Life Of Darth

Hello my name is Darth, short for Darth Vader!

My owner’s eldest sister named me when we visited Phoenix, AZ. For the first long ride of many more to come.

When my owner arrived to take possession of me on Jan. 21, 2010, I was very happy. I’d heard from his current bike named Goat (2003 K1200GT) that he loved to ride and I wouldn’t be disappointed with him as an owner. Wow was Goat ever so right.

I’ve been ridden in rain, snow, dirt, and numerous times we were leaning so far sideways in the wind I thought we would fall over. Nope, he kept us upright and out of the ditch.I remember 1 time on the coast Hiway 1 it was so foggy I couldn't see 10 yards to the front. What the heck was Billy's visibility?

I know in the beginning I wasn’t as comfortable to ride as he desired so he gave me a few upgrades to include a Sargent seat, bar risers, and an electrical plug for heated gloves. He tried a taller wind screen, but on the washboards it seemed like my instrumentation panel would fall off, so he reinstalled my stock screen, and seems to like it just fine.

As I mentioned he rides in all kinds of weather, and at one time I saw the temperature read out on my display at 14 degrees Fahrenheit!

That was a cold ride, but he just sat in the saddle having fun. Can you imagine the wind chill factor at that temperature? There I am going down the road with my coolant circulating to keep my heart warm and strong. He is up in the saddle, I’m sure grimacing at times, but enjoying doing what he likes.

Oh did I mention he also enrolled us in Rawhyde, off road training class.

He wanted to experience all I had to offer him as a dual sport bike, and we are enjoying it even as he spits out the dust that I kick up. You know he didn’t purchase me as a Dual Sport bike to ride on only the pavement. I know at times, he loves to get away from humanity and its misery. In order for him to really enjoy me he felt he had to be more comfortable in my NATURAL setting. I do realize that as a D.S. bike I’m on the heavy side and when he loads me up for one of his rides, it adds another 100-150 lbs. A lot of riders would opt for a lighter steed, but with an average of 25,000 miles a year he wants to be confident that I will be there through it all.

Some of the states and trips we have enjoyed are as follows:

AZ, CA, UT, NV, WA, OR, ID, WY, MT, NM, CO, AK, B.C., and the Yukon.

I have seen some magnificent sunrises, as well as spectacular sunsets.

I’ve been to the desert; I’ve been to the coast and seen the Pacific Ocean.

One year we rode through Utah and Monument Valley. I thought it couldn’t get better than this, but it continuously does.

We also saw Escalante Canyons and Bryce on that ride. One word, Amazing!

My first ride, as I said, was Arizona, but we first went through Death Valley,

and Billy,,\ (that is my owner’s name) had his first off road ride.

I think he was a bit apprehensive, but we made it without any damage.

Naturally, before the first true ride, he had taken me off road on some passive rides. He was learning on the fly and I overheard him several times commending me on how great I was.

His first Dual sport rally gave him a taste of what dual sporting was. I think because he had ridden and accomplished Death Valley,he was ready for another test .The photo is 1 of 2 times I have been down on my side.This particular time we were returning out of Saline Valley,Ca. I get head aches when I'm in this position, PLEASE get me upright NOW!

A fantastic sunset while in Death Valley .

  He hadn’t installed any of my protective hardware, and yep, you guessed it, we crashed. We were traveling down a gravel road, and a sharp left turn was ahead. I thought Billy’s speed was way too fast. He hit the brakes and we were in a slide. It looked for a moment that we would make it, but I kicked him off. He flew over my seat and landed hard. I went down equally as hard.

I have some scratches from that ordeal. He replaced a turn signal, and a front brake lever. Guess what? He then bought all the things I need to protect me when we crash. Better late than never, I have heard that saying.

His fiancé rode on her Yamaha 650 V Star with us up to Glacier N.P.

and then we went North of the border into Waterton, B.C. We saw many a bear on that ride. Naturally, we rode The Ice Fields Parkway. I was very happy on this ride, due to the fact that this was their Honeymoon ride. It Was Stacie’s first time north of the border, but Billy had ridden Goat there on two previous trips. Stacie was beside herself, as she had never seen anything like it before. This was my future; I could see it plain as day. I would now have a riding partner in that Stacie, also rides. I knew I would never have to be in the elements without a friend next to me or close by. I admit that Honeymoon ride for all of us was majestic.

05-21-2011, I have 54,000 miles, and the last time a BMW mechanic touched me for a maintenance service, was 12,000 miles. Oh I’ve had a few service bulletins performed on me, but Billy prefers to keep me to himself. He changes my oil on a regular basis, and I have had more than a few chain and sprockets installed. I can’t leave out all the fresh pair of shoes (tires) he has had to buy for me. I think I’ve had at least 3-4 light bulbs so we could see at night. On our 2011 trip to Phoenix, my left turn signal stopped working, and Billy had to use hand signal for left turns. My valve cover gasket has had to be replaced two times.

My next big adventure is Alaska; I can’t wait until he is in the saddle to begin that ride. He has been planning that ride long before I came along, Goat would have been ridden BUT BMW came out with a new 800gs twin and he knew Alaska was within sight.

Well here it is Sept. 2011 and there is much to catch up on.

Billy got me ready and prepared for the Alaska trip.

He also had to prepare Le’femme (Stacie’s F650Gs). He calls it Le’femme, since it is a feminine version of ME!

Anyway back to the part about getting ready.

Billy calculated about 7000 miles for the ride, and wanted to install new tires, oil filter, and oil. He also cleaned my foam air filter. He made headlight guards out of flexi glass. My chain and sprockets only had a few thousand miles on the set so I was good to go on that.

Since my old tires were still good for another thousand miles or so, he bought a tire changing stand to save money and make it easier to swap out tires on a whim. He also tried the Dyna Beads for balancing, this was a big mistake.

He knows better than to try something new before a long adventure, but ignored it. We’ll get to that in time as we ride north to Alaska.

We left for Alaska on June 6, 2011, Billy had just gotten off work, and I was packed in no time, for a magnificent adventure. We headed up through Seattle and naturally encountered major congestion. We crossed the border at Sumas, Washington. It had rained on us during the day and that was to be the norm for this trip. What is great about Billy is, HE DOESN’T CARE! That man loves to ride, and he considers any ride to be a great ride if he arrives home safe.

Our first camp was in Cache Creek, B.C. a total of 521 miles for the day.

A man told us of a nice C.G. at Loon Lake, and we tried to find it, but to no avail. We settled for Hat Creek Ranch which was nice and quiet.

Out of Williams Lake B.C., we rode route 20 to Bella Coola. It had 60 miles of off road and two downgrades one was 10% and the last was 14%, with many hair pin curves. I saw my first Black Bear of this trip during the ride down into the valley. This Bella Coola valley was spectacular! I saw waterfalls, magnificent views, and bald eagles. We camped at Eagle Lodge, which was half way between Hagensborg, and Bella Coola. Eagle Lodge had a Garden Shower that Billy and Stacie enjoyed; it was a welcome relief to them even this early in the trip. The view was intense, and I was parked in a beautiful meadow. The granite cliff that I was staring at made me think I was on another planet. This adventure only got more intense and interesting as we rode day after day. It seemed to rain on us every day, but Billy doesn’t care, he just chugs along. It was on this route to and from Bella Coola that I was consumed by mosquito’s, and truth be told, I bet Billy had his doubts whether to mount me and ride, or just walk away!

You know I could go into detail about this trip of a life time, but why don’t I just summarize it for you.

Remember those Dyna Beads?

Well they came back to be a pain in my shoes, so to speak.

By the end of the trip one side of my front shoe was flat on one side and Billy had a hell of a time keeping me straight and in line during stops and accelerations. I remember him saying to Stacie, give me 10-20 yards clearance because this bike is hard to control on stop and starting.

I remember all the wildlife that we encountered and saw. Wow! The Bears,

Moose,

Long Horn Sheep, Buffalo, Eagles galore, Beaver’s, Porcupine, Osprey…I think we encountered it all, but Cats. We camped each and every night but the final night, on this magnificent ride. I remember Billy and Stacie putting camp up in the rain, as well as taking camp down in the rain. Those two individuals are hard core, I tell you. I recall there was a steel girder bridge at Tesla; the length was about ¼ - ½ mile. My owner had stopped on a hill to scope it out and cars as they crossed were moving left to right to left, it was strange to see cars move that way. Well I had to cross that bridge not once, but twice (coming and going) from Alaska. Remember I had TKC knobbies on the front, and we had started the bridge in the right lane. By the time we were across that bridge, I was in the left lane. Lucky no oncoming traffic, or we would have had problems. I got to ride asphalt, construction dirt/gravel and even mud/slop on this adventure. It was a blast. Hey, I even made it to the Arctic Circle.

How many motorcycles can say that? Am I proud? Damn right I’m proud, and I have Billy to thank for it. By the end of the trip, I had been ridden 7500 miles. This ride was a test of endurance and I survived it, but it was hard on me. I needed brakes, tires, air filter, a new chain set, and lots of scrubbing after. Hey don’t get me wrong it was well worth it, and I’d do it again in a minute.

We met so many nice people during this ride. It was funny how we’d run into the same people numerous times, and it felt like we were old friends. We met a couple from England, that had flown over to Oregon, and bought bicycles to ride

to AK. We also met a man from Finland, who was also bicycling through AK. We met a lot of people from Oregon, and all the way from N.Y.

Our roughest town to survive was North Pole, AK. Wow, we about got run into, or over, 2-3 times in that town. I just wanted to ride like the wind and leave that dangerous place in my rear view mirror.

2-25-13: my heart has accumulated 86,540 miles. Billy and Stacie have started a dual sport rental business in Bend, Oregon, (OREGON DUAL SPORT RENTAL AND ADVENTURES)

and this has put a dampener on Billy’s riding. We traveled to Phoenix, Arizona March 2011 which is usually our first big ride of the season. Since Billy’s Dad passed away 5 years back, he rides to see his Mom.

This was the most unpleasant ride I have had. While en route to see his Mom, she passed away quietly in her sleep. Having been on numerous rides I can tell when my owner is out of whack. In the end we completed that ride and now reflect upon the times that we had. I had the pleasure of making that ride 3 times before so that Billy could visit his Mom.

In Nov. of 2012, Billy had decided to ride Baja. Since my mileage was near 100,000, he chose to purchase another 800GS (Blue). I was disappointed, but he had his reasons. I heard him say “I don’t want to break down in Mexico”.

I understand but the day will come when he gets back in my saddle and we are once again, digging in the dirt. Hey, I look great when I’ve been in the mud and dirt. Now you take Blue, that bike is too pretty to look good when dirty.

I have my eyes on him, he will very soon be dedicated to their rental fleet and I will be where I belong, between my owner’s legs. I can see it now, bugs on my windshield, mud on my sprockets and my man standing on my pegs. You can be sure that Billy will want to be in the saddle when my clock ticks 100K.

Don’t say I told you so, but Willie Nelson sang it best, “On the Road Again”

And that we are. Billy now rides ME, and Blue is full time rental.

I just turned over 92K miles; my future is on the horizon, and I’m looking to experience many more miles with THE MAN!

Last week I overheard South America. Wow, could that be in my future?

Call me crazy, call me insane, but I want to see and experience ALL OF THAT! Can you imagine 20,000 miles give or take a few, 3 months of shock and awe? I’m all in! I can’t believe we haven’t left yet. LOL.

In closing, I must say, my life has been fantastic!

I wonder how many other F800gs’s have seen and experienced the miles, paths, and companionship as I.

Look for me on the road, I’m the one with an owner who loves to kick me in the side and say with a grin “LET’S RIDE”

For those of you who are into number’s Billy has always kept a record of what I have needed in repairs and maintenance. Hold on to your wallet here goes:

1.Tire set’s 9

2.tube set’s 3

3.Low beam bulb’s 9

4.Front Wheel bearing set’s 2

5.Rear Wheel Bearing set 1

6.Top/Bottom Steering head bearing 1 set

7.Chain/Sprocket set 5

8.Valve Cover gasket 3

9.Brake pads F 2 set Rear 3

10.Oil/Filter a whooping 32 times

11.Battery 1

12.Fuel Pump 1

13.Stator/Voltage Regulator 1

14.Spark Plug set 1

15. Left turn signal housing

Valve adjustments not since 12,000 miles .

Crater Lake,Oregon where the water is so blue you think it was a painting. Oh yea ,I live just 1 hour North of the majestic Park.

If you go to Idaho you must visit Stanley to see the Sawtooth mountain range.

A group ride with Giant Loop supplier of adventure bags and gear. Billy doesn't dig group rides but makes an exception for this outstanding group of guy's.

In the South East corner of Oregon there lies the Steens Mountain range and is one of the least populated counties in the nation. I'm at an elevation of around 10,000 feet and enjoying the cool fresh air.

Can you say WOW? I've been to British Columbia and I tell you it is breath taking.

On one of my many off road adventures in Oregon.

It is a hot day returning via a ferry from South of Revelstoak B.C. My owner is over temping at this point.

While at the Summer Lake Hot Springs I get to enjoy a fire and solitude .

In John Day , Oregon just kicking back for a small break. Hey Billy , lets ride!

Mexican Hat, in Utah this was in March and I remember it being in the mid teens at night .Great weather during the day and I had to soak up all the sun in preparation of night temperature's.

I felt my brakes being clamped HARD and this is what you get , a view from my back side.

Taken from Green Mountain near Christmas Valley .Reminds me of the Birds song
I can see for miles and miles . 

My friend Le Femme and her owner Stacie . By the way we get along just fine and she follows me where ever I go. In this location it is Saline valley and the Hot Springs.

This was early on in my life with Billy, see I still have the BMW Vario bags on which don't hold up well at all to be crashed or dropped. Just ask Le femme.

Eastern Oregon at a look out tower. Great view and in June there was still some snow that hadn't melt.

Paulina Lake , taken from Paulina Peak. This is just out side my front door. Who or what bike can say that?

Salmon Glacier just out side of Hyder , AK , we rode through a pot hole infested town and then up about 20 miles of more pot holes to get to the top. The wind was blowing like crazy and cold. Again no complaints here , this is every motorcycle's dream and I living it.

On the way to John Day , Oregon for the rally a fellow bike (bmw) broke down and Billy say's to me " hey Darth we gotta tow this  BMW to the asphalt. " WHAT? Me I have about 75,000 miles on my heart and clutch and you want me to tow that over size broken down BMW? He calmly replied YEP I DO. Well I did for about 25 miles and at the end I was Kaputt!

Sitting high in the sky at Steens.

The man himself , my great owner Billy and our ride on The Apache Trail in Az.

Another Off road ride just outside my front door in Bend , Oregon

Hey dude what you looking at. This isn't a beauty contest or something. I know you aren't thinking of combing your hair . In our 4 years of riding together you have never cared about your looks or appearance.

Darth

P.S.

7-27-13 My heart is healthy with some 95,000 miles on it, and today I’ve been delegated as Billy’s main stallion. AWESOME! We will be together for the 100,000 mile roll over. Last month Billy received his 200,000 mile BMWOA patch. Goat was responsible for 105,000 of that, but the rest is on me, and a few of those are on my friend Red . Look for us on the road and my owner with his usual smile as he sits tall in my saddle.