RBEmerson
Kein Nasebohrer
I finally pulled the trigger on BMW MOA membership after owning my '03 K 1200 RS for a little over a year. I rode for a while in and after college (started with a Yammy YL-1 100cc twin - yowza!) and called it quits with a Suzuki T-500 that was ported and generally worked over, by the PO, for drag racing - it did OK on the street but routinely cracked pistons thanks to a little too enthusiastic grinding on the part of the PO (took out a bar in the intake ports specifically intended to keep the skirts from expanding in the wrong place). The bug bit again about ten years ago and I wound up reviving a Honda CB900 Custom (complete with two-speed transfer case) "barn find", my first shafty. That bike ate a valve and I sold the bike, now complete with a full Vetter kit, fairing, lowers, bags, trunk, to "some guy in Alabama". No idea if he ever replaced the head or otherwise got the bike going. The next bike was a '99 Concours, "Barney" (even Kawasaki never admitted the '99's are purple; they call the color "Amaranth red" but it's really "Barney purple") which got a bunch of miles on it before hydro-locking with gas leaking into #2 cylinder (a known problem - silly me for missing the signs). Last I heard, Barney was put back on the road with a new motor and sold soon after that.
With the death of Barney two days before my 64th birthday, I went bananas and nailed down The Red Flash, an '03 K 1200 RS found at Hermy's in Port Clinton, PA (fine folks!). The bike came with a set of Ohlins already installed, along with GT air deflectors for the upper fairing. Since then I've upgraded the horn to a Fiamm horn originally bought for Barney. I've also put in DDT Tuning HID lighting (high and low beams) which is a vast improvement over the stock lighting (IMHO, inadequate for even 'round the block riding, let alone running at speed).
Unfortunately, most of my riding is within a couple of hours of home. SWMBO used to ride but I guess camping from the back of a Yammy YDS-3 (250 cc - oooh wow!) kinda cured her of wanting to ride. So I ride when I can.
We also sail and have spent the last two winters running from the Chesapeake Bay to the Abacos in the Bahamas (and back, of course), which rather limits my riding chances. We're taking this winter off but next year we'll move onto the Exumas - longer sail but not much riding.
Finally, FWIW, we're both bi-lingual, German-English. I'm from Boston (way back when) and Chris is from near Wiesbaden, Germany.
But enough about me...
With the death of Barney two days before my 64th birthday, I went bananas and nailed down The Red Flash, an '03 K 1200 RS found at Hermy's in Port Clinton, PA (fine folks!). The bike came with a set of Ohlins already installed, along with GT air deflectors for the upper fairing. Since then I've upgraded the horn to a Fiamm horn originally bought for Barney. I've also put in DDT Tuning HID lighting (high and low beams) which is a vast improvement over the stock lighting (IMHO, inadequate for even 'round the block riding, let alone running at speed).
Unfortunately, most of my riding is within a couple of hours of home. SWMBO used to ride but I guess camping from the back of a Yammy YDS-3 (250 cc - oooh wow!) kinda cured her of wanting to ride. So I ride when I can.
We also sail and have spent the last two winters running from the Chesapeake Bay to the Abacos in the Bahamas (and back, of course), which rather limits my riding chances. We're taking this winter off but next year we'll move onto the Exumas - longer sail but not much riding.
Finally, FWIW, we're both bi-lingual, German-English. I'm from Boston (way back when) and Chris is from near Wiesbaden, Germany.
But enough about me...
