Yoshiyah HawkinsBMW 1200GS Navajo
56
Caldwell, parma, various cattle fields and back roads.
EXIF
| Model | COOLPIX S3000 |
| Shutter | 125/100000 |
| Aperture | f/3.2 |
| ISO Speed | 80 |
| Focal Length | 5mm |
| Captured | 2013:05:09 22:07:00 |
BMW 1200GS
Early test day Caldwell. Glad they are tests. Half of the exhaust was planted in a farmers field from 1500 feet. Lucky to still have a prop or sail. Redesigned the exhaust and all is well.
Comments
You are lucky, you have not damaged prop... A farmer was a big surprised, isnt it? :)) He saw to the sky and told: what the birds are ate if that shit are made...?!? :))
Very nice trike! The eyes - I see you... The BMW is really beautiful engine. Please, what are the stripes below the exhaust?
Thanks for the comment Jozinko. Below the exhaust can is a brush like you would see behind the wheel and tire of an RV or a truck. It is to keep the nose wheel from throwing a rock on the ground to the rear and into the prop.
As to losing part of the exhaust, I heard a noise but did not know it was gone until back on the ground. I lost the end cap to the exhaust can. I had used a carbon fiber canister used on motorcycles but it could not take the vibration. Now I have an all metal canister and vibration dampners built into the head pipe in three places before it gets to the canister. I also upgraded the metal brackets that hold my two oil coolers in the back. I am installing additional suspension components to my rear wheel strut to give it more strength and compression ability. Next pic will show the changes.
This brush is very clever solution :) I had a problems with vibrations on my old oil cooler on my trike. All holders was broken and I must to fixed it by rubber wires and flew 200km to home. Next my father made me new holders, I bought new cooler and I have no one problem now. I will make a gallery.
That totally rocks Yoshi! I watched your Youtube set too. I'm considering the BMW upgrade but nervous about the issues I read only. Would you do it again?
As to doing it again, the answer is yes. The BMW is a great motor for aircraft. There are some things to think through. I have fuel injection and while that is cool and all, if something goes wrong, I am not likely to fly it out of a field whereas with carbs, I can tear those suckers down on site. The computer is what I am driving at. And it takes a laptop to alter engine parameters but the brain box I have which is a German Trijekt, takes data as to how all engines run as far as what they need in spark and fuel, and it makes it happen. I installed the Trijekt and it did the rest. It will work on any engine.
I also require high pressure to run the injectors so I installed a car racing fuel regulator to detune my 90 lb electric fuel pump down to 50psi. I have no back up fuel pump. But then I keep asking myself, when was the last time my motorcycle was going down the road and a component like that went down. Answer, never. So a beemer is a real cool engine and a really reliable street motor, but there is something to be said for simple.
It is like the Revo. Insanely cool to me. But now they went to injection. Is that really a good idea. I can get angels 17 with injectors, but who needs to fly that high? And no you dont have to have o2 up there. I used to live in Aspen and we flew around there at 15 and were fine. So you have to use your own judgements to call the reliability of the BMW on the ground, and it passes that thought block, to the simple vacuum fuel pump, carbs etc. If you do go BMW, get a hold of me and I can tell you what to avoid and what I learned. The thing puts your bird in the air real fast. And with my setup with my 19 wing, I can not go near the full power once up as I will over fly the wing. My blade pitch is set for 6500 R's and that much rpm would fly me way over my wing max speed. But that is a wing problem not an engine problem. I need a faster wing should I want speed but my brain is stuck. I am a new trike pilot and getting in real slow is kind of nice. The wing is so big it is hard to get it on the ground again. I dont come down fast but then again, I might need some more experience.