Sunday, May 27, 2018

Oh Goodie

A package arrived here this week that I was eagerly awaiting. What sort of farkle have I purchased for the bikes now I here you ask?



Well it's not for the bikes at all but an addition to my new camera kit. I was looking for a telephoto lense but checking the camera shops all I found was hugely expensive pieces of glass. The more I looked the more depressing it became. What to do? I took my brothers advise and looked around for a second hand lense. I know that it could be a decidedly dodgy decision to buy a second hand camera lense as it could have quite easily been damaged/broken dropped etc but I could always on sell it on ebay if that was the case.

So on wednesday my Nikkor 70-300mm lense arrived but I didn't get a chance to try it out until today. There was a top rider training course on at Sydney Motorsport Park's south circuit. I have yet to check out the south circuit so it should be interesting.



Above is the used 300mm lense next to the 140mm lense that came with the camera. Unfortunately for me there were not many good spots to take photos from on the south circuit that didn't look north and into the low lying winter sun, making it hard to take any decent photos, well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Here's a gallery of pics I took today.




Just after I set up the session ended and there was a big gap with nothing happening, I hear roaring engines and looked to the north circuit where there was a car track day happening. A couple of snaps from about 3/400m away.






















Shooting the bikes I heard some loud screeching, two cars drifting had lost it and spun out. I just caught the end of it.















I spent about an hour and a half at the track shooting pics and looking at all the bikes. It took me a little while to remember where to find the settings and change them but once done it was pretty easy. Much easier than the first time. I'm not a fan of the south circuit at SMSP, you cant get close to the track for spectating and to actually ride it half of it looks like 1st gear for an R1. A 600 would be the best choice for this circuit I would think by what I saw today.


Sunday, May 6, 2018

Some long overdue maintenance

I visited MCAS in Auburn and picked up new oil and filters for both bikes in preparation for servicing them. I've been very busy lately with family and work and so the bikes have taken a back seat for the moment, well here we are 1 month later and finally it was time to service the bikes before I need to ride somewhere.


The old R1 hadn't had anything done since I retired it back in 2015 when I bought the new one, except a battery 12 months ago. It was the old girls turn for a bit of TLC. Firstly warm it up before changing the oil and filter. It was slow to start but finally kicked into life and started warming up. Sounded a little funny though. I turn around and a few minutes later I see this......


Oil was dripping out all over the floor. Must have a leaking filter seal. Oh well it's getting replaced anyway so off with the plastics and drop the oil, and filter and new Motul oil and filter go in. It's also off with the tank to drain the fuel out and put some new fuel in this time with some stabilizer.

Then it's the 2015 R1's turn for an oil and filter change. I haven't done one on this bike yet but it is out of warranty now so I may as well do it myself. Plus I'll tighten the chain until I can get a new one. I borrowed a filter changer from Stu as I didn't want to go hammering in there with a screw driver(although that's exactly what I do with the old one).





The old girl has 67 thou on it and the new beast is now up to 26 thou in 3 years. It's catching up fast and I've actually ridden it further than any other bike. It's been from Brisbane - Sydney to Melbourne and Hobart. None of my previous bikes have been that far.

Winter is approaching so I've got the trickle charger on the new R1 as it's battery is quite small and not likely to last more than 2 months in the cold without riding it. I have a ride coming up in June and just need some new tyres and I'm set.


Cheers everyone and ride safe all.