Lurch@CR

As I’ve been taking a step back from the day-to-day running of CR (well, trying to at least) it seems that everything else around me has picked up the slack.

The usual pre-semester shit fight has mostly died down now, but was absolutely flat-knacker there for a good couple of weeks.

But from here on in, I’m now a student too. As of this semester I’ve started my Masters of Information Technology at UC. Just doing 2 units this semester to see how I go. I am just starting on two G level units; Computers and Programming (an entry level unit to C# – good seeing as I have never coded anything before in my life) and Database Design.

Not *the* most entertainly subjects, but I have to start somewhere.

Had a very constructive day today.

The Garage got a HUGE cleanup. A good 5hours worth. It means that there is now plenty of room for the 109 and Goose, a decent amout of general work space and room for when I get started on the little EL250 come winter:

I’m gonna try and catch up with the L and P guys tomorrow for their training session.

Also I’m detirmined to get out on my own this holday. Just some time for me, the road, the bike, and my iPod….

A little while back I got myself a pair of Cobra Dragsters.

They look good and (I think) sound sensational. But I think I might be over them a little. Yedi now wants them, and I think I want my old shortened stockies back. Time will tell.

Also this Sunday there is a cheap Dyno day at Moto Garage – should be interesting to see what the 109 puts out.

PS: Congrats to Ricecooker for her new bike, and to Ike for getting Ricecookers old ZX9!!

With the 109 all fixed I was eager to get out on the road.

Word had it that there was a ride around the snowies this weekend, so I decided to tag along.

With a plan to meet at 8am on the Saturday, I decided to join Dazzabee for a run down to Adaminaby on the Friday night, with a plan to meet the rest there Saturday morning.

It was at this point I should have ended my run and headed home.

The ride from Adaminaby to Corryong was fkn horrible. Pushing 400kg+ of low-slung cruiser through those hills was a nightmare. And all I managed to acheive was a big kick to my confidence and hold everyone else up, and already I could see this being a problem.

The next stretch was probably the only bit of road I enjoyed all weekend. While a few people did a lap up around the mountains, a few of us took the low road thru to the Mt Beauty turn off. It was 80-odd k’s of fast open sweepers. Exactly what my bike loves. *That* was good.

The next bit was a run thru to and over Mt Beauty. Again; tight, narrow and not much fun. However Mark stopped for a bit down the bottom of the mountain and I was detirmed to make it over before he caught up. I got about two thirds down the other side when Mark went scooting past me like I wasn’t even moving. Fuck. Ego-kicking 2.

I finally arrived at the meet point with a Melbourne guys (a good 5-10 minutes after everyone else) to now 20 faces looking pissed at me for making them wait.

The next bit was to make our way up Mount Hotham. Yeah… you guessed it. Slow, tight, narrow. And a fuck load of hard work. I finally reached the top where again, everyone was getting cheesed off that I was the slowest though the mountains.

We left there and the road started opening up (thank christ). The group leaving the top of Mount Hotham kind of got seperated into two with me being at the back of the first pack, and I was determined to get to Omeo before the 2nd group caught up. Believe it or not, I actually managed to acheive this (shock horror).

However the damage was already done, and I was officially the “slow guy”.

Drinks and food followed the ride, however after a few nasty comments by one of my fellow CRers regarding both my riding and my bike,  left a bitter taste in my mouth and a sour note on my night that I just couldnt shake. People started to disperse  into their own little groups, and considering  I didn’t really know anyone I headed to bed for a really shitty nights sleep.

When I was wakened at 6am I managed to snooze a bit more untill 8am. At this point I was tired, sore, and really fkn cranky and all I wanted to do was leave. However I decided to swallow my shittyness and hang around for everyone else. By the time everyone had finished dicking around it was about 9:30 and we finally got going. Straight into another stretch of tight, slow, narrow, and now WET roads. Fucking great. I finally reached the turn off to Orbost and everyone was sitting there looking pissed because I had made them wait…. again…. (Ego-kicking 3)  I didnt stop and just went straight past them and kept going. I wasnt in any mood to chit-chat. I belted striaght thru to Orbost for fuel and hung around there for a while waiting for everyone. When there was no signof them I  continued on to Cann River and waited. Eventually everyone showed up, didn’t see me and kept going. I slowly got my gear back on, turned off to Bombala and put the hammer down. I caught them just as they were fuelling up again at Bombala. Not too shabby considering they were a good 10mins ahead of my slow, heavy cruiser.

Lunch was scheduled by Nimitabel. I headed off first and again just opened the bike right up. The roads out there are open and sweeping, just how I like it, so I left them behind in fairly small order (until I hit a huge bump in the road which sent me air-bourne and left me incredibly winded when the bike and I landed – so I had to stop for 5mins to catch my breath) And which point everyone caught up again.

Lunch was ho-hum and from there we all just headed home. By this time I was in such a shitty mood that I just couldnt stand doing 110-120k’s up the hwy so at the first overtaking after Cooma I opened up the throttle and didnt see them again.

No loss, after all – I didnt want to give them another excuse for having to wait for the slow cruiser……

As an update; the gearbox got all fixed.
However the bike then developed an electrical fault and is only running on one cylinder.
It is currently back in at Dahlitz.
I ended up missing the Bombala run, but hope to be back on 2 wheels this week for a run to Omeo.
*Fingers crossed*

Some might know – but eh M109r has been having issues with slipping out of 2nd gear.

Following the Snowy Ride, it got to the point of unbareable, and I had run out of things I could do (adjustments etc etc.

I eventually gave up trying with my shithouse collection of tools and my even more shithouse-er mechanical abilities, and nursed the bike out to Dahlitz in QBN (wouldnt go to CMC in a pink fit).

We had a good chat, busted out the service manual, and gathered around all the mechanics to try and sus it out.
(Not to mention no one was complain on being able to take out a 109 – even if it had a shagged 2nd gear).
I told them what I had read both here and on the DLP forum, and we all came to the conclusion that it was 2nd gear and/or the selector fork.
They quted my $1600 for two cogs and the selector fork including all labour etc.
I went home, spoke to the Minister of finance, rang them back and said do it, however with a big but: If it wasn’t going to be finished by the Bombala run – let me know. If it is going to go over $1600 – let me know. If there are any delays – let me know. And lastly – please keep me updated (or at least expect me to call from time to time).
They were all cool with that.
So they ordered the parts and started pulling my baby to pieces.
I rang them on Friday to get an update. They said the bike was fully stripped with old parts out and the new parts should be in on Monday.
I rang today and the boss said the bike was going back together as we spoke.
And it wouldnt be over $1600 *phew*

So all in all, I cannot praise Dahlitz enough. They’ve been quick, communicative, and on the ball.
And most importantly have let me be (partly) part of the process.
And from what I can tell – $1600 for this kind of job is pretty reasonable.

I should be picking her up tomorrow arvo and will be enjoying the run down to Narooma on Friday.

12 months ago I had just gotten the ZZR12 and was starting to get real quick. At least on the roads I knew.

Then something changed.

Jess and I had just returned from a weekend at the coast. The trip back had been horrid. Both of us where terribly sore riding the bike. It was a scorching 40deg day. And all in all it was shit. As such all we wanted to do was to get home, so I oushed that bike as hard as I could all the way back from Ulludulla. We did make it home in record time.

But the whole experience left me wondering where the hell I was with the whole riding thing. I was riding way too hard on a bike that neither myself or Jess where comfortable on. So I made a big change. It was time to try the whole cruiser thing.

But I’m not stupid. The simple fact is; if I’m going to ride a cruiser – it may as well be the biggest, baddest one I could get. So it really came down to the Suzuki M109R and the Triumph Rocket III. After riding both I could barely seperate them. But the 109 won on price and pillion comfort.

The big change happened 10 months ago.

So, whats the verdict?

Simple; I’m never going back. I’ve certainly slowed down. The simple fact is that such a low slung bike just doesnt have the cornering clearence to ride quick through the twisties – but what a smooth ride it is. And that is what I’ve really come to enjoy about my riding. The Smoooooothness. Take any set of twisties. All the sports riders go hooting off to scrape their knee sliders and hammer as hard as they can. And good luck to them. But I can still head up the same stretch of road and have a blast. What I love the most is to set a reasonable (hehe) pace and to run from corner to corner as smoother as possible. No ultra hard braking, no made smashing of the gears. Just a constant smoother run. Touching down the pegs at the perfect apex on each corner then a quick tip into the next corner to reapeat again. A good run of a dozen corners like that is fan-fucking-tastic. Then to see the exit of the last corner and then really twist on the throttle and feel 400-odd kilos of bike want to stand up on one wheel and bolt! Spectactular!!

And that is what has really changed about my riding. I’ve always said to the learners: Dont practise for Speed, practise for smooth. And then the speed will come. And its true. But regardless is a good long run of sheer smoothness that lets me know that I’ve had a good run and that I am riding well. And I’m enjoying it way more than I ever did trying to push it hard.

And a good reminder of that came recently. We had an Intro Track Day at Marulan. The day was a roaring sucess, no doubt. But it did remind me of how hard and stressful I find rind a sports bike hard (and I’m really not that quick). I reckon if its that hard and stressful it aint going to be enjoyable. And if it isnt enjoyable, why do it??

Anyway.. after rambling and rambling – i hope you get the point. I’ve come to find that going white-knuckle fast just isnt my thing. Going quick, yet smooth, and a big finish – thats what gets my rocks off!!

On Saturday Gos came around and Gos, Craig and I to finally do our best on getting Goose running.

The bike has been *so* close for a while now, but just refused to run, even after Gos and I did a big number on the Carbies etc a while ago.

The day before I ducked out to CMC and picked up a new battery and put it on charge over night.

Gos arrived with my Plug spanner in hand. We whipped out the plug to find them well past their used by date. As Craig headed down to Autopro for plug, Gos took the opportunity to take the 109 for a run.

They returned fairly rapidly with fresh plug in hand. Plugs went in, but still no joy.

The tank was then pulled and we noticed the ignition leads didnt look quite right. Once we got the firing order sorted we gave it another shot.

Nope – still no joy.

So the tank came back off and the carbies came out again. Yikes! They were chocked full of shit again! WTF?? This time as Gos did the carbies (again) Ike (who had cruised around with Alys) scooted down to the servo for a new jerry can and filled it with petrol. We had a suspision that the jerry can we used last time may had had water in it when we filled it, hence spoiling the fuel, hence trashing the carbs. Ike returned with a fresh can of fuel, and a bottle of Metho. I then thoroughly rinced out the tank with the metho.

The bike then went all back together.

WHOOO!!

It ran soooooo sweetly. It still required some fettling with the idle mixtures and idle speed etc.

Today it was off the Hal’s for a new rear tyre and then his first showing at coffee. It bucketed down rain – but I didnt care!

This weekend has marked a couple of things.

First up – I’m taking another attempt at getting off the smokes. Trying the patches this time. Day 1’s tally was 3 smokes, and day 2 was 4 smokes. Not bad for coming down from nearly 20 a day!

Also, I simply had the best day today, going for a run out to the bay. It really reminded me of why I started CR.

We had a tremondous time both out there and back (especially back). I managed to surprise a heck of a lot of people with the capabilities of the 109, which put a grin on my face – ear to ear. It was so good getting out and seeing both all the regulars, but also some new people as well that have come to join our friendly crew.

It was great to pass on some knowlege, and then see the riders eyes light up and a big smile come across their face when they realised they had nailed what I had been telling them.

Fucking brilliant.

I’m really enjoying it again – and have promised myself not to take the whole thing so seriously, and remember why I started CR in the first place.

Today has not been a pleasant day for me in CanberraRIDERS.

What started off as nothing turned into a big spat with a member, and resulted them being given the big ‘fuck off’.

It’s something I really, really dont like doing.

However it is a reminder of what is required to run an organisation of our size, and one that is growing by the day. I’m lucky I have a good team of moderators.

Yet the whole thing is leaving me feel rather empty these day, and I’m looking down the barrel of taking a HUGE step back from CR and handing over the reins to the moderator team semi-permantly.

My heart just isnt in it anymore.

Not that anyone will read this anyway…

Lurch