Gremlin's Tall Stories

It’s “only” been a 12 month wait since the last one, but the 2010 one was finally here. The plan was to try and finish off any work by mid-afternoon, then pack, load the bike and head down in the early evening. This year, I even have a handy helper, in the form of Toto, who is doing his first. He takes the entire day off, heads down early, and then proceeds to txt me. “Should I take my laptop”, “When are you coming”. I suggest he ask for two rooms near each other, so we can find each other. The ...

Around Tuesday I collected my new textile trousers from Quasievil and with the microphone sorted, I was only waiting for my helmet to be finished with the wiring. Mileage on the bike meant it needed almost 2000km put on during the weekend, service was organised for Monday (well, drop off, and they service as soon as they have time). The initial plan therefore called for 2x 1000km over the weekend, service, tyres and everything will be ready for the Grand Challenge (next weekend).

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Imagine that… an electrical install that went according to plan and was easy.

GiJoe insisted on helping me install the wiring for my heated vest… for some reason he doesn’t trust me. I wanted it installed for my weekend riding, he was busy Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, so we met up Saturday morning. I even impressed him by being up early (aka, before midday).

He comes around, xtank and seat come off and some quick discussion about how to put wiring in. Quite ...

I bought a new helmet a little over a couple of weeks ago, as my new long distance helmet (still have the Shoei XR1000), but I've been looking at the speed of my stops, and concluded that if I don't have to remove the helmet, I don't have to remove the plugs, balaclava etc, balaclava needs jacket adjusted, as it slides underneath etc. In short, a flip front helmet was called for. Get to station, lift front, ea, drink etc, and no potential problems with fuel station attendants either.
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Saturday night, I had spoken to Toto about riding on Sunday, but he was working. He did want a txt to see where I was going, as he wanted a short ride somewhere, so perhaps he could meet up. I got to bed late on Saturday, ok, 4am Sunday, with Daylight Savings taken into account, so I wasn’t up before midday Sunday anyway.

Once I had read up on the Zumo 660 vs 550 (currently have the 550, and I won’t upgrade to the 660) and planned a route – maximising the fuel range, as the 2nd fuel ...

Saturday morning, I’m up and about… hang on, no, got to bed in the early hours, so rose around midday Kicked my arse into gear, and got to Botany Honda before they closed. Annoyed the guys as usual, and showed them the LED strips, as they had been interested in how they would look. Of course, I get the piss taken out of me, but I bet they all secretly desire some themselves.

GiJoe is nowhere to be seen, despite a txt, so he must be otherwise occupied. I head off to Motomail to ...

Well, following on from the adventures of the previous weekend (previously blogged) an old idea was resurrected. My boss has a blackbird has had spotlights fitted for a couple of years, specifically for night riding in the country.

They sit between his fairing and mirrors on custom brackets, angled up and out. They rectify a common problem motorcyclists have. As you lean into a corner, your headlight points at the ground right in front of the bike. Lean more, the problem gets worse. ...

Following on from the circus that took place Saturday and the early hours of Sunday (previous blog post) the headlight needed a more serious looking at.

While at Dargaville the previous day I had pointed out to GiJoe his scottoiler was empty (after he constantly annoyed me reminding me how mine was getting low). Unlike his (under the seat) my scottoiler is on my trellis frame, allowing me to see the level constantly, even adjust it on the fly (seldom do tho). If you run them out though, ...