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Iron Butt Rider

R

RandyBailey

Guest
Last month I completed an Iron Butt ride (1,123 miles in 18hrs) on my R1150RT. The final drive was dying as I completed the trip and the tail light assembly fell off during the ride.

I'm a deputy sheriff in Arizona, a Colt armorer and general instructor for my agency.

I got my first bike and driver's license, a 1962 Honda C110 at age 14. After a couple of on-road crashes I purchased the first model of the Bell Star helmet. I put that helmet to good use and I'm sure it saved me a couple times.

In the late 1960s I got into the new sport of motocross and raced a CZ, Rickman-framed Kawasaki, Husky and others. In the 1970s I played with trials and had some success with a Zundapp ISDT. After that I rode a series of road bikes, none of which are worth noting. Around the same time I got into SCCA racing and had success in Showroom Stock and Formula Vee.

In the early 1990s I bought an ex-Baja Honda race bike and played with it on and off road for a few years. A broken ankle at work made it difficult to ride off road so I acquired a couple late-model Honda Hawk GTs. Without a doubt, if I could have any bikes back that I previously owned, I would choose the Zundapp and the Hawk GT.

I tried converting one of the Hawks to a distance tourer, but I finally came to the realization I needed a real touring bike. I picked up a used Kawi Concours and rode it into the ground touring. I bought a newer Concours and it gave fantastic service until I was T-boned by a DUI driver (driving a company car while on duty). With the insurance settlement I bought a new '99 R1100RT. I replaced it in '03 with an R1150RT and am considering the purchase of a new RT within the next year or so.

I'm a member of IBA and plan on another Iron Butt ride in Spring 2010. I ride solo and avoid group rides like the swine flu.

If this upload works, it's a shot of me at a fuel stop in Las Cruces, NM last month on my distance ride.

IBARideLasCruces9-21-09.jpg
 
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Welcome. Glad to have you here as part of the family.

Great introduction BTW.

While you many not like to ride with others, there are several Chartered Clubs in AZ that my have other events in which you may be interested.

Ride Well
 
Last month I completed an Iron Butt ride (1,123 miles in 18hrs) on my R1150RT. The final drive was dying as I completed the trip and the tail light assembly fell off during the ride.....I'm a member of IBA and plan on another Iron Butt ride in Spring 2010. I ride solo and avoid group rides like the swine flu.

Great introduction and welcome. I bet the IBA has lots of paperwork to process these days -- I've heard from a few that they recently completed an IB run. I did 1,100 miles (Houston to Cincinnati) in 20 hours last month with a buddy.

If you're thinking about an R1200RT, I've had my 1200RT for 11 months now (23,000 miles) -- including many 500+ mile days, the Iron Butt run and lots of two-up riding -- and I have had no mechanical issues.
 
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Welcome to the MOA from a fellow IBA member (#37923). You'll find much to see and discuss in the various threads.
 
Welcome Code 3! Great first post! I think you answered all the curious questions.
 
Last month I completed an Iron Butt ride (1,123 miles in 18hrs) on my R1150RT. The final drive was dying as I completed the trip and the tail light assembly fell off during the ride....

If this upload works, it's a shot of me at a fuel stop in Las Cruces, NM last month on my distance ride.

IBARideLasCruces9-21-09.jpg

Uhm, look down, between your wheels. That is not final drive oil. Either you're not going much further, or a Harley was there right before you. :nono
 
Uhm, look down, between your wheels. That is not final drive oil. Either you're not going much further, or a Harley was there right before you. :nono

The gas pumps at this station could have filled a NASCAR tank in about 10 seconds. I no sooner hit the lever than it looked like the Old Faithful of premium fuel. I think I got more on the ground than in the tank.

I noticed the rear wheel was splattered with oil/grease in Flagstaff, Arizona at a fuel stop. The rubber boot was leaking this fluid and I decided to slow down a bit and try to nurse it to the finish in Phoenix. The next morning when I checked, there was sort of gritty feeling when turning the rear wheel. Victory BMW did the rebuild (thankfully under an extended warranty I purchased in 2003).
 
Welcome to SCOFF'D

Code 3 and others,

Along with your IBA award, welcome to a costly membership in the SCOFF'D (Sacrificial Customers Of the Failed Final Drive) of BMW motorcycle owners. If there is enough interest, we'll try to petition MOA for recognition as an affiliated club.

As an early joiner, you'll be entitled to a low roll number, except number 1, which is all mine.

As you already know, while membership is free, the initiation can be costly and painful. I expect we'll have future yearly meetings at the MOA Rally beer tent, where we can share chilling tales of missed vacations, long days in some dismal place we don't want to be, and towing, rental trucks, angry spouses, etc.

Jim Shaw :brow
Charter Member #1
BMW SCOFF'D
 
You may scoff WITH Shaw. Do not scoff AT him, though - makes him testy.

Welcome from another former FV driver (along with a few years in an HP Sprite). FV used to be pretty exciting back in the day. For those who don't know, with ~40 car grids a first turn crash was pretty much the rule. I had a Bell Star too - weighed about 20 pounds and had a window like a welding helmet. Who needs perifferal vision anyway? My Magnum became my bike helmet after I got the Star.

John
 
The final drive was dying as I completed the trip and the tail light assembly fell off during the ride.

I'm a member of IBA and plan on another Iron Butt ride in Spring 2010. I ride solo and avoid group rides like the swine flu.

Welcome!

My RT's tail light has dropped while riding as well.... a little blue lock tite took care of it. And being someone who can repair firearms, you can probably handle pulling the final drive without trouble, saving a lot of money in the repair.

Check out the Deming Gathering weekend after this coming weekend if you're up for a ride. It is not a rally or an organized ride... just a bunch of riders meeting at a guys house for lunch. Info: www.deminggathering.com

I am TheRoss over on the IBA forum as well.
 
Code 3 and others,

Along with your IBA award, welcome to a costly membership in the SCOFF'D (Sacrificial Customers Of the Failed Final Drive) of BMW motorcycle owners. If there is enough interest, we'll try to petition MOA for recognition as an affiliated club.

As an early joiner, you'll be entitled to a low roll number, except number 1, which is all mine.

As you already know, while membership is free, the initiation can be costly and painful. I expect we'll have future yearly meetings at the MOA Rally beer tent, where we can share chilling tales of missed vacations, long days in some dismal place we don't want to be, and towing, rental trucks, angry spouses, etc.

Jim Shaw :brow
Charter Member #1
BMW SCOFF'D

Thanks but no thanks.

I'm over my FD failure(s) and have much better things to do in the beer garden than Bitch Moan and Whine. :buds :stick
 
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You may scoff WITH Shaw. Do not scoff AT him, though - makes him testy.

Welcome from another former FV driver (along with a few years in an HP Sprite). FV used to be pretty exciting back in the day. For those who don't know, with ~40 car grids a first turn crash was pretty much the rule. I had a Bell Star too - weighed about 20 pounds and had a window like a welding helmet. Who needs perifferal vision anyway? My Magnum became my bike helmet after I got the Star.

John

We must have lived in a parallel universe! I didn't mention I raced a '59 bugeye, Fiat Abarth and a Porsche 914/6 (scary weird to drive).

I had one of those "F/V-We eat our dead" bumper stickers on my trailer. The cost of tires on the FV really killed me. At least one set per race weekend. I recall one first turn when a guy touched my right rear wheel and cart wheeled over my car. I got a wheel and tire in the cockpit, but nothing but a scuff on the Nomex. I rarely ran up front. The $$$ (and possibly the skills) needed to win in F/V were beyond me.

The biggest off I had was in showroom stock. Flat out into the S's and didn't make it. I went up an embankment and into the tires. Really messed up the car. I was racing for Alexander Porsche/VW and they had to do far more bodywork on the car than I would have done if it had been my car.

The most fun racing was the Fiat Abarth. Totally unreliable, but when it ran it ran up front. It was one of those 20 hrs of maintenance for about every minute on the track.

If I had totally unlimited financial resources I would still be racing, but the cost of tires (except in SSC) alone was enough to cause me to hang it up.

A few years ago I was working for a Fortune 500 company and was in a position to shift some marketing sponsorship dollars to Arie Luyendyk. He lived in Arizona and had won Indy in 1990 but couldn't get enough sponsorship to finish all the races the following couple of seasons. I was invited to his home to meet him and there was a photo of him with a F/V. Turns out he got his start in the '70s in F/V and Super V. See, if you had stayed in F/V maybe you too could have won Indy!
 
If I had totally unlimited financial resources I would still be racing, but the cost of tires (except in SSC) alone was enough to cause me to hang it up.

Yep. I quit racing after I had used up my wife's inheritance.:laugh

After I destroyed an Autodynamics FV on the concrete wall at Blackhawk I bought a new Lynx B and started running at the sharp end of the grid. That was my ruination. Once you get to the front you need to stay there - money be damned. One time the Eastern distributor was out of the "fat" Goodyear slicks and the Western distributor wouldn't ship east of the Mississippi. I was in a points race. I got a flight to LA, rented a car, went to the tire warehouse, bought four tires and flew home with them as luggage. Insane? You betcha!

John
 
Well, I finally upgraded from the '03 RT to a 2013 RT with 1,100 miles on it (until I rode it cross country) thus proving I'm a really slow learner! I should have upgraded years ago...

I'm sorta retired and have more time to ride. I'm heading with a couple guys to the BMWST gathering at Torrey, UT later this month and I'll do the MOA rally in Billings next year. I'm giving this group thing a try to see how I like it.

For the guys who responded to this old post, hopefully I see you guys on the road!
 
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