The personal writings and photos of Jonathan Smith.

Sounds like people in Arizona are playing off each other making a big deal out of nothing. And the only thing that seems to be coming out of it is making the state look like it’s filled with racists.

Good article from the Washington Post by Dana Milbank.

The Arizona governor, seemingly determined to repel every last tourist dollar from her pariah state, has sounded a new alarm about border violence. “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded,” she announced on local television.

Brewer’s mindlessness about headlessness is just one of the immigration falsehoods being spread by Arizona politicians. Border violence on the rise? Phoenix becoming the world’s No. 2 kidnapping capital? Illegal immigrants responsible for most police killings? The majority of those crossing the border are drug mules? All wrong.

I had wanted to visit Arizona but after hearing how the State is dealing with this immigration issue and making things up, I’d rather just go to Mexico and spend my tourist dollars there.

I find it a bit bizarre that we as a nation go through so much strife to fuel our comfort levels. Some may disagree, but I believe some of the reason we’ve been involved in war in the Middle East is because of oil. Thousands of soldiers have died. But it’s ok, because we’re still roaming the expansive highways here in our country with big gas-guzzling SUVs.

Now, without any wars whatsoever we have millions of gallons of oil just floating to our shores in the Gulf of Mexico. Hallelujah! Oh wait a minute, it’s killing the environment and is an ecological disaster. Oops. We got what we wanted, just not quite in the way we wanted it.

I noticed about two weeks ago that something was misbehaving on my BMW R1100S. When I came to a stop, had the clutch and front brake pulled in, my speedometer would start bouncing around. Big question marks started running through my mind when I saw this. This isn’t supposed to happen.

I disregarded it. Then I noticed that after starting my bike and starting my ride, when I come to my first stop, it feels like I don’t have any brakes. The brakes are very spongy. After coming to a complete stop, my warning light and brake failure light start flashing. But as I pull in the front brake I can hear the ABS and the caliper working. And suddenly the brakes seem to be fine. But I still have the blinking warning lights. I scratch my head.

This needed someone with much more knowledge than me. So off to Velocity Cycle I go to have Master BMW Mechanic Chris look at it. He pulls in the bike and starts taking her apart while I go sit on the BMW R1200R and the R1200GS. Finally he calls me back and asks what I did to it! I told him I just ride it. He looks at me and laughs and makes fun of me because the bike is 8 years old and only has 13,500 miles on it. Anyways, he points out the problem. The ABS pressure modulator was leaking brake fluid. So when I pull on the front brake, brake fluid would slowly leak out the top of the ABS pressure modulator. My bike also has partially linked brakes so when I pull on the front brake, the back brake also engages. And the speedometer is also connected through the ABS system. So since there was a leak and pressure wasn’t constant, this probably caused the speedometer to act up.

So I need to replace the ABS pressure modulator. Cost for new unit? $2,500. Ouch! But there’s alternatives. I could remove the ABS, run new stainless steel braided brake lines like Spiegler and save 14 pounds of weight. But this may hurt the re-sale value of the bike, and may cause issues because the speedometer is linked through the ABS. Or I can find a used ABS pressure modulator and pretty much plug and play. After much discussion I went with finding a used ABS pressure modulator. First place I checked was BeemerBoneyard which did not have any in stock. I also checked a local guy named Curci who buys up tons of wrecked BMW bikes. He didn’t have one. Finally I posted a parts wanted ad on ibmwr.org (same site I sold my BMW F650GS through and found/bought my BMW R1100S). The following day I received a call from Phil Cochran from Phoenix, Arizona. He had the part I needed off of a 2004 model and for $599 (shipped). This is MUCH less than $2,500. It should be shipping out tomorrow. Hopefully the rest of the fix goes smoothly. I’m having withdraw from riding!