Category: BMW F650 GS

I haven’t posted in a while now, but I have been riding. Over the Labor Day weekend I put on quite a few miles, heading out to Cow Creek, where I took the video above. It was kind of an experiment to see if I could get some better video with less vibration. I guess it is a little better, but nothing compared to a nice smooth 4-cylinder bike. On Sunday I went out East for a quick ride around Pflugerville. Monday was a longer 103-miler up 183 to Lampasas and back. That was a fun ride and it was actually chilly! I just had a short-sleeve shirt under my jacket, and I had to turn on the heated grips.

This morning I went back up to Lampasas, then rode on a smaller County Road (CR41) which was really interesting, just riding a narrow road that gives access to several ranches and home. I really enjoyed that because you can really look around and take in all the scenery and beautiful sky.

I am loving my motorcycle more with each ride I go on. It’s perfect for slow exploring on the County Roads, but also has enough power to comfortable cruise at 75mph. The seating position is nice to because you can lean forward in a low position if you want to cut down wind resistance, you can sit upright comfortably, you can scooch your butt back if you want, and even stand up on the pegs. So far I’ve put on 2,421 miles on the GS and they have all been pretty great.

This morning I decided that instead of heading out for a long ride, I would just ride around Austin and take it easy. It was a beautiful morning, with relatively cool temperatures. First, I hopped on the freeway (first time riding on the freeway actually!) and rode down 183 and stopped at a Starbucks for some caffeine. A double-espresso down the hatch and I was off again. I rode down Loop 360 and decided to take a photo by the Pennybacker Bridge. I was making a u-turn when I misjudged the angle of the ground, and then bike came down. It’s funny because I was thinking I could make the u-turn before some oncoming cars came but decided to play it safe and come to a stop and let them pass. When I put my left foot down, it was a bit lower than I was expecting. I knew instantly that the bike was going down, so I hopped off, then reached down and turned off the bike. I was getting ready to lift up the bike when a driver pulled next to me and offered to help. I said sure and while we were righting the bike, he says, “Yeah, been there, done that.” It’s good to know that motorcyclists tend to look after one-another. Well, here’s the picture of my bike and the bridge. At the end of this post are the photos of the damage to the bike.

After the photo break I continued south on 360, then took Bee Cave to Barton Springs, then rode around South Congress and downtown. Pretty fun to ride in the city with tall buildings on either side of you, especially when there is no traffic. Then I rode up Lamar Blvd, made a left on 35th and rode by Mount Bonnell. 2222 up to Volente and then back home was tons of fun. Lots of twisties. The video above is the short stretch on 2222 above The County Line BBQ.

It was a really nice ride, and I was back home by 9am! Total miles: 60.

Starting at Canyon Vista Middle School and heading south on Spicewood Springs Road, then underneath Loop 360 and up the hill towards Mesa Drive. Just trying out my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 on a RAM Mount on the handlebars of my BMW F650 GS. Turned out ok, but I need to adjust the Lexan lens shield I made because of reflections. I also need to tweak some camera settings. My bike is a “thumper” (single cylinder) so it does have a fair bit of engine vibration that is evident at above 4,500 tpms.

My wife granted me the entire Sunday morning to go riding and I decided to go west again, with my rough destination being the area around Inks Lake. I have a Texas State Parks pass so I thought I might visit the park for a break before heading back home. As usual, I left the house at around 7am. The sun is coming up earlier now so I can head out the door probably by 6:30 soon. I like riding when it’s dark out, but it’s pretty dangerous around here because there are lots of deer and other critters active in the early morning hours. Instead of making coffee at home, I went to the local coffee shop and had a double-espresso and a banana. I figured that would get me going and I would pick up something later on to eat at Inks Lake.

After fueling up my body and bike I rode up Ronald Reagan Blvd to Highway 29, then west past Liberty Hill and Bertram. I stopped to take a photo of the little train station in Bertram and almost dropped the BMW while going over some gravel and rock. Well, it wasn’t that bad but it got a little squirrely.

After that I kept heading west, enjoying the cool morning air and light Sunday morning traffic. My new dark faceshield is excellent, by the way. Really clear and improves vision quite a bit.

I took a right at Hwy 690 and took that lovely curvy road along the north shore of Buchanan Lake. But the curvy road soon had signs that indicated “Loose Gravel” which kind of freaked me out, so I turned around and headed back to Hwy 29 and then further west. I passed the Buchanan Lake Dam and for some reason kept going all the way to Llano. That stretch is not too interesting, but there are a couple stretches where you can really open up the throttle (if you are into that sort of thing).

In Llano, I gassed up again then backtracked to Buchanan Lake and then took the road to Inks Lake. That road to the park is really a nice ride, with some 30mph hairpins and elevation changes. I saw a few other motorcyclists on this road, all having fun it seemed. When I got to the entrance to the park, I didn’t really feel like stopping (I was having too much fun) so I rode past until I hit 1431 near Kingsland. I found a scenic overlook and pulled over to have some water and take a few photos. The view was really nice.

After that short break I went through Marble Falls, then did a little loop around Horseshoe Bay and saw some really nice homes and exclusive neighborhoods. It was about 11:30 by then (time flies!) and I started back home. Taking 1431 from Marble Falls to Cedar Park was great fun as always. It’s like being on a rollercoaster, and I kept the bike in 4th gear and the RPMs from 4,500-5,500 the whole way. It was a blast. I think for a future ride out that way, I’ll pack some food and have a little solo picnic. Maybe even pack a fishing pole!

The ROT Rally was this weekend but I didn’t go. Maybe someday I will head downtown to check it out. Just not this year. Instead, I went for a really nice ride on Sunday morning. When I left my driveway, the ground was wet with a recent light shower but then just out of my neighborhood the roads were dry and the sky was filled with puffy white clouds. I topped off the tank at the gas station (averaging about 63 mpg now) then headed down 620. We drove down to Lakeway the previous weekend, so the route was still fresh in my mind. I knew it would be really fun to ride 620 on the bike and it didn’t disappoint. The downhill by the Oasis and Steiner Ranch towards the dam was really enjoyable, and there were hardly any cars on the road. I kept it at the speed limit which was I think 65mph so not too slow. I rode all the way past Lakeway the took a right at Bee Cave and took Highway 71 northwest. It’s funny but while riding it seems like the time just flies by. The ride down 620 seemed like it took only a couple minutes, but I’m sure it must have been about 20 or more. Anyways, 71 was a nice stretch also and before I knew it, I was at 281 and heading north into Marble Falls. I wish I had extra time to explore that town on the bike or even find a nice coffee shop, but I knew that the kids were probably awake and waiting for some breakfast. So I started east on a stretch of road that is one of the best (supposedly) in Central Texas. There was almost no traffic the whole way from Marble Falls to Lago Vista and the sun was high enough that it wasn’t in my eyes too much. The stretch of 1431 between the nature preserve and Lago Vista is so much fun, I cannot wait to go back and ride it again. Driving it in a car just cannot compare to riding it on a motorcycle. So far this ride was the most fun I have had on my bike.

Nice video of a ride in Thailand.