrial estate…:rolleyes:

I join the long queue at the Service Counter – it’s a flurry of activity as customers drop off and collect their bikes, but after a while the crowd disperses…

9302752-L.jpg


…and I’m seen by John Gallivan. I explain the various problems to him. At this juncture I should point out that I’ve been ‘carrying’ another problem on the bike for the last week or so – the front discs have warped again - third set of the trip. John comes out and looks at the bike. After much pulling, pushing, rocking and rolling, he confirms that there’s no play in any of the bearings and that the shocks look OK, with the possible exception of a slight oil weep from the front unit. He dismisses my concerns over the wear pattern on the rear tyre as paranoia (actually, I’m sure he dismissed it more subtly than that – but I knew what he meant :p). Time to assign a tech to test ride it. Bud Provin is the lucky man. He takes the bike out and returns with his verdict ten minutes or so later – the rear shock isn’t providing any damping at all. He says that, bearing that in mind, the bike’s handling pretty well :yelrotflm

The fault with the shock is obviously internal (a failed valve or something) – there’s no sign of an oil leak. We wind the preload up to maximum and I start planning how to overcome the problem. The most reasonable plan will be to get Jorge to FedEx my Showa shocks over from Oregon to Rob (Fixit) who is baby-sitting the Adv when I’m in the UK. If possible, I’ll ask Rob if he can swap them over, then FedEx the Öhlins back to GP Suspension to get them repaired. I’m assuming that GP Suspension will fix these free of charge, as they’ve been used for less than 10k miles since they re-built them.

9302753-L.jpg


Bud then checks the Throttle Position Switch (TPS) voltage and finds it to be quite a way off ideal (165mV, for the tech-heads out there), then re-sets it, balances the throttle bodies and agrees with my intention to ‘zero’ the settings on the Techlusion chip before messing with anything else. I check with the parts department – they’ve got a pair of GS discs in stock! Fantastic – I ask them to fit them (and new pads). In the meantime, having not stopped for breakfast, I wander around the main showroom, snaffling a couple of doughnuts and some coffee as I do…

9302745-L-1.jpg


I meet Colin Busch, who works in parts and accessories – he’s a great guy and we chat for a while about my trip, BMWs, music and just about everything else, at the end of which he invites me around to his place for a barbeque this evening. I’m very sorry to have to cry off (I need to get closer to Newark, before stopping tonight) – what a nice bloke…:thumb

I wander around the shop – it has a really good feel to it – everybody that works here exudes an air of fun and professional pride – Bob’s got a good team here and, I should think, some very loyal customers. One nice touch is the wall full of Polaroids, taken of customers as they take delivery of their bikes…

9302744-L.jpg


…whilst, in the ‘I’ve got money left – what can I spend it on’ department, they have a boxer engine cutaway model…

9302748-L.jpg


…which is powered by solar cells. You wouldn’t believe what it costs - $1440…:yelrotflm

There are some nice little touches – this collection basket…

9302746-L-1.jpg


…is for the complimentary soaps, shampoos and other bits that visiting travellers may have a stack of in their panniers. Every month, they go and give them to the homeless people in Baltimore.

Pretty soon (1230 – 2 hrs after I turned up unannounced), I’m given my bike back. The bill (just over $625 – most of which I’ll claim back through BMW GB, who are continuing the ‘warranty’ on my discs until the cause is discovered and rectified) is paid and I’m ready to go. I say my goodbyes – what a great dealership – I wish it was my local – John tells me that if I change my mind about going to the UK, they’re hiring…:D

I set Bettie the task of getting me to New York City the scenic way. To begin with, the urban sprawl isn’t too bad – I even have time to stop and snap this old gentleman, rusting his days out on the damp grass…

9302755-L.jpg


…I believe it’s a Mercury – anybody care to fill in the other details?* Soon, however, the neighbourhood starts deteriorating, as I head down Bel Air Road…

9302756-L.jpg


…actually, I didn’t take many pictures, for a very good reason. The area, a linear slum some 6 miles long, was so run down, the locals so threatening looking, I didn’t want to be seen to be provoking anything…

9302757-L.jpg


…I kept the bike in gear at all the (many) red lights and ensured I didn’t make unnecessary eye contact with the groups of young, belligerent looking men hanging around their front steps, or at road junctions. Monument Valley seemed a long way away…

Eventually I’m out of urban Baltimore and heading up Route 1 towards Newark and New York. The bike is still feeling odd in the handling department, but, now that I know what the problem is (and that it’s not a rear tyre that’s suddenly going to collapse, or something like that), I’m much more relaxed riding it. Tomorrow morning I’ll disable the Techlusion chip and see what effect it has on the surging – the bike’s still feeling lumpy.

The weather’s starting to close in a bit and, mindful of my poor night’s sleep last night, I decide to get Betty to find me somewhere to stay. I’m soon checking into the Hampton Inn at Edgewood. I check my messages and find one from Rob, volunteering to service my bike and fit tyres, free of charge, whilst I’m away. I’m bowled over by his generosity and mail him straight back, filling him in on the details of today’s investigation – he mails back with a shipping address for the shocks and says he’s happy to do the swap – what a top bloke! :thumb

I ring Jorge, who’s also straight on the case to get the original shocks over to Rob – the ADVRider machine has shifted into high gear…

I’m feeling a lot better about things today…

9303754-L.jpg


Some Americans take Halloween a little too seriously…

9302758-L.jpg


*EDIT Correctly identified by Boundless as a '47 Mercury Eight 2 door Coupe...
 


Back
Top Bottom