Happy holiday to all of you CB riders. Have a safe one.

So I mentioned way back when I made my first post in the New Members section that I was looking forward to taking my CB out on some across Australia trips, this is one of them.
I'm originally from Tasmania but I've been living in Perth, WA for almost four years now and found myself getting stuck in a rut. When I was a kid I always wanted to live in Melbourne for a period of time and I figured that if I didn't do it soon I probably never would.
This is the route that I took, showing the places where I pulled over to rest my weary head.
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af17...rhurry.jpg
Before leaving WA I wanted to check out a small town called Denmark. It used to be a bit of a hippy commune and there are still shops selling "healing crystals" and other assorted gibberish, the place has a really nice vibe and quite a lot of stunning scenery.
These photos don't do justice to the beauty of Wilson Inlet, those cliffs are truly impressive and it's quite a juxtaposition to see the waves from the Southern Ocean breaking on the beach just in front of the perfectly calm inlet and sleepy little town just beyond.
I stayed at the pub in Denmark for two nights, unlike a lot of WA there are good riding roads around Denmark and I saw two large motorcycle groups come through (I was there for Saturday/Sunday), one a group of sports-bikes the other some 1%ers.
I left early on the Monday morning heading East.
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af17...164143.jpg
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af17...165137.jpg
I made good headway on the Monday, this was the first sign I saw with a distance to the next capital city from Perth.
I pulled up at a dirt car park just outside a town called Norseman, the starting point for "crossing the Nullarbor" if you're heading West to East. I slept in what we call a swag which is basically a small one-man, canvas tent that rolls up, it's what you can see on my luggage rack.
You can see in the second pic a hill, once I had pitched my swag I climbed to the top and watched the sunset, which was lovely. However it wasn't as nice climbing back down using the torch app on my phone to guide me, I came *this* close to walking face-first into a spider waiting in it's web.
I cuss hate spiders.
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af17...163118.jpg
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af17...062755.jpg

G'day all. This week I took a short ride from Sydney to Fingal Bay, about 580kms (360miles) return. I have family at Fingal and I do this ride regularly. Thought I would share this one.
Fingal Bay lies to the north of Sydney, on the southern and most eastern shore of Port Stephens. Fingal is a small community that relies heavily on the holiday and tourist trade. It is a paradise for fisherman, surfers, whale and dolphin watchers, and those wanting a quiet beachside holiday. Retirees form a large part of the permanent population. The Port Stephens Game Fishing Club runs an internationally recognised marlin fishing tournament on an annual basis. The main marina for game boats is at Nelson Bay, inside Port Stepens and just a few kilometres from Fingal. For those interested a Google map is linked here:
[url=http://goo.gl/maps/Cr5pZ]Sydney to Fingal Bay - Ride Map

The ride itself can be good or bad news, depending on the route chosen. Quick and easy is straight up the main highway. There are other more attractive alternatives and I took the one illustrated in the above link. Briefly, out of Sydney to the north and on to the Old Pacific Highway to the Road Warriors Café for breakfast and then to Peats Ridge and the Wollombi Rd to, naturally enough, Wollombi. The road itself quickly puts you into the bush where there are few people and mobile phone reception is, at best, patchy. Wollombi Rd has only been paved for a few years and it is rumoured that the locals, as few of them as there are, resisted the development of the road. It is a two lane (one each way) road with centreline and some passing lanes. The surface is variable. A great ride, fast sweepers and twisties to suit all tastes. An interesting feature of this road is Lemming Corner. This corner has achieved legendary status among bikers, police, ambulance services and grieving families. In Australia, it is one of the few country road corners that are named. Prior to Lemming there are some fast corners that get the blood flowing and lead those with more ambition than ability into trouble as they pitch into the 45kph advisory turn that quickly decreases in radius to a 25kph advisory with a distinctly unfavourable camber. If you run wide then its either into the ARMCO or over it into the gully below. The shoulder of the road is gravel so the result is often out of the rider's hands. The outside of the turn against the ARMCO is littered with clutch and brake levers, bits of fairings and a fair bit of DNA. It is rumoured that in the gully whole chassis lie there slowly and sadly rotting.

Lemming Corner
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Anyway, with the blood still flowing hot it is into the Wollombi tavern for lunch and refreshment. Very biker friendly. On any given day with the weather half decent the outside of the tavern looks like a used bike lot.

Wollombi Tavern
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After lunch it is through the Hunter Valley wine district and around the steel and coal city of Newcastle to Fingal. I'll leave you to the photographs. They speak for themselves.
Fingal Bay - Inside
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Fingal Bay - Outside
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The Staintune didn't make them even blink
[URL=http://s847.photobucket.com/user/tonys_mail/media/Fingal/IMG_0390_zpscce1d224.jpg.html]

Cheers

The spec for regular black '14 Honda is 540 lbs wet, but 570 lbs for dlx (deluxe or ES) model. I wonder why so much weight for an extra exhaust?

I am considering trading my '13 for the deluxe model later this year, and can't find any dealer around here to carry it and would like to test ride before switching.

Many reviewers of the DLX say the bike is more stable on highway and handle better, can Ferret confirm this?

The silver engine and 6th speed are what i am after for an extra $5.5K, but my current CB is in excellent condition, I wonder whether I am abusing my wallet. If closing my eyes, they feel the same, will extra cost worthy my wet dream?

I feel like I'm getting a bit of clutch drag when the bike is warm, most noticeable between first and second. My clutch engages very close to the handlebar and I would like to move it out to the center of the lever movement but I don't know where the adjustment screw is. There seems only to be the large adjustment point down by the transmission. HAAAAAALP!

Thanks
Randall

For those of you running synthetic oil in your CB... How many miles did your bike have on it when you made the switch? Thank you.

Like many of you - especially those in my age range - I've had a lot of bikes over the years. Some were small in size and displacement, some were large brutes, some were amazingly fast, some were incredible handlers, some were technological wonders, some I bought just because I liked the way they looked, and some just happened to be all I could afford at the time...but I don't think I've ever owned another bike as achingly beautiful as this CB.
The overall design, the beauty of that paint, the quality of the finish of, well, everything. It's. Just. Gorgeous.
I often find myself just staring at it, drinking in its lines, the lustre, the contrast of the paint or fender and the rougher engine metal, the complementary effect of the stainless steel and chrome against the black details and red bodywork...well, maybe I'm getting a bit overly dramatic here, but you get the idea.
And based on the glowing posts I've read here, I'm betting that I'm not the only one that feels this way...

Not the best pic, but good enough to keep me company when I'm at the office :
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2014-7-2005_zps5b215167.jpg.html]

WILL THE HONDA OEM CASE GUARDS FOR THE 2014 MODEL FIT ON THE 2013 MODEL?

looking for someone around santa fe or taos nm looking for some fun rides around that area coming from Wichita to spend some time there around labor day and bringing my cb1100 -13 have never been to the area and want to see the beauty of it

Here's a fun way to be more visible at night (only available today)
http://sport.woot.com/?ref=gh_sp_6