The Green Goblin

I hit the 3000-mile point of my ownership of the Green Goblin (my "palmetto green" '95 BMW K1100RS) a couple of weeks ago, so I've been meaning to get him in for a service. Today started out very rainy and overcast, but once the clouds moved out it was absolutely perfect - about 65 degrees and sunny. So, I called the dealership and made sure that I could get a "drive-in" service. They could fit me in, so I took off.

Here's what I had done:

• Oil Change (even though BMW only calls for 6000-mile changes, I think I'll stick with 3000).
• Brake system flush. My brakes had been feeling a bit spongy, and while it probably only required a bleeding, I decided to go for broke (literally), and get the flush.
• Fork oil replaced with 10 weight (up from probably 7.5). I did this because the front end of my bike has seemed a bit mushy since I've had the opportunity to ride other bikes (the comparison may be unfair, however, since most of the other bikes have been BMWs with telelever front-ends).

All of the above cost me about $160, and that's after my 10%-off BMW Club deal. At least the brake and fork service were elective. I hope not to pay that much on future visits. The bike immediately felt a bit more "solid" with the heavier fork oil. I'll have to do more riding to get a real feel for the change. While the lever response was very good, the brakes felt very weak on the first few applications, so I headed back to have the service manager look at them (I was afraid some oil had been spilled on the rotors). We couldn't really see anything obvious, but he cleaned the rotors anyway. I took off for home, and a few stoplights later, the Goblin was braking like I'm used to.