BMW reassembly, part 3

I found a pair of stainless Supertrapp mufflers on ebay, and knowing that I wanted a tool tube on the right side and a single muffler on the left, I bought them. It fits properly, but I need a pipe bent and swaged to connect the exhaust pipe to the muffler inlet. Off to Tuffy’s in Yorkville. About 20 minutes after I got there I had a connecting pipe in place that only needed clamps and it was done.

The front wheel bearings and seals were the work of a few minutes and they were done. Freezing the bearings and heating the hubs made it fairly simple. A big socket that just fit the outer race was a help too.

READY TO RIDE!

The first ride was a disappointment. The forks were stiff and the rear shock was very nice. I guess the extra preload I added with the slightly longer spacer was coming back to bite me. Oops. Can’t leave it this way – one of the advantages of pvc spacers is that they’re easy to cut. Mark volunteered his garage this time, so I headed up there and we cut 5/8″ off the spacers and buttoned everything back up. Much better. After a few more miles I may still shorten the spacers a bit more, but I need to see how the forks work when the fluid is warmed up and on varying terrain.

There is a very large field north of my house that’s just begging to be ridden. The full knobby tires are very nice when you run into mud, the bike just keeps going, albeit more slowly than before. With the scorpions on the KTM, it would have been dirtnapping long before I ran out of mud.

Clearly, I had the wrong tires for the eastern TAT. Oh, well. Ride, pick up your bike in the mud, and learn.

I try.