The following morning we were up and ready for breaky, everyone was here except one. Where was York? There was a surprised look on our faces when we found out he was in Omeo Hospital. Did he crash in the night or in the morning before we got up?
No he had a severe bout of kidney stones. Ouch I am lead to believe these are extremely painful. So we waited around for more info, in the mean time we decided to wash the mud off of the bikes that we had ridden through the previous day on the Princess Hwy. To say the bikes were filthy would be an understatement. I've seen less mud on some dirt bikes.
With York not being able to continue we safely stored his gear at the pub and the bike at the servo across the road ready for when he got better(which was about 3 days later as it turned out). We continued on now leaving late near about 10:30-11am. We took the main route up over Mt Hotham. I hadn't been up this way for quite a few years now and was looking forward to it. The mountain views were spectacular as everyone stopped along the way to take in the views.......
The Bomber at Hotham Central
Slomax
Australian Alps
The riding was also spectacular with 30 km's of twisty goodness on the way down to Harrietville. A quick stop in at Danny's lookout to take in the view. It's like being on top of the world, but not!
Danny's Lookout
Here's a short video of the view from Danny's lookout
Our fearless group captain and all round good bloke Jeff
Petrol tank selfy goodness
Me at Hotham
Slomax & Bushpig on Hotham
Mountain Twisty Goodness
Coming down from Hotham was a blast and we had to pick our way through a whole bunch of cyclists that were riding/racing quite quickly down the mountain. Luckily they weren't riding 2 abreast around some of the blind corners.
We stopped in at Harrietville for a cool drink as it was getting hotter and hotter as we descended down the mountain. I was glad to stop and have a cool drink it was now getting up into the high 30's and was becoming uncomfortable.
Once our group had regrouped so to speak and refreshed we were soon on our way again and onwards to another one of my favourite bike roads, the Tawonga gap. I so much wanted to stop and take some photo's along here but was having to much fun, it wasn't until I was down the otherside at the lookout that I finally pulled in to take in the views of Mt Beauty and Mt Bogong in the background. Can't have asked for a better day really.
Mt Beauty
Mt Bogong
We'd stopped in Tallangatta for a spot of lunch at the pub. The airconditioning in the pub was a welcome relief from the 38°C heat. After about an hour we continued on to another favourite road of mine, Granya gap. This place is just fantastic, we passed a handful of bikes going the opposite direction through here and then followed along the Murray River road. We stopped in at another pub in Walwa partly to escape the heat and also to have a refreshing beverage. No I did not have a beer, it was just too hot.
It wasn't long before we were making our way wearily into Khancoban and to the Alpine Inn for the night. A couple of guys pulled into the carpark a while after us with a trailer loaded with a Norton Commando and a rebuilt BSA. They were riding them up through the snowies in the morning. Fantastic work on the restoration of these old bikes and I loved the tank on the BSA.
Our accommodation at the Dromadary was probably up there with the worst I've ever paid for and it wasn't just me, I think we were all in agreement that its time to find a new place as this place just isn't up to scratch.
We stood around out back eating our ordinary bacon and egg rolls whilst getting things ready to move on out. We got under way somewhere around 9:30 for fuel just 10 minutes down the road at Carbargo. The pub here looks inviting maybe we should stay there next time.
Not long after Bega we took the turn off for the Candelo-Bega road and on into Wyndham. This bit of road is a bit on the rough side but is motorcycle heaven as the corners come thick and fast as the rolling hillsides give up to the forested mountain twisties. There was a couple of brown trouser moments when I hit some gravel patches that were hidden in the shadows on this road. I saw Stu in front of me having the same moment.
Here's a short little video of the road through from Candelo and to Wyndham.
We regrouped at Bombala at the servo. Again it was a hot day. It always seems to be really hot when we ride down the Bonang highway. I'd loaded up with water this time before we headed off, we split into 2 groups here again and 3 took the Cann Valley Way whilst the rest of us choose the Bonang Hwy. Riding down the twist's and turns of the Bonang is motorcycling bliss. I stopped to take some pic's of the guys in action.
Bushpig and Slomax
R1 on the Bonang
The Bomber
The Fireplace
We stopped in again at the fireplace two thirds of the way along on the Orbost end both to regroup and have a little rest. The constant breaking accelerating of this road I was beginning to get sore hands but a 15 minute break off the bike and I was good to go again. It wasn't long and the rest of the group had arrived and we chatted in the shade.
After the break we suited up and headed off but within 100m of leaving the fireplace I could feel something inside my shirt/jacket biting me on the chest. I quickly pulled over to see what it was, as I did the other guys shot past. No problem I'll catch back up again as its still about 40kms to Orbost. Looking inside my jacket and down my shirt I couldn't see anything so I'd zipped up glove back on and taken off again. Another minute later I could feel something biting me again, I'd looked down and back up again, just enough distraction to come into a bend a little hot, braked a little late fixated and then did some off road parking................
Then everything went really, really quiet....................
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Just Parking
There's no way I could get it out of that ditch without a tow, such a rookie error I still don't know how I managed it really. With absolutely no phone reception in here it was needless to say I waited a long time on the side of the road before anyone came along. 15 minutes it was before anyone came past and that seemed like an eternity. One nice guy in a van went into Orbost to get a tow truck for me to get it out. It was a long, long, wait of over an hour until I heard the faint sound of a couple of bikes coming in the distance. Bushpig and Slomax had arrived back and the shaming had just commenced. The look on bushpigs face said it all.
Long story short it was still rideable, didn't break a single thing, just a bent rear brake lever. I'd parked it very gently. Pulling in for fuel in Orbost everyone was waiting on me so I quickly fueled up and got ready, it was just after 5pm now with still around 2 hours of riding to go to get to Omeo. As it was now late there was little time for photos or anything else, I just wanted to get there without any skippys coming out onto the roads as it was the time of the afternoon for them.
The ride through the tambo river section of the Omeo highway was another highlight of the trip. The road follows along the Tambo river with drop offs into the river on one side and cliff faces on the other side. So I was taking it careful but still having fun. I loved this section but it was getting a bit on the late side and light wasn't as good as it should have been due to some idiot.
I was surprised to find that we had beaten Bushpig and some of the others into the Golden Age at Omeo. It was a surprise because we didn't pass any bikes along the way and they were ahead of us. They just had taken an alternate route. God I needed a beer badly. And at that the beers flowed and the humiliation continued................
NTSR time again, what does that mean? It's our version of the real Snowy Ride that we've dubbed the Not the Snowy ride as opposed to the actual Snowy Ride. Our annual snowy mountains ride was on again a couple of weeks ago, I'd missed it last year because we went to Phillip Island Gp circuit for a track day instead whilst our friends blasted around the snowy mountains. I didn't want to miss it this year so I got my holidays in early and all was set. I managed to get the fork seal fixed the day before and also had the ECU flashed the night before, unfortunately I disconnected the EXUP motor which then inturn after running for 3 minutes disabled a lot of the electronics on the bike and it felt like it was in some sort of low power mode for the trip. Oops ah well it was still going ok other wise.
Our meeting point for the mountain men was at Richmond shell servo and the other crew were taking the road south out of Sydney through the Royal National Park. There were nine black riders in total, mortal men doomed to die...... er...that was a different story where were we again. Yes 4 of us left the shell servo in Richmond and headed up along the Bells Line of road.
Crossing the bells line in the perfect conditions with wonderful blue skies we couldn't have asked for better weather, it had been raining here in Sydney for the past 2 weeks so this was a welcome addition for the trip.
We turned off the Bells Line and crossed to Mt Victoria where we were to pick up York on the way. We only had to wait couple of minutes and we could hear the booming drone of that Aprilla V twin.
Pleasantries out of the way we were under way again heading down the bends of Mt Victoria, on the other side there was quite a bit of road works on the main highway so I turned down Cox River road which takes us down through this gorgeous little valley with some great views. There is still about 3 kms of dirt along here but its still good to ride on. It a narrow little road which puts you back out onto the Oberon Road.
Stopping in Oberon for fuel for both bikes and riders we gathered at the bakery for a pie and iced coffee. As usual there was laughs aplenty before long we were back underway heading out towards Taralga and Goulburn. I took on a quick splash of gas in Goulburn.
Oberon Road
York and Bushpig
We all stopped for a late lunch or early afternoon tea take your pick when we got to Braidwood. So I had a coffee and an apple pie at the bakery. It was as delicious as it looked.
We continued on down the Kings Hwy and played in the twisties all the way to the bottom. Some of these hot mixed bends are some of the best anywhere. The surface is very smooth, with wide road and good vision on most of the bends. We stopped in Batemans Bay for some fuel and a quick drink as it was getting hot out now in the low 30's.
Kings Highway
Wayne and York decided to wait for the others in Batemans Bay whilst Slomax, Bushpig and myself decided to push on to the pub. The further south we headed we could see large storm clouds passing over the ranges and out to sea. There was a dash of lightning thrown in and down it started to come. We were only about 5 minutes from the Pub and we decided to push on as we would soon be out of this rain and cold beers in hand. Little did we realise at the time the others were waiting it out in a bus shelter out of the rain, looking at all that water must have made them thirsty......
Hiding from the rain
Whilst we were now nice and dry and wetting the insides with an ice cold beer at the Dromedary hotel in Central Tilba the rest of the crew turned up about 45 minutes later looking rather thirsty.
Stuart & Bushpig enjoying a nice cold Pale Ale with Mez
The front right fork seal was leaking oil on the new R1 so I'd taken it down to Teammoto to get it sorted before the snowys ride. This is what they gave me for the day whilst my R1 was getting fixed.
I excitedly ripped open the Yoshimura box to drool over the lovely goodies inside. I was not disappointed. I've always wanted a Yoshi system and now that I finally have one I'm rapt. The quality of the pipe is outstanding. I'm very impressed. I want to hear the sound of it within minutes of opening the box.
However I have to wait, why do I have to wait? I want to hear it now damn it. It's late to put it on so I have to wait a night then I can rip into it. However I can weigh the exhaust to see what the difference is between the new system and the stock exhaust with that big cat box underneath. I reckon that there's 10kg in that thing. The new Yoshi can is 2.31Kg and the link pipes weigh in at 2kg for a total of 4.31Kg.
Thursday I get home from work and get all my tools together to pull out the stock system and put in this work of art. After quite some time of dismantling bits an pieces it all comes together. I put all of the bits of the stock system on the scales and it comes in at a massive 8.95Kg. That's a 4.64Kg saving on the stock system. Quite a bit of lard in there.
Stock Exhaust
Yoshimura 3/4 Alpha Stainless/CarbonCap
I got some isopropyl and gave the system a nice clean up before starting it up so that none of my dirty finger prints get burnt into the lovely link pipes or exhaust can.
So here is my beautiful 2015 R1 with 3/4 Yoshimura Alpha 1 system installed. I hear you say what's it sound like? Let's not keep you in suspense any longer, listen to this bad boy in all it's glory. Watch for the flames.....
A couple of weeks back I'd decided that I wanted to make my bike sound like the super sic crossplane mofo that it was born to be, like the Yamaha MotoGP M1 that had spawned this super sexy machine. I had finally ordered an after market exhaust for my new R1. Well today I got my new Yoshimura 3/4 system from the nice people at MCAS. So this is what it looks like. Picture blatantly stolen from Yoshimura's website.
Well if you'd been following my ass kicking ride to Phillip Island then you know that I have had a few issues so to speak touring on this R1. Yeah I hear you say it not a touring bike so why did you buy it. Well to start with I do very little touring these days more like one day or two day rides so the touring was a 17th consideration on the list when I purchased the bike. But I still need to tour on the thing, that is certain so how can I keep my track bike suitable for riding on the road and riding long distance. There's plenty of options out there like Taping some plastic bubble wrap to my seat(thanks Geoff James) or I could get an Airhawk seat cover, buy a comfort seat from Yamaha for $500 or get the seat re-upholstered.
Here is the offending item. This fucking little bastard has caused me no end of trouble on my MotoGP trip.
15mm of foam, sit on that and it's probably more like 5mm
Ah what to do what to do. Well one thing is for sure if I'm riding more than 2 days I can't ride on this little torture device. So it was ripped off the day after I got back from MotoGP and taken to a re-upholsterer so I can get a gel pad insert and some extra foam put in. Hopefully this will relieve the sore ass on the long distance rides. Only time will tell. I can always buy a seat from a wreckers to replace this one if needed but some how I don't think I need to torture myself any longer.
From the pictures above you can see how much extra padding is now in the seat. The padding is about 25-30mm thick in the centre which is double what it was. Only thing to do now is go and try it out. Hopefully this is the fix I've been waiting for. I'll soon report on how it goes.
