With a living room full of parts, and a [nearly] stock R1200GSA in the driveway, it was time to take the new bike apart to find out why it worked. Midway through last week, the weather forecast was promising for Friday and Sunday, with showers predicted for Saturday. Temperatures were promised in the mid-50's...not too bad for November in Northern Virginia.
I got started mid-morning on Friday, as soon as it got warm enough to stand next to the bike for hours on end. I removed the body work and fuel tank. I watched ADVCityGuy's videos on the Denali SoundBomb and Clearwater Ericas to get an idea of how to best do those two installations, then watched Jim Von Baden's video on R1200GSA(W) body work and fuel tank removal.
I got all of the body work off, along with the fuel tank on Friday. I was prepared for Saturday to be rainy, and to finish up on Sunday. Saturday turned out to be pretty nice until about 1500; I was able to get the SoundBomb and Ericas wiring in and the body work and fuel tank re-installed before the rain started. I installed the Clearwater Billie Junior rear light, and its remote light (which I think I'm going to like quite a bit), as well.
Sunday turned out to be nice, as well, so I got everything wrapped up -- this kind of work always takes longer than it probably should, because I work very slowly. Haste can make expensive waste when doing these tasks for the first time. The fit is pretty tight on the R1200GSA to begin with, and to route that number of power and signal cables from the front to the back requires some careful thought and execution.
I'm thankful for all of those years of amateur radio "farkling" -- it ensured that I had every tool and spare part that I needed for the entire job.
Right before sundown today, I wrapped this job up and fired the bike up to do a little op-test. It's always such a relief to verify that everything works as expected. The Clearwater Ericas look great, and that Denali SoundBomb is deafening.
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