Day 362: Making Do

I was doing a little bike maintenance today and part of it involved washing out the air filter on the Dirty Husky. This is the kind of important bike part that just can't be left drying in the sun on the pavers, not when you have a weird old dog that likes to eat things that are not normally considered food. To avoid having my filter destroyed by my dopey dog Rex and also the effort involved in walking all the way to the clothes line to hang I improvised with an old broom and a house brick.

Day 326: Another Delivery

More stuff in the mail today, this time it was from an online store that gets a fair bit of business from me. Each day I get an email from the good folk at Torpedo7 and each day I'm subjected to their daily specials. Most of the time I have the willpower to refrain from buying the daily special, but not this time. The daily special was so good that I had to buy two, it's always good to have a spare.  

For the uninitiated, these are Fork Braces used to brace the forks of your dirt bike when strapping it down for transport. They stop the forks from compressing further than they need to which reduces the pressure on the fork seals. I made one myself out of a couple of bits of wood and it's served me well but when these fancy little one's came up at $5 each I just couldn't resist.

I think that's all I have due to come in the mail for a while now.

Day 219: Fork 'n Mess

Pete noticed that my forks were leaking oil on Saturday after we'd put his bike back together and were about to head off for our next stop. Both sides had a fair bit of oil on them which would explain why the front felt a little mushy. Unfortunately there's very little you can do about leaking fork seals when you're a long way from home, so I had to keep riding as they were.

At every stop on Sunday I was keeping an eye on them but when I got home I had a proper look. The photo above is what I found: Fork oil all over the brake calipers and lower fork leg, it had also sprayed up onto the lower fairing a bit too. You'd think that with all that oil on the brakes they wouldn't work very well but the only real difference I felt was in the initial application, they just didn't bite like the did before, other than that they still felt pretty good. Looks like I'll be making another appointment with Laurie 'Suspension' Smith in the next week or so.

Day 178: Beaut Beemer

I took a little trip out to Queanbeyan at lunch time today to pick up a couple of heated handgrip kits that I'd found on eBay. The guy I bought them from had just completed a restoration and cafe racer conversion on the old BMW that you see in today's photo. I don't really know more than the fact that it's an old BMW and it was in such poor condition that it was given to him, but I do know I like what he did with it.

Day 142: May Task - Where You Stand

Going off on a slight tangent with today's subject matter I decided to take a photo of 'Where I Stand' my bike.

These are the what I use to stand my race bike up when it's not strapped into the trailer because being a race bike it doesn't have a side stand like a normal road bike.

The one closest is the front stand which lifts the bike from under the steering stem. Unlike other front stands that lift from the base of the forks, this one allows me to remove the forks completely should the need arise.

The one at the back hooks onto the bobbins that are attached to the swing arm and provides most of the stability for working on the bike. These are also necessary for lifting the bike up at track and race days so the tyre warmers can be used.

Day 127: May Task - You

I decided that today's subject being 'You' could really only be interpreted as being all about 'Me'. So I chose to gather a few things that are a little bit 'Me' instead of doing a predictable self portrait.

Running through the things I gathered, there is:
- My helmet (not the mouldy one, this is the one I use for racing)
- My favourite sneakers
- My phone which is a necessity for work and play
- My favourite cuff-links (a gift from Belinda, they're in the shape of steering wheels)
- My sunnies I really hate the glare
- My family (on the screen of Belinda's laptop)
- My 'Mr Grumpy' coffee cup
- My car and bike keys

There were many other things that I would have liked to add to this collection but I ran out of time (if you look closely at my phone you'll see it was midnight when I took this photo) and the collection would have ended up looking like a trash & treasure stall. I am indeed a complex individual.

Day 84: Playing with Pressure

I took a quick trip down to Bunnings this afternoon to buy a pressure washer. I've been wanting one of these for a while now because they make cleaning the mud off my dirt bike a lot easier than just using the garden hose.

After putting it together I started testing it out on the Dirty Husky which hadn't been washed after my last outing on it over 2 months ago. I tried the two different nozzles out and was very happy with how they removed dried on dirt and mud but I kept getting interrupted by Henry who was very curious about what was going on and also by Belinda who kept asking for a go.

When Belinda took control she turned the pressure washer onto the outdoor stairs with impressive results. Of course I then wanted to have a go which lead to me doing a little pressure washer graffiti. You can see that I'm obviously very creative and artistic with my graffiti skills... but more so you can see how grubby the pavers are and what a difference the pressure washer makes.

I hope I'm allowed to use my new toy again, Belinda's now decided she needs it to pressure wash anything and everything she can find outside.

Day 78: Fungus Fingers

It's been a while since I last rode the bike, in fact the last time I had the R1 out I blogged about here. On the last ride I ended up getting a bit wet, the rain and hail did a good job of soaking me through my leathers. It seems after hanging my leathers up to air out, I forgot about the damp gloves inside my helmet. 

A little over a month of incubating inside my helmet has made the mess you see sitting on the seat of my bike. Initially, I thought an industrious spider had gone to town on the gloves... the smell was what made me realise what had really happened. The mould covers the gloves so completely that the fingers look to be fused together. The inside of the helmet looks marginally better than the gloves do, but it smells pretty bad and I'll need to remove the padding for a good clean out before I can wear it again.

Needless to say I used another helmet and gloves for my little ride this arvo.

Day 69: Renewed Racer

I renewed my AASA Race Licence at the start of Feb, unfortunately it took a while to arrive. Not that it matters much as the race series I'll be competing in hasn't started yet. The bigger concern is that I haven't ridden the new race bike yet, I really need to find time to get out and do some practice on it before the racing starts.

It's funny how life throws up funny little coincidences every now and then. Today is day 69 of my Project which is when my renewal showed up and last year my racing number was also 69. It was on the old bike when I bought it and I ran with it. I've always like the ying yang style symmetry the number 69, if the number's available in the BEARS series this year I think I'll run with it again on the new bike.

Day 38: Goodies At The Post Office

I found one of those notes that tells you a parcel is waiting for you at the Post Office when I got home yesterday, so this afternoon I picked it up.

About a week ago I'd ordered some goodies from Torpedo7 and as usual their delivery was pretty quick. They're a New Zealand based online store specialising in outdoorsy type things like mountain bike parts, road cycling stuff, snowboard gear, camping paraphernalia, motorcross bits & pieces and they've recently added a fishing line (pun intended) to their already wide selection.

My new dirt bike lift stand and tie down straps look the goods and I'm sure they'll be put to use soon.

It's always nice to get something other than a bill in the mail.

Day 26: A Very Happy Australia Day - Moron Continued Part 1

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I'd been making room in the garage for my most recent racing procurement with a promise of 'more on that later'.

Today, it arrived. So here's the more:

My new racing steed is another Triumph Daytona, this time it's a 'real' Triumph as it's a 3 cylinder, 675cc engine as against my old one that was a Japanese inspired 4 cylinder 600cc engine. Like my previous Daytona this one has been built for racing with many upgrades to improve the handling and performance. I spent a few hours today removing the old fairing and dented fuel tank to replace them with the new tank and undamaged race glass. My first outing on the new 675 is next weekend at Eastern Creek and I'm looking forward to posting up a comparison between the two Daytonas... so there'll be 'more on this later' again.

Day 22: Bug Rescue / Moron x 3

I spent a fair bit of time in the garage this afternoon making room for the new race bike I bought last weekend, it's being delivered next week (more on that later). I made some serious headway and there is now a clear path from the front roller doors through to the back door, previously one had to step over and around various bits & pieces including the old race bike that needs an engine transplant (probably more on that later too).

During my cleaning, culling and general re-arranging of things I came across the subject of today's photo. He (she?) just fell from the ceiling and landed in front of the broom as I was about to sweep more dirt, dust and detritus out the door. I let him (her?) crawl up on my finger so I could release him (her?) into the wild that is our backyard, as I had my camera on me I thought I'd test the Macro setting out. It was quite a challenge. The auto focus just kept focusing on the foliage behind the subject, it was starting to bug me... so to speak. Eventually I managed to grab a couple of shots that were OK, the in focus strike rate was around 1 in 10.

In other news and in light of the trials I faced trying to capture today's image, I spent some more time researching camera upgrades... I think I've narrowed it down to the brand and even the model, it's just the variant I need to decide on (more on this later also).

Stay tuned, there are 3 lots of more (on) to come.

Day 12: Out with the old and in with the new

I've been riding the bike to work all week due to some ongoing car issues and rather than wearing my full length race boots for the week I dug out my old ankle high bike shoes. They're about 8 years old and are very comfy... but the old shoes haven't aged well. 

Today on my way back to the office from visiting a customer I pulled in to one of the local bike shops to see what they had in the way of replacements and I found these little gems. 

You're looking at the stainless steel 'laces' that are fastened with a little dial that drives a ratchet mechanism at the back of the boot. There are a couple of benefits to this design over my old traditional lace ups:

1. Laces can get caught on things like foot pegs & gear levers - not ideal when trying to put your foot down at the lights.

2. Laces can come undone.

3. Stainless steel doesn't stretch when it gets wet like laces can.

4. Tying laces is hard and this simple dial fastening design makes life much easier for motorcyclists who aren't renowned for their intelligence.

So it's out with the old bike shoes and in with the new as well as out with the old shoelace technology and in with the new Stainless Steel 'closure system'.

Day 9: "Coffee"

There's a regular gathering of Canberra Riders on Monday afternoons, we call it "Coffee". I like to get along as often as I can to catch up with some of the folk I ride with over a beverage or two and even though we call it Coffee, for me the beverage is usually a beer. Today Coffee was at the Civic Pub which worked quite well for me but not so well for those who actually come to Coffee to drink Coffee, this may have attributed to the smaller than usual numbers.

I'm pretty sure that today was the first time in roughly 2 years of me making semi-regular appearances at Coffee that I actually showed up on a bike! I think some of the 'gang' as Belinda likes to call them were starting to doubt that I even owned a bike...

Day 8: Back on the dirt

It's been a while... in fact the last time I was out on the Dirty Husky was on the 3rd of October last year. The reason it's been so long is because about 10 minutes in to that ride I accidentally rode into a fence which stopped the bike but I kept going... until I hit the ground. The sudden stop when I landed resulted in a fracture to my elbow that has been healing ever since. I didn't know it was fractured at the time and continued to ride for another 6 hours, needless to say I was in quite a bit of pain.

Today when I went out with Pete (yes, the same Pete who bought the Bee), I showed him the fence I ran into, it's the one that the Dirty Husky is leaning against in today's photo. I was sure the fence was far less upright and hidden in the long grass last time I saw it... but that may have been because my bike was lying on top of it at the time.

I'm glad to report that I made it back injury free after a very muggy day out in the forrest, there was rain, a lot of mud, some confusion about where we were and most importantly a great time was had. All in all it was a bloody good day out in the dirt and my elbow coped with the rigors of Tallaganda pretty well.

I hope there will be more posts like this than like yesterday's ironing...

Day 2: Passing the Bee.

I had mixed feelings today as I delivered the bike above to my good mate Pete, its new owner. The delivery was a family affair with Belinda and Henry coming along to farewell the bike which lead to todays photo being taken by Pete's wife Bron. My hands were a little full with Henry at the time and it's a much nicer pic than the crappy one I took one handed about 30 seconds before. So today, in my second blog entry ever, I've used the services of a special guest photographer. Thanks Bron :)

So why the mixed feelings? I'll share some memories of my time with the bike that became known as the Bee:

- It was the most powerful bike I'd owned with 160hp at the rear tyre which is equal to it's replacement.

- It was the first bike to really scare me with just how fast it can accelerate

- It was the first bike I ever rode on the Phillip Island GP Circuit

- It was the first bike that ever propelled me to just under 300kmh

- I had my first experience on full slick tyres on a race track

- This is the bike that inspired me to give racing a go.

I know Pete's going to love the Bee as much as I have and Bron said I'm allowed to visit if I want. I also know I'll see it again and soon too, Pete & I are booked in for a track day early in February. 

So today there was an ending for me and a new beginning Pete & the Bee.