Tha last day of april is a big celebration in Finland and the same party continues on the 1st of May.
Here’s how it was for me:
BMW G650XChallenge
All posts tagged BMW G650XChallenge
Noticed in November that I had a little bit of Jamming in my steering. So I started to look for spare parts.
Luckily the bearing is the easy one to find! Found it (them) from Germany and ordered 2 bearings.
But soon I realized that maybe there is only 1 (??!!) Here is the picture from service manual:
Number 9 there is the bearing. But how on earth does it stay together at the bottom of the steering shaft? It’s a mystery to me? I didn’t open it yet… maybe I will soon. EDIT: There was 2 bearings!
This is how my bike looks at the moment:
Without some special tools this job would have been very difficult or almost impossible!
Here my friend is helping me to remove the bearing “covers” from the bike chassis.
I was riding in the 8th of November but was it the last time?
It was in July 2024 when I had made the route in Bromarv peninsula for a short adventure. And I went there with the camera… but I forgot to take the spare battery! So I couldn’t shoot everything that time.
Finally now I made “the same” and now I had spare batteries for the camera.
There is also this one “famous” Padva beach on that Bromarv peninsula.
BMW Moottoripyöräkerhon alueiden tapaaminen
This post in Finnish only/ Eli kirjoitan tämän postauksen Suomeksi
Muutaman vuoden oltuani BMW Moottoripyöräkerhon jäsen oli ehkä vihdoinkin aika myös osallistua kerhon toimintaan. Eli päätin ajaa alueiden tapaamiseen Punkalaitumelle (ja takaisin kotiin myös).
Aikamoinen sumu oli aamulla! Näkyvyys oli kuitenkin riittävä ajamiseen mutta kypärän visiiri ei pysynyt kirkkaana eikä myöskään 360-kameran linssi (tai linssisuoja).
Ajoin menomatkalla Jokioisten kautta. Kartanon pihapiiri on kyllä täynnä upeita rakennuksia ja tämä Tapulimakasiini niistä se kaikkein kuuluisin!
Humppilan ja Jokioisten välillä kulkee myös kapearaiteinen junarata ja Jokioisten päässä on tähän liittyvä museo jossa ehdottomasti kannattaa käydä.
Sumu hälveni vasta reilusti kymmenen jälkeen!
Kuvasin tietenkin myös videon tästä reissusta, myös tällä videolla puhun suomea.
I was expecting that I wouldn’t have too much energy or will to ride after my long trip around the Baltic Sea. But I was wrong! I’ve been riding like crazy!
In the beginning of August I was riding back home after visiting Helsinki area. This video is in Finnish.
Then I started to think that maybe I should do at least 1 group ride because I know so many riders would like to join! Started to plan the route… But this ride ended in big embarrassment!
Took another ride for planning the route:
And then one ride with a friend:
And yesterday I took a ride in Hanko Peninsula (Some amazing tracks!)
And there’s still 1 weekend coming!!! Maybe for the group ride?
This is a big deal for me! I’m almost crying here at home as I sit down for the last night before my trip.
The last time I was on a long mc-trip with my ex-wife was in summer 2019. Then we’ drove’re riding 3 weeks to Croatia and back. It was a very good trip and I definitely thought even then that I should go again! Now I can.
Last summer I was trying but didn’t make it. That trip had to last at least a few more days than it did.
And it ended due to technical problems with the bike.
And when I finally got that rear shock working properly last fall so that it could handle longer trips, I started thinking and planning a longer trip in the winter.
At first it was in my mind that if it would be north again… But then I started to think all these places and things that are close to Finland. And made them as a bucket list for myself. So it turned into the plan and tomorrow morning I’m leaving to make this plan to come true.
For the first time in 6 years, a long bike ride is coming (Baltic Edge Adventure)!
(Hopefully there will be no problems with the bike)
First time making a longer ride with a small group of bikes (in 2025).
All the bikes in this ride are totally different!
1. BMW G650XChallenge (my bike)
2. CF Moto 450 MT
3. Suzuki V-Strom 800DE
4. Husqvarna FE501
And we had a blast!
After some resting I was ofcourse riding again. So in July I took some interesting adventures and explorations around the area where I live!
First ride was 15th of July. I was checking the most southern parts of the mainland in Raseborg.
This ride has interesting very narrow canal in the beginning. This canal almost everyone remembers because one boating accident that happened there 14 years ago.
The second ride was 20th of July. I was checking some of the best trails near my home. It was also quite hot day.
Third ride was 21st of July. That was the group ride for “Pohjolan kurapyöräilijät” (Nordic dirt riders). We had super fun day!
Next ride was 23rd of July. I was finally checking the Kemiö island, the second biggest islanf in Finland.
Next ride was 27th of July. It is the seven sleepers day in Finland.
The last ride of July was on the last day of July. That I did with my friend Lauri in Hanko area.
I also shared a “remix” video of one of the best parts of that ride in Hanko area.
In August it will be the MotoAdventureDays again. I’m one of the team leaders (“Peura”) and I’m also doing some presentation about TET Finland. See you there!
I spent the night in Rovaniemi in someones private home. I never met this guy before and he was still offering me this. Some great people still exist! In the morning I continued my route south from Rovaniemi (ok, first it was east, then south). This was still TransEuroTrail Finland section 7.
I had about 130km route to check and first 40km were excellent!
In the video it’s the first 5 minutes…
Finally I was in the crossroads with TET section 19. Now I had to make a decision about where to next??
But that decision was actually made for me because on the previous evening I noticed that my front fork was leaking badly and the rear shock was soft (again!).
So when I cought some paved road I started to ride to south (I wasn’t thinking yet that I will ride as fast home as possible but that’s exactly what happened.) First I rode to Ranua… then to Pudasjärvi… and soon I was in Oulu and I took a swim in a nice beach of Vihiluoto.
I couldn’t find accommodation that was cheap enough so I continued all the way to Pyhäsalmi and stayed in a small cabin in Emolahti camping area (40€).
The route for the day 6 looked like this:
North Adventure Day 7 was only the ride back home on the paved road. I got heavy rain from Jämsä to Padasjoki.
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!
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:
So next sunday will be my first day far away north of Finland!
You can follow my trip here.
GoZa Mite 