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Skilled Rider Course
Sunday, Oct 9th
Iron Horse will sponsor a full-day Team Arizona Skilled Rider Course. Cost is $80 and will include lunch.
Participation is limited to eleven riders.
Sign-up with Jim Strang, Parts Manager.
GlobeBusters Presentation
Thursday, Sep 1st
Kevin Sanders from GlobeBusters is going to do a presentation on their Guinness world record ride from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in South America. We are going to host a small gathering to view the presentation and talk with our guests. We have to limit the # to 50 people. If you are interested in attending, please email John Cartwright with your name as soon as possible.
I hope everyone has been enjoying themselves this summer.
Usually, summer is our slow time here at the shop. People go on vacation and we usually get by just fine.
Not this summer! We have been selling bikes at a record pace. The availability of the new R1200RT, R1200GS, K1200S and K1200R has had us on the go.
We apologize for missing last month's newsletter, but it was unavoidable.
We are ramping up for a terrific fall season. We have the
GlobeBuster event on Sept. 1st, and we are helping Jim Hyde put on the Arizona Adventure Rally in early November.
Check the website for all the other fun activities we have lined up.
We hope to see you soon- John, Jen, Laine and Ella.
Not one, not two, but three BMW motorcycles have earned coveted titles from the editors of Motorcyclist
magazine. The 2006 K1200R was named "2005 Motorcycle of the Year" while the BMW R1200GS (last year's Motorcycle of the Year) clinched the "Best Adventure" category and the BMW R1200RT captured top honors in the "Best Touring" category. According to the magazine's editors, it was the first time three of the ten annual awards were given to one manufacturer.
Every year, Motorcyclist editors evaluate all of the newly introduced motorcycle models and select one that they believe has had the most profound impact on motorcycling. "Give BMW credit for doing what Japan wouldn't or couldn't do," said Motorcyclist editors about the K1200R, "bolt serious horsepower into a big, comfortable naked bike. This German translation of the naked ideal serves up more motorcycle, leaving its contemporaries looking relatively underdressed when it comes to technological accoutrements."
We have all three models in stock, so come by throw your leg over some of the
world's best motorcycles.
Navigator II Plus Rebate Offer
The BMW Motorrad Navigator II Plus has been a tremendous success thanks to it's great new "no-download-needed" feature
that serves up detailed maps and location data for the entire country right out of the box. BMW Motorrad USA and Garmin
International have teamed up in support of your sales efforts by offering a $100 rebate for any BMW Navigator II Plus
retailed between June 1st (retroactive) and September 30th, 2005. Each customer that purchased a BMW Navigator II Plus
during this period is eligible to receive this $100 rebate from Garmin International.
Eligible Navigator II Plus Kits:
72 60 7 696 109
LT/M w/opt 394
71 60 0 409 356 R1200RT
71 60 0 409 357 R1200ST
71 60 0 409 358 K1200R
71 60 0 409 359 R1200HP2
71 60 0 409 360 K1200S
71 60 0 409 361 LT/M w/VOICE
71 60 0 409 362 LT '03 w/COM
71 60 0 409 363 K1200RS/GT
71 60 0 409 364 R1150GS/A
71 60 0 409 365 R1150RT
71 60 0 409 366 R1200GS
71 60 0 409 367 R 1200 CL
See Jim or John for details
NEW - Helmet Bag by BMW
You protect your priceless head with an expensive helmet. How do
you protect that expensive helmet?
Adapted to the range of luggage products offered
by BMW Motorrad, the Helmet Bag by BMW is constructed of rugged waterproof Nylon and features a shock absorbing lining. The zipper is designed to keep the water out, but is not completely waterproof. The proven BMW Motorrad quality ensures excellent protection against any shocks or scratches.
- Color: grey/black
- Material: rugged and waterproof Nylon material with a padded, shock absorbing lining
- The bottom features 5 small impact points to ensure protection when setting down
- The long zipper closes a large opening, which makes it easy to stow away the helmet
- A 6" outside zipper is designed to carry ear plugs, keys, etc.
- Two carrying handles sewn on the bag
- Removable shoulder-style carry strap
- One Size
Gasoline Octane Rating
By John Heibler
CAUTION:
Gasoline is extremely volatile and extremely flammable, meaning that even air/vapor mixtures of gasoline are potentially explosive even at ambient temperatures.
Gasoline ignites rather easily, it burns vigorously and may explode in certain conditions.
Ensure that gasoline is kept away from ignition sources such as heat, sparks, and naked flames.
Gasoline vapors are heavy and will travel low on the surface, beware of the hot water heater igniting those stray vapors. Exposure to gasoline vapor and gasoline liquid can affect your health.
Avoid prolonged exposure, breathing of gasoline vapors, and contact with eyes and skin.
If gasoline comes in contact with the skin, wash affected area with soap and water.
If contacted with the eyes, rinse/irrigate them immediately with a large amount of fresh water.
If irritation persists, seek medical attention. Never siphon gasoline by
mouth, since even a small amount of gasoline aspired into the lungs, and coming into contact with the lung tissue can be severe,
potentially fatal by damaging lung tissue. If gasoline is ingested do not induce vomiting, rather seek immediate medical assistance.
Store gasoline in approved containers only.
For those customers who wish to read more in depth about gasoline, we suggest that they search the web or spend time in the local library for more detailed information on this subject.
The Internet BMW Riders (IBMWR) have a nice article on gasoline octane rating.
Gasoline Octane Rating – How Much Octane Means: Are there Marbles in your Cylinders at Times??
When we review the owner’s manual after buying that new BMW motorcycle, we find out that the motorcycle has requirements as to what grade of gasoline we need.
This requirement is determined by BMW during the development and design phase of the engine, after considering the flow of fuel and air mixture through the cylinder head, compression ratio, etc.
The octane rating is used to describe how much the fuel mixture can be compressed before spontaneously igniting.
The octane rating must be sufficient to suppress the most feared thing that can occur inside the cylinder of any engine:
Detonation!
Detonation (aka: “pinging”) is the uncontrolled burning of the fuel/air mixture, it can happen both before or after the spark plug fires.
It can be heard as a rattling sort of sound, like marbles banging around inside the cylinder.
The fuel/air mixture usually burns at a controlled rate after being ignited
by the spark plug.
This controlled burning is seen as a flame front spreading across the piston/cylinder area.
It can become uncontrollable when the gasoline mixture is heated to the point of self ignition.
Detonation (mild or severe) can be caused by incorrect ignition timing, overly lean fuel mixtures from clogged fuel injectors, an air leak in the intake system, a large amount of carbon on top of the piston or cylinder head, or if there are pockets of unburned fuel/air mixture within the cylinder head/combustion chamber which can superheat and burn too rapidly.
Since this condition is not a controlled event, the gasoline burns with an extremely high raise in pressure - think explosion!
Controlled burn rate pushes down on the piston head in a steady push motion.
Uncontrolled burning literally shocks engine components with explosive force.
The most feared and severe detonation is when it occurs at high speeds, primarily because of all the
other noise going on, it cannot be felt or heard.
Usually things stop running when the spark plug is severely damaged and suddenly there is no more ignition and things come to a stop.
Ouch! Continued detonation can cause severe damage, such as melting and literally punching holes into the top of the pistons.
You can induce this condition in both your motorcycle or car by lugging the engine in a high gear and then wacking the throttle wide open (low rpm/high load).
Listen to those marbles bounce around inside the cylinder! What you are typically hearing is the cylinder walls vibrating, since there will be a rapid/violent raise (spike) in combustion pressures, due the fuel/air mixture “exploding” rather than burning at a controlled even rate across the combustion chamber.
Gasoline of poor quality will burn at uneven rates and you may get detonation as a result.
It this occurs, fill up with better fuel as soon as possible. You may have to use gas with a higher octane rating.
Generally, higher compression ratio’s will require higher octane fuels.
How the fuel/air mixture behaves before, during and after the combustion process is also greatly determined by the shape of both the piston and the cylinder head, which to a great extent can affect the octane rating required for that engine.
Poor flow usually means a higher octane rating in fuel. High mixture swirl designed cylinder heads will generally require lower octane fuel.
This is because of the better flow through the cylinder head, thus avoiding those pockets of unburned fuel/air mixture, which in turn can cause a detonation problem.
Technical tidbit: Modern engines produce the highest power and the best fuel economy when they are run just short of detonation!
Typically, from a design perspective, you want to run the highest possible compression ratio that you can get away with.
Since more compression means better fuel economy, more torque from the engine (which is what really makes the wheels rotate).
Octane rating for the engine is determined via the Anti-Knock Index (AKI).
Two methods are used: Research
Octane Number (RON) and the Motor Octane Number (MON).
These two octane numbers are added together and divided in half to come up with the overall octane number reflected on the pump
(RON+MON divided by 2 = Pump octane rating).
A single cylinder engine is used to determine the octane rating of the gasoline.
MON method tests the ability of the gasoline to resist knock under severe operating conditions, such as high speed, part throttle loads and high performance requirements such as passing other vehicles.
The RON method tests the ability of gasoline to resist knock under less severe conditions, such as medium speeds and after-running conditions also know as “dieseling”.
Technical Tidbit: Tetra-ethyl lead was used years ago to suppress detonation.
Octane ratings for aviation gasoline could be quite high, with 110-130 octane gasoline (colored green) being required for use in DC-6 aircraft.
Even higher 115 – 145 octane aviation fuel was colored purple. Because the high tetra-ethyl lead content required to control the mixture burn, spark plugs could actually become lead fowled when run at very rich mixtures.
Octane ratings as high as 160 were used on very special high compression and boosted aircraft engines.
One of the benefits of using lead to control octane was that after the burning process, lead oxide formed and cushioned the valve and valve seat as they made contact when closing, thus keeping wear to a minimum.
Tetra-ethyl lead was removed from gasoline for air pollution and other reasons.
With the advent of unleaded fuels, valves and valve seats had to be hardened to run without damage.
Hint: Use the proper grade of fuel as noted in your owner’s book or on the decal on top of the fuel tank on modern BMWs.
Using a higher grade gasoline is just a waste of money. The motorcycle or car will not get better gas mileage, it will not run hotter, it will not be cleaner internally.
The only reason to use a higher octane rating is to control detonation.
If you need to use a higher grade fuel because the engine is pinging, then it would be wise to have the engine “state of tune” checked.
Carbon deposits.
There may also be a fair amount of carbon inside the cylinder/cylinder head which will increase the compression ratio, thus requiring a higher grade gasoline.
Have that carbon cleaned out. Carbon deposits can have numerous causes:
short trips where the engine never reaches operating temperature (riding less than 15-20 miles one-way), piston rings that have not broken-in yet (this may take up to 18,000 miles, based on riding habits), low engine rpm riding style (keep the rpm over 4,000 rpm and do not lug the engine), running the engine on choke or idling the engine to warm it up.
The use of a fuel additive every so many gas tank fillings will help clean out the injectors, throttle bodies, carbs, intake valves, top of pistons and cylinder heads.
Do this before the carbon builds up too much. We sell the BMW recommended fuel additive -- just ask for it at the parts counter.
CAUTION: Overusing a fuel additive can dilute the engine oil, so use only as recommended -- more is NOT better.
Oxygenated Gasoline or Does 151 Proof Rum Really Taste Better?
Oxygenated gasoline is sold during the winter months in some states to reduce air pollution.
Oxygenated gas is a conventional fuel with oxygen-rich chemicals added, such as MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) or ethanol, grain alcohol.
The added oxygen promotes cleaner burning, reducing carbon monoxide.
Remember that fuel injectors/carbs do not know what the gasoline is composed of, they just simply supply the correct amount of the gas and air mixture. You can expect a reduction of approx. 2-3% in fuel economy, since the oxygen contains less energy than the non-oxygenated gas it is mixed with.
The amount of alcohol added can be as much as 10% by volume. The problem with these alcohols (especially, methanol) is that they do contain small amounts of water.
Methanol really likes to attract water directly from atmosphere. It also doesn't like to mix with gasoline and will separate, thus the alcohol collects in the bottom of the gas tank or float bowls.
You guessed it -- the engine gets a shot of alcohol, which means it runs very poorly, since alcohol does not burn as easily as gasoline.
Water in the fuel system can damage fuel system components such as fuel pump, injectors, etc, since it is corrosive.
Gasoline will also turn to varnish over a short period of time, thus clogging up the fuel pump, injectors, fuel filter, fuel rails, etc.
Hint: When storing your motorcycle, consider adding a gas stabilizer, such as Stabil, in with the remaining fuel.
We have found that neglect by not riding the motorcycle, especially those motorcycles that are fuel injected, can be very expensive to bring back to operating condition.
So go for that ride every so often!
Gasoline usually leaves a residue after combustion, and some states are very strict with gasoline quality.
Therefore it is wise to run a fuel additive through the fuel system to clean out the carbon that adheres to intake valves, pistons, cylinder/cylinder heads.
Carbon can build upon intake valves (on the intake side of the intake valve) to the extent that it will cause starting problems.
This is especially true on engines that use both a O2 sensor and a catalytic converter to regulate emissions.
When starting a cold engine, the computer will signal the injector to inject more fuel.
With carbon on the intake valves, the carbon absorbs the extra fuel required for starting, thus creating a lean start condition.
When the engine finally starts, the carbon on the intake valve is so full of fuel, that the engine goes from very lean to super rich run condition.
This fluctuation is not a healthy condition! The only solution is to clean the carbon off of the intake valves, by blasting them with crushed walnut shells.
The O2 sensor helps determine the amount of fuel that is injected by measuring the residual oxygen left in the exhaust gases.
Too much oxygen means a lean run condition and very little oxygen means it is on the rich side of the mixture.
Ideally, the fuel mixture should be kept at a ratio of 14:1 where the best power and fuel economy is realized.
Technical Tidbit: The mixture ratio is allowed to vary within given parameters.
This is known as the “lambda window”. If the fuel mixture varies beyond the allowed lambda window in your car, the “Check Engine” lamp is illuminated.
Typically, this is a lean run condition, where the engine will run on default program.
However, running in this default program for any period of time will alter fuel economy and or emissions.
Carbon build-up from piston rings not seated can be very harmful to the upper end of the engine.
As indicated in a prior newsletter, it is very important to seat/break-in the pistons rings as soon as possible.
Using a synthetic engine oil before 18,000 miles, especially on the BMW twins, can prolong the piston ring break-in process.
Riding the motorcycle at low engine rpm, and short trips where the engine never reaches operational temperature is another contributor to carbon build-up.
Excessive carbon build-up on both pistons and cylinder heads will create detonation at high load and low rpm situations.
You will have to go to the expense of a de-carbonation of the piston, cylinder head and both valves on both cylinders.
Excessive carbon will travel up the valve stem of the exhaust valve in severe cases, causing the exhaust valve to stick in the valve guide and not allow the valve to close.
At times, the piston will actually touch and slam the exhaust valve shut producing a noise like a connecting rod knock.
Excessive carbon will also fill the valve pocket in the piston and this carbon may actually break off sections/parts of the exhaust valve or bend it as well upon contact.
Not good! Allow us to test ride the motorcycle to determine the cause of the detonation.
The use of a fuel additive on regular intervals will also help in keeping the fuel injectors clean, thus ensuring the fuel mixture remains at 14:1.
Technical Tidbit: As engines wear, a number of things happen.
The oil consumption (all engines use oil as a normal function) goes up due to normal wear, thus the level of hydrocarbons (one of the pollutants left over after combustion) will climb.
Also the carbon deposits within the cylinder area will increase, thus requiring high grade fuels – more octane.
The area between the top ring of the piston and the crown of the piston can harbor unburned pockets of fuel.
This little amount of unburned fuel will cause a small amount of extra emissions, therefore the latest trend is to move the top piston ring further up towards the edge of the piston crown to eliminate this dead area, as much as possible.
The challenge for the engineers will be to get the top piston ring to tolerate higher temperatures, since the top piston ring is now closer to the burning gasoline and the corresponding heat.
See an earlier Service Newsletter to see internal temperatures as measured within the engine itself.
Preview: Next month we will discuss the basic “Battery and Coil Ignition Systems” such as used on the BMW /5 series motorcycle.