What have I gone and done now?

As I mentioned in my last post there hasn't been much riding going on lately and I have just had my R1 serviced ready for the spring weather which has just rolled in nicely. It was 26°C here today and the weather ahead has been forecast for warm and no rain for the rest of the week. Woo Hoo motorcycling weather at its best. To top that off I've also just taken 3 weeks annual leave. Sounds like a match made in heaven for planning a motorcycle trip. I haven't been out for a ride in over a month.

There have been a few other developments around here of late as well which has hampered getting out for a ride. I have Phillip Island MotoGP coming up in about 7 weeks time which should be good and I have already organised leave with the Minister of Finance for a 4 day/3 night overnighter in November with Bushpig and a few friends. We will be riding down into the NSW Snowy mountains and Victorian Alps along some of Australia's best motorcycling roads with some like minded bikers and I am really looking forward to that ride as it could be the last for a little while.

Bushpig and Steve on the Bonang Hwy

 

Bushpig rang up a couple of weeks ago about a weekend ride coming up next weekend and asked if i'd be in. The conversation went something like this;

 

Bushpig: We got another overnighter coming up going to Rylestone again for the first ride of the spring. You coming.....

Chiller: When is it?

Bushpig:  The first weekend of September.

Chiller: Crap it, I can't make it.

Bushpig: HAHAHA that's right your f*cked now mate. Then lots of laughter down the phone.

 

Yeah thanks for that ya bastard, it's like you planned that just for me. So getting to the reasons why the riding around here has been pretty lack luster of late and is looking pretty bleak into the immediate future with the noted exception above.

 

Have I sold the bike? Am I giving up riding? Is the world falling apart?

No to all of the above with the exception of the last one, maybe.

One of the best things that has ever happened in my life happened last friday which is also the same reason for the death knell of my immediate riding future. At 12:33 our second daughter Olivia was born into the world weighing 3.5 kgs and 50cm long. Both mum and bub all doing well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Georgia & Olivia



I have read a lot of other peoples blogs about how they got into motorcycling, and there were a lot of those riders that got out of riding when they had kids only to get back into it later on after the kids had grown up and moved out. I am really determined to not let this happen to me, as I really love riding and don't really know what I'd do without it. Yes there are family responsibility's now that needs attention especially with 2 little ones, 4 and under. Is it going to change how I ride. Well maybe it will.

 

Definitely there will probably be a lack of riding to start with, I'm ok with this as that's what happened with our first child, but I still will keep the bike and ride it when I can. Since our first daughter its always been in the back of my mind to take it a bit easy now and to a large extent I have done that. I think I have slowed myself down considerably when out riding. Am I still having fun? HELL YES is the simple answer. When I can't ride I can be enjoying all the fantastic blogs out there.

Does this mean I'm going to sell the R1 and buy a cruiser or tourer? HELL NO! I still have the inner hoon in me just waiting to get out. It's a bit like the Jekyll and Hyde thing. I was hoping to look at getting a new bike by next year for my 40th birthday but that is looking to be as shaky as Christchurch at the moment. I think I'd have a better chance of winning the lottery. Looking at all the new bikes in the dealers last week was very painful knowing what was coming. That second ball and chain will slow me down considerably.

 

Lets hope I can sneak in at least one ride whilst I am on annual leave to alleviate the frustrations. Stay safe everyone.

 



Bike Servicing

There hasn't been much happening at all around Chiller HQ of late for a number of reasons, some of which I will fill you in on, in an upcoming post. For the last 2 weeks I have been bike less due to dropping the R1 off for a 50 K service at the local Yamaha/Triumph dealer. (just read that back and it looked like I was saying that I'd dropped it - heaven forbid I had images of all you bloggers out there cringing behing your keyboards)

I have pretty much serviced the bike myself since it had its 10K service done at the dealers many moons ago. If you have a bit of know how and a Haynes service manual so you can get those pieces to go back together again without a) breaking them, b)busting your knuckles, c)swearing profusely then its not that hard to keep the thing maintained yourself. The Haynes Manuals are pretty comprehensive and will show you how to pull just about everything apart just as long as you have the right tools and the time and patience. And then if you can overcome the biggest hurdle of them all.





What could be harder I hear you say than getting in to all those hard to get at spots, like under the tank and in between the frame to get at those nasty bolts that your normal socket won't fit into the slot because said frame is in the way. Well in my case of late it's been pure LAZINESS.

There were a few things that I needed to have done like lube all the levers and cables, and I've found it hard to get motivated to get out there and get stuck in and do all that. I'd also noticed that after the last 2 -3 rides that the chain was loose after each ride. I hardly ever have to adjust the chain as I am fairly good at keeping it clean and maintained. My cleaning process on the chain is the same as Tarsnakes but I usually clean it a bit more often, with kero and a brush every 3 or 4 rides or after a big ride of several days whichever comes first.

I looked at the chain and checked it at the back sprocket and it had about a 4-5mm gap when I pulled it out at the centre of the rear sprocket. The recommended amount of slack there is only 2mm. Looking a bit further at the rear sprocket I noticed that the teeth looked to be spiked instead of peaked at the top and it was starting to get hooked shaped as well. Yep she's ratshit alright. I replaced the original chain at about 25000 km's, not because it was worn out but because I thought I should as it was getting on in age with some high mileage. I replaced the originals with Renthal Sprockets and a RK chain. The renthal sprockets were quite cheap and made of light weight anodised aluminium.

It was quite easy to get the old chain off when you have an angle grinder handy. I just knocked the heads off of one link and a screw drive wedged into the chain and she popped right off. The sprockets fitted in nicely, the hardest part was finding a socket big enough for the nut on the front sprocket.

New Chain and Sprockets

The Renthal sprockets and RK chain didn't last as long as the original Jap fitment chain and sprockets. I'd accumulated about 28000 km's on these but they were totally knackered. I thought about putting something else on but then came to the realisation that it would be unlikely I would still have the bike and put another 25000 on it. Hopefully by then I'll have convinced the minister of finance and warfare of the benefits of a newer bike.

Looking around the dealers whilst waiting for them to find my key I decided to have an ogle at the new bikes. There were lots of sports bikes, tourers, cruisers and sports tourers. One bike really caught my eye and even I surprised myself as I'd never even considered the brand before having only owned jap bikes before. But looking close up I really liked the triumph speed triple 1050, with its trick single sided swing arm and under seat exhausts whats not to like. (Christ I can see a giant sized head across the ditch). Ahhh to little money and not enough time.....sigh.

Over the winter I'd gotten a bit lazy and couldn't really find the motivation to replace the chain, so I thought I'd get it serviced at the dealer. I noticed a difference right away when I got on and pulled the clutch lever in, it was so easy to pull the lever and hold it in for extended periods even in traffic on the way home. The clutch lever probably hadn't been lubed since it was new. It's only about 5km's from the dealer to home, but that's just far enough for some F%#kwit in a blue magna to change lanes into not only my lane and cut me off, luckily I had an escape route to my left as my turning lane just showed up as he did it, but he also cut in front of Mrs Chiller in the car cutting her off and causing her to brake hard enough to set off the ABS in the process of trying to avoid hitting him. Probably some drugged up coke head. He didn't even turn his head and look, I know I was watching him. Tool. Rant out.

Anyway the R1 is ready for our spring time which is poking its head out at the moment. Just one more little hurdle to get over before getting back out there........ stay tuned.

A Ducati walks into a bar....

 I saw this cool centre piece when I was in the city today so I had to stop and take a photo. I wish we'd stopped here for a drink instead of up the road.

Now this is what I call a centre piece.

Where are those whacky Kiwi's now.

Well then Roger my Kiwi friend lets take a look at the medal count now and see how Un Zed is fairing......

Mmmmm looks like business as usual.

Whats that you say? Where is Canada? Who can tell, maybe they went of drinking.

Review: SIDI Vertigo Boots

It's winter here and there's not a lot happening on the riding front so I thought I'd review the SIDI boots that I bought last year. It been about 12 months now so I thought I'd give a quick rundown on how they have performed over the last 12 months. Of course these things are highly subjective and these are just my thoughts on the boots.

When I first tried the boots on in the shop I was wearing jeans which are not as thick as my leathers which I normally wear inside my boots so that's exactly how I tried them on. When I zipped them up I thought geez these things seem a bit tight I wonder if I'll get my leathers into them. I ummed and rr'd about weather to purchase them or not. I liked the look of them and they felt ok just a little on the tight side when zipping them up. So I  though she'll be right and go with them anyway.

I took them out for a short ride only about 30 minutes. First thing I noticed was that they didn't squeak when I walked in them like my alpinestars did. I had trouble changing up gears for the whole of the trip. The boots seemed pretty stiff and didn't flex very much. I guess they have to be like this for safety reasons. Stops your foot from going into angles it's not supposed to. They actually fit my leathers inside the boot better than my jeans.

The next ride I went out for the entire day which you can read about here. After a little walking in them and a bit of riding I got accustomed to them and they seemed to flex a little better. I really noticed the ventilation system in these things on the very first ride, they worked great. It was pretty cool out in the morning but it warmed up by mid morning to the point where standing around in black leathers in the sun started to get uncomfortable. I had started to sweet a bit in the warm sun. When I hoped back on and got underway I could feel air flowing in over the bridge of my foot and around the back of the heal cooling down my foot. It felt strange at first. My last set of boots never had ventilation as I thought of it as just another place for water to seep in. That's not much of a problem these days as I tend to not ride much anymore in the rain if I can help it. The vent is also very easy to open or close when on the move which is a bonus.

Side foot vent

It was a bit strange at first feeling the air flowing around the heal of my foot as it felt a bit like the boot was too big and my foot was right at the front and I had spare space at the back of the boot, so I kept trying to move my foot back to the back of the boot which was quite impossible because my foot couldn't move inside there as they were a snug tight fit. The air flow was making me think that they were loose. It took me a little while to realise and adjust to it, but now is no problem.

After several rides now these boots feel like they have worn in and fit perfectly. They feel very comfortable to walk in and I reckon I could walk in them most of the day they are that comfy. Even though they are not made for that purpose. There also very comfy when riding as well and it didn't take long to break them in and get used to them. The only thing I have noticed is lately the left boot has started to squeak whilst walking in them. Damn, I'd thought I'd gotten rid of that when I got these new boots.

The calf has a little wheel that you twist to tighten the top of the boot up around your calf to get that perfect fit. After working out how this fang dangled technology works its now a cinch to have them done up snug.

The sixty four million dollar question is would I purchase them again if I was looking for another pair of boots. These types of boots are not exactly cheap to buy but that is not the deciding factor. First and fore most is safety and comfort in my opinion.

Well, would I by again? Hell yes is the simple answer. They are comfortable, fit well and look good all in the one package. The simple fact is that I'll have these boots for the next 5-10 years so they are relatively cheap really over that time and I know that they are comfortable and will give good protection if the unthinkable happens.

Sunday Lunch

I had spoken with VTRman during the week about going for a ride on Sunday and I thought that we could ride somewhere and have a good counter lunch. Sounds like a cunning plan. It was a bit of a late start as I'd been trying to contact bush pig who was also supposed to come along. After a couple of calls and texts there was no answer so we decided to head off. The weather today was decidedly dodgy with showers predicted along the coast so I was thinking of heading west. A quick discussion on where to have lunch and it was decided to go with the pub at Wisemans Ferry.  It was dry when we left but when we got out near the northern road turn off the road was looking wet in patches so it was careful riding. At least it wasn't raining on us.

We stopped in at the lookout for a quick stop and photo, the place was deserted when we got there but soon enough there was starting to get quite a few cars. We headed into Wisemans for lunch.

I ordered the home made pot pie and VTRman got a chicken schnity. The pot pie was fantastic and the schnitzel looked good to. I'll be getting one of those again when I come back. It was all washed down with an ice cold beer. Does it get any better than this.

The sun finally reared its ugly head just before we left. It was very welcome because it was cool out today and would make the trip a bit more enjoyable and hopefully start to dry up some of those damp patches on the road.












Instead of coming straight back the way we had come we decided on taking the river road. VTRman hadn't been down here before so I thought he might enjoy the fabulous scenery through here. When we pulled up to take some pics he commented on how great this area was with all the sandstone rock formations right besides the road. Some off them had to be carved out so that the road would fit between the cliffs and the river. You can see some of those photos from a previous blog post here.

We decided to take the lower Portland ferry across the river. There's something about ferry's I just enjoy riding them. The ferry master had 3 kids helping him out today. As the ferry came close to the shore it was very sideways. I mentioned that he must be drinking or something and we both had a laugh. Anyway once it pulled up the little kids ran out and opened the ferry gate and also the boom across the road. Looks like the ferry master was having an easy day with these helpers.

 On the way home we hit a brief light shower coming back down Windsor road. It wasn't even enough to wet our jeans but I could see more bad weather ahead so it was a quick ride back home. Thanks for the great day out VTRman. We will have to do it again soon.

2 Tickets to Paradise

I finally did it. I went online and booked tickets to this years MotoGP at Phillip Island. There's been lots of things said about Phillip Island but I think Barry Sheene said it best with this classic line - "Welcome to sunny Phillip Island, gateway to hypothermia". It's still a crack up, god bless Barry. Looks like this time round though Mrs Chiller and myself will be flying down and staying in Melbourne. The missus has been at me for years to take her to Melbourne, so it looks like I can do the two things at once. I get to go see motogp and the last time we will get to see Casey Stoner racing and she will get to see the city of Melbourne, it's win win in my books. This will also allow me to go on the annual Snowy ride a couple of weeks after the GP. I think i'd be hard pressed getting 2 trips away on the bike in a couple of weeks especially seeing as both trip would be multiple over nighters.

When I was booking the tickets Siberia stand had already sold out within a couple of days of Casey annoucing his retirement. So I decided on Bass Straight stand instead. On every other trip I'd been to the Island we had watched the race from Siberia from either slumming it on the fence or upgrading to the grandstand. Hopefully the weather will give us a break this year. I've seen some dodgy weather in my time at the island and it would be great if the weather gods shine down on this years MotoGP. I can only hope and pray.....

Photo via Google images

Sportsbikes Blogs

I have only been blogging for a little over 1 year now and in that time I have been searching for other blogs similar to mine from other sports bike riders. Searching for motorcycle blogs is hard enough, finding a sportsbike blog is near impossible. I mean what the hell is wrong with google when it can't find other sportsbike blogs What gives blogger is owned by google? Searching blogs seems to be very poor in the search engine arena.

I have found many supposedly sportsbike blogs that the blog just consists of road racing news and new bike releases. Nothing to actually do with riding a sportsbike in the real world on public roads. If I wanted to read that I would just go buy Australian Motorcycle news or something similar.

I am sure that I can't be the only sportbike blog on the internet, I have found a few blogs from a bunch of great guys on sports tourers such as Motorcycle Paradise,  All things Rogey and Tarsnakes of which all are great blogs that I follow regulary. There are numerous blogs from Harley riders and people on cruisers and even scooters, so many in fact that I could not list them here. There are that many but it still remains that I have only been able to find 1 other sportsbike blog, and its by a girl that rides a BMW S1000RR and a former Haybusa rider. Her blog here if you like sportsbikes. Thanks Trobairitz :-) I found this on your side bar of blogs.

It seems funny to me that a sportsbike blog should be easily found but not so. You might ask why I myself have only been blogging for over a year now and haven't taken it up long ago. Well I guess the answer to that is I never knew that there was such a thing as blogs, until my brother showed me his blog about a year before I started mine, you can see his here at A view from above. It was from there I got the idea of making my own sportsbike blog. Who would of thought that the internet had more to offer than free music, movies and porn. Maybe sportsbike riders are in the class of 'Meh I don't care' frame of mind and couldn't give a shit. Sadly that looks to be more true than I'd like to think. I hope I am wrong about that. I'll just have to keep on searching..............