Day 339: Impulse Buying

Not very exciting is it... 3 pairs of socks and a couple of ties in fancy boxes. I did get excited by the price though, this little selection set me back the princely sum of $18. I do love a bargain, and these were in a shopping centre not an online purchase.

My Impulse buys have been getting weaker, it has been very hard to top the impulse buy I made last year. It was a Yamaha YZF R1 bike that I forgot to tell Belinda about, she found the rego papers 3 days after I'd brought it home. I think I need to try a bit harder with my next impulse buy.

Day 213: Hot Grips

Having warm hands one a cold ride makes a very big difference to the overall experience, I found the cheapo Chinese Hot Hands that I installed (with help from Pete) on the R1 invaluable on the long ride I took early last month. They stopped working shortly after returning from the 5 day ride which was fine, I figure that as I had paid $15 for them, it only cost me $3 per day to keep my hands warm... money well spent.

When I was negotiating the purchase of my slightly more touring oriented bike last week I made sure that they threw in a set and told them I'd like to fit them myself. Tonight, after the kids had gone to bed, I spent quite a long time in the garage fitting the Hot Grips in preparation for my birthday ride down to Melbourne. I wanted to complete the fitting tonight to ensure I still had time to call in reinforcements if I managed to stuff something up, fortunately reinforcements were not required. The grips went on and functioned as they should with minimal fuss... except for the time I spent googling the workshop manual so I could find the battery.

Todays photo is much more advanced switch for my new Hot Grips, compare this to the one on the R1 pictured at Day 184, there's a clear difference between the $15 set and the $150 dollar set.

Day 209: Big, Red and Hopefully Comfy

I picked my R1 replacement up at lunch time today and whilst I've never really been a huge fan of Kawasaki motorcycles I have to say this one is growing on me (just as well hey?). It's effortlessly quick and has a big cushiony seat on it that will make it a much more comfortable experience for the longer rides that I've been enjoying of late. The real test will be next week when I ride it to Melbourne.

I've already started thinking about some modifications: first I think I'd like a Power Commander on it to try and tune out the dip in the power curve that's noticeable in the lower rev range, then I'd like to do something to shorten the exhausts... they're enormous. I'm looking forward to starting to play with my new toy.

Day 188: The Morning Stroll

After a good nights sleep at the Ocean View Hotel in Urunga we were all up fairly early for a gentle stroll down the 1km long board walk that's pretty much out the front of the Hotel. We did this before Breakfast and I took a bunch of photos along the way. I chose this one because it's a bit of a break from bikes and blokes in leather.

After Breakfast we rode one of the best bits of bitumen I've had the pleasure of traveling on two wheels, it was the Water Fall Way that heads up into Dorrigo. From there we headed to Nymboida for morning tea at what has been dubbed 'Rusty's Pub', it's actually the Nymboida Coaching Station Inn which is owned by none other than that famous Kiwi, Russell Crowe. It's a beautiful old building that sits high above a river that flows behind it and next time I'm up this way I'll actually have a look in Rusty's 'Museum Of Interesting Things'.

From Rusty's pub we headed on to Tamworth which unfortunately involved a fair bit of highway riding which was less than comfortable on the R1.

Day 187: Wet & Grubby

I can't remember exactly where this is... I know it's somewhere between Clarence Town and Urunga and I know it was where we stopped for lunch. I think it was Walcha Road or Thunderbolts Way... Are they the same thing?

What ever it was, it would have been an awesome stretch of road to ride in the dry, instead we had light rain and muddy roadworks to contend with. I don't think the R1 has ever been this grubby. From here we continued on in the drizzle and did a section of highway that lead into Urunga, it was nice to be on smooth roads, it was also nice to have the heated handgrips running.

Day 150: May Task - A Number

I don't have a favourite number so I've chosen a number of numbers for today's photo. Going in a clockwise direction from the top right I've chosen the following:

#69 - The number that's been on my cars for the last 3... or is it 4?
#1 - Part of the name of my road bike, the YZF-R1. The 1 also denotes the 1 litre engine capacity.
#450 - The engine capacity and model of my dirt bike. It's a TE450 which predictably has a 450cc engine
#675 - Similar to the dirt bike, this is the engine capacity and model name of my Daytona 675 race bike.

I guess there's a bit of a theme with my numbers... more so in the last 3 than the first, but they are all vehicle related.

Day 33: Yamalube & Tools

I've been in the process of doing an oil & filter change on the R1 for about a week now. It all started well with removing the lower fairing and draining the oil from the sump. It all came unstuck when I tried to remove the oil filter itself, limited space behind the headers and incorrect tools next to impossible to remove.

So yesterday I finally went back to the Yamaha shop where I'd already purchased 4 litres of Yamalube (I don't know why, but I have a hard time saying 'Yamalube' with a straight face) and an oil filter so I could also buy the correct tool for the job. It's the little circular thing leaning against the oil filter box above and as I discovered this evening, it really does make the job *that* much easier.

Now that the oil's been refreshed and the filter is new I'm feeling much more ready for next weekend's Snowy adventure with with Pete & Andy.