re two beemer questions r gs in article apr organpipe uug arizona edu asphaug lpl arizona edu erik asphaug x writes hello folks i m very happy with my new r gs my range is miles on gallons that s mpg surprisingly the bike is a real cruiser i was expecting something rough she s a sweet backroad honey and i can go pretty much anyplace i d take my mountain bike as far as shaft effect it s more a torque effect from the crankshaft in my opinion rev it sitting still when the driveshaft is not moving and the bike twists a bit maybe if the clutch is in then a large chunk of counter rotating mass is not rotating hence at a light reving makes it twist shaft effect is the rear end rising under power or the real problem getting lower to the road when the throttle is snapped shut say when you are cornering and the heads are real close to the road new gs bikes with the paralever shaft have almost no shaft effect i don t ride her fast enough to get a shaft effect but in my opinion a little buffeting by wind is of far greater consequence okay here are my questions any recommendations for a home made fairing i d like to keep the wind off my chest and perhaps my helmet for comfort at highway speeds mph yet don t want to a screw up the stability or b block my vision too much for trail riding anybody have luck with two piece detachible fairings i d like to make it myself out of plexiglas i run two lights the standard headlamp plus a sidelamp mounted on the crash bar the illumination s excellent that way with a full beam coming out from the level of the motor left side the lamp beam is linear so that you get a bright streak of illumination from left to right and it really picks up the periphery deer lurking etc combined with the headlamp on high you can see like day but i ve heard that bmw alternators don t crank out too much do i need to shut down the sidelamp when i m puttering around in the dirt at low rpm it s a question of how long you spend at low rpm and how much you need the extra light at low rpm k and under they don t charge all that much if at all the alternators put out sufficient wattage it just that you need to be at k rpm to get it this is embarassing i m having trouble starting the bike first thing in the morning i invariably flood the carbs then go in and read a section of the paper and then she starts right up is this a zen thing full choke open the gas taps hit the starter and ever so slightly blip the throttle it should fire cranking should be done with minimal throttle my r likes the throttles to be raised just a bit off idle it s an experience thing like zen it s hard to describe it can be hard to learn if you aren t paying atttention to the differences between success and failure especially if you get really pissed off and flatten the battery while trying to get it to run if my bike has been sitting for a few weeks i give it a short while to start if it doesn t i turn it off and wait a few minutes for things to vaporize in the fuel system and then it lights right off i ve got dual plugs which make it easier to start the hayne s manual says do not under any circumstances use gasoline with alcohol additives yeah right what do you folks due to keep the engine and carbs from being eaten by ethanol and methanol any particular brands of gas that are best additives the big fix is the bing carb upgrade kit it s good for a few mpg and the parts are alcohol proof the parts it replaces aren t alcohol proof as long as the bike isn t going to sit for long periods of time gasohol is nice since it helps keep ping away if your bike doesn t ping on cheap gas you ought to raise the compression half a smiley the bmw twins of the s and beyond have lowered compression to keep the epa happy dual plugs and higher compression give back a big chunk of the lost perfomance neil kirby dod nak archie cbusa att com at t bell labs columbus oh usa if you think i speak for at t you might have more lawyers than sense
