2019 Maintenance and Riding

[Charles Scappaticci]

I thought I'd post to see if anyone was still out there as I haven't seen a
post in a while.

After a two year experiment with my BMW F800GT, I've decided to sell it
this spring and find something different.  It's a blast in the corners with
fresh rubber and really not a bad bike, but it just isn't what I really
wanted.  Wish I could keep it for the local canyons, but alas I can't do
that right now.  I will either look for a Concours 14 or possibly a mid
2000's BMW 1200GT.  I'd prefer the Connie of the two.  I will also look at
a classic Kawasaki as I really miss the restoration work I used to do.

Since I've apparently decided to keep to keep the Geeper until I die, I'm
going to do some work on it this spring.  I did a lot last spring (valve
and cam chain adjustment, spark plugs, rear brakes, all new dash lights and
a new shifter shaft seal) and am going to get some more done when it warms
up.  I've been stuck in San Francisco for the past two months with another
one to go before I go home, working a consulting job, but it's given me
time to look for a few things for it.  I bought a nice gas tank from a guy
in Spain and will swap it out this spring along with a lot of worn screws,
bolts and such.  I am going to pull the swing arm, repack the bearings,
rebuild the shock linkage and replace the Race Tech'ed OEM shock with my
Koni.  I might replace the chain and sprockets as well while I have it
apart and I will go ahead and replace my nearly 6 year old battery with a
fresh one.

Most of my money last summer went into performance and suspension mods on
my "new to me" Mustang GT, but this is the year to work on the GPZ and find
that next one.  I likely won't take any more really long adventure trips on
the GPZ due to the difficulty in getting parts if I break down somewhere,
but it has never let me down in 21 years of ownership and I will work to
keep it that way.

Charles S.