Today I fitted a new front shoe to the hoss.

At the recommendation of another motorbicyclist at work, I ordered a ContiEscape from Continental.

This is only the second tyre on the front since new (2 years) so I checked out the odometer and here is what it said:

26231

That’s how many kms I got off the stock tyre fitted by Suzuki when I bought the bike.

Not bad eh?

Meet Sammi.
Sammi is a Huntsman Spider, a Giant Grey to be precise.

Sammi isn’t so Giant yet. She’s about four inches from left leg to right leg.
This isn’t an actual picture of Sammi, but just one of her relatives and I won’t say they all look alike because she may take offense.

Sammi came to live on my bike around two weeks ago. I know this because she’s leaving her silk webs all over it. A daily wipe down in the morning cleans them up.

I have only seem Sammi twice, once about a week ago as I was tinkering in the shed. I saw her duck for cover as I walked in, skittering down under the faring. The second time was yesterday afternoon as I was riding home. She had, unfortunately, been caught napping and ended up becoming marooned on the handlebars of the bike in the less windiest spot.

How long she had been there I don’t know, probably when I started the bike to come home she had poked her head out to see what all the fuss was about.
When I finally noticed her, she had tears of fear in all eight eyes as she huddled next to the ignition keys, clinging on for dear life. Every now and then she’d try to find a more secure hiding place but because of the wind roaring up through the faring, couldn’t move beyond the steering column.

Sammi managed to hang on until I got home, where shaken, she finally managed to find some respite from the wind.

Sammi is still on the bike somewhere, I saw her webs again this morning. How long she’ll make my bike her home I’m not sure. I can’t imagine there being much to eat on a Suzuki DL650. But until she moves on... happy hunting Sammi.


Image borrowed from brisbaneinsects.com.

Tags: spiders

When it comes to Novell, I’ve been called an evangelist.
But... is this taking fanaticism too far?

Thanks to the talented Kathy for creating this sticker for me.

Tags: motorcycles

I fitted a new rear tyre to my bike this afternoon. A Pirelli Scorpion. This replaces the stock Bridgestone. It was becoming a little “unsafe” the way it was. Bald in the middle.

It was a 5 minute job to put the wheel back on, it was a 5 minute job to get the wheel off.

I haven’t kicked the bike off the centre stand yet. That will happen tomorrow morning as I leave for work. However, I did check the odometer.

My stock Bridgestone tyres have done 20,159 kms.

I’ll be surprised if the Scorpions can stand up to that record, but I’m hoping to get better “performance” out of them. Time will tell.

Tags: motorcycles

I left Goondiwindi at around 8:00am hoping against hope for some interesting scenery and some darned Emus. The sky was perfectly clear and rather cool compared to what I have been used to. I stopped a few kilometers out of town to put on a flannelette shirt under my jacket to keep out the cold, didn’t work too well but I grinned and bared it. Just out of town is the Border Rivers tourist route that bring you out at Yelarbon. I took that tourist route but still no Emus .

About 20kms out of Inglewood is Lake Coolmunda. I stopped off here for a break and a Mango weis bar. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of water in the lake but there were a few pelicans, black swans and other aquatic birds. Just up the road is secondary road to Stanthorpe. I had time so this is the road I took. I like Stanthorpe, I was born there.

I stopped in Warwick for a coffee and muffin. The first of both since Gayndah 8 days ago. I spent about 40 mins in the town centre wandering around stretching my legs. Warwick is a nice place, I could see myself working there.

From Warwick I took the Cunningham highway to Brisbane. Those who’ve travelled this way will know it takes you through the Cunningham Gap. A rather nice ride in either direction, but I nearly came to grief with two slow moving trucks. I temporarily forgot that this ride has chewed through my rear tyre, my memory was refreshed. I’ll be hunting for a new tyre over the next few weeks.

The final leg of my trip through Brisbane was uneventful. I did notice there is a severe lack of indicator use from car drivers in Brisbane. Everywhere I’ve been over the past 8 days, I’ve seen everyone using their indicators. Not so in Brisbane.
From BNE is was a gunshot up the highway and home, ending a thoroughly enjoyable trip.

I have a map of South East Qld that I use a highlighter on to mark my travels in that area. On it are still some rather large areas of unexplored territory. My next trip is already in the planning!

Tags: motorcycles, travel

I left Roma at 6am this morning heading for Surat. It was pleasantly cool, but clouds were gathering. I am hoping to see Emu’s somewhere along the track today. I’ve seen very little actual wildlife so far this trip, aside from some Brolgas.

The road to Surat was flat and featureless and I could see rain to the West. I stopped in Surat for a quick break but it ended up longer than expected. A bloke by the name of Peter Ryan saw my bike and walked over for a chat. He’s also a bike rider and comes from Toowoomba. We had a good chin-wag and he’s put me onto a few necessities for the bike. 1. a new seat, and 2. cruise control. I’ll do some “Googling” when I get back home and see if I can track them down. I remember an ad in the Australian Road Rider mag that was selling bike seats that prevent the “Bum-burn”. I don’t suffer too badly from it, I stand up every now and then to stretch my legs. This act get’s people looking. Traveling at 100+ kms with the rider standing up is close to flying.

My longer than anticipated stay in Surat meant the rain caught me up. Just out of the town I had to stop again and put on the wet weather gear.

Just out of St. George is Beardmore Dam. My Dad was one of the engineers who worked on the Dam so I stopped in to have a look and take a few photos. The rain had eased slightly but came back by the time I got to St. George. The rain continued all the way to Goondiwindi. I gave up on the photo taking and just tried to make the best of it.

I got into Goondiwindi at around 3:30pm with the rain coming down. I decided to stop here rather than try and push through to Warwick. Warwick is another 200kms down the road and in the rain didn’t sound to enticing. Certainly not as enticing as a dry Motel room. Before finding a place to stay I rode around the town. I got looks from everyone. Who was this mad person riding around in the rain? I’ve driven through Goondiwindi a number of times on my way to other places but this time I took the time to look around. It seems like a nice place, I could see myself working out this way. Mind you, I thought this as I went through Emerald, Longreach, Charleville, Roma and St. George also.

Anyway, I’m now dry and happy to see the panniers don’t leak. I’ll head to Warwick and home tomorrow.

Tags: motorcycles, travel

I’ve spent the past few days checking out Roma. Just out of town to the North is a windmill on the side of the road. The last time I was here the plan was to take a star-trail photo with this windmill. That didn’t happen last time, but this time it did. A second visit was planned but at the last minute clouds decided to make an appearance.

I spent a good deal of time playing Lego Star Wars on PS3 with Ethan. To say he’s good at the game is an understatement, and its a lot of fun. Some time was also spent making and mending paratroopers with tissues and cotton thread. Good fun all round.

Kev and I spent an hour or so photographing the inside of the local Anglican Church. The attraction was the stained glass and architecture. I haven’t looked at the photos yet but I’m hoping they turn out OK.

I did a tour of the town on Sunday morning looking for the main sites. My brother visited the Winery on the way to Carnarvon Gorge a while ago and so I went to have a look. It was closed being a Sunday, which is just as well. If it was open I would have bought wine, and not being able to carry it home, be forced to drink it. The local cemetery is also an interesting place. This is on the “sites” list because of some of the graves and how far they date back, some back into the 1800’s. There is also the “Big Rig” in Roma, I’ve seen this before on my last visit so didn’t go again.

It was good catching up with Kev, Bec and the kids. Bec is an excellent cook, so it’s my shout for dinner next time they’re at the coast.

Tomorrow I head to Warwick, some 650kms away to the south.

Up reasonably early this morning - 6:00am. I ducked up the road to the Cosmos Centre to take a few photos of the place. There was a lot of “Salvation Jane” out in flower around the buildings and I wanted to catch it with the morning light. However, as I found out, I’d have to wait at least till about 10am before the flowers were illuminated nicely. I didn’t hang around that long. Back to the Motel to wash the bug-guts off the bike.

On the way out of town I caught a sign to a “Historical Site”. I took the next right and started riding down some dirt roads looking for it. Before long I came across a farm house. Realising I’m probably in the wrong place, and on someone’s private property, I turned around and went back to the highway to start again. I started following some little red arrows that may be indicating the way, however after 6km’s of dirt two wheel tracks I turned around and went back to the highway. I rode back to the sign and see it’s pointing to site itself. A couple of white columns in the grass on the right side of the road. I don’t get off the bike to read the sign. I’ve had enough of this particular historic site by this time.

A further couple of KM’s up the road is a water hole on the side of the road that was recommended to me as a photographic point of interest. I stopped in and spent about 20mins walking around taking snaps. It was a nice spot, but people need to learn to take their rubbish with them.

Next stop is Morven. I’ve been here before visiting friends so I stopped in town for a quick reminisce. Just out of town to the south is Tregole National Park. This park is dedicated to protect the Ooline tree. The Ooline is a relic of rainforest that covered Australia in the past. It has managed to adapt to the drying out of the country. Ooline Park is another area set aside for these trees. You can find Ooline Park near Womalilla just West of Mitchell.

I was intending to find the artesian spa at Mitchell but I couldn’t. The one local I found to ask couldn’t tell me. They were traveling through and hadn’t heard of it. I gave up after driving around town looking for the Information centre and not finding it either. I headed toward Roma.

The road to Roma was pretty much the same as most of the roads I’ve traveled on so far this trip. The next couple of days I’ll be spending with friends of mine in Roma.

I left Longreach at 7:30am. The day started out warm but it seemed to get cooler the closer I got to Charleville. Charleville is my next stop.
I headed back to Ilfracombe as it was suggested to me not to take the original route I was going to take, which included a section of unsealed road. They’ve had rain out here recently and general consensus was to go back to Ilfracombe. So back I went. It was only 27kms back down the road so no harm done.
The wind picked up early and I was riding into a cross-head-wind. Once I turned south it became a tail wind of sorts so the ride smoothed out considerably.

From Ilfracombe I headed to Isisford. I was intending to fill-up there and there was a moment of concern when I couldn’t find the servo. It’s on a back street for future reference. There is an ad on TV that talks about the Barcoo bridge at Isisford so I had to go see what all the hoo-haa was about.

The next leg of the journey heads out to Blackall. This is a tourist route and I was rather early, so I waited in Isisford for 40mins or so to make sure there were at least a couple of Caravans to take the same road. It’s a long lonely road if something goes wrong. Having ascertained my backup, I took off. The country is flat, flatter than flat. I was hoping to see some Emus but the only animals I could see were cows, horses, sheep and goats. I did see a few Brolgas but there were too far away to get a photo...again.

I grabbed a bite to eat in Blackall and headed toward Tambo, a much nicer place if you ask me. I filled up at Tambo and spent a good half an hour by the man-made lake near the BP. Lovely cool breeze coming off the water, which I needed as I helped a lady put air in her tyres. Damned pressure hose wasn’t working properly so I had to send her off to Blackall with only 28psi in one of the front tyres. She was happy enough.

The road from Tambo to Augathela was very nice. The road was lined with purple, blue, white and yellow wild flowers all the way. I took to standing up on the bike doing 100kms, a good way to see the country and you can almost believe you’re flying.

All in all the country is very flat and featureless. So much space, I love it!
I took barely a handful of photos today, I’m getting rather picky about what I get the camera out for.
I stopped in Augathela for a Mango Weis bar. I’m not sure why I suddenly had a craving for one of these, but the last time I was through here I remember the BP having them... so, I grabbled one. Also a good excuse to get off the bike for a bit. On the way into town I decided to go down one of the dirt tracks that lead off the main road. I followed this for a couple of KM’s before turning around. Bike handled it fairly well, but I should have let some of the air out of the tyres.
The road from Augathela to Charleville was more of the same featureless landscape. I did the Cylon scanning thing just in case there was something interesting to take a photo of. There wasn’t.

Tonight I decided to check out the local Charleville Chinese. Very nice, I was the only one in the restaurant so I was a captured audience. Chop-sticks are a novelty out here, they had to go find some when I asked, eyebrows raised and everything.

Very short distance to Roma tomorrow, but there should be lots of side-tracks to follow. I plan on stopping in to have a look at the artesian spa at Mitchell. I only gave the one as Ilfracombe a cursory glance.

I should also say that riding a bike through these places is rather cool. Kids wave and people come up and ask where I’m heading and where I’ve come from, I’m certainly a hit with the “grey nomads”. You don’t get that with a car.

Note to self: wash the bug-guts off the bike, it’s attracting flies.

Tags: motorcycles, travel

Day three. Day of rest. Today I’m doing a little riding as possible. It’s a good thing both the QANTAS Founders Museum and the Stockman’s hall of fame are within walking distance.

The QANTAS Founders Museum is rather excellent. I went for the package thing, minus the wing-walk. I’ve flown in enough 747’s to know what the wing looks like. This particular 747 is a 747-200, or also known as the 747 “Classic”. What differentiates this one from the 747-400’s that are flying the sky at the moment is this one still uses wire cables to control all the “stuff”. This Boeing came out of service in 2002, and I remember watching the news reports about the challenges of landing it at Longreach. Runway too short and too narrow. There is an excellent video you can watch that talks all about it, and what is also nice is the very little of John Travolta... they kept it real.
An intersting note about this plane, is one of the three engines is still flight ready. The plane was almost sold to India, in which case it would still be flying. This plane did the mercy flights to Bali after the bombings there. It also did routes to Africa and it’s very possible I, or my Dad, has flown in this very plane.

Along side the 747 is a new 707, the original jet purchased by QANTAS...the actual original, verified by part numbers. It was donated back from the Saudi’s and has been fitted out as a luxury airliner. The Queen flew in this very same plane back in 1959. The Saudi’s fitted it out with wood panel and pure gold trimmings. Some of which can still be seen, along with some crystal light fittings. Even now, it looks very luxurious with beds, showers, lounge chairs etc. Sorry no photos of the 707, it was not permitted as the plane is still owned by the Saudi’s and is actually still registered for flight.

The QANTAS museum attached is excellent and has lots of interesting stuff about the airline in the early years. As much as I like QANTAS and proud that it’s Australian, I’ll still fly Singapore or Malaysian Airlines.

Right across the road is the Stockman’s Hall of Fame. A collection of what made country Australia. Slim Dusty and Smokey Dawson are there, along with a swag of other stuff that centres around Australia’s early stockmen and how they lived.

Both of these venues took almost the whole day to see, but with a little time left this afternoon I rode out to the Iningai Nature park, just out of town toward Windorah.

At first the nature park just looked like a paddock, and I had to walk 300m out into the paddock to get to the information board. Not an unpleasant walk. I decided to do the 3.5km walk around the park. The shortest of the three or four walks. It was a nice walk, but there was nothing to see. No animals at least. I was hoping to see a couple of Brolgas but alas.
About 40mins into the walk I found out why... joggers! People use the park as a jogging track and to walk their dogs, so animals are going to steer clear. Oh well, it was a nice walk.

Here endeth Day 3. I’m heading to Charleville via Isisford and Augathella. A total of about 550kms.

Tags: motorcycles, travel

I left Emerald this morning around 10am. I waited for the motorbike shops to open so I could try and get my visor mounting plate repaired or replaced.

I pulled into a Honda dealership and while they didn’t stock my helmet brand, the helpful bloke behind the counter took to my helmet with super-glue in an attempt to help me out.
While I was waiting, a local mechanic on his way to Roma to fix a truck, saw my bike out the front and pulled in. He’d been thinking about getting a V-Strom to replace or add to his GS1400. He hit me with a hundred questions and when I finished answering them, he left with the intention of buying one. I’m not sure how the bloke in the Honda dealership felt. I just sold a Suzuki to a potential customer while in his Honda shop.

Anyway, thanks to that bloke with the super-glue. I taped the visor up as I had a feeling the glue wasn’t going to hold for long. On the way out of town I stopped at another bike shop and they happened to stock my helmet. $20 and some deft work with a screwdriver later, I had two new visor mounting plates. Thanks to Adrian and Julie from Central Bike Centre, you’ve made my second day of riding much more comfortable.

I ducked down to Fairbairn Dam which is easily reached just to the west of Emerald. It is full and Lake Maraboon is quite a site. My Dad worked as an engineer on the Selma Channel, which is an irrigation channel fed by the Dam. This little detour cost me an hour so I really didn’t get away from Emerald till 11am.

On the way to Barcaldine I stopped briefly at Sapphire to see how the other half live. The town is almost entirely made up of corrugated iron... at least that’s how it looked. It was almost deserted so I’m guessing everyone was underground digging for gems.

I stopped off at Alpha for a bottle of water and a couple of apples. Alpha is a quaint little town and the information centre is full of good information on places to see. It also doubles as the rider-reviver offering a cuppa.

I’ve taken to stopping every 45mins or so, so the next stop was Barcaldine. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I thought it would be bigger. After a brief stop it was off to Ilfracombe and its “Mile of machinery”. This is an interesting feature of the town. There is a line of old farming machinery a mile long, as long as the town, that runs along the highway. It’s worth a stop and look. The country between Barcaldine and Ilfracombe is rather uninspiring.

The country from Ilfracombe to Longreach was better to look at. Dotted with some Emu and a few red-headed stork/cranes that I’m yet to identify, all too far away for photo opportunities.

I arrived in Longreach at 4:45pm, passing both the QANTAS museum and the Stockman’s Hall of fame on the way in. These I will visit tomorrow on my day off.

Tags: motorcycles, travel

Oh my knees, by back, my a**. Just kidding, but I would happily kill for a beer.

Today I completed the first stage of my trip to Longreach. Arriving in Emerald at 6:10pm. This is a motorcycle trip that will take eight or so days return, and cover about 3000kms. This is my first motorcycle trip longer than a day. Today is the longest day of the trip with 850kms in total to get to Emerald. Each successive day from this point onward won’t exceed 400kms. This should give me enough time to take some photos. Which reminds me, I think I’ve left my CF card reader at home! Doh!

I left home at 7:00am this morning and dawdled my way to Gayndah. I stopped in Gayndah for a coffee and it was at that time that I realised I was running about an hour behind schedule. Unfortunately that type of difference is hard to make up. I also only managed to take about 5 photos.

The main objective of today, aside from getting to Emerald, was to visit Moonford. Moonford is a little locality about 12kms on the North side of Monto. It consists now of a couple of houses and a Parks and Wildlife office. The reason I wanted to visit Moonford is because the Parks and Wildlife office used to be the Moonford school. Which is where I started my academic career some twenty-nine years ago, in grade one. My Dad was working at Cania Gorge at the time and I think my Mum used to drive the school bus for the area. The school house is almost unchanged from my memory of it. A few louvres have been replaced with sliding windows but that’s about it. The little verandah that housed the port racks still exists.

The entire run has been smooth. The bike is riding like a cloud thanks to the extra weight on the back wheel. Less is definitely more when doing a bike trip, and I have come to realise that much less is much more. However, I do have the capacity to take a lot more stuff in my panniers than I at first thought. I resisted the urge to fill them.

The only hiccup so far was my visor breaking about 2kms east of Rolleston. This time it wasn’t the visor, but the hookup that it attaches to. That particular little gadget has broken away from the helmet. I’ll see if I can track down some glue tomorrow on the way to Longreach and re-attach it. Thankfully I have some duct-tape and currently the visor is taped open.

Photos to come when I get access to them.

Tags: motorcycles, travel

This entry replaces a more venomous one I wrote last night. My Givi E41 panniers have arrived and are now installed on the bike. This brings an end to a long saga of misinformation and lost orders.

Suzuki, unfortunately for me, offered these cases as a special free deal on a new bike purchase, just as I placed my order. Australia had run out of stock, so I had to wait 6 months for more to arrive in the country.

I chose these cases because of the size and ability to get into the case without the need for taking it off the bike. A key is used to lock the case to the bike and access to the top can be made through a combination locked compartment lid. These cases are 41L each and can store 2 full-face helmets in each one. I’m think this will be plenty of storage for my proposed tripping.

The lids are available in a number of different colours but I chose to go with the stock silver, and I’m glad I did. I think they look rather good on the bike.

Fitting was rather easy and took just over an hour. It would have been nice to have a pet octopus but I managed easily enough. I also took the chance while the top box was off, to do some modifying to it’s mounting plate. Something I should have done when I put the top box on.

The bike still looks good without the side boxes fitted. I’m thinking the mounting brackets will provide a little more protection should the bike hit the pavement (God forbid). I might also be able to use them as hitch points for other luggage.

I am now ready for my Longreach trip. I have put in my leave application and will be sorting accommodation in the next week or so. I can’t wait. Eight days of solitude.

Tags: motorcycles

If you're after a pleasant day ride in South-East Queensland, try the trip from Kilkivan to the Kinbombi Falls.

I've driven past this turn-off hundreds of times, and every time thought to myself "I should duck down there and have a look". Today I did just that. I wasn't riding past, I rode there on purpose.

Kinbombi Falls is a stepped water fall that has carved it's way through the rock conglomerate of an ancient river bed. There are many rock pools that follow the path of the creek and a number of paths that wind along the ridge and through the gorge. The falls aren't flowing at the moment due to lack of rain, but it's easy to see how spectacular they would be if the water was flowing. The pool at the base of the falls is reported to be over 10 metres deep and perfect for swimming on hot summer days, with the cliffs providing cooling shade.

At the camping/picnic grounds there are no signs to the falls. I found the path by heading toward the only building...the loo.
The path starts as concrete steps and there must be over 200 of them down to the base of the falls. There are also unmarked tracks that take off from the path, they are unmarked and have no hand rails so be careful following these.

From the base of the falls you can see two other observation points on the cliff walls. However, finding the path to these is not obvious. At this time of year (Autumn/Winter) it is obvious the trails are not well used and have become overgrown. The silk webs of Golden Orb spiders are everywhere. My tip is to take off your sunglasses to see them better and hopefully you won't walk into one.

The path to "Smith's Steps" is just a dirt trail that takes off to the left as you head down to the bottom of the falls. I did notice some pink marking ribbon on a few saplings but the path is not obvious. Don't worry though, you won't get lost and the walk it worth it.

The path along the cliffs provides an excellent view to the base of the gorge. On the opposite side you can see grass trees and I'm told, rock wallabies on occasion. If you have children along, take care, the drops close on either side of the path at one point is very steep and very deep.

I spent an hour walking around and could easily have spent another 3 or 4 if I'd taken my full set of camera gear.


The facilities at the camp ground are basic. No drinking water or firewood, and only basic BBQ equipment. Firewood would be fairly easy to find depending on the time of year, but you should think of taking everything with you. If, like me, you chose to ride here, consider having lunch at the Kilkivan Takeaway. They do a mean works burger.


Kinbombi Falls is about 18kms on the Goomeri side of Kilkivan along the Wide-Bay Highway. The exit off the highway is well signposted and is only 5kms from the main drag.

If you're coming up from Brisbane or the Sunshine coast, you can do a loop by continuing on past Kinbombi Falls to Nannango and on to Kilcoy. The ride on the Wide Bay Highway is very easy and the road is better than average in most places. The Kinbombi Falls road is a single lane bitumen strip in excellent condition.

Tags: road trips, motorcycles

I completed Ride 4 in the Australian Motorcycle Atlas as a continuation of Ride 11. 4 started where 11 finished to it just made sense. Plus I had to get home somehow and didn't necessarily want to ride back the same way. I mean.. who would?

After the short but punishing ride on the old Bruce Highway into Caboolture I was glad to be on the Caboolture by-pass heading toward Woodford. But, it was now just after 12 noon and I could feel a rumbling that wasn't the bike.

Feeling that I couldn't wait until Woodford, another 10 minutes up the road, I stopped at Wamuran for a cuppa'n'sanga combo. I'd been riding for a while so this also gave me a nice chance to stretch the pins, and listen to all the Harleys roaring past. Not to worry, I'd catch up with them shortly. One needs to let them feel as though they're doing well.

Having consumed sustenance, I ambled my way the extra 13 kms toward Woodford. Catching up with the Harleys just before entering the town. They stopped. I continued. My "quiet" dominance over the "loud", continues.

Ride 4 is a half loop from Caboolture to Peachester. This requires a right turn off the D'Aguilar a couple of kms out of Woodford. This stretch of road which passes through Stanmore and Cedarton is an excellent stretch of winding curves, finishing in Peachester before another swervy-curvy down the Blackall Range again. From this point I headed back toward Montville.

Rather than go back through Montville to get to Nambour I decided to take a right and head in the back way to Palmwoods/Woombye. This is well signposted just before you get to Montville. The road into Palmwoods is very winding and, thanks to other traffic, my average speed was about 50 kph until I hit the bottom of the range.

Once back to Nambour it was business as usual. This is the road I take, heading home from work, a lot of the time.

Having passed Nambour on my way back to Yandina I realised I hadn't take any photos of my bike on this trip. Easily fixed.

And there endeth Ride 4. It was a fantastic day and a good trip even for a car. Total distance travelled: 290 kms

Tags: motorcycles, road trips

Glorious day today. The only thing in the perfectly blue sky was the Moon low on the western horizon. I have been waiting for such a day for a while now. So having finally found one, I saddled up the hoss, smeared on a little SPF 30+, and away I went.

Ride 11 from the Australian Motorcycle Atlas was the order of the day. This ride covers Caboolture to Yandina via the Glass House Mountains, but seeing as I live up the northern end of the Sunshine Coast, I went the other way.

I left home at 9:00 am while the air was still crisp. As the actual ride started at Yandina, I had a nice trip through part of the Mary Valley and Sunshine Coast Hinterland to get there. Zipping through what is left of the sugar cane industry in the area, I soon arrived at Yandina. No time to stop, bike was sniffing fumes by this stage so next port of call was BP Bellbird for a fill-up.

Having filled the bike, I shot up the range to Montville where I had my first coffee for the day. A nice spot for a coffee is the Poet's Corner right on the main drag. The view from the Mayfield shopping complex out over the Sunshine Coast, is quite spectacular. The maples are starting to change colour with the onset of Autumn/Winter. It's worth the ride just to see them.

Landsborough is the next port of call. The temperature is starting to rise just a little so I dropped into the Shell servo for a cold drink. There was a Croc Explorer tour bus and there were quite a few envious stares when I pulled up and dismounted. I'm sure it was my bike, I doubt it was the Harley that roared in at the same time.

The ride from Landsborough to Caboolture is a little difficult to find, but basically I was following the Old Gympie Road. The road takes a winding route through and around the Glass House Mountains. Seeing the hills from the road isn't difficult but I was back-tracking here and there trying to find good vantage points for photos. I shouldn't have bothered. A little further along was the turnoff to the Glass House Mountains Lookout. Beautiful views all round. I was going to stop at the Outlook Cafe but the place was packed. The AMA calls this place the "Wander In" but I didn't see any signs with that name.

From the lookout it was gentle riding through the forestry plantations to Caboolture. The last kilometre or so was on the old highway that follows the railway line. This stretch of road is as rough as guts. I was glad to be off it onto the D'Aguilar highway.

This ended Ride 11.
However, I had noted that Ride 4 starts where 11 finishes so, what they hey... I continued on.

Flick over to the Ride 4 Complete blog entry.

Tags: motorcycles, road trips

After what seemed like a lifetime, my new screen arrived. A Givi, for the DL650. At the same time, I ordered a set of panniers, these are still on backorder...it's been months. I had to postpone a 6 day cycle trip out to Longreach because of the delay!

Anyway...
I decided to get a replacement screen as the standard supplied Suzuki screen, while good, could be better. At it's highest setting I was still getting buffeted around the helmet and after a while this gets a little tiresome. I'd heard good things about the Givi screen so I went with it.

Fitting the screen is a piece of cake. Here are some before, during and after photos. Fitting time: 15 mins.

The original screen before removal.


Screen removed.


Givi screen fitted.


After a quick test-ride, the wind buffeting I was getting has almost disappeared completely. I'm not sure how it will go in strong side winds, but it's going to be fun to find out.

~: Update 21 April 2008 :~
After riding to and from work today (65kms each way) I can say I'm impressed. I'm now able to ride at 110kph with the visor up all the way, which before I couldn't. I can now hear the engine, and while not silent I won't be getting headaches from wind buffeting my helmet any longer.

Tags: motorcycles

My Wee-Strom at work, nestled safely among the BMW's. These aren't owned by Academics... but a more intelligent, likable crowd.

Tags: motorcycles

WTF?
OK. In the interests of National health, I'll explain.
(I can see hordes of academics running to the dentist asking for more teeth in their mouths just to squeeze a few more metres per litre out of their BMW's)

If you read through my blogs under "Motorcycle Madness" you'll see that I put a 16 tooth front sprocket on my bike.

I can confirm that in addition to giving the bike extra top end range equivalent to a 7th gear, it has increased the km/L from 22 to 24.5. This essentially gives me a slightly uncomfortable range of 530kms per tank. This may actually be more as I was riding the bike a little harder over the test period because of the extra reach I had in top gear.

I will settle down over the next couple of months and will keep an eye on any further increases in economy.

brrrrmmmm brrrmmmm.

Tags: motorcycles

The rain cleared enough today for me to get out on the bike. As I had half a day to spare I decided to knock off one of the 100 top rides in the Australian Motorcycle atlas, produced by HEMA. The ride I chose was number 5 which is in my neck of the woods.

This particular ride starts at Eumundi and, via Kenilworth, ends at Maleny on the Blackall range.

There were a few light showers during the trip but these only lasted around 30 seconds or so and didn't put a dampener on the experience.

I carried on through Maleny and headed to Nambour via Mapleton along the range. I then turned in to Eumundi again and headed to Noosa. From Noosa I tootled back inland to Cooroy and then followed the old Bruce highway to Pomona, rejoining the highway south of Federal State School.

All in all a very enjoyable ride, with differing road conditions. There were plenty of bikes out which is always good to see.

The next ride will probably number 11 which goes from Nambour to Caboolture via Landsborough.

Tags: motorcycles, road trips

Today, as part of my 5000km service, I had a 16 tooth front sprocket fitted.
The DL650 comes standard with a 15 tooth front sprocket, and while this delivers a high degree of power to the road, revs at the top end are rather high.

By changing to 16 teeth I have effectively wiped off 1000rpm from 6th gear. This has also had the added benefit of smoothing out 1st gear.

When I start "touring" I may put back the 15 tooth sprocket depending on where I intend going, but for general commuting and highway work I can recommend making this modification.

My fuel consumption is 23kms/litre. I have just filled up so will report back in a week or so what kind of difference an extra tooth has made.

--- Update: 20 December 2007 ---
Well I'm impressed. The extra tooth has given me, essentially, an extra gear to the top end. It has probably halved the power of first which will make any real dirt work a little challenging.

Tags: motorcycles

Don't get me wrong, I think the DL Wee-Strom 650 is a great bike. But for me, the bar is a little low when I stand up, giving me the feeling that I could fall forward over the bars at any second. I tried rotating the bars forward a bit but this wasn't much better.

Solution: Bar raisers.

These lift the bar up without altering the position and they're perfect.

Installation tips for the DL650...

1a. Check that you have enough cables to extend the bar to the height you need. I did this by removing the electrical cables from the two spring-clips either side of the column as shown below...

Right side, looking forward.


Left side, looking forward

1b. I also removed the cables on the right side (looking forward) from the spring-clip at the base of the forks. To do this, remove the bolt holding the assembly shown below, remove the cables, then do the bolt up again.

Right side looking forward, under the headlight assembly.

1c. Remove the bracken shown below, holding the cables on the left side (looking forward) and remove the cables heading up to the bars. Once you have adjusted the cable length you can tighten this clip again.

2. Remove the four bolts with an allen key, that holds the bar to the forks. Place the bar gently on a rag that covers the tank. you don't want to scratch the finish.

3. Attache the raisers and tighten the supplied bolts.

4. Replace the bar, position and tighten the top of the bar clamps.

5. Rotate the bar to full-lock left and right with the engine running to ensure you're not dragging any cabling...like the throttle. Adjust as necessary.

Voila!!

Tags: motorcycles

Nothing ever fits the way you're told it will.

Just in case there is anyone else out there wanting to fit a Givi top-box to the rack on their Suzuki DL650, here is the way I did it.

You will need the following:
1 x 6mm twist drill
1 x drill
1 x set of allen keys
1 x 10mm spanner (slim with long handle is best)
2 x 30mm diameter washers (outside diameter)
1 x rule
1 x metal scribe
1 x small socket set.
1 x DL650 (mine is an 06 model)
1 x Givi Top-box with supplied mounting plate and fastenings (Mine is a E370N)

Step1.
You will need to remove the rack from the back of the bike. In case you didn't notice, there are 4 bolts holding this on. Two at the top of the rack itself and two under the seat.

Step 2.
Remove the rubber mat from the top of the rack. A small amount of spray-grease will help pull the rubber plugs through the holes. Store flat, in case you want to put this back on at some point. (I guess you could drill through the rubber but that would look rather tatty if you ever took off the top-box permanently.)

Step 3.
Finding the best position for the Givi mounting plate is tricky. The rack plate has reinforcing ridges underneath and these frustratingly line up with just about all the bolt option in the Givi plate. I found just two that would line up without the need to remove some of the strengthening ridges underneath. You'll know what I mean when you turn the rack over and look at the under side.

I was able to use an existing hole in the rack, but had to drill a second. The following image shows where I put the extra hole. I'm hoping two will be sufficient and it feels very solid.

Step 4.
Test fit the Givi mounting plate to the rack to check for fit and alignment. You will need to remove the mounting plate again as you won't be able to put in the two rack bolts that hold the rack on the bike.

Step 5.
Re-attach the rack to the bike, replacing the 4 bolts and do try not to strip the thread.

Step 6.
Attach the Givi mounting plate to the rack.

This is rather tricky. You will notice the recess that the rubber mat came out of (not shown). If you don't place one of the 30mm washers between the rack and the mounting plate, as you tighten up the bolts you will distort the plate which will make attaching the top box almost impossible. Do yourself a favour and remember the washers. I used two bolts, so needed two washers to act as spacers. The following image shows the back most spacer.

Only attach the back bolt to finger tightness at this stage. You can use one of the supplied W brackets for this bolt. I found there wasn't enough room to use one on the second bolt.

Position the mounting plate and push through the second bolt (remembering the washer between the rack and the mounting plate)

Attaching the second nut will be a challenge, but if you have a long handled 10mm spanner you'll be fine. Don't forget the small washer and remember you may not have space to use a W bracket.

Don't fully tighten bolts just yet.

Step 7.
Test fit the the top box. If you can attach and remove it easily you're done. If not, you may need thicker washers to act as spacers between the rack and the mounting plate.
Tighten the bolts, don't strip the thread.

Step 8.
Replace the cover to the mounting plate, and attach the top box.

You're done.

Tags: motorcycles

Picked this up on the weekend while passing through Gympie.

This Motorcycle atlas has 100 top rides of Australia. I've been browsing through it over the past couple of days and it looks rather good.

This is the Third Edition and the Author Peter Thoeming covers not only the top rides of Australia, but also some guidelines on what to pack and how to pack it. It's also full of imagery of the ride areas.

Most of the "Top" rides in Queensland are right around where I live, so I have no excuse not to try them out.

Many of the top rides in Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania I have already covered by car and so I know they're good.

I just have to do them on the bike.

So here's waiting for Summer to end and Autumn to start so the temperature drops a little. I don't find it too much fun riding in the 30+ heat. Don't get me wrong, it's all fun, it just could be funner... ahem, more fun.

Tags: books, motorcycles, road trips

Ok, it's about time I introduced everyone to my ride. Say "Hidee Ho".
I would say new, but I've had it since March this year ('07). This is the Suzuki DL650 V-Strom in all its glory. Light, quick, nimble, zippy, dangerous... all these words apply. Follow the link to see the specs.

I bought it with crash-bars, hand guards and a Ventura rack. What I still need to get is:
Bash plate
Panniers (also perhaps a tank bag)
GPS
Better tyres
Gun rack

...(I noted the silent pause after that last one. And you think I'm kidding!)

The power-plant is a V-twin taken from the SV650. It hooks along very nicely, however I'm considering a larger front sprocket just to bring down the revs a bit in top gear. It took a while to get the suspension set right for me, but I've finally settled at the minimum preload for the back shock. I could probably tinker with the front to make it even better but for the moment I just want to ride it.

Fuel economy is excellent at 23.5kms per Litre, or 4.25L per 100kms. That's running on super-high-octane-premium-rocket-fuel which costs under $20 a tank to fill up.

Also just registered at Adventure Rider and looking for a good motorcycle touring guide of Australia (suggestions appreciated).

Why Suzuki? Well this is my third Suzuki and they seem to be rather reliable. Plus, the GSXR1100 is rather quick, and I'd like to be riding something out of the same stable as that ol' hoss. OK, so I couldn't afford the BMW 1200GS. That may come later :-)

With this blog entry I have added a new category - Motorcycle Madness. I'll use this one to keep you all up-to-date on my two-wheeled lunacy.

Come along Patsy, we're off to find Camelot.

Tags: motorcycles