49'er Rally

The 49'er Rally is held at the fairgrounds in Auburn, California, about 30 miles east of Sacramento. The direct route from San Juan Capistrano to Auburn is north on I-5 to I-80 east for a total of 475 miles.

I got a good jump on the day by getting on the road a little after 5 am on Friday morning. I beat all the traffic through L.A. I made it to my first stop in Santa Barbara in record time, 2 hours, for a face shield change since the sun was now up. At San Luis Obispo, I cut off towards the Coast Highway (big surprise) to find it cold and overcast the entire route along the ocean. I had my heated liner and gloves on the entire time I was on the coast.

I made it to Monterey in 7 hours, just in time for a lunch break and gas. I cut over to 101 via Hwy 156 and skirted the Bay by taking I-680. I wasn't looking forward to taking I-80 to Sacramento, and I recalled a road my first BMW "mentor", Bob Shilling, once shared with me and that is route 160 which follows the Sacramento River from Antioch to Sacramento. I was determined to find this road today. The only problem I had was getting through Brentwood. I apparently got lost among the new subdivisions going in and missed Hwy 4. I pulled out my GPS to find out where I was and quickly got back on track.

My first experience with 160 was disappointing. It was bumper to bumper and I vowed to take the first chance I had to get back on the Interstate. Fortunately, at Hwy 12, everyone turned off and I was in "clean air" for most of the way. The ride along the river is something I'll remember for a long, long time. The road winds as does the river offering a view of life for those who appear to have lived their lives based on what the river would provide. There were boat shacks, farms, marinas and restaurants. Of personal interest, there were several bridges, most of which were draw bridges which allow commercial shipping traffic to commute from the Bay to Sacramento. There were no ships on the river today.

As 160 joined I-5, my bike showed an obvious distaste for the Interstate by running very poorly all of a sudden. I pulled into a service station to get gas and to attempt a roadside diagnostic. My first thought was to check the relays, which have been an ongoing problem for me. I did have a blown load relief relay, but that didn't change how the bike ran. I then pulled the spark plugs to find the right one fouled. Of course, I carry a spare set, so I changed the plugs in the parking lot. Unfortunately, this did not fix the problem. I called Tom Hooper and told him that I would not be at the rally in time to watch the races.

The only other thing I could think of is the time when I was working on the bike, synchronizing the throttle bodies when I inadvertently left the throttle cable pulled up and sitting on the sleeve. The symptoms were similar. Unfortunately, the only way to inspect the throttle cable is to remove the right body panel. However, I thought that, if that is what the problem is, the fix is simple and I won't have to worry about it again. Fortunately, I pack an electric screwdriver and the body panel comes off relatively easy.

Once the body panel was off, I could see what the problem was, but it wasn't as simple as the throttle cable sitting on the sleeve. It appeared that the nut holding the pulley which attaches the throttle cable to the throttle body fell off. With the pulley dangling in the air, the throttle cable had no effect. The problem didn't look serious and I thought I would be able to limp in to the rally site, 45 miles away, on one cylinder. I put everything back together and got on the road.

Amazingly, the bike didn't run too bad. I could cruise at 60-70 mph without much difficulty. Granted, it wasn't running very smooth, but I had plenty of power to get to the campsite. Apparently, the plug was firing, the valves were actuating and fuel was flowing, although not at a desired rate. I was really surprised on how well the Boxer ran considering I only had one throttle cable working.

I got to the rally, found my colleagues' tents and pitched mine adjacent to theirs. We relaxed for the remainder of the evening. I took a late shower and was in bed a little after 11 pm. What a day!

The next morning, I took the opportunity to take some pictures around the rally site. I used this opportunity waiting for the nearest dealer, A&S BMW in Roseville, to open. They didn't open until 9 am, but they are open seven days. This fact would later come in handy.


Cool GS/Sidecar setup. The sidecar is on an articulating mount such that the GS can be ridden like a conventional motorcycle (it leans). This must be an E-ticket for the monkey!	Beautiful sidecar



		Lots of campers. That's my tent (yellow and beige) in the foreground

Rally headquarters

Vendors...

	Quite a setup

	A popular camp spot.	Nice paint job

A proud rider cleaning his bike	on the other end of the spectrum we have...

	Blowup of the gentleman's tee shirt

vendors...	..and more vendors.	Another cool sidecar

When I called A&S, I thought I would only need a couple of parts; the nut and the spring. Four dollars worth of parts, right? Then I wake up and realize: B M W. The only four dollar part on a BMW are those (expletive deleted) windshield mount washers. After speaking with Kirk at the parts counter, I find that the problem is worse than just expensive parts. The parts I lost are not available individually, they are part of the throttle body assembly. Great. I told him that I wasn't interested in buying a new throttle body today. He asked me to hold the line so that he could get Tim Whalen, the Service Manager, to help me. I spoke with Tim who said that he had a few used throttle bodies and to come down to see what he could do. The plan was to pull parts of an old one and put them on mine.

When I arrived, I found out that the year after mine, the nut was replaced by a pressed in fitting and this was no longer a problem. Of course, this news did not help me at all. In fact, it made the problem worse because the available throttle bodies that fit my bike are fewer due to the change. Tim told me he would have to install a pulley on my throttle body like the newer ones using rivets instead of bolts.

While Tim was scrounging through the used throttle body bin, I went over to the service department to find out what the labor costs would be to make the swap. I was told $225 plus the parts, which would be sold to me as equivalent labor since they are used parts and couldn't be guaranteed. I told the service manager that, while that sounded reasonable, it was out of my price range and I was going to have to do it myself in the parking lot. Tim told me that, if I would do all of the work myself relative to my bike and hand him my throttle body, he would do the swap for an equivalent of one hour of labor. I said "Deal"! With all the changes, I end up with a new throttle body which I believe is off of a R1100S.

Tim returned a throttle body to me pretty quickly with a new pulley riveted on and working great. When I start to install the throttle body, the fitting at the fuel injector doesn't seal. Tim takes the whole assembly back to his desk and finds a fuel injector that fits with a rubber washer. Everything bolts up fine, even though it looks a little funky. But it's under plastic and works.

My synchronization went as follows: I counted the threads on the throttle cable fitting and matched it. Listened to the idle. Close enough.

Tim and all of the folks at A&S were amazing. I even at a free Brat (O.K., O.K., I had two) and four bottles of water while working on my bike in their parking lot.

I returned to the rally site about mid afternoon. I spent the afternoon relaxing and re-hydrating. After dinner, I thought that would be a good time to take the bike up the hill to the wash station and give it a good bath. I climb on the bike, turn the key on and....nuthin'. Not even one crank on the starter. Everything's dead. I put my digital volt meter (also in my auxiliary tool kit) on the batter to find it has only 4.3 volts. Fortunately, A&S has a vendor station at the rally and I ask them to bring a set of jumper cables the next morning. That evening, Tom Hooper finds a rally committee member who has a charger. I move my bike over to a electric outlet and charge the bike overnight.

Sunday morning, the battery has a full charge, so I pack up and get ready to go. I hit the starter and the battery goes dead again. Back to 4 volts. Several of us try to diagnose it. The A&S General Manager, Jeff, rep calls Tim once again who, over the phone, diagnoses the problem as a bad battery. Ex SouthCoaster Prez Greg Ruggles pulls his RT-P next to mine and we try to jump the battery bike-to-bike. With limited access to the battery, we can't get a good connection. We next turn to Mike Case with his GS who has clear access to his battery. We connect the two batteries with my brand new jumper cables. Mike starts his bike and it's still not enough to get mine to turn over. We then put Mike's jumper cables on in addition to mine and the bike does fire. I button everything up, grab my tools as Greg puts my camping gear at rally headquarters and I'm off again to A&S for a new battery. Yes, they are open on Sunday (for parts and sales)!

I'm in luck as they do have a battery that fits my bike and it's an Odyssey; the battery I was planning to use when I thought I needed to replace mine. Off come the body panels again (are you keeping count?), both panels this time, and change the battery in A&S's parking lot.

By the time I get back to the rally to pick up my gear, it's 2:30 in the afternoon and I decide to spend the night and leave the next morning. For the first time, I am able to attend the awards ceremony. No, I didn't win anything like a new battery or throttle body. My club, the South Coast BMW Riders Club, missed the "club with most members in attendance" award because a few who had planned on coming didn't. We missed by one. Drats. Maybe next year. I'm off to bed early (10 pm) hoping to get an early start tomorrow to beat the other 15 million people trying to get back into the L.A. Basin.

I wake up at 3 am and decide to go ahead and get up. That was probably a mistake because I was tired the entire day. I was packed and ready to go by 4:20, but I still wasn't the first person out of camp. I'm going to give up ever trying to be first. It's more fun to be last. I make a last minute decision on my route. Since I'm leaving in the dark, I decide to go west on I-80 to Hwy 101 instead of south on Hwy 49 to 50 to 395. As I get closer to the coast, the temperature drops radically. That's when I notice that I have inadvertently omitted the electrical connection to my tank bag when I installed the new battery. I pull into a gas station and rummage through my bag of dirty laundry and don everything that is remotely related to the word "warm". I turn south on I-680 and manage to get to 101, but I am stopping frequently for a cup of coffee, more to stay awake than to get warm. Being cold really zaps my energy level and I didn't have much to begin with since I only got 5 hours sleep the night before.

As I approach Gilroy, I realize that, with my plethora of electrical connectors in my tank bag, I should have an easy time of making a connection so that my electric liner can be plugged into my accessory socket. Of course, I had one originally before I had an electrical connection in my tank bag, but it was never convenient. Since that connector is below my left thigh, I always thought I was going to fall over trying to plug it in with my helmet on. Today, falling over didn't seem like much of an obstacle. I was warm the rest of the way home.

I follow 101 until I reach Camarillo. I visualize I-405 is a parking lot, so I cut off at Malibu and follow PCH to the I-10 terminus. I found the parking lot. It was PCH. Lane splitting is tough, but I manage to eventually get through. To my surprise, traffic on both I-10 and I-405 is fairly light. I have no difficulty traveling the speed limit all the way home.

I pull into the driveway about 5:30. My lovely wife is there in the open garage waiting with open arms. She doesn't even seem to mind that I haven't had a shower in a couple of days. Neither do the dogs. Unconditional love is a wonderful thing! I suggest pizza for dinner and I'm an immediate hero.

After a shower and dinner, I manage to stay awake until almost 9, but that's about it.

Now I need to take the plastic off so that I can get those throttle bodies synchronized. It's a good thing I had plenty of practice doing that this weekend.


Friday's Route
Click on pictures below for larger view



Draw Bridges over the Sacramento River

Detailed View of Hwy 160


Saturday's tech day	Removed throttle body	New throttle body with creative mount