TAL ES OF THE GREY GHO ST

By Tony Gray, Member #3905

If you have been a member of the BMWMCQ during the past 10 years and participated in club runs during that time then you would have met the “Grey Ghost“ – if not then let me introduce you. The Grey Ghost is a 2007 model year (manufacture date 11/06) R1200GS in Granite Grey Metallic Paint livery who just so happens to belong to Jane & Tony Gray. Gray by name and Grey by nature. We are writing this tale because the Grey Ghost has just chalked up 200,000km which may be old in bike mileages but she still has a spring in her step. We wrote of her exploits back in April 2016 when she chalked up her first 100,000km so what has she been up to since that time. Better still lets go back to the beginning. Jane and I had planned our first big overseas bike trip to take in the Isle of Man TT Races and have a squiz around Europe for 3 months in the first half of 2010. We had booked a bike passage with ‘Get Routed’ leaving Brisbane by ship in the first quarter of the year. Problem was that neither of our bikes was really suited to what we had planned. “Rex” the 1200 Kwaka was very much a sports/tourer and fitted with soft luggage had hauled us successfully around Tasmania but Europe was a different story. “Bumblebee” our K1200S BMW was very much in the same mould but those funny little expanding panniers on the K bikes couldn’t hold much and the lower sports bars made fully loaded touring a daunting prospect. Much head scratching and a test ride on a R1200GS swayed us in that direction. I still remember that first test ride on the GS after the sportier bikes – it felt a bit like taking a Cocker Spaniel for a walk after owning Staffy Terriers – soft and friendly without the bite or hard edges. Jane likened the change to removing the stilettos and slipping on the slippers. (Ed - nearly removed

that metaphor as “too racy for the Journal”. No

problems with that Jane in stilettos one though.) Christmas came late for us that year with the papers signed at Morgan & Wacker on 29 December 2009 to take possession of the Grey Ghost. This was a happy/sad day as we also farewelled Bumblebee. I hate selling bikes but there was no financial alternative if we wanted to get to Europe without washing dishes. It had been 3 years since she left the Spandau plant in Germany. Interestingly her birth year of 2006 was the first year that 100,000+ motorcycles were manufactured at the Spandau Factory. 2006 was also an ‘interesting’ year in the history of the R1200GS. This model was first unleashed to the world in 2004 with very little change in the 2005 and 2006 model years. The 2007 model (manufactured from 10/06 and including the Grey Ghost) added several important and significant changes. It is somewhat of a forgotten transition model however as it still looked the same as its predecessors and the next 2008/09 models changed aesthetically with much greater fanfare at their introduction. You can buy a Haynes Manual for a 2004 to 2006 model or alternatively one for the 2008 and 2009 model years but not for the largely forgotten 2007. We kinda’ like the quirky nature of that story – a bit like the kid growing up with something to prove. She was first registered in Queensland in February 2007 and had a mere 12,768km on her clock when we picked her up – all of that was going to change and in a big hurry. We quickly ran up some miles to get familiar with each other, fitted her with a set of 2nd hand Vario side panniers, a Ventura rack and small ‘Andy Strapz’ tankbag. Thus outfitted she was loaded into a shipping container and we did not see her again until we reacquainted ourselves 2 months later in Mother England.

We meet again – England 2010

That first big overseas trip was an eye opener and steep learning curve for the three of us

– ask anyone who has toured (especially overseas) for a long period and their steed becomes an intimate part of their journey.

Sporting some travel stickers at the end of her 2010 trip

She ran faultlessly save for a punctured rear tyre in a very wet Lakes District in England and a blown headlamp bulb in France (more about that later). Our story of that trip was later published in Australian Motorcyclist Magazine and the Grey Ghost’s fan support had started.

19 She was thinking of getting an agent but we managed to keep her grounded with regular club rides where much younger, more glamorous and attractive models abounded. She got down to the MotoGP to see how the fast set flew before her first big outback trip when Jane and I took her to follow the flood waters from the 2011 floods through outback NSW and South Australia. Our lust for overseas travel had not been satiated in 2010 so in 2012 the Grey Ghost was again loaded into a shipping container bound for England. She then had over 46,000km on her dial and we were all getting along very well. She carried the same luggage arrangement that year and again performed faultlessly. She passed her first 50,000km birthday on the Isle of Man – how fitting.

IOM with Peel Castle for her 50,000th celebration That trip covered 22,000 km and included parts of Scandinavia where she twice traversed the Laerdals Tunnel - the world’s longest road tunnel (over 24 km long) - as well as over 70 road passes across the high peaks of the Alps. A highlight of that trip for the Grey Ghost was a return to her birthplace where we stayed at Spandau, Berlin but unfortunately did not get in to see the BMW Motorcycle Plant in operation.

In the Laerdals Tunnel Norway Stelvio Pass one of many peaks on her 2012 trip

On the way ‘home’ to Berlin

Home again and nearing 70,000km (a stage where many will not look at a 2nd hand bike - considered as ‘worn out’) the Grey Ghost was just hitting her stride. She accepted that Rex her stablemate deserved his trips to the MotoGP while she stayed at home and she sort of accepted that our two short trips to NZ in 2014 were justified but she spat the dummy when we left her at home for our big USA and Canada Trip in 2015. When we got home from that trip and fired her up she spat fuel all over the workshop floor – yes the dreaded fuel pump failure had surfaced. This was the first time in her life that she would not move. She was then showing 88,000km and the failure was covered under a BMW safety program so no cost to us. To try to make amends I took her on her first ‘boys- only trip’ to Tasmania where she

clicked over the 100,000 km milestone.

100,000th celebration heading to the Port Melbourne Ferry Port

Shortly after that trip we ‘retired’ her Vario panniers with her collected badges of honour from all of the places she had visited.

Start of the Western Explorer Tasmania – she loves Tassie

We had more big plans in store for her. In a major rearrangement of her carrying capacity I sourced various 2nd hand GSA aluminium panniers, topbox, frames and mounting plates from around Australia and even from England. We needed to be able to strap camping gear to the top of the boxes for our ‘lap’ ride around OZ in 2016.

New luggage, new trip. Start of the Lap Ride 2016

We didn’t do a proper lap as we wanted to travel up through the centre so traversed anticlockwise around the continent until we reached Port Augusta in SA then went up the middle then home through outback Qld.She handled that trip with aplomb through major weather changes and road conditions.

Into WA one of many border crossings that were so

easy pre-Covid

Plenty of dirt on this trip

Back to normality and pressed back into her regular round of club duties her only on-road failure occurred. We had just attended the Club B2B ride to Kingaroy in May 2017 when on the return journey she chewed out the Final Drive seal and the main bearing collapsed.

How to flatten your tyres Why not have a look at the Big Rock?

An ignominious trip home from Goomeri for the 3 of us in a Tilt Tray Truck courtesy of RACQ was the end result. She was showing 141,000km at that point. I stripped down the final drive and fortunately the crown and pinion gears were undamaged but the cost of BMW bearings and seals (yes they are a BMW unique size), was eye watering. I acquired a complete 2nd hand unit off a 2009 model at a cheaper price and was back on the

road quickly.

The new organ arrives ready for a transplant

That unit has now done a combined 100,000km without problem. Interestingly there is no drain plug on the FD unit on models before 2008 so presumably BMW expected the factory oil to last the life of the bike – yeah right! With the FD problem rectified we set off later in 2017 on our three Islands trip – Kangaroo Is, Phillip Is (MotoGP) and Tasmania. That trip she clicked over the 150,000km mark at Eildon Victoria and was running as smoothly as ever.

150,000th celebration at Lake Eildon, Victoria 2017

Island hopping and sea travel were second nature to her and she took being strapped down in the bowels of a ship in her stride. We had another big overseas trip planned so shouted the Grey Ghost some practical preventative maintenance items rather than bling – she is a ‘no nonsense’ type of girl. Front and rear shocks were rebuilt and a new stiffer rear spring fitted (it is red, so sort of bling!). You can put lipstick on a pig but

it’s still a pig. A rather cruel analogy but you get what I mean! The drive shaft was rebuilt with a new grease-able universal joint at the front and new shock rubber. Thus equipped she was again shipped to Europe in early 2018 coming up to 160,000km on the clock. When the loading day arrived I was still unable to ride following a shoulder operation. Good friend and fellow GS rider and club member Merv Bone obliged in riding the Grey Ghost out to the Port of Brisbane from our Graceville home. Merv was impressed with how well she performed for an 11yo with such a high mileage. On that 3rd European trip she covered another 20,000km bringing her total European mileages to approx. 56,000km. At least we were balancing up the wear on the other side of her tyres riding on the RHS of the road. She did another run to the MotoGP in late 2019 and then we planned to take her to NZ where she would have clocked up her 200,000km. Enter Covid and all plans for International travel went down the toilet. However as circumstances changed it seemed rather appropriate that she achieved this milestone on a BMWMCQ club run where she has often led the pack or happily played tail end Charlie (or should that be Charlene?). She is a very well-travelled girl having seen more of the world than most and where she has met and spent time with some very interesting bikes. Her passage to Tasmania in 2017 with Effie the 1910 FN and star of the epic travel book ‘No Room for Watermelons’ was surely a highlight.

23 The Grey Ghost will remain very much a part of the family as she has been for these past (almost) 11 years and 188,000km that we have had her. Newer models may be faster and flashier with their shiftcam technology and TFT screens (I had to look up what that meant) but our simple old Grey Ghost suits us just fine. Her simple nature makes it very easy to keep her in top trim during long trips with oil & filter changes, valve adjustments, alternator belt, brakes etc. all very easy to change/adjust ‘on the road’.

A service on the road – this one in a caravan park in Alice Springs 2016

Her engine is untouched, suspension upgraded, FD replaced but she is still very much the bike that left Spandau in 2006. She can still lift her front wheel on command, hit her near 8,000rpm redline in the twinkling of an eye and has shown many a youngster the quick way through a set of twisties. Yes she still likes to shake a tail feather. Her one weakness (we all have at least one) is an appetite for headlight bulbs. She consumes these approx every 20,000km so I always carry a spare. (Ed - GSes have an unrivalled appetite for headlight

bulbs it seems. We’ve blown/changed F700 and F800GS bulbs in Ethiopia, Imbil, Invercargill, Eastern Freeway Melbourne, and lots of other

places starting with vowels. And Manly). Otherwise she is serviced and maintained methodically with preventative maintenance undertaken prior to any major trip. She has travelled thousands of miles in ships first coming to Australia from her native Germany, three return passages to England, eight crossings of the Irish Sea between Scotland, Ireland and the IOM, multiple crossings of the English Channel, crossed the Baltic & North

OCTOBER 2020 seas around Norway and Denmark, crossed the Adriatic Sea and Bay of Biscay, two return crossings of Bass Strait and a myriad of ferry trips in Europe, Scandinavia and Australia. She probably has racked up as many sea miles as she has road miles. We would happily jump on her tomorrow and ride off around Australia again with total confidence.

One of many sea passages – this one in Douglas IOM heading back to England

I think of her in human terms like one of my favourite actors – Toni Collette. She can play any role and appear frumpy or more glamorous as the occasion demands, rarely receives the top billing but always leaves you satisfied with another great performance. That is our Grey Ghost – come up and meet her at the next club ride, she doesn’t often

bite.

She is never lonely at home but it can get a bit crowded