Weather Imagery

Up in the Rocky Mountains southwest of Pueblo is a testament of what a single man can accomplish. A work in progress since 1969, Jim Bishop has single handily built his castle from scratch putting in nearly 30 years hard labor; stone by stone, weld by weld.

Bishop Castle is located in south central Colorado on State Highway 165 approximately 12 miles southeast of the junction of SH 96 and SH 165. You won’t find this attraction in any tourist book because it’s kind of a unique place, almost of folklore proportions. But it’s certainly a fun motorcycle ride with nice paved roads and beautiful scenery. It’s in the middle of nowhere, but isn’t hard to spot because there are almost always cars parked out along the roadside full of curious visitors. Some are regulars who have first-hand witnessed the growth of the Castle over the years. Others are curious first-time visitors amazed a what a single man can accomplish. But don’t think you have to stand on the side of the road. You can actually walk through (and up) the many different towers of the castle.

However, do so at your own risk. The castle is not a place for a young child as there are many places where a careful step and a watchful eye are mandatory. Admission is free, although a donation is always encouraged.

If you happen to be riding a motorcycle in the Colorado Rockies, I’d recommend a swing by Bishop Castle just to take a look around because you won’t find anything like it elsewhere.

Jim Bishop is usually there working on his castle and is more than willing to shake a hand.

Battery maintenance is important and fortunately it’s easy. The original battery that comes with the GS and Dakar is unsealed, meaning you periodically need to add water. How often varies but it’s best to check it every few thousand miles or so. If you do a lot of off road riding, it’s best to check it more frequently.

If the water is low, damage to the battery can occur and it won’t hold it’s charge as long. If you find that the battery is consistently low on water, there could be an over-charging problem where the voltage rectifier is pushing too much voltage to the battery. Since it’s right near the battery, we can check that with a volt meter at the same time we check the water levels.

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Changing the oil in the BMW 650 GS and the Dakar is very simple. The BMW shop in my neck of the woods wants $150 to do the job, which is why I took it upon my self to learn how to do this. While you don’t have to get the oil change kit from BMW, it’s probably best because they provide the copper ring for the sump plug, the o-ring for the oil filter, and the oil filter itself all of which costs about $15.

Some people make the job way more complicated than it needs to be, by removing the whole oil tank and getting every last drop out so as to remove all possible particles which may be suspended in the oil. I and many others don’t think this is necessary at all. After all, the oil filter is supposed to take care of that and if you have that much crude in your oil … you got other major problems.

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If you find that your BMW 650 CS/GS/Dakar tail light doesn’t work at all or flickers when riding, chances are the metal power terminals inside the bulb socket are no longer making a good connection with the metal bumps on the tail light bulb. This is a very common problem with the BMW 650 of all makes, models, and years. Fortunately, there is a very easy fix.

Due to excessive vibration, temperature changes, and replacing light bulbs, the two metal power terminal tabs inside the tail light socket deform and get pushed too far back inside the tail light chassis. This prevents the tail light bulb from making good contact with the power terminals and the smallest vibrations can cause the electric connection to break temporarily or indefinitely.

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One of the first things I noticed about my BMW 650 Dakar was how dim the taillight was. The little incandescent bulb is not very bright and if the plastic light cover is even just a little bit dirty (as it always seems to be) the light is even more unnoticeable. And that’s the one thing you don’t want to be while riding a motorcycle on busy city streets, unnoticeable.

So, one of the first things I bought for my bike was the Brake! LED taillight from Touratech online. This is an awesome little addition to any BMW 650 or 1200 motorcycle. Instead of a single incandescent bulb letting people know you are coming to a stop, the LED lights are like 10x brighter. This thing is bright, but not so much so that it is annoying. The other cool thing is it’s extremely easy to install. The only thing you have to do is remove the two screws holding the red taillight case in place, remove the light bulb and plug in the new LED taillight. The connector has the same plug as a regular taillight bulb so it’s very easy to install. I did it in about 5 minutes with no problems at all. The taillight cover then goes back on as it was before.

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When I bought my 2005 BMW 650 GS Dakar, I quickly realized I was going to need a top case for carrying some of my gear. The question was, do I go with the BMW case that is made for the bike or do I go with a 3rd party case? After speaking with some co-workers who have BMW motorcycles, none of them had many good things to say about the BMW top case. The two biggest complaints I heard were it was very compartmentalized which made storing larger items difficult and that it sometimes leaked water. That latter surprised me.

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