I managed to get to Cobram ay 1615. My ar$e was a tad sore. Had a shower and some food and drink, settled back for a chat with mum then headed off.
Stopped at Shepparton to fill up for the last time, but noticed some oil under the bike. Hmmm was it mine? Yep, unfortunately it was.
The oil pressure switch had decided to leak, and it was dripping at a rapid rate. BUGGER! Only 200 ks to go.
Anyhow, I cleaned up what I could, checked the level was ok (it was almost full) and bought a litre of 20W50.
I rode it to Nagambie (about 50ks) where I rechecked. Still leaking and the bike's getting a self lube.
Cleaned it up again and repeated the same two more times. I did my best to wipe the oil from the tyre, but fruitless really. Melbourne in its wisdom greeted me home with a rain shower and slippery roads. Another BUGGER!!! I had to organise a way home that had no left hand corners. No mean feat as I still had about 35ks to go. Anyhow, home ok with less than 6 left turns, and with all that drama I didn't think of monkey butt once in the last 200kms! Just shy of 550 miles for the run home.
Rally was fun, we almost got a strafing from a low flyer, just above the tree tops. That was unexpected.
Great to catch up once again, and especially good to meet buzz, who rode his RS down from Brisvegas.
Lots of flat countryside and much of it bright with canola.
Steve, bummer about that leak. If it's not one thing it's another, eh?
Anyway, well done all. For getting there and getting home and having a good time in between.
Charlie
and Brunhilde - 1974 R90/6
Graduate, Wallace and Gromit School of Engineering and Design (Pending)
Airbear wrote:Steve, bummer about that leak. If it's not one thing it's another, eh?
Anyway, well done all. For getting there and getting home and having a good time in between.
Yeah, oh well, shit happens, but it keeps us engaged in the ride in a much more involved way . It's a good reminder to always eyeball the bike 360degrees at every stop. New switch $22 locally and in stock. It's going in shortly, followed by a good degrease and soap and water wash of the oiled up area, then the rear tyre gets washed carefully with residue free shellite to ensure the oil is gone.
Airbear wrote:Steve, I was wondering about the need to avoid left hand corners until I saw your post on BM Bikes.
The old self-deploying side stand trick, eh?
The side stand I had sorted by then. I just needed the centre stand to come up last, as it stops the ss from dropping. If the cs is up first, I suspect the bumpity bump of it might knock the ss into deployment. The cs has a chunk of metal welded on in replacement of the useless oem tang. That worked fine with the oem ss but not quite with this Surefoot ss.
Re: the left handers, I was more concerned about the oil on the tyre and the moist roads. The oil was spread to about an inch from midline and I didn't want it sliding out on me! I've just finished replacing the switch and cleaning the oil away from everywhere. The shellite does a great job of removing the last of the contaminant from the degreased tyre.
The engine oil was down to the MIN mark on the dip stick, so I'd lost a bit in the 200ks to home!
I was cruising up into the mountains when my oil pressure started to drop. I was about 70k's north of Tamworth when the shit hit the fan and the pressure dropped through the floor. Pulled over and made a call to wife and daughter, set up camp and started to figure out what to do. My daughter drove my ute down and was able to park the ute next to a drop in the road and push it onto the trayback. After riding the so responsive bike and then driving the ute, the ute felt like a barge!!! Had a slow ride home, now to unload the bike and find out what happened. I had a great ride down and really enjoyed catching up with the people I know and meeting new folks as well. I did ride out to the cairn with Bob and Peter. Rear taillight shattered on the shit road, lucky to have red led taillight fitted so I didn't get pulled over by the cops.
From the desk of the
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Australia 2480
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She'llbe wrote:I was cruising up into the mountains when my oil pressure started to drop. I was about 70k's north of Tamworth when the shit hit the fan and the pressure dropped through the floor. Pulled over and made a call to wife and daughter, set up camp and started to figure out what to do. My daughter drove my ute down and was able to park the ute next to a drop in the road and push it onto the trayback. After riding the so responsive bike and then driving the ute, the ute felt like a barge!!! Had a slow ride home, now to unload the bike and find out what happened. I had a great ride down and really enjoyed catching up with the people I know and meeting new folks as well. I did ride out to the cairn with Bob and Peter. Rear taillight shattered on the shit road, lucky to have red led taillight fitted so I didn't get pulled over by the cops.
Ah, shit. I hope the issue is a simple matter with no expensive consequences, She'llbe.
Charlie
and Brunhilde - 1974 R90/6
Graduate, Wallace and Gromit School of Engineering and Design (Pending)
. It's a good reminder to always eyeball the bike 360degrees at every stop. New switch $22 locally and in stock. It's going in shortly, followed by a good degrease and soap and water wash of the oiled up area, then the rear tyre gets washed carefully with residue free shellite to ensure the oil is gone.