Friday, April 1, 2011

I had called the Beemershop, the company reworking the heads of my '83 BMW, and they are able to start working on them again. Apparently, they have been waiting for some parts to come in from Germany for about six weeks and the shipment was held up in customs somewhere. Ted Porter said that they should be getting the shipment in today and if not will "borrow" the parts from another shop. For a while I was thinking that maybe I should've sent the heads to another shop, specifically a machine shop outside of San Diego that I've heard has a very quick turnaround and good prices. But there has been a significant amount of traffic on the Airhead's email list about the work done by the shop. One of the really knowledgeable posters (in my humble opinion, I met Joe at the MOA rally in Redmond) mentioned that based on the quote he received, they weren't going to do the job properly and he had them send the heads up to the Beemershop to be done right. One of the local shops had a set done by the machine shop and said that they look great. High quality work. The question I have now is how long they were going to last. Joe mentioned in his email that if you don't use the all of the correct parts, the problem was probably going to occur again in another 50K miles. Maybe I'll get them back soon...

I had thought that Spring was actually here since the days were venturing above freezing but last night it was -21°F.

7 comments:

  1. Six+ weeks? Man that's a long time to have your ride in pieces...just goes to show, must have a "spare bike" in the stable!

    dom


    Redleg's Rides

    Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner

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  2. Richard:

    +1 on the spare bike. I used to have one and regret selling it.

    Hope you get your bike back together soon, it's nearly Spring

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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  3. Oh well, I'm doubtful a spare bike would have got ridden given your climate . . . unless it was one of those super dependable Ural sidecar rigs.

    That said, if I was in your position I'd be getting really antsy. Spring is going to come . . . even to Alaska. Hope the turn around speeds up and all your ducks are in a row when the temperatures and road conditions conspire to make riding irresistible.

    Good luck,
    ~Keith

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  4. Well at least mother nature is taking it easy on you. I imagine -21F takes the sails out of the idea of riding. I know if it were me, and it were 40F and the bike was torn down, I'd be sick.

    Hope they get the work done and parts back to ya soon.

    -Peace

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  5. A spare bike wouldn't have mattered as I probably won't even be able to get out of the driveway and the subdivision road for another month or so. I have more work that I need to do on the bike. Maybe this weekend.

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  6. Minus 21? Do you have electric crocs?

    Always the dilemna on what to do for those kind of repairs, isn't it?

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  7. Good luck to you and the parts for being completely and getting back home soon!

    -21F...pity. 74F here. :)

    Hope you are enjoying the other wintertime activities!

    -Lori

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