Hi Folks:
We talked it over at breakfast this morning and decided to change our ride date AGAIN to FRIDAY, AUGUST 5th.  We don't mind riding in a bit of rain and the cooler temperatures on Thursday certainly didn't scare us off, but the little lightning bolts in the forecast are another matter.  Again, discretion proved the better part of valor so we'll go on Friday as the forecast is much nicer.  Plus the forecast high is only 25C so it should be a perfect day.  

To recap, we'll be meeting at the Village Cheese in Armstrong with an eye on a 9:00 AM departure.  The route will be the same as in the first post with an estimated arrival in Little Fort of around 11:30 - Noon give or take.  

If you want to meet us in Little Fort that is great.  If you want to meet us along the way, give us a heads up so we can watch for you.  If you are planning to join us, please enter a reply on this thread.  I'm having a few issues with the club email address (president@valleybmwriders.com) so if you send a message there it might not get to me in a timely fashion.  

We hope to see a few people out and about.  
Cheers, Wayne

After a couple of reschedules, we finally got our ride in to the High Five Diner.  John, Diane, Heather and I met at Armstrong around 8:30 and after a coffee departed at nine.  We followed our planned route (in the first post) and the weather was perfect.  We dealt with about 10 km of good gravel on the Kamloops-Shuswap Rd.  Ron met us in Kamloops then led us up to Little Fort.  Mike and Janice were already there enjoying their lunch.  I didn't get a photo of them before they headed home. 

 

Heather, Ron, John & Diane

 

 

Sadly they were all out of bumble berry pie so we had to settle for cheesecake. 

 

We returned via the McClure Ferry and Westsyde Rd to Ron's place.  

 

It was a great day but a long one.  I got home around 7:30 pm with around 570 km on the clock.  Thanks everyone.  

Wayne

Janice and I came across that fatal accident just south of Vernon shortly after it happened and just as the first responders were arriving. We were lucky to get through and not caught in the massive traffic jam that accumulated. The High Five was a good destination for us as it gave us newcomers an opportunity to see a few more roads - Barthartvale was on our list and the McClure ferry was neat. It was good meeting some other members even if our time togther was short. On the ride back the voltage monitor on my 2011 F650GS alerted me to a failing stator giving me a chance to do a repair today before Kaslo. The F800 engines pre-2013 are prone to stator burnout and at 102000 kms mine was due. I had a spare at home and a gasket for the cover so I was prepared. It was an intermittent failure - charging some of the time and not others. Testing revealed that the windings were ok resistance wise and even the AC voltage at idle and 3000 RPM were fine but it was the continuity from the windings to ground that told the tale. Test ride tomorrow.