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Animation by Mo Massen; furnished to me by Alessandro Zorat
Snowbum's BMW Motorcycle
Repair & Information Website.
https://bmwmotorcycletech.info
© original Copyright 1999, R. Fleischer.
Copyrighted each & every year since.
Copyright 2024, R. Fleischer.
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SOME articles are only clickable from this HomePage. Those are listed well below. |
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Saving a hyperlink address found in this website? Best to use the address as displayed. Do not change upper/lower case for letters, as that may return a 404 error ('article not found'). Explanation: When I designed and first wrote articles for this website I failed to be consistent about naming the hyperlinks to my articles. I failed to use only lower case letters after the domain name portion of the hyperlink address. If you write down any hyperlink address and do not use the same exact address that I used, you might not find the page. For instance, if a page is named /Gears.htm in the link, but if you use /gears.htm, then you won't find the page! |
Robert (Bob) Fleischer is also known as Snowbum; "The Expatiating Scribe of the Sierra"
The R32, BMW's first motorcycle.
Information is in photogallery2
The BMW R12, 1935 to 1938
All technical information on this site is:
The DONATING article includes website history, philosophy, ....
& extensive information on this website's operations.
The above 1995 R100RT replaced my 1984 R100RT.
https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/1995-R100RT-Sale.htm
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--
| The internet, E-mail LISTs, Facebook, etc,....are all places we can easily witness certain effects: (1) https://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/ (2) Dunning-Kruger Effect on E-mail Lists and Forums. (3) From Darwin's "Descent of Man": Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. (4) Fremdscham (and) cringing. |
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 & be replaced,
by something even more bizarre & inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
Douglas Adams, "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
In my seventies, at the 10,400 foot top
of Heavenly Valley Ski Resort, 5 miles
from my Lake Tahoe home.
I am about to ski down Ellie's,
my favorite black diamond run.
The view as I go over the edge:
My K1100LT-EML Sidecar rig...when it still had the BMW Police box.
The new owner picked it up from me on May 26, 2019.
Go to the Technical Articles List page,
https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/technical-articles-list.htm
and scan way down to the section entitled Sidecar Specific Section.
The difference between driving a car and climbing onto a motorcycle...
is the difference between watching TV & actually living your life.
We spend all our time sealed in boxes, & cars are just 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, & smelling of carpets.
On a motorcycle I know I'm alive.
When I ride, even the familiar seems strange & glorious.
The air has weight and substance as I push through..
its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer.
I feel the cool wells of air that pool under trees and warm spokes sunshine.
I can see everything in a sweeping 360 degrees, up, down and around,
wider than Pana-vision & IMAX & 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. First road rig I constructed. Tahoe DOES get that much snow some years. Guess where I am going? |
 1984 R100RT I used to own & ride. Top-box is a Luftmeister. |
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 & whisk it away;
caught in a cold October rain, the drops don't even feel like water.
I expect to arrive with my cheeks & 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.
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 & 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
Winters varied considerably at Lake Tahoe.
The below photo was taken in January 2008.
Notice the snow height at Penny's feet & at the
right lower corner & area under the mailbox.
Nearly to Penny's hips OVERNIGHT!
This was NOT terribly unusual here. Some
Winters we had very little snow ....
see the next in-line photo below this one.
This photo was taken at same place as above photo,
but 7 years later ...on January 17th, 2015:
My first ever trip to Tahoe was as an early teenager in mid-January 1952,
when a huge January snowstorm shut down travel to & from Lake Tahoe.
That was a 'hundred year' storm.
The below photo is from JULY of that same year (1952), AFTER plowing!
This is the Mt. Rose highway, which is at the Northeast corner of the
Lake Tahoe Basin. It had snowed a fair amount after the January snowstorm,
which is why, even after a number of feet of settling, the snow here is taller
than the prior photo. This photo is now part of the Historical Society collection.
A wee Winter's Tale: CLICK!
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.
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.
It is a fact that light travels faster than the speed of sound,
this explains why some appear bright,
until you hear them speak.
| Copyright information! The information (caveat lector!) on 99% of this website is copyrighted by me. Usually, but not always, indicated by a copyright symbol ©. You are granted 'reasonable use'. If you use an article or parts of an article, quote me as the source, PLEASE 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 use. The Technical Articles List page (click on the link near the bottom of this article) 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. |
| 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. https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/tripphotos.htm |
What's with this lamp?
What is the SuperTech Weekend?
https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/SuperTech.htm
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Join the Vintage BMW club too!... https://vintagebmw.org/ Yes, join BOTH! This Snowbum website is hosted by the Vintage Club, whose website has numerous Forums and a simply huge amount of technical content, and more is constantly being collected. The Vintage Club covers all older BMW models from the first BMW motorcycle in 1923. | |
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Purchasing an Airhead? Getting started on doing YOUR motorcycle maintenance? COMBINED ARTICLE! |
DONATING |
| Snowbum lived at So. Lake Tahoe, CA. from 1972 to late 2019. Click for information about Lake Tahoe. |
Airheads LIST Archives: https://lists.micapeak.com/archives/airheads/login.php |
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Proficient at editing E-mails? |
Whitebeard; A happening. My '57 R60. Written by me and published in 1987, BMW MOA Owners News |
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Internet Communities; Posting/Editing to Mailing Lists, etc. BMW Motorcycle People. COMBINED 2 PART ARTICLE. https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/bmwpeople.htm | |
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Where's the extensive article on prostate cancer that I had previously on this website?? I removed it, as it was becoming rather onerous to keep it current. However, this link will take you to a web archive: |
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Temporary stuff...you'll never know what is HERE! |
Nerdy stuff |
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Maintenance schedules for BMW motorcycles: | |
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Motorcycles in movies & TV: | |
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For Sale & wanted and things that are FREEEEE! |
One Scary Moment in an Airplane; the R60/2 is Stolen, ...more BIO |
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Throttle screws. Friction & anti-friction devices. Snowbum gets OFF & RUNNING! | |
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WHO-WAS-OAK? | |
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These folks have, someplace, a terrifically good article on riding off-road. The place and/or address it is posted is changing so often I cannot keep up with that. Contact them, for the article. |
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How to find an old article of mine (or, ANY website or web page). The Airheads Beemer Club had some problems a few years ago, with the head of the Board of Directors, and one or two on that BOD that went along with his ideas and/or things he did. The web.archive.org captured 6 or so versions of a specific article I wrote about this BOD Chairman and the BOD problems. The name of the article I wrote was always: Dirty Laundry. Note the URLs below, and how a search at web.archive.org works. It IS possible to get my entire site too, or, any old articles, likely. For the dirty laundry articles, you have to enter the search name; it is: http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/dirtylaundry.htm The https://web.archive.org site will find the article for you, DEPENDING ON WHICH SHORT VERTICAL BLACK BAR YOU CLICK ON (you will see this once you have the site on screen). Those bars are arranged by date and indicate when scanned by the web archive folks. Allow a few seconds, then scan down for the article. Try the method, practice some. |
Electronics Repair BUSINESS FOR SALE!
https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/businessforsale.htm
Robert (aka Bob, aka Snowbum) Fleischer
Info@FleischerElectronicsService.com
(775) 461-3530
All technical information on this site is:
DONATING
Link includes history, philosophy & extensive information on this website's operations
© "Copyright 2024, R. Fleischer"
Webmaster and Author: Robert Fleischer (Snowbum) himself!
(who is entirely responsible for this messy old website!)
Last check/edit of THIS PAGE: Friday, August 30, 2024
