Day 2 started with a light rain but it was over before I started packing my bike. Second time packing was already much faster and easier (& better). First I was riding back to Muonio and from there I called my friends Eero & Lauri who I knew were staying somewhere close in a cabin. I also had a place there for the next 1 or 2 nights.
We wanted to explore the area and make a warm up for the next day. And it ended up being such an amazing riding day! First to Pakasaivo lake and then some smaller tracks/ roads to Äkäslompolo village where we filled the tanks and enjoyed some great lunch in Ravintola Rouhe. Then we continued to the Rautuvaara mining area and we spent maybe 2 hours exploring the tracks there. That was such an amazing area! After the mining area we still checked some smaller tracks in the forest of Kolari and Muonio. For me it was first 70km to the cabin and then 200km with my friends. The route was like this:
The train from Helsinki arrived to Kolari station around 11. About 1 hour later I got my bike out from the car-carrier train.
First thing I did I wanted to find a better place to change to my actual riding gear. That I did in the parking area of one restaurant that wasn’t open yet. There was also gas station just beside and I filled my tank. Then I started riding! Pretty soon I arrived to the gate of an old mine. It was Rautuvaara that stopped working as a mine in 1988!
Big disappointment was the possibilities for eating in Muonio on Sunday afternoon! SEO Muonio right beside the main road has Rolls hamburger restaurant. But I didn’t want anything from there. Other than that there was no option! Harriniva resort has restaurant but the kitchen opens only at 5pm! SO I decided to ride straight to my accommodation and they promised to make some food for me! (What a great service!) Here is the route I did on the first day:
From Kolari to Muonio I was riding TransEuroTrail Finland Section 3. Here’s the video I made of that day:
Big recommendation for the place I stayed for the night!! It was Old School of Kihlanki village and I found the place from booking.com. Check from the end of the video… I was amazed especially how helpful and friendly the hosts were!
On the last days befere my “big adventure” I changed the tires to my bike. Metzeler MC 360 Mid Hard was already pretty much gone from the front. Rear had still about 5-6mm of knobby. New tires were Heidenau K60 and they were quite perfect for me in this situation! Then started packing:
I was very happy about the size of all the luggage! Even I decided to take my tent and camping mattress with me (and I didn’t need them!) I was ready for my biggest adventure so far.
First leg was to ride to Helsinki and put my bike to the train (Helsinki – Kolari). And after 15 hours in the train I was far north in Lapland!
My bike seems to work nicely!! I did already a trip to Himos and back.
The right side (365km) was the trip from my home to Himos and I was following TET Section 1 from Somero to Evo. That was super nice ride!
Section 1, Somero – Evo
Then returning home I took the left route and it was only about 310km but it had also more than 50% of paved roads… Then yesterday I changed the tires for my bike. Now I have Heidenau K60 and those are more like 50/50 tires but they also should last quite a lot of kilometers. Since in 3 days I’m leaving to my summer adventure trip… First I’m taking the train from Helsinki to Kolari and that will be 921km and it will last 14 hours! Today I took a proper testride for my new tires. I checked one POI from TET Finland Section 5. I was adding this place to the list of POI’s on last update and now I can say that it’s very nice place but there was no firewood and that’s a pity! Here’s a video from today’s ride:
Ovanmalm Recreation area
So next sunday will be my first day far away north of Finland! You can follow my trip here.
It was the same ride on 1st of May when these problems started! It felt like the power was cutting/ stalling very shortly. And sometimes bike even did stall and it was difficult to get running again! My bike went to Biketeam Raisio and first they found that idle actuator was not working as it should. They changed the new one and checked the error codes and it looked better. But after I got bike back home I couldn’t ride it more than 30km! All the problems were back or they were even worse!
Bike went back to Biketeam and now with some serious investigations! “The engine running problems continues. Error codes comes from: 000230 electric fuel pump 000335 Crankshaft sensor 000561 DME voltage supply, terminal 30 Cleaned a badly oxidized ground wire under the voltage regulator, after this the idle running improved considerably. Was running for 30 min. with some throttle every now and then without stalling. The error codes did return. Measured petrol pressure at about 3bar, so OK! Ignition coils measured, are OK! Gas valve housing cleaned, Wire harness inspected and found no significant abrasions/wear but when the harness is moved with hand the injector nozzle activates and sprays gas into the intake manifold (!). The harness was peeled over a distance of about 30cm and found a point where the wires were badly worn and the plus wire was connecting with other wires, fixed! After this, the bike was test ridden a couple of times with no problems and no error codes came back. The repair was deemed successful.”
I feel a strong sense of gratitude and I deeply respect Biketeam for what they have done! They spent incredible amount of time/ hours to find the problem and they finally did! I really hope that my bike will work now… At least this summer! On 4th of June I was riding by bike back home! Everything was working and bike felt smooth!
This show kind of started when I bought this BMW G650 XChallenge bike. It has so crazy system as the rear suspension/ absorber. The full shock absorption and suspension is made by Continental manufactured Air Dampener that looks like this:
My Air Damping system didn’t keep the pressure anymore so it was time to change it to something better! So I made the change in the winter 2021-2022:
After this change I was riding and enjoying my ride until this years early spring when I suddenly noticed that the Touratech was going to the bottom all the time. I did only about 12000 kilometers with it during these 2 seasons. That Touratech Shock absorber was not working anymore. I sent email to Touratech and they answered right away. They wanted me to send my shock back to the factory. So luckily warranty was still valid! After one week I sent another email and I was asking “What’s happening with my rear shock?” and they answered that maybe next week someone is coming to check it. This was little bit disappointing! But ok, they promised to contact me right away when there was something new happening. But then I started to think “Can I trust this Touratech anymore? Will it break again right away? Could I afford to buy Öhlins??” And quite soon I made the order about Öhlins rear shock (Best in the market?) I got that one very fast and installed it to my bike. I made this ride with the new Öhlins rear shock. But that ride ended in to the pool of oil!!
My bike throwed the oil out! At this point I didn’t know where it was coming from. And when I showed the pictures to few other guys they said it’s so clear oil it must be coming from the brand new Öhlins!! But 2 days later I found the leak from that small oil hose:
After I changed that hose I thought again that everything is ok and I made this amazing 300km ride! But I noticed during that ride that the brand new Öhlins is actually leaking! It was getting softer and softer and all the time there was oil especially under the absorber reservoir and that happened to be the spring of my sidestand. It was soon totally black and wet from the oil that was coming out from the Öhlins! At the moment my bike is in Biketeam Raisio and they are trying to solve some other problems with my bike. I should be removing the Öhlins from my bike and send it maybe to Estonia (I bought it from there) or to TTM Factory. It’s not clear yet if they accept in that company in Estonia from where I bought it that the Öhlins would be serviced here in Finland?? But I’m quite positive that it will be ok!! I also got the message finally from the Touratech thet they sent my shock back to me (fixed!) so I should have it next week! Edit: I got it already today (16th of May)! Quite a show!
It feels like spring is very late late! But actually i’ts quite normal that only at the end of March the weather is warm enough and the roads are free from ice and snow. I was able to ride gravel roads yesterday (at least here in the most southern parts of Finland) and it felt so good!! The 90km’s route I made was like this:
And ofcourse I had Insta360 Ace Pro attached to my helmet and I made a video!
I bought myself a new GPS device. The main reason was that my Montana couldn’t get the power anymore from the original motorcycle holder. I already removed the wires and I was thinking that I will charge it only with USB wire but that ofcourse brings more problems. And when I realised that I had the opportunity to buy Garmin Zumo XT2 I decided to take it. I hear the XT2 has same kind of problems with the power connection so now I’m waiting to have the same peoblems soon. Hopefully not in this summer yet!
The winter started very early (last november!) And quite many years lately the spring didn’t come early or not even in the ordinary time (around mid march). But this year maby it’s early? At least I was actually doing a proper motorcycle ride already in 24th of February!
My ride was mostly about testing the Sena Spider ST1 helmet phone as the microphone. But I was also testing the remote controller (GPS Preview Remote) which is very easy to use and it gives also the GPS data to your video if you want to use it. A week later I was riding again!
This morning (06th of March 2024) it was -8° so maybe we still need to wait?!
This is mind blowing! It’s revolutionary. Until now everyone who wanted to talk to the video while riding a motorcycle had to install either a mic with the wire (so called Lavalier microphone) or somekind of wireless microphone inside their helmets. I was using one of the best ones (RØDE wireless Go II) and I did find a place for the microphone inside my helmet but then there was the problem of the reciever and the adapter on the side of the camera.
The sound quality from this RØDE microphone was very good! But because of the rain I did brake 1 mic adapter last summer. Then on december 2023 they released this new Insta360 Ace Pro camera and it has bluetooth connectivity!! I didn’t even realize this when I bought it. But about in the same time when I got this new camera the DJI Osmo Action 4 shared new firmware update that allowed it to be connected to DJI Mic 2. That was the first time when I knew something quite important was about to happen! In DJI’s version you still need to install this microphone inside the helmet. Only few weeks later Insta360 released new firmware that had already more than 5 different helmetphone Brands and models that was supported by Insta360 Ace Pro camera!! I had Sena 30K and it was not on the list…. So I sold my helmetphone and bought the new one! It was Sena Spider ST1 and to pair it with Insta360 Ace Pro you do like this:
I knew that when you are using helmetphone microphone they have this “Advanced Noise Control™” that will block all ambient sounds (sounds from the outside of your helmet). So I started testing how can I easily disconnect the helmetphone from the camera so that camera’s own microphone will record all sounds when I’m not talking to the microphone. It can be done but it’s not very easy.
Finally today (3rd of february) it was so warm weather so I decided I will install the battery to my bike. And because my bike’s engine started like it was not winter at all… I decided to go for a ride! And ofcourse test how this Sena Spider ST1 will work as a microphone in insta360 Ace Pro camera. Here is the video:
As a result I can say that yes, you can hear the engine sound on the video. But it’s not too loud. Actually if I will use music on the video it will cover pretty much all engine sound… So I will try to remember to disconnect the helmetphone (microphone) when I don’t want to talk to the video. And when I want to talk again I need to stop recording and connect the helmetphone to the camera again. And start recording again (Sounds little bit complicated here! But it isn’t.)
GoZa Mite 