Ferret and Gurth, how about an election by members for best contribution in various topics as a year end activity?

Just some suggestions for categories:

Best ride report
Best write up of accessories
Best how to report
Best picture

Others?

What can I say, I am in Peru for work, bored as not home riding, or with son, or Christmas shopping this Sunday morning when this idea struck.


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Day 23: Hobart-Melbourne

829 kms, only 379 kms on the bike

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I’m feeling a bit like the Angel of Death. While I’ve been in Hobart, another very old friend and former colleague has died. I should be going to the funeral, but I can’t do it and make the ferry.

Having loaded the bike, I went for one final coffee with my son before heading back to the east coast. I’d decided to retrace my steps; it was a better alternative than the highway and time and the weather militated against the alternatives. The Hobart-Orford Road offered its usual entertainment and, although I stopped briefly in Orford, I pressed on to Swansea before stopping for coffee.

Maria Island from Orford. There are some good anchorages there for the sailor.


Schouten Island and Freycinet Peninsular where there are more excellent anchorages.

The Lake Leake Rd, as promised, was better travelling east to west. I had it pretty much to myself and made the most of it. It was cool when I got to Campbell Town and stopped for lunch. I also bought a couple of bottles of what I hope will be excellent Tasmanian white wine to take home.

As I left Campbell Town, the weather looked foreboding and, sure enough, very soon after I turned off onto what my parents used to call ‘the back road’, I stopped to put on the wet weathers again. I needed them for all of about 10 minutes! I’ve always liked the back road. It runs through a remnant eucalypt forest, much of which has been cleared for farming land. It’s a fertile plain, nestling below an attractive mountain range.

The Great Western Tiers


On the back road north-west of Campbell Town


Mt Roland—not a particularly good photo, but I need one of a mountain!

Somewhere along this road I stopped and took the photograph that was to win me the SuperBrace.

The rest of the trip to Devonport was pretty, but uneventful. I was mostly able to stay off the main highway and, as I always do, enjoyed travelling through Tasmania.

As an added bonus I had the shared cabin to myself.
Day 24: Melbourne-Queanbeyan

729 kms

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This was to be a long day’s ride, so it figured something had to go wrong with my plan for a quick getaway from the ferry. Passengers are required to surrender gas bottles and other things that might go bang on boarding. When I was collecting my little camping gas bottle I realised that I didn’t have my expensive noise-cancelling headphones. I figured they must have fallen on the vehicle deck. Somewhat to my amazement, they were found and returned to me, but I had to wait nearly an hour to get them. Still, I was underway by 0800 or thereabouts.

I took the quickest route the GPS offered to get me east. It was flat, mostly freeway and boring. And, by the time I got to the tiny hamlet of Tinamba, I was thoroughly chilled. Cold just creeps up on me sometimes. Coffee and an excellent meat pie were suitably warming and I pushed on. At least the sun was shining.

While it was tempting to reride the Omeo Highway, or to take the Bonang Road, of which Pterodactyl speaks very highly, I really wanted to make it at least to Cooma. I had an arrangement to meet another old school mate in Canberra the following morning, Saturday, and didn’t want to have to ride too far to get there. I was also rearranging my original plan to get home. I had been aiming to arrive on about Tuesday or Wednesday the following week but, for various reasons, decided to try to push a bit harder and be home late on Monday or early Tuesday.

As I’ve said, although cool, it was a glorious day and getting warmer. At Orbost the road suddenly got both pretty and interesting. I was leading a line of traffic and could see another bike a few cars back. At some point we had to stop for some road works and he made his way forward through the traffic. A bloke and his daughter were riding a big Moto Guzzi. They had Victorian registration, so I let them go ahead, thinking to avail myself of some local knowledge. I’d been pretty careful as the Victorian police are legendarily enthusiastic about catching people speeding, but this bloke took off with gusto and I got caught up in the enthusiasm of it all. We had, shall I say, a spirited ride to Cann River where plenty of bikers were taking lunch.

It turned out the rider of the Guzzi had been deliberately holding himself in the traffic to control his urge to ride fast. When he found himself at the front, he couldn’t help himself. We had a good laugh about it. He told me that he, and many other bikers, were on their way to a major bike rally in the Snowy Mountains over the weekend. I don’t recall seeing many bikes between Cann River and Cooma, but I saw a lot in Cooma and, after that, a great many making their way south.



Leaving Cann River

It was surprisingly warm as I left Cann River, I put on lighter gloves and got out the camera. The road was pleasant enough and interesting early on, but not a patch on the Omeo Highway. Once it had climbed to the plateau, it was basically flat and fast. I was glad of that.





The high country.


Rally bound bikes in Cooma where I stopped for a cup of tea.


The back of the Swiss Motel where Jalalski, Pterodactyl and I had dried out after our [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4453&pid=66988]horrendously wet trip south from Sydney. This day couldn’t have been more different.

I was sorely tempted to stop in Cooma, but there was easily time to make it to Canberra, or nearby Queanbeyan. I figured the local pubs would be full of rally bound bikers and accommodation might be hard to find, so after a cup of tea and refuelling I pressed on, arriving in Queanbeyan in good time to find a very reasonably priced cabin to stay in. I arranged to meet my friend in the morning and walked to the Royal Hotel for refreshments, a meal, a conversation with my wife, who was still overseas but heading home, and Pterodactyl who, much to my delight, planned to come riding with me on Sunday.



North of Cooma. Bikes heading south for the rally.

Been looking and researching a new helmet, wanted to go with a modular style this time. Spent many a views on revzilla reviewing the different models and checking prices. Since I wanted to check fit and I wear glasses, down to the mc superstore 15 miles away. Tried on a bunch of helmets by different makes, and of course, my comfort zone was attracted to the more expensive ones. Walked out the door with a Shoei Neotech in white for $519....yowza. it was on sale discounted by 20% but still a lot compared to my Bell helmets. I am kinda looking forward to trying out this pinlock system it came with, I may venture out into the cold now on occasion. Didn't even have to sneak this one by the contessa, she was with me when I purchased it.

http://silodrome.com/new-brough-superior-ss100/

Ran across this while surfing. The new Brough Superior. Wow. What a beauty. And at $62k, a little out of my range.

For those who haven't had the chance, a trip to the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum is a very worthwhile visit. Like the Holocaust Museum in DC, it is by nature a sad and depressing place, but it offers an important story and a lasting legacy for every single one of the victims from that day.

For this forum, one of the museum's items was especially interesting.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qmPbN3][url=https://flic.kr/p/qmPbN3]FullSizeRender-2 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/92643384@N08/]Jim21680, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/ps75hQ][url=https://flic.kr/p/ps75hQ]FullSizeRender-1 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/92643384@N08/]Jim21680, on Flickr[url=https://flic.kr/p/q7wMFE][url=https://flic.kr/p/q7wMFE]FullSizeRender by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/92643384@N08/]Jim21680, on Flickr[url=https://flic.kr/p/qmPbKh][url=https://flic.kr/p/qmPbKh]IMG_1214 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/92643384@N08/]Jim21680, on Flickr

4 modifications to my otherwise stock CB1100:
[ul] [li]Yoshimura Exhaust System[/li] [li]Heat Demon Grip Warmers[/li] [li]Honda RLETs[/li] [li]G2 Throttle Tamer
[/li][/ul]
Noticeable improvement in performance, even during the short ride home. Thing is, since I did the Yosh and the RLETs at the same time, I can't be sure how much each contributed to the total increase in performance.

I wish they had bikes like this when I was my grandson age... he's 2. Already knows to cover the brake and clutch lol

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Did not want to leave the shop. Insisted his dad (my son) take this bike home for him (didn't happen though)

My son got his first at age 5 a 1986 Z50 Honda.

I didn't get my first (real bike) until age 15 .. 1965 M 50 Aermachhi HD.

Just finished a complete resto of my Z1 purchased new in 1973. It was nice to get back on and ride it but it's just not the same as I remembered it. I think I have been spoilt by my CB1100.
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First off... I've ridden my new bike now... It's exactly what I predicted it would be, feels good, should be reliable, easy to hop on and run around town...

However, it's a bit too neutral in stock form.. It's gixxerman/speedgeezers old bike.. It's got black side covers, black fenders (front & rear), but it's got the original bars back on it... I think it used to have lower bars, but no more. Past those cosmetics, it's stock, motor, exhaust, etc...

The first thing I want to change is the bars... The stock bars are just a bit too far back.. It requires a bit of effort to push it with the OEM bars... I'd like to be a bit further forward... Not clip on style bars, but I'd like to be a bit further forward. I'm 6ft tall with 33 inseam. I'd like to keep,the general upright position, but be a bit further forward...

I seen a number of posts about the samurider OEM japan bars, and cb500x (I think that was it) bars.. The samurider ones I'm considering for ease of installation (Id prefer black, I hate polishing). However, I haven't see pics of individuals on the bike, just the bikes themselves. I'd be looking for some opinions, or pics.. I don't want much, just enough to lean a bit more forward, to increase turning, but still keep the upright position.. The PO removed the old bars for more upright, and his low bars hit the tank at full lock, not something I'm aiming for

2nd item is the exhaust... I'd be looking for a slip on, that add just a bit of grunt.. The stock setup reminds me of a sewing machine.. I'm not looking to go too loud, just to make it more motorcycle sounding... Also, for those that have, if a power commander was used... At present, even tho it's not far away (90 mins), I'm not looking to flash my ecu up in PA... Something that is basically sedate at lower speeds, ie do live in a neighborhood, but sounds good above 35... Pretty much all my bikes over the years have had exhausts.. My vtr 1000 with erions could set my neighbors car alarm off if I blipped the throttle.. The yosh on my fz1 was outstanding, and I had/have the opportunity to get one from the previous owner, but it's a modern looking sportbike exhuast, which I think ruins the looks, even though they sound good on YouTube... I see some nice looking ones from samurider, but they are $ to get shipped... Looking for something classic..

Thoughs?

Well my Dunlops were getting a little down on tread and I didn't feel like riding on them thru the winter so today I rode over and had new Michelin Pilot Road 3's installed. Today was supposed to be the warmest day of the week but the weather terrorists got me again. 35 degrees when I took off, 33 degrees by the time I got home. 83 miles round trip ( would have been a little less but I took the long curvy way home lol ... just can't help myself. )

Mileage on stock Dunlops was 8,543 (they could have gone maybe another thou)

New front Pilot Road 3 110/80-18

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/PilotRoad3s011_zpsce252296.jpg.html]

New rear Pilot Road 3 160/60ZR18

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I know there were some questions about clearance on the 13's between the centerstands and the edge of the tire, so before they installed mine on the 14 DLX I called EmptySea for verification. He said at least Pterodactyl cut his centerstand brace for extra clearance and that maybe CIP had ground his, but ES just installed them and went with it as his mechanic said there was enough clearance

I can tell you on the 14 DLX there is plenty of clearance

Clearance left side

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/PilotRoad3s008_zps50ff930d.jpg.html]

Clearance right side

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/PilotRoad3s014_zpsdf395b60.jpg.html]

These are dual compound radials so maybe we will see a little more mileage out of them. I have always liked Michelin tires and run them on everything I own, cars, truck, motorcycles.

YMMV