But that's okay. With Sparky's retirement from two-wheeled driving I inherited the little F650GS from her to do as I wanted. I opted to farkle it out to ride on the long ride. It is practically brand new only 1800 miles. It gets close to 70 mpg of gasoline...and it is speedy enough for this old geezer, with a top speed of about 100 mph. I've had it to 90 passing a car and it will get to 90 from 60 in a hurry. But I'm not out to break any speed records at the salt flats along the way.
The one thing that kept me from really wanting to ride the little bike that far, was the damn seat. It was unmercifully uncomfortable! I sold the stock low seat and bought the high version to try it out. Not much better. Then I went shopping for a custom built seat for it. Mr. Ed's Moto wanted $450. Sargent was a little better, but not by much. Checking around at my local BMW club I was sent to a local Auto/Boat upholsterer who sometimes do bike seats. These guys took a picture I gave them, and instructions on how I wanted my butt to feel after riding for 8 or 10 hours, and this is what I got today:
It feels so good and time in the saddle will only tell if they succeeded. But the price was $250, plus a few bucks for tax on the materials.
I have completed building the supports and attaching the modified Coleman coolers as side cases. They feel sturdy enough. The wiring for the GPS and radio have sadly been detached from the Roadster and installed on the F650. I'm ready to roll and will depart very early Sunday morning the 13th.
Keep an eye out on the MOA site for my slideshows. They have drafted me to work on the rally web team for presentation of pictures as the rally gets into gear and through the weekend.
My personal trip show and story will wait obviously until I return the 23rd or 24th with wild stories and cool pictures for the gang here at r1150r.net.
Bis Aufwiedersehen!
