Day 92: Minor Mechanical Issues

For weeks I'd been looking forward to riding with Andy, Pete & Lachlan today and as usual, I ended up having a great time with some great mates out in wilds of Tallaganda. The day wasn't without its hitches, first Lachlan had a gentle stack before we made it to the single trail which resulted in a sticky throttle. We were able to ease the stickiness a little but it still wasn't as it should be, Lachlan soldiered on with it as it was.

A short ride later I discovered I could only change into higher gears and not shift down to lower gears, this was because my gear lever had slipped on its spline so that when I tried to push it down to shift into a lower gear the lever would hit the bikes frame and stop it from engaging the lower gear.

Today's photo is of Andy loosening the bolt that secures the lever to its spline so we could remove it and refit it so it wouldn't foul on the frame. The teeth on the lever were pretty chewed up so the repair only lasted a short time and had to be repeated about 10 minutes later. After the second repair I shifted into second and left it there for the rest of the single trail. I had to be very gentle with it for the rest of the day because there were sections of road between the different trails that required higher gears.

A few of the highlights of the day for me were being able to complete the ride with minimal gear shifts, the enormous 'puddle' that made us all very wet (it must have been close to a meter deep) and the multiple laughs we all had at the expense of each other when falling off, getting pinned under out bikes or just being generally unco.

Now I need to go and buy a replacement gear lever so I'll be ready for the next ride.

Day 85: Overdue Maintenance

It's been a while since my last dirt bike ride, it was actually on the 8th of January (I had to check dig through my previous posts to find the date, see here). Since the Dirty Husky became a Clean(ish) Husky for the first time in months yesterday, I decided it was a good time to get around to replacing the chain & sprockets. I bought the parts before Christmas and then became sidetracked with other things so the job didn't actually take place until today, more than 4 months later. You can't rush these things.

Even though it often takes me a while to get around to actually doing this kind of stuff, when I actually do it I get quite a sense of satisfaction out of completing the work myself. As it turned out the rear sprocket would probably have been fine for a while longer, the front sprocket on the other hand had teeth that could only be described as hooks which is a sure sign that its last legs. When the teeth are worn as far as this they become weaker and much more prone to snapping, they will also cause the chain to wear at a faster rate which isn't ideal. It's probably fortunate that managed to change them all over before my next outing.

So with two new sprockets, a new chain, having been freshly washed and also loaded into the trailer; the Dirty Husky is ready to earn its name again next weekend when I head out for the single trail of Tallaganda.

Day 52: Granny Knapp

This mix of beverages is probably not something you'd see on one small table all at the one time very often. Obviously, Henry's was the milk and there's no real surprise that the Knappstein was mine. That only leaves the Dirty Granny which certainly wasn't Jenna's (she had a glass of cordial with dinner), which only leaves Belinda.

The Dirty Granny has become Belinda's beverage of choice since reading an article in Delicious about the Matilda Bay Brewing Company and their aptly name Cider. Once she'd read the article I was sent on an errand to retrieve the Dirty Granny from our local Woolies Liquor. I was impressed that they were there, in stock and already cold. It seems that what our Woolies lacks in range on the grocery front, it makes up for in varieties of booze. They've clearly got the local socioeconomic demographic nailed.