Personal entry

I picked up the new bike yesterday. It’s a pre-loved 2011 Honda ST1300 with (2700Km) ….3,300Km on it now as I picked it up in Auckland and rode it home. Cam was a champ, delivering the bike to the airport so all I had to do was fly in at 1400, swap the cheques for the keys and change of ownership papers, walk to the carpark and there it was.

Pristine! It’s funny how a new-beaut-black-beauty, even with a bit of road grime from getting to the airport, looks pristine and new-beaut…and ...

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I know you’re thinking, “Yeah Right!”...but we did,...we did see the Gorgeous Babes!.....Well,... we saw pictures of them. I guess they weren’t in because it was Sunday!?

Today was a SH2 Claytons Ride to Mangatainoka. That’s the ride you have up SH2, when you’re not actually riding up SH2!

I recovered from last weekend’s trauma with my spewyy blog and thread about Mr Avon and I was looking forward to sampling the new Bridgestone 023’s on a decent ride. It was unfortunate ...

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One would expect to get warm fuzzies over buying a new bike!.....and of course….one does!
The thrill of the hunt when looking;
the excitement and drooling when spotting a target;
the anticipation and longing to get ones hands on it when wistfully gazing at the pics on Trademe or other internet source full of praise and illustrations for that of which you have chosen….(and what a wise and canny person you were to spot this item and realise what a wonderful choice you were making); ...

This weekend was programmed for my last conditioning ride for the GC (with only 3 more weekends to go and a club ride next weekend) and since missing out on the big Honda sale, although I was resigned to keeping my bike, I’ve kept a weather eye out for a replacement ST.

There have been several nice looking ST’s on TradeMe and I turned down a good offer in Masterton, as I thought, “Nah, keep the $’s and keep the Big Red, it’s got 122,000Km on it, but it’s going great.” ...But, then ...

FU Mr Avon!! You can take your Storm 2 Ultras and shove ‘em where the sun don’t shine. I’ve had nothing but great riding off the Avon Storms but my last three rears (all Storm 2 Ultras) have cost me a fortune and given me no end of grief. The attached refers for the first two, to which I received no comment or reply….and then there was this weekend!!

The bike has been running great, I did have to get a Battlax 023 fitted to the front (I might note that this was because of Mr Avon’s ...

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Ann had the Hawkes Bay Masters Tennis tournament to play this weekend and I don’t usually travel to these, but on this occasion it suited my purpose to go for a ride....so we did. We took Friday off and got away from home around 0900 for a quick fill at the Ngaio GAS then head over the hill to Masterton.

This was the first ride on the new Bridgestone 023 on the front and it’s been awhile since riding with Ann on the back, so the bike felt a little different and I was wary to see how ...

See Forum Link here for: A Good OCPD Example and the ensuing discussion.

Perhaps a good example of OCPD – Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder: In this illustration I point out obvious conflicts that can and do appear in forum threads, but I also refer to the “standard” that is site rules. So the question arises is the argument valid to have a reasonable expectation when concrete examples can be provided and measured against rules?

The suggested qualification ...

This week I booked the bike in to have its 120,000Km Service on Monday, which apart from the usual oil & filter, is just a whole lot of inspections, but I did specify to do the air cleaner because that’s done over 24,000 and I also asked to have a look at the brake pads because the front set have done 78,000??? (this is only the 2nd set with the first set only managing 42,000Km) I suppose as I’ve got used to the ST and it’s lack of engine braking, I tend to brake a lot less and I am still more inclined ...

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