Saturday, February 27, 2010

Beemer farkle for Natasha

Beautifully sunny day today here in the Denver Metro area, so just a short post about the beemer farkle I installed on Natasha this morning.

FARKLE:  The term is well known in the sport touring community.  (source)

An enthusiast may be in the process of "farkling". The completed motorcycle would be all "farkled up". Radar detectors, Global Positioning System receivers, heated grips, and satellite radios are some of those farkles. Other accessories could be aftermarket seats, side and/or top cases or bar risers, which make the motorcycle more suitable for long miles.


F.A.R.K.L.E. -- Fancy Accessory Really Kool Likely Expensive 


In terms of the above definition, the farkle I installed today was not fancy, is functional cool and not very expensive.  Close enough!

 
From myural.com, the stock brake adjusting nut 
that URALs come with from Russia
You need a 12mm wrench to adjust its position on the brake actuating rod.

 
 I replaced the stock brake adjustment nut with Beemer Airhead wingnuts
easier to adjust and no tools required.

 
 The sidecar wheel's drum brake adjustment nut

Took Natasha out for a spin and the brakes worked great.  I even managed to get a small brake squeal when I did a practice "panic stop".  First time I'd been able to achieve that with the URAL's drum brakes.  I look forward to the Tech Day this spring when I hope to see one of my fellow Uralisti demo the correct procedure to "adjust" drum brakes.

Update: I took Brigitta, my '87 R80 out riding in the afternoon.  Temperatures were in the mid 40s and partly cloudy so not too bad.  It would get steadily more and more overcast as I headed south towards Franktown and then past the town to the vicinity of Castlewood Canyon State Park.

 
 Along Inspiration Drive, looking at Mount Evans

Brigitta with Pikes Peak in the background

Panorama of Castlewood Canyon

I really had to play with the exposure and color settings of the photos of Brigitta to compensate for the haze and overcast skies making it difficult to get some good definition on the distant mountains.  Hope you like what I ended up with.

Snow tomorrow, it'll be Natasha's turn to go out again.  Hope you got a ride in today!

EOM Mileages: Natasha: 14,937 Km  Brigitta: 83,525 Miles

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