[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

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Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/341.html

So why the big rush to get to Pula?

It's this young lady's 13th birthday! Neda's niece is officially a teenager now!

The whole family comes out to celebrate Tea's birthday. Four generations!

We showed Neda's grandmother all the pictures we took while we were in Montenegro. She was tearing up at some of the photos of her childhood home and she marveled at how much Tivat had changed. But she still recognized the boardwalk where she first met Neda's grandfather. She was so delighted that we got a chance to meet her side of her family and wanted to hear all about them. We felt very honoured to be able to provide these picture and stories from her youth!

 

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Tea showed an interest in Neda's cross-stitching

It really meant a lot to Neda when Tea asked her to show her how to cross-stitch. The two of them huddled over the cloth and pattern as Neda guided her through her first stitches. Quality aunt/niece bonding time! She's a pretty special kid, she knows how to engage adults and draw them out. While most young people her age seem to be self-absorbed, she'll show an interest in what the adults are doing. I know I felt pretty special when Tea asked me to teach her how to play the guitar last summer.

For her birthday present, Aunt Neda gave Tea the red rocks that she collected from the beaches in Santorini. The two of them like collecting things like leaves, coins, rocks. Thankfully Tea hasn't gotten around to collecting small animals yet. We might need to get her her own tankbag for her next birthday...

My birthday present to Tea: a ride around the block! Note to Neda: My gift was totally better than yours!

Tea was born while we were living in Canada and Neda has always regretted not being as present during her childhood. Now that we are regularly on the continent, we want to make sure that we're a part of her life and that we're there for her special occasions as much as possible.

These sunflowers were probably planted shortly before we left Pula! Now, on our return they're taller than Neda!

 

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Once again, Iva has graciously invited us to stay at her apartment in Medulin, while she temporarily moves in with her mom in Pula. We've returned to Istria at the peak of high season, and even if we could afford the exorbitant cost of rentals here, we'd be hard-pressed to find any vacancy anyway.

The sleepy town of Medulin has transformed into a bustling metropolis overnight, bars and restaurants that were shuttered a few months ago are now packed, patrons on their patios spilling out onto the sidewalk. Even on our bikes, it's almost impossible to squeeze out of the little laneway in front of Iva's apartment, foreign-plated cars are parked haphazardly everywhere. It's been only a couple of months since we left Istria but it's such a completely different place now.

Getting away from the crowds and relaxing at Iva's place

Medulin is a little resort town about 7 kms away from Pula. People come here for one reason only, to enjoy the pebbly beaches and soak up the sunny weather on the Adriatic coast. Although it doesn't see as many visitors as Pula, I'm still surprised at the droves of tourists that have descended from all over Europe. I've spent a lot of time in Istria over the last couple of years, and now I really get a sense of the duality of a seasonal resort town - a long hibernation, then a brief flurry of intense activity, then another long hibernation...

But since we're now here at the best time to be in Istria:

We ride out to the nearby beach at Kašteja Park quite often to enjoy the beautiful weather

Cooling down by taking a dip in the Adriatic Sea

 

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Such a nice break from our trip. Exactly what we needed!

It's a Pula Girls reunion! Hanging out with Iva and Tajana

Sometimes my wife makes me laugh...

Neda is going out to Pula to hang out with her friends and she wants to wear her dress out. But she needs to get into town by bike... so this is her solution.

So, while Neda takes my R1200GS into town to catch up with her girlfriends, I go to work on her motorcycle.

First things first. I pull out Neda's battery and stick it on a charger. Then run some diagnostics to confirm that it is the stator that's fried. Then I check online for prices for a replacement stator. The BMW owners who have experienced this problem all recommend an aftermarket stator made by ElectroSport. It's a lot cheaper than the OEM BMW part. I contacted ElectroSport and unfortunately there's nowhere local to pick one up. I'd have to ship one in from the US. The shipping and import duty would be costly, and we would have to wait a few weeks for the part to arrive. It would be almost the same price to just get the BMW version. I called the dealership and they said they can get one within a day.

 

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Neda comes home:

"Look what my friends gave me for my (belated) birthday, Startas shoes!!!"

Startas is a Croatian brand that was very popular with young people before the war destroyed their factory in Vukovar. Back in the 90s, it was a cultural phenomenon that swept the country. Everyone had to have a pair of these high-quality, hand-made shoes. To Neda and her friends, Startas shoes represented all the fun times they had together when they were back in school. The company just Startad up again, so Neda's friends thought it would be the perfect gift!

Hmmm... looks like there are a few shadows on that design on her shoes. About fore of them...

Speaking of which, we need to get a move on. Although Iva has been so great about letting us stay here the past few days, we feel really bad about kicking her out of her own apartment and we don't want to overstay our welcome. Pula during high-season is too expensive for us, plus we need to fix our bikes and the closest BMW service is in Zagreb.

After discussing the options with Neda, we decide to install the BMW OEM stator and save ourselves a few weeks' wait. There's supposedly an updated stator that solves the known problem. We just have to make sure to check that the part number we get is the newer version.

Now we just need to get her bike to Zagreb. From my calculations on our last ride from Hungary to Croatia, we know that the charge on the battery is good for about 200 kms (two hours on the highway) before it completely dies. Pula to Zagreb is 270kms. The bike will die again 70km away from the dealership. No good.

If we start disabling some of the electrical components on her bike, we should get her range up so that we can make it. Or at least get a little closer...

I do a bit of math: the draw from a 55w headlight @12V = 4.58A. The battery is rated at 14Ah. I'm going to estimate the total draw from the bike's electrics is roughly 7A since the brand-new, fully-charged battery died within two hours. So theoretically, if we pull the fuse on the headlight, we can get 14 / (7 - 4.58) = at least 5 hours (500kms on the highway) of riding time. Should be more than enough leeway to get to Zagreb. Unless we hit a serious traffic jam...

Is my math right? We'll find out tomorrow.

We'll need 1.21 jiggawatts to power the flux capaStator! Great Scott! 1.21 jiggawatts?!?

 

[Sudz]

Are the bike's batteries compatible? You could swap batteries about 1/2 way there.

 

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Are the bike's batteries compatible? You could swap batteries about 1/2 way there.

Haha, yes, that would have been smart.

I, on the other hand, am not smart...

 

[jay8s]

220-221 whatever it takes. ~Mr. Mom

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/342.html

We are trying to lessen the electrical load on Neda's motorcycle so we can get it from Pula to Zagreb without a tow. The battery will take an unmolested bike about 200kms before dying. Zagreb is 270kms away. So obviously, we have to molest her bike a little. Every component is scrutinized to determine if we can unplug or disable it and still remain safe on the road. Headlight? Gone. ECU? Yeah, need that. Brake light...? Uh.... have to think a bit about that one...

This whole exercise reminds me of that Top Gear episode when Sabine Schmitz bet Jeremy Clarkson that she could pilot a Ford transit van around the Nurburgring in under 10 minutes. The team was pulling out seats, drilling holes in body panels, she was drafting behind a pace car, etc...

Okay. So, here's what we've come up with:

- Battery fully charged which gives us 14Ah to get us there
- Pulled the fuse on the headlamp, saving us 4.5A
- Unplugged GPS as well - that's 500 precious μA of draw right there!
- Neda won't use her turn signals. She'll basically pretend that she's a Toronto driver.
- No horn either and she'll downshift to slow down to minimize tripping the brake light
- Topped up the fuel. So we don't have to stop for gas and waste time and cold-cranking amps to start up again

That last point reminds me that we also have to factor into our calculations a single cold crank in the morning to get started.

I'm talking about me, BTW. Not the starter motor on the motorcycle...

Neda is not amused. In fact she is very nervous about the trip to Zagreb, afraid that her bike will just cut out on her on the highway. Before we set off, we hit the grocery store and clean out the shelves, stocking up for the road as if we're heading off to ride into the Apocolypse. It's 270 kms...

Spoiler: Sabine Schmitz never did get that van around the 'Ring in under 10 minutes.

And on that note... I lead the way to Zagreb since I've got the one operating GPS. Which cuts out intermittently. Ugh. Gotta get that checked out when we get to our destination. Fortunately it's mostly all highway to the capital city. I glance at my mirrors every 5 seconds to make sure my wife's bike is still behind me.

 

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Made it to the BMW dealership! We park her bike amongst all the BMW police motorcycles where it will be safe

Neda got her bike checked in at the service department while I walked around. The guys at BMW Zagreb are very friendly. They were all ooohing and ahhhing over the mileage on our motorcycles. When it was my turn to write up the service order for my bike, the advisor made some small-talk:

"Ah I just spoke with Neda. She is your girlfriend?"
"No, she's my wife."
"Oh, then you are practically Croatian!", he gave me the I-Just-Made-A-Funny smile.
"Yeah. You could say I'm... Cro-Asian!", I returned the I-Just-Made-A-Funny-Too smile...

But then his smile wavered a bit, and he had this look on his face like maybe I didn't speak English very well: "Yes, that is what I just said. You are practically Croatian"

And then it was my smile's turn to waver. Do I explain the pun, or let him think I'm a bit daft?

"Yes, you're right. I am practically Croatian! Haha!"

Smiles all round again!

Things I learned today: I am not funny in Croatia.

Me, at the BMW dealership in Zagreb

While waiting to pick up Neda's bike from service, I fell in love with one of the cars upstairs... i8, so sweet!

The BMW i8 is their hybrid supercar. It goes stupidly fast and sips gas like an Englishman sips tea. Me likey!

Gene: "Hey if BMW gave us this car, would you continue our trip in one?"
Neda: "Sure, but only if I get to drive."
Gene: "..."

Note to BMW: We would be grateful if you could provide RideDOT.com with two 2016 BMW i8s. Thank you.

Looks like a spaceship from the back!

 

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This is Neda's old track bike: S1000RR. I know she'd love to have one again

We're no strangers to touring on sportbikes. We've done multi-day trips with a backpack stuffed only with underwear and toothbrush. Oh, the places we could explore with these bikes... Maranello, Assen, Aragon, Sepang.

Note to BMW: We would be grateful if you could provide RideDOT.com with two 2016 BMW S1000RRs. Thank you.

When we pick Neda's bike up, the mechanic shows us the fried stator

The old design had cooling issues, supposedly they've updated the part so that the stator doesn't overheat. Hopefully we don't have this problem again. We swap Neda's bike for mine at the service department and they go to work on my shaft drive while we two-up back to our apartment.

We are staying in a suburb of Zagreb about 10 kms away from the city core. Oddly enough, at this time of year, it's actually cheaper to stay in the capital city than in Pula because all the urbanites in the interior flee to the sunny Istrian coast for their holidays. So there are a lot of vacancies in the city and the reverse seasonally-discounted-rent aligns with our budget.

And best of all, we're here for two glorious weeks! Two weeks of doing nothing but sleeping, eating and watching TV. Oh and catching up on the blog.

Maybe.

So behind...

 

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With her bike fixed, Neda goes on a solo Croatian road trip!

It's Iva's birthday, so while my bike is in the shop Neda hops on hers to spend a long weekend with the girls in Pula.

She sends me a picture from Pula. Looks like she's having a good time.

I'm spectacularly unproductive while all alone in Zagreb. Didn't get one blog entry done. But I did watch a lot of TV...

We are members of an online Croatian motorcycle forum, and we know a couple of people from there who have kept in touch with us. Danko and Nives first rode in to visit us in Pula a couple of years ago. Now that we're in their neck of the woods, they invite us out for some Zagreb food. Gonna ZaGrab us some ZaGrub!

I don't say ZaGrub in front of our Croatian friends. I've learnt my lesson at the BMW dealership.

Having some delicious grilled meat with Nives, Danko and Danko's brother. Hvala!

Hangin' out with our Croatian biker friends after dinner

 

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And then another visit to the dealership to pick up my (yet again) fixed motorcycle. Third final drive this trip. Is there a record for most final drive repairs on a single R1200GS? Surely I must be winning. Perhaps "winning" is not exactly the right word in this case... *sigh*

We've been to Zagreb many times over the years, but mainly as a transit point when we are flying in to the airport and then catching a bus to Pula. In all those times, we've never actually ventured into the city to explore. So now that we're staying in town, we decide to ride in and do some sightseeing.

Another glorious sunny day to explore Zagreb!

I love having a motorcycle in Europe! Free parking everywhere!

We start our tour off at Ban Jelačić Square, Zagreb's central square

 

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I don't know what this sculpture is, but it would be embarrassing if it was like a bus stop sign...

Game of Thrones style map

Streetcar runs right through Ban Jelačić Square

 

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I'm guessing this is the part of town where all the tourists hang out

So one thing I've learned about Croatians is that they *love* their flag

Zagreb Cathedral