It stated out innocently enough. I've had this "new to me" 2011 Spyder RT for just under a year. She only had 14K miles on her when the adventure started. I've been riding for years... Honda's and BMWs... They all have their achilles, The GL1200 stater died shortly after aquiring it. I went through the Poor Boy Alternator conversion - where you redesign hanging a Geo Metro alternator off the crank to bypass the lame stator. Then, the Light Truck BMW K1200LT - with final drive problems, radio problems, and the stupid oil filter up inside the engine, and the air filter... don't even get me started on the air filter... so much for German Engineering. Now I'm finding out, my foray into the Canadian Motorcycle space is going to be likely fraught with similar challenges!
So two weeks ago, I started to think, I should probably change the oil and air filter and get to really know the Spyder. Little did I know...
After finding a few Youtube videos about oil changes (BTW there are very few on how to change the air filter in this puppy) I started to get worried.
I was sort of prepared for having to remove a oiece of plastic or two. I'd already checked the oil level... How much more difficult could it be to change the oil?
Now I have body parts strewn all over my little garage,,, screws and the stupid little push pins everywhere... I know for a fact, at least one of the push pins fell inside the body behind the FRUNK.
When I put the 4.5 quarts in her, she still barely registered on the dipstick, so I put another 1/2 quart in. Now she's up a little over the full mark, so I'm going to have to purge some of the new fresh oil, to keep from getting it blowin into the airbox.
Speaking of the airbos,,,
I still haven't been able to retrieve the stupid air filter. Seriously? Before I started I read the manual. It said:
Refer to BODY subsection and remove:
- Upper side panels
- Central panel.
Disconnect the idle air control valve (IACV) hose.
Release clamps from air filter housing cover.
Come on! How difficult could that be?
This is why people write books about channeling Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.
It'll likely be 6 more months before I figure out how to exorcise the air filter, purge the oil and find all the bits and pieces strewn all over the Garage. By then, I will have gone on the BMW forum and found an old Slash 7 to resurrect.
This is NUTS! But what are you going to do?
At least there is a Covid quarrantini going on.
I'm socially distancing in the garage.
The neighbors keep walking by and shaking their heads. I just know they're thinking "Poor fool." "He'll never get that thing put back together again."
I'm not giving up though... even if riding season will likely be over before I can ride again.
It's cathartic!
2011 RT Air Filter change
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