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Snowbum's BMW Motorcycle Repair & Information Site!

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© "Copyright 2013, R. Fleischer"

Snowbum is also known as Robert (Bob) Fleischer; "The Expatiating Scribe of the Sierra")

The BMW R32, below, was BMW's first motorcycle.
Information is in photogallery2

All technical information on this site is:

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Snowbum and Penny.
Amor Vincit Omnia!!

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool...shun him.
He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is willing...teach him.
He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep...awaken him.
He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise...follow him."
--Chinese proverb

There is a theory which states that if anyone ever discovers exactly what the Universe is for,
and why it is here,
it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
Douglas Adams, "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Here I am, age 72, at the very
top of Heavenly Valley Ski,
Resort, just before I headed
down Ellie's Run, my favorite
on the California side.



The K1100LT-EML Sidecar rig
back when it still had the BMW
Police type box on rear & solo seat



A motorcycle is not just a two-wheeled car;
the difference between driving a car and
climbing onto a motorcycle is the difference
between watching TV and actually living your life.
We spend all our time sealed in boxes, and cars
are just the rolling boxes that shuffle us from
home-box to work-box to store-box and back...
the whole time, entombed in stale air, temperature
regulated, sound insulated, and smelling of carpets.
On a motorcycle I know I'm alive.

When I ride, even the familiar seems strange and glorious.
The air has weight and substance as I push through it
and its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer.

I can see everything in a sweeping 360 degrees, up, down and around,
wider than Pana-vision and IMAX and unrestricted by ceiling or dashboard.
Sometimes I even hear music. It's like hearing phantom telephones in the shower,
or false doorbells when vacuuming; the pattern-loving brain, seeking signals in the noise,
raises acoustic ghosts out of the wind's roar.
But on a motorcycle I hear whole songs: rock 'n roll, dark orchestras, women's voices,
all hidden in the air and released by speed. ... Dave Karlotski

1983 R100RT-Ural.
The first road rig I ever constructed. We DO
get that much snow. I'm
headed to the ski slopes

The 1984 R100RT, set up for long-distance touring. The top-box is a Luftmeister. Photo is at the same place as one to the left. The bike was sold, but the new owner and I share it.   CLICK

There is cold......and there is cold on a motorcycle.
Cold on a motorcycle is like being beaten with cold hammers while being kicked with cold boots, a bone bruising cold.
The wind's big hands squeeze the heat out of my body and whisk it away; caught in a cold October rain, the drops don't even feel like water.
They feel like shards of bone fallen from the skies of Hell to pock my face.
I expect to arrive with my cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, but that's just an illusion,
just the misery of nerves not designed for highway speeds.

Despite this, it's hard to give up my motorcycle in the fall and I rush to get it on the road again in the spring;
lapses of sanity like this are common among motorcyclists.
When you let a motorcycle into your life you're changed forever.
The letters "MC" are stamped on your driver's license right next to your sex and height as if "motorcycle"
was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition.

But when warm weather finally does come around,
all those cold snaps and rainstorms are paid in full because a motorcycle summer is worth any price.

At 30 miles an hour and up, smells become uncannily vivid.
All the individual tree-smells and flower-smells and grass-smells flit by like chemical notes in a great plant symphony.
Sometimes the smells evoke memories so strongly that it's as though the past hangs invisible in the air around me,
wanting only the most casual of rumbling time machines to unlock it.
A ride on a summer afternoon can border on the rapturous.
The sheer volume and variety of stimuli is like a bath for my nervous system,
an electrical massage for my brain, a systems check for my soul.
It tears smiles out of me: a minute ago I was dour, depressed, apathetic, numb...
but now, on two wheels, big, ragged, windy smiles flap against the side of my face,
billowing out of me like air from a decompressing plane.
Transportation is only a secondary function.
A motorcycle is a joy machine.
It's a machine of wonders, a metal bird, a motorized prosthetic.
It's light and dark and shiny and dirty and warm and cold lapping over each other;
it's a conduit of grace, it's a catalyst for bonding the gritty and the holy.

Cars lie to us and tell us we're safe, powerful, and in control.
The air-conditioning fans murmur empty assurances and whisper, "Sleep, sleep."
Motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good,
but that's no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride. Dave Karlotski

Notice the snow height at Penny's feet & at right lower corner & area under the mailbox.
Nearly to Penny's hips OVERNIGHT!   This was NOT terribly unusual.

Copyright information!

The information (caveat lector!) on 99% of this website is copyrighted; usually, but not always, indicated by a copyright symbol ©. You are granted 'reasonable use', and THAT is shown in detail at the top of the Technical Articles List page. If you use an article or parts of an article, please quote me as the source, do not edit to change my information, as I wish to be responsible for MY input, not yours. This website is provided free to you for personal, NOT BUSINESS USE. You are forbidden to use any of my material commercially. You may NOT place any of my writings/website on a disc and sell the disc, as an example.   ASK if you have questions on my website use!!   The Technical Articles List page (clickable place is near bottom of this page) has a lot more information on using my material. ...PLEASE read it! Chances are you are headed there anyway to find a technical advice article....but don't miss what is clickable at the bottom of the page you are now looking at.

There are two roads in life, the twisty one is vastly more fun

Reputation is what you are perceived to be, character is what you are.
REAL character means doing what is right (when nobody is looking)

Common sense isn't

Most folks look intelligent.....then they say something

Be careful when arguing with an idiot.
Folks watching may get confused as to who that is.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES OF OTHERS.
YOU CAN'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM ALL YOURSELF!

The Purpose Of An Open Mind---Is To Close It On Something

I was always taught to respect my elders,
But it keeps getting harder to find one.

Remember, half the people you know are below average.

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof
is to under-estimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

Question: How are politicians similar to diapers?
They should be changed often --- and for the same reason.

The Goal Of Every Engineer Is To Retire Without Being Blamed For A Major Catastrophe.

Logic is an organized procedure, for going wrong with confidence and certainty.

Penny & I took the K1100LT-EML sidecar rig from Lake Tahoe across the USA via Nevada, lower Utah & Colorado, into Kansas & then northerly to the Great Lakes region, then to Duluth Minnesota. We returned mostly via Hy 2 across the top of the USA...over 5500 miles total.
A text & photo blog on the trip is on this website. CLICK

Not all that proficient on editing E-mails? Want to know how to do it better?
Want to know about special keyboard characters, ETC. ? CLICK
Info is near very bottom of the page you will be taken to.

What's with this lamp?
Interested in the yearly SuperTech Weekend? Click HERE for details on both!

Photo Gallery #1	`A humorous short article...A Winter Tale`	`Our present Sidecar rig: K1100LT-EML-GT2`	`Join the Airheads Club!`
Photo Gallery #2	`If you want to donate to help defray costs: DONATING`	`Throttle screws; friction & anti-friction devices; Snowbum gets OFF and RUNNING!`	`Prostate Cancer: REAL Facts!`
Photo Gallery #3	`Who the HELL is Snowbum?`	`Motorcycles in movies & TV: http://www.imcdb.org/`	`Deer Whistles`
Photo Gallery #4	`UNIQUE Year of Dragon Jewelry Item for Sale`	`Who/what is Fleischer's Service?`	`Three Santa's`
Our Across the USA and back sidecar trip	`Maintenance schedules for all BMW motorcycles: www.ascycles.com/service_schedules.aspx. These schedules are not as complete as my personal one for Airheads: MaintSched`	`SEARCH page`	`My 1984 R100RT bike, parts & many of my special tools has been sold, details: CLICK`
You live WHERE? `03/06/2008`	`BMW people: New to Internet Mailing Lists & especially if new to BMW riding & BMW people? Please click here & read the short article!`	`The Paradox of our age, by the Dalai Lama`	`nerdy stuff`
`Old age and treachery`	`Motorcycles, sidecars, & cars/trucks I've owned`	`One Scary Moment in an Airplane, the R60/2 is Stolen, more BIO`
	Temporary stuff...you'll never know what is HERE!	`Getting started on doing your own motorcycle maintenance`	`For Sale & things wanted`

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List of Technical Articles

Snowbum lives at South Lake Tahoe, California. Click for information about Lake Tahoe.

>>>>>>><<<<<<< All the technical information on this site is: But, if you want to donate to help defray costs: DONATING That page also has information on how (and why) I run this website, without my being obligated to anyone....ETC! © "Copyright 2013, R. Fleischer" Webmaster: Robert Fleischer (Snowbum) himself! (who is entirely responsible for this messy & verbose website!) E-mail: CLICK! Last edit: Friday, May 17, 2013

1983 R100RT-Ural. The first road rig I ever constructed. We DO get that much snow. I'm headed to the ski slopes	The 1984 R100RT, set up for long-distance touring. The top-box is a Luftmeister. Photo is at the same place as one to the left. The bike was sold, but the new owner and I share it. CLICK