I think we caught it in time

I was looking forward to today.  It is the start of a 3 day holiday weekend up here.  The weather wasn't great but I decided to roll out my Vstrom

For many years I have been going over to Victoria for the scooter rally and last year we met up with DAR who was an excellent group leader.  It was my plan to go again this year until, Mrs Skoot had her operation and I have to stay home with my household duties.   I wanted to test out my camping equipment before my trip.    I usually meet the guys on Saturday morning for breakfast but not today.

I stayed home and made breakfast for Mrs Skoot before heading out to do my errands.

It started to sprinkle but I was only headed to see my insurance agent so I could get my Beemer insured for the summer

My plan was to bring my BMW to get some maintenance items completed which were not done last year.  Here I am riding home in heavy traffic

Last September when I purchased my new to me R1200R, I asked the Previous owner for "THE FILE".   You know, the BMW maintenance file.  I know that I keep a file for each of my vehicles and all of my repair & parts invoices are kept there for future reference.   Anyway he said that he didn't have one.    This is why the first thing I did was to have an Oil/Filter change.   I was going to get new tires in the Spring, (and delay the expense) but they were so bad with the chicken strips nearly worn to the threads and the sides were nearly new, that I had no choice but to buy my tires immediately.  I settled for the Michelin Pilot Road 2's.  They are still nearly new with less than 100 kms on them.   I didn't ride my Beemer that much and I thought that I had taken care of everything

I park my Vstrom on the street in front and then I roll my Beemer out to the rear laneway.  This is the first time I had ridden it this year.   It feels so different, like a sports car whereas my Vstrom feels like a Jeep, a top heavy Jeep

I forget something so I roll around to the front and take a few photos of both bikes

How stupid could I be ?   Last year my intention was to do all the service on my BMW so I could start fresh and know what had been done.   Without the "File" I have to presume that nothing was done.   Now I have always had WET clutches and when you do an oil change, that's all you have to do.   During the Winter I had lots of time to read the various Beemer forums and then it struck me that I had a DRY clutch.  This means that I need to do a transmission flush, then there was the problem with the rear drive/differential and the splines on the drive shaft.  Then there was the ABS failures so last year I did a brake fluid flush

I arrive at my Mechanic's and he knows that I am going to observe and watch him change these fluids.  I asked ahead of time if I could do this so I change into more comfortable Crocs© .   I have already purchased all the crush washers, O-rings, special oils and Honda moly 60 and bring them with me

Here's another photo of that female sassy mechanic making faces again.   I feel right at home here, just like one of the gang

My bike gets loaded onto the lift and soon enough the rear tire is off, the exhaust is dismantled, the speed sensor is removed and the rear calipers are unhinged

The transmission fluid is drained and here's TED  refilling with new oil

The rear diff takes 180 ml and the transmission takes approx 800 ml before it reaches the top level and starts to seep out.   All input and output plugs have O-rings and these are all replaced.  The old ones feel very brittle as they are probably original and never changed before

This is where you fill the 180 ml into the differential, at about the 10 o'clock position behind the rotor.  O-rings here to including the drain plug below (out of sight)

A new happy customer.   This is Arthur the proud owner of a Triumph Street Triple with tires just installed.  This is the first time he has had his bike serviced here, and I know he will be back

There is a beverage fridge in the customer area which accepts "donations" .  I was getting a bit thirsty so I wanted a soda; coke or something like that, but it was full of something else

I wanted to drink something non-alcoholic so I had to wait

Now comes the moment of reckoning . . .   we break open the driveline to SEE . . .

DRY SPLINES . . .  boy was I disappointed and angry at the previous owner.    It looks like nothing has been done since new

and all my mechanic TED can do is to make faces and laugh . . .   This is no laughing matter

. . .  to be continued

More Goodies coming my way

My cousin came over to visit Mrs Skoot to see how she was doing after her operation.  She has been home for nearly a week and healing seems to be coming along.   Of course, I am in charge of making our meals and I think I have lost a bit weight the past couple of weeks.  Anyway he got hooked on photography a while back and he often calls to discuss new photographic acquisitions.   He bought his Canon dSLR and Sony NEX upon my recommendations and he came over with his photo kit to show me what he had.   He likes to travel light and he recently bought a new SEL1650 the new power zoom retractable NEX lens, and the Ultra Wide Converter VCL ECU1 which turns your 16mm SEL lens, into an 18 mm ultra wide.  I love ultra wides so I played with it while he was here

After he left I quickly browsed Craigslist and found one for sale.  I sent an email and by noon today the seller delivered it to my office

It is virtually brand new, but without the original boxes.  I have the zippered case, both front and rear caps, and the lens is pristine.  No marks of any kind.  I asked the seller why he was selling it.   He said that he bought a NEX-5N a year ago and sold it but the buyer did not want this adapter.   It sat on his shelf for the past year or so,  so he decided to sell it.   He told me that he only shot about 5 frames when he first got it and then put it away.  

I wanted to make arrangements to service my R1200R as I was going to insure it tomorrow so I went to visit my mechanic to make sure he had all the parts in stock and while I was there, I snapped a photo of his new female motorcycle mechanic

Here she is giving some "attitude" . . .

I am getting my bike ready for a long road trip later this Summer and I have been slowing buying all the stuff I think I need.   Today I happened to receive another FEDex package from GPSCITY.ca .   They sure are fast with their shipments.   It was shipped from Calgary yesterday and I received it before noon in Coquitlam today

It's always exciting to get packages but I like to open them right away to make sure that what is inside, is what I ordered.  Now I have something to do this weekend.   I thought that it was going to come sometime next week

I like RAM mounts.   I ordered the U-bracket & cradle for the Spot2 GPS tracker, and another special Garmin GPS  USB  power cable so I don't have to use that large cigarette lighter plug.   No, I did not order the Spot2 from them.   I bought it last Christmas when it was on sale during Boxing Week.

I brought my Spot2 to work so I could activate my subscription with Findmespot.com and figure out how to export the data to  spotwalla.com       I think I have most of it figured out since it seems to be feeding fine.   Data is only stored on Findmespot.com for 30 days before it is purged.   Spotwalla keeps the data for as long as you want.   Thank you to RichardM for his input and support and for being a "contact" during this testing phase to make sure that messages sent from the Spot2 are being dispatched and received correctly

I have put a link to my Spot2 on the right sidebar so you can see where I am.  I used it for the first time tonight to track my way home.  I will have more to say about my trip (next month) and where I am headed.  You will be able to follow along with me and see my progress by just clicking the link

USB Power Pack

I do like electronic gadgets and I like to keep my "things" charged.   In prior times, electronic appliances were charged with a multitude of differing chargers with different plugs and voltages.  We were stuck originally with NiCad rechargeable batteries that were 1.2 v and some gadgets used 4 or 6 batteries in series.  Then came Lithium Ion batteries and eventually the world settled on a standard with the introduction of the single or double cell Li-ion or Li-Po: Lithium Polymer batteries.  Most P&S Cameras use the single cell Li-Ion 3.8 V battery and are simply charged using a 5 V  USB cable and either plugged into your computer, or an 110v-> 5v USB adapter.  Computer USB plugs usually output 5v @ 500 ma .

I have a few gizmos which need to be charged and I am always looking for a portable solution to keep the juice flowing so a few years ago I picked up

a solar charger which also has an internal Li-Po  2,600 ma battery.   The internal battery can be charged by plugging it into a computer USB or by using the supplied 110v adapter, or by putting it into the sunlight.  

It came with 2 USB cables and you notice that the 4 LED status lights indicates that the internal battery is holding a FULL charge

I plugged my iPhone into it so I could charge the battery.  Over the past week I have charged my iPhone 2 other times.  This is a Cheap unit from China, the battery is 2,600 ma and it outputs 5v @ around 700 ma, so it is able to bring an iPhone up to a full charge from nearly empty in about 2 hours

Now my battery is not really that low and here it is showing 79% on the battery gauge.  I wasn't checking the time but when I looked next it was 11:00 am and

It was now at 100% being fully charged

I also have a Mophie battery pack attached to my iPhone which which doubles the capacity of the iPhone battery and it also has LED status lights.   4  LED s  shows that it is up to full charge.   Each LED accounts for approx 25% battery power.    I have had this particular solar charger for a few years but have never really used it.   I notice now that the battery does not go to full capacity so basically I don't trust it anymore

I wanted to have charging options for this summer when I go on my bike vacation.  There may be times where I will not have access to power and I wanted to have options to keep my gizmos charged.  Many things nowadays are charged using a simple USB cable.  Things like my GoProHero3, my Sena SMH10 Bluetooth headset,and  my iPhone so I bought a new

Verbatim Power Bank.  You notice that this is a 10,000 ma  (10 amp) Hi capacity unit and it can output 5V at either 2A or 3A which means that it can charge my iPhone in under an Hour, or my Sena BT headset in about half an hour.    I can also charge this Power Bank from 110V or by plugging it into the 12v power of my bike as I am riding across the Country

It comes with 2 USB cables

and uses standard USB output plugs.  (2A and 3A), so this unit can also recharge an iPad which requires a 3A source

It also has LED status lights which show battery capacity which is left, and also charging .   It also has "smart" detection circuitry.  As soon as it detects that your gizmo that is being charged, no longer requires anymore input, it goes into standby mode to conserve battery power.  Being slim and not very heavy I think I am going to put it into good use this Summer

Moto content below:  I have been riding my Wee to work but my R1200R is not yet insured.  I washed it last week and I still need to do a few maintenance items before it will be ready for the road.

It is Victoria Day this weekend which means that Monday is a Statutory Holiday here in BC and I was going to insure my Beemer on Saturday, but the forecast is not looking so good, so we'll see . . .

Weekend Plans Squashed

With Mrs Skoot in the hospital it was not known when she would be able to come home.  First they told us Thursday, then it got changed to Sunday or Monday and then a couple of days ago they mentioned perhaps Saturday.  So how was I to know when to expect her to be released.  I had been neglecting my chores, well not really but between leaving work, going to visit her in the hospital, then having to grab something fast to eat it made for a long day and getting home too late to cut the grass

 So I got the bright idea to insure my Corvette and then take it in for service on Friday for a transmission flush and new transmission filter.  It was something that I should have done last year but after it got vandalized it sat at the repair shop for a month waiting for a new top to be installed.

The pan seal was getting old and I need a new gasket which is included with the flush which I needed done anyway.  It was replaced with synthetic transmission oil and they also checked out my transmission which passed with flying colours.   It even seemed to drive smoother on my way home.  Now I don't have to look at all those pink droplets in my driveway

Transmissions on these Corvettes are at the rear and forms part of the transaxle.  It is connected to the engine in the front by a driveshaft then connects to the torque converter.  There is no way to replace the fluid, and there is no dipstick to check the level and my gasket has been leaking for some time (a few years).  It was just something that I never got around to having done.  It is not something that you want to do yourself because of all the mess it would make when all your transmission fluid gushes to the ground

I arrived home and decided to cut my lawn so I could keep my weekend free of chores.   The grass was so thick and long and my lawn mower struggled and chocked on all the damp grass.  The engine did not have enough power to stay running and I had to restart it many times and I think I flooded it when I turned it upside down to clear out the grass build up.   But I eventually got it going again and finished it up

I think cleaning up took just as long as the cutting.  It takes a lot of soap and water to clean up all these

grass stains, but it feels so good walking on my new lush lawn

Richard was giving me a bit of grief as I was going to fast food hamburger joints instead of more refined eateries which we have lots of in Vancouver so I felt a bit guilty as I struggled to figure out where to go.  I eventually ended up at Safeway when I decided to just make something at home

So here we are with some carmelized onions, a couple of hamburger patties and a whole sliced tomato.  I'm still loving our fairly new gas stove

Here we are, my dinner nearly done and topped off with a pile of ketchup.   It's basically a hamburger devoid of the bun

Being in a sort of Single Mode I thought that I would lower the top and cruise the finer areas of our downtown area to see how the younger half live.   It's been a while since I had cruised Robson Street, which I was going to do later in the day.   The rain was forecast to arrive in the evening so when I got up on in the morning all set for a day out on my 'Vette,  it was slightly drizzling so I left the car at home

and headed down to Steveston for breakfast "with the guys" .  I was really intending on driving my 'Vette but instead had to take my Honda commuter car

I turned on my Satellite Radio to keep me company on the 30 minute drive.    It's a 5 speed manual shift and I feel much more control with the clutch petal as you can better feel the "mesh" point, rather than if you wore shoes with thick soles.  I love driving barefoot or with thin soled sandals

Well, as it turned out, Mrs Skoot got released from the Hospital so I went to pick her up.  It is difficult for her to walk far so we decided to get car service

(grand daughter sitting in the back seat)

We didn't want to stress her hip/leg too much for the first few weeks.  We ended up at White Spot on Broadway where they have Car Hop service.   This chain is an institution in Vancouver with lots of history and known for their famous Triple-O Hamburger sauce.  (Yes Richard, but I didn't order one)

In the olden days you used to turn on your headlights for car service.   I had my lights on but no one came to take our order.   Then I noticed that they now ask you to turn on your 4 way flashers "for service".  I imagine that with day time running lights being mandatory in Canada it wouldn't be obvious who wanted service or not

The pretty car hops come to your vehicle and take your food order

Eventually your order is ready and it is placed on a car tray to be brought to your car

Here is our order being "delivered"

Mrs Skoot has the legendary hamburger combo, which includes fries, coleslaw and a beverage.  I ordered their famous clubhouse sandwich but without the middle slice of bread, fries and a coke

It is actually very tasty.   We sit in our own car and have our meal.   When finished you turn on your 4-way flashers and the car hop comes back to take your tray away

Well, I didn't get to drive my 'Vette today but Mrs Skoot is home . . .

Fast forward to Sunday Morning . . .

Me: "what do you want for breakfast ?"

MS (Mrs Skoot):  "Oats, toast, yogurt, poached eggs, milk, hot water . . ."    I was thinking Boy, she must be feeling much better.  Her appetite is back, she hadn't been eating much until now

Here we are.  Who says Men can't multi-task.  I have oats boiling on one burner and poached eggs coming up and the kettle is on

Today I am making the eggs, freestyle in nearly boiling water, with a dash of oil to keep the eggs together

while all that is going on I get out the Lemon yogurt.   Multi-tasking doesn't seem so hard contrary to what any female would tell you

In no time I have the poached eggs plated . Mrs Skoot likes to have her yokes unbroken

She must be enjoying the "Life of Riley"  issuing commands to get this and that, and what can I do except to comply like a trained monkey.  It's not like she can do much anyway until she gets her strength back

Because today is Mother's Day, our family came over for a late brunch of BBQ chicken and Kraft dinner for  the Grandchildren and then a selection of french bakery delicacies

I usually head straight for the cream puffs and of course there was a chocolate cake with lots of left over for later tonight

You can see that I had a nice day of running around . . .   Hope you also had a good Mother's Day with your family too