Almost any autoparts store will hook the battery up to a real load-tester so you’ll know for sure. If you have a solid-state voltage regulator, they can fail instantly without warning. Ye Olde Fashioned mechanical ones usually show up: turn on high-beams, grab brakes, and you’ll see the headlights dim. Did you test the battery cables? Were they tight and clean? (That seems like it should be a GoldMember quote.) Were the cable-ends tight? I had a positive simply slide right out of the factory-crimped end…

One word: Deer

Roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag, big enough for…emergencies…
chest-wound bandage. Never needed it yet… 2 25’x1" double-thick nylon climbing webbing. Pulled a friend’s bike out of a DEEP ravine with those… Bungie net (customizing it now so those stupid metal hooks stop clawing up my pillion handles; tall enough extension-lines to carry a paper towels pack home from Costco. No, really. More than once.)… 2 cable locks: cheesy one for helmet, bike-sized one to thread through my riding suit. In case my cases are full… Tools. Not having a Torx cost me $600 in towing. (BMW: carry them, micro-to-elephant)… Tools… Spare body panel screws… Spare helmet shield (I saw one fly off a guy in front of me on a group ride once.)… Prescription** athletic safety glasses** (in case of above happening TWICE)… Paracord, (see bungie net) but I’m upgrading that to Dyneema (be careful, that stuff CUTS. Hands, plastic, etc.)… Disposable gloves (for rain, or if I ever need that chest-wound bandage)… Voltmeter… Flashlights. More than 2. Even in broad daylight,… USB Battery pack (if not carrying @FonderThud’s jump-box)… Cooling vest and scarf (I wear 1-piece suits. Debridement scares me)… Conspicuity vest, flag, even a fluorescent microfober rags…

My Apple watch vibrates for the turns…but I can’t figure out which is which and under gauntlet and cuff, I’m not going to try to look.

The larger of the NEMA electric box blank plates (The reg is 4"x4"; the big is 5x5?) are under $1 at a big box hardware store. They have one hole in 2 corners, meaning I can tie a LONG, bright yellow string to wrap around the throttle so I won’t forget it. Thick galvanized steel, they make a loud clank and spread out over really crappy ground. (+800lb K1600)

How? I subscribed to F1’s service, and I’m so freaking sick of their idiotic presenters, I’m looking for a new addiction. Also, FWIW, I really don’t care about the meatbags steering the things as much as about the machines and teams that build/maintain them.

(I acknowledge their skill, they’re as superhuman as their car/bike is supernormal. Literally.)

File their nails. My last “coating” on my 08 K1200GT (before 2nd gear started popping out) was to tile it with sandpaper. It was grey-colored skate board traction tape. 4" wide, sticky backed, I cut 2:1 rectangles and covered it like the space shuttle. Replaceable tiles if damaged, and as hard as the road. I covered the tank in 3m’s calendared-vinyl non-skid, and this is why the entire project worked phenomenally well. I recently covered my K1600GT’s tank with the traction tape, and it SHREDDED my riding gear. Lesson: you can indeed sandpaper-cover your bike, but not the panels that the rider contacts.

Friends would walk up, laugh, and do a little nail-file when they saw it.

You’re riding the best BMW GT so far. (I’ve had a K1200 and K1600GT.) As long as you’re comfy with the dropped handlebars, you’re at peak-smooth, max-power-to-weight, least heavy BMW product. Sure, the later K1300S got a different ECU with more HP, but honestly, you could already peel the paint off my 2016.

Further, I’m kind of in the “butts=motorcycles” quantity school. I have 1, so 1. Mainly because they can suck so much money/labor and the storage space is the same as a car. I do all my own work, so maybe I’m weird.

With those in mind, seems to me you’re next bike should excel at everything your current bike FAILS at. Or it should be a big experiment: which to me seems to scream “electric.” Watch some FortNine videos if your up for a nerdgasm: the bike reviews are fascinating.

You do you, but if we were talking about this over a burger, this is what this old guy would tell you.

For what it’s worth, anti-seize compound has the added benefit of preventing accidental/vibrational loosening. The high-temp (copper) stuff is pretty damned universal. Obviously, LocTite is what we all think of, but it won’t prevent rusting. It’s only my opinion, but every bolt on my bike gets one of those two.

Lower octane means burns FASTER…doesn’t aging make the fuel LESS ENERGETIC (burns less well overall)? That’s why hi-comp engines use hi-octane fuel, it takes just a bit more to get it to burn.

Water in the fuel? Dump a load of rubbing alcohol. (Isopropyl–the usual ingredient of rubbing alcohol–will not harm your fuel system’s plasticky bits.) My understanding is we could add quite a lot of isopropyl without harming the engine, but I’m not an SAE engineer.

BE CAREFUL with Sea Foam. See https://youtu.be/chsGBhB5g7o

If your bike is fuel-injected, just turning it on (such that the fuel pump runs) the fuel will be circulated for you. The pump runs at 100% power all the time, the extra fuel is returned to the tank. Just a very brief run after a minute or two’s agitation by the pump, should be enough to put StaBil-ized fuel in every vital part.

Darn it, too bad you couldn’t ship them home as parts. (Radar, MASH) It would be funny to look up the rules, it’s possible removing the wheels or handlebars or something simple renders the entire thing as “parts.” (Still, I feel your pain.)

Dammit, I want a moto cat now.

Add: wet concrete dust/tailings. Avoid those pavement-cutter crews like the plague. Also: wet street-sweeper dust and leaves. Wet paint, as in, rain on pedestrian-crosssing stripes.

If you MUST ride over any lo-traction surface, “loose hands, tight knees.” Try to neutralize all acceleration, get off brakes and throttle. Let the suspension be in its happiest set before hitting the <whatever.>

I’ve aged prematurely along with you, @i_promise_nothing@lemmy.ml, tar snakes suck.

Humans are wired to notice/recall the rare and the lurid. It’s how we survived way-back-when. So we give disproportionate attention to crashes. For each crash-and every one of them is a terrible thing-you’ve got to figure close to a billion rides completed safely just that day. Motos are everywhere, and the most common individual transport in a lot of places. We don’t have an organ in our brains for statistical understanding, this is why we just naturally come to believe motorcycling is more dangerous than it is.

Having said all that, it IS dangerous. Dress for the slide, not the ride. Because “debridement” (DO NOT look at the pictures) is just about the most painful procedure a human can endure AND it’s success isn’t great because of post-procedure infection. Am I sweating in my suit, helmet, boots, and gloves? Oh yeah. Because road rash SUCKS.

That motel is GREAT. The Tail is a lovely ride.