2 Ferry's Run

Today Bushpig and I decided on a fairly short ride out to Wisemans Ferry and had planned on coming back through the Old Pacific Highway. On the trip up Cattai we came upon a V8 Ute sitting behind a car, once bushpig had dispatched the Ute, the Ute overtook the car in front as fast as possible at the next opportunity he got which was just about when I went to overtake. He sped right up behind bushpigs R1. Luckily I was thinking this guy might try this so I sat back for a bit to pick my moment where I was going to pass. 

This guy was going round blind bends with 2 wheels in the oncoming lane just to keep up. What an idiot. I quickly decided to get out of there before he had a head on with someone.  We got into Wisemans Ferry just in time for Lunch.

There are quite a few bikes at the pub today. Just had a quick burger and chips that was so-so, Bushpig had the home made pot pie. It looked superb so I know what I'll be ordering the next time I stop here. Just as we are about to leave I notice a couple of guys loading an R6 up into a trailer. Apparently it was making horrible noises that sounded expensive to fix.

We decided to change direction and head back down River road and take the Ferry's instead of going the long way round to the cop infested Old Road.

After riding along the river we came to the Lower Portland Ferry. It was only a short wait till we rode on board and continued on towards the Sackville Ferry.

It was only a short ride of a few km's from the lower Portland ferry to the Sackville ferry. The ferry was at the other side when we arrived so we went for a bit of a walk to the waters edge for a couple of pics then it was quickly back to the bikes as the ferry doesn't take very long to cross the river.

These roads are pretty popular with bikers in Sydney even though they are mostly back roads, there were a few bikes on the ferry coming over.

There are lots of sandstone rock formations in this area which is pretty unique to the blue mountains area. I noticed lots of people out on the river today skiing and just cruising enjoying the cool waters.

Two little innocent R1's waiting to play.

It was an good ride out today but just a short one at about 150km's plus it was threatening to rain all day with a few spots on the visor but nothing eventuated out of it just some hot humid conditions. All in all a good day out.

Uki

I have just been on a short weekend holiday with the family to the Gold Coast. On Sunday we took a drive down into the northern NSW ranges. After leaving Bangalow we headed up to Byron Bay where we spotted a few bikes, turning down into some back roads through the hills. We headed up to Murwillumbah from the main highway. This was a very twisty piece of road that flowed up over some very steep hills for about 30 kms or so. Will have to come up here one day on the bike.

After getting to Murwillumbah we headed out to Uki on my brothers advise to hit the pub up for lunch. Just before we got to Uki the heavens opened up and dumped a huge amount of water in a short period of time. As we travelled down the main street of Uki we came across about 15 bikes parked out the front of the general store with the riders sheltering out of the rain in front of the store. One poor bloke on a 1198 ducati came riding through in full leathers absolutely drenched.

It looked like a MV augusta club outside the general store, counting 2 F4's and 2 brutale's. I liked the look of these brutales. Pretty smick looking bikes. We got in a little bit late for lunch so we stopped for ice creams instead.

Uki main street

Funny enough we went into the general store to buy ice creams for the family and the general store owner must have mistaken me for joe average non biker as i was with the family and his comment was "Damn bikers are scaring away all my customers."

I look at him and say "nah mate they are pretty harmless they won't bother anyone, their just sheltering from the rain" 

He gave me a bit of a funny look like 'Hey why are you not agreeing with me about these lowly scum bag bikies." Not sure if he noticed I had a Philip Island MotoGP Cap on or not then he says" Yeah your probably right"

I left happy with my ice cream and knowing that he had slightly changed his perception.

After this we went for a look up Mt Warning National Park. When we got to the top it was just starting to rain again and a lightning storm was passing over which scared the bejesus out of little Georgia so we kept going.

Georgia crapping herself at the thunder!

Sundays Putty Rd Ride

Here are the photos from the ride back down the putty rd starting at the 10 Mile and ending at the Grey Gums cafe at the half way point.

GoPro Hell

How much pain can one little camera inflict upon a person? I was warned about finding a good location to mount the thing and I have 3 spots picked out on the bike to mount it so far. One on the side near the right indicator, one on the rear ductail facing backwards and one on the front facing forwards.

Most of the pics from today's ride came from the go pro except the first one. Most of the photo's that the Go pro take have some weird looking distorted angles to them.

I left this morning in a little bit of a hurry and only took one of the mounting pieces. Mistake number one. We decided to head up the Putty Rd which is one of my favourites and I was excited to get some footage. We stopped at Colo River to mount the camera. Geoff says "Geez that thing wobbles about a bit' and after looking at it yes it was looking a bit on the loose side. Geoff said mount it on the side. So I look at that and put it on only to find that the screw in bits are facing the wrong way and I can't mount it. Mistake number 2 as later I thought about it and I could have reversed the first mount point backwards and all would be fine. I'm not thinking at all well today. It must be a country thing......

Turn the camera on and decide to proceed anyway. The camera said on the front SD ERR. Well F@#K me that's a brand new SD card in there that's only been used 3 times and now it doesn't work. Take it out and  put it back in a couple of times still no good. Put the camera away and continue on.

About 5 km's down the road I have a revelation. Wait a minute, I have 2 cameras with me. That means I have 2 cards. You idiot. Mistake number 3. Missed that opportunity for a video.

Scene of the Go Pro fail

We stopped again just before the Ten mile section where the real fun begins. I swap the cards over from the other camera so I can make a video. Placed the faulty card down on the seat whilst  I put the good card into the camera and mounted it. Promptly forgot about the other card and now its probably laying on the side of the road. Mistake number 4. Ah well it wasn't working anyway.

We stop at the famous Cockfighter Tavern for a drink and decide to order some lunch. We ordered 2 steak sandwiches and chips. There are a few other bikes here having lunch and drinks as well. The food was great it hit the spot just right. Time to head back down the putty again. I decide to put the gopro on 5 sec photo delay as I don't know how the video turned out and I'm not optimistic.

Cockfighter Tavern

There was a very tasty Repsol coloured fire blade at the pub. A very clean bike and good looking to.

'The 10 Mile'

Livin Large

Pushing through the ten mile was heaps of fun as now I wasn't slowed down by following Bushpigs R1 trying to film him, I completely put the Gopro out of my mind and concentrated on my riding. This allowed me to concentrate on my riding and lines I was taking which made for a hugely enjoyable run. It was getting pretty warm out today about 32°C but it was excellent riding weather. This section of road also tested out my newly fitted brake lines. I must say that there's a world of difference between the crap rubber hoses they put on as standard compared to braided lines, so much more feel and power, none of that spongy crap.

We decided to stop in at the Grey Gums cafe for a bit of a break and a drink. I needed it after pushing hard through the ten mile section. A nice cool poweraid was in order. We sat in the shade for a while admiring the other bikes and chatting with a few other riders. The general consensus from everyone was its great to finally get out after all the rain we'd been having.

Coming back down to the Colo river section I mounted the Gopro on the side this time as it should work there as I tried that spot before. When I get home and check out the videos I was pretty deflated at the results. The first video of the ten mile is unwatchable the camera was shaking so much. Although about 95% or the photos it took on the way back turned out ok. The second video I took down the Colo river section turned out ok, still a bit of camera shaking but not as bad as before. Thats before mistake number 5 takes over and I accidentally format the SD card before getting the final video off so I lose that one as well.

At least we had a great days riding which was long overdue. Maybe i'll have to look at mounting the gopro on my helmet as it shouldn't get to much vibration there.

Gopro 1  -  Chillertek 0

Getting home it was fantastic to get out of my hot sweaty leathers and into the pool with and icy cold beer and just relax after a hard days riding.

Edit     15-02-2012

P.S. Forgot to mention that I lost a knee slider on the ride just after I overtook another guy on a bike going up hill at warp speed. Felt a tugging on my left knee, looked down and no more knee slider.

New Brake Lines

I finally shouted some new brake lines for my aging YZF-R1. The old lines are well past there best and I needed to replace them and also the brake fluid since it hasn't been done for a long while. So I thought I'd combine the two at once.

I first removed the screen and mirror for easy of access to the master cylinder, reservoir and lines.

Then I drained out all the fluid in the lines, cleaned the ends of the lines so I wouldn't get fluid everywhere then removed the old lines. Then it was time to fit a new set of goodridge lines to the bike, test them for fit by turning the bars in both directions to make sure there are no snags etc

 Bleeding the new lines seemed to take forever to do and was frustrating me no end. Bleeding brake lines takes a lot of patience and I don't have any really so after 5 minutes of nothing happening I was beginning to get a bit peeved, and after 20 minutes of nothing happening I was really F@cking peeved. Finally after about 35-40minutes of piss farting around those damn lines now came out with clear fluid and no bubbles and lots of feel at the front bar. Happily, it only took less than 5 minutes to bleed new fluid through the back brakes. The colour of the old fluid to the new is a world apart as the brake fluid is hygroscopic and  absorbs moisture over time and eventually goes a really dark brown colour. The new fluid was a clear light yellow.

Now if it will only stop raining so I can get out there and try them out. So much for summer, I've never seen so much rain before????? It's driving me nuts.

Somedays you are just shit outta luck

The weather around here has been extremely poor on most weekends and this one was looking to be much of the same. Went to go for a ride this morning but looked like it was going to rain cats and dogs. Then nothing. So this afternoon I had organised for Geoff and Brad to go for a short ride. It was only around 120kms or so, not very far. We headed up Castlereagh road and up to the lookout at Hawksbury Heights.

On the way home we were on the free way about 1 km from the off ramp, I had just moved over into the slow lane so I could get ready to exit, it was then I took a quick look in the mirror and notice the VTR had pulled into the breakdown lane. Ah crap whats gone wrong now. So I pulled into the break down lane as well.

He's not sure if its out of petrol or what. Good luck as the M4 service station is only about 200 metres ahead, if its just fuel we will be going again in no time. So I towed him into the station. When he went to fill the tank the lady from the shop comes out and says that they are closed. ??? This is a 24 Hr petrol station what gives??  So no fuel to try in the VTR.

Brad says he'll come back and get it with the trailer as its only about 5 min from home. So I double him home and drop him off.

When he gets back to the servo about an hour later with the trailer in case it wasn't a fuel issue the lady comes back out of the servo and says that they are open again. D'OH.

The VTR was filled and then restarted all good, but had to be trailered back home. Sometimes luck just isn't on your side.

Safety Equipment - How long does it last?

Over the years I have spent a fair amount of money on motorcycle safety gear.  I usually buy the best gear I can afford because at the end of the day when it's all said and done if I can walk away from an accident and live to ride another day then paying for all the gear was money well spent.
The equipment I normally ride in is helmet, gloves, boots, two piece leathers, back protector, neck warmer when needed, rain suit etc. Also have winter riding suit to keep warm but since moving to Sydney I haven't used it due to the year round riding conditions. The cost of this stuff in my case has been easily in the thousands of dollars.

After a recent discussion with my brother who is returning to riding after a 6 year time out due to raising a family he needed to buy new gear as most of his gear was either worn out or in some cases falling apart.

Just how long does this stuff last? Well some of my gear is pretty old but has lasted probably due to purchasing good gear to start with. Looking after it also helps a lot too. What lifespan is everyone else getting from their gear? Leave a comment or a link to your blog, i'd be interested to know and see if others are getting similar numbers.

Just last year I got myself some new SIDI boots and Alpinestar gloves as the old one's had worn out.The old alpinestar boots had lasted about 8-9 years before the soles started falling off them. The previous alpinestars I had before this did exactly the same thing but they only lasted 5 years. Also my brothers alpinestars only lasted about 2 years before the same thing happened. The gloves lasted me for 11 years, not bad for $69 gloves.
I haven't had an update on the boots since the week after I got them, so here's my take on them.
The fit at first was tight, but after a few rides they are now just right nice and comfortable, and I can now change gears ok as they have loosened up a bit and are a bit more flexible. You really can notice the air vents on these boots especially on a hot day. When you stop and sweat in them then get going again you can feel the air being pushed around the side of your foot and around the heal, cooling you down until that sweat evaporates. Nice free cooling.

My shoei helmet is now 7 years old and I just noticed when I was cleaning it after the last ride that the leather around the neck strap was starting to crack due to age. My 2 previous helmets before this were Arai's a doohan replica and a Kenny Robert Jr replica. The first arai lasted about 8 years before I had to throw it away as the inside lining crumbled into dust. I still have the KR Jr one I got it in 1999, but looking at it now and all the leather/plastic parts are falling apart. Time to throw it out as well, it's just been sitting there as a spare if needed(which it hasn't).Might need a new helmet again in the next year or two.

My leather's are now my next major consideration for replacement as they have started to fade and looks like it is starting to get some small cracks in lots of places. Not to mention the crash damage on the back of them from going down the road at Eastern Creek one time. I bought these back in either 1995 or 96 I can't remember exactly which. That means they are 17 years old which is around about a $100 per year of ownership. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

Cracking and fading

    

Crash Damage

Seems to be that you only get what you pay for and if you pay for good quality gear instead of the cheapest thing you can find then it will last you a good length of time. I'll be looking around for a bit to find some new leathers. I've seen some friends Tiger Angel leathers and they look like it's quality gear, Australian made as well. Probably not cheap but that's not my main concern just as long as it's good quality and will last.

Look who's got himself a new bike.....

Looks like after reading about all my recent trips it's gotten the better of my brother. He's gone and bought himself a new bike.....

You can see what he's gone and done here.