Hello everyone,
I am trying to find a set of the asahi panniers that are no longer supplied by samurider and was wondering if anyone knows of another supplier or an online marketplace I might find a second hand set.
Any assistance would be gratefully welcomed.
Thank you.

Prologue

In which Cormanus receives an offer and hatches a plan
A motorcycle forum may not be the best place to confess that sailing rates ahead of motorcycling on my list of favourite pastimes. But, it does. Anyway, if I did it on a sailing forum, it would hardly be a confession. Would it?

The Offer
During the course of 2019, my brother invited me to go sailing in Tasmania. Acceptance was a no-brainer. Particularly given he was interested in sailing to Deal Island located in Bass Strait, the stretch of water between northern Tasmania and mainland Australia famous for its tides and frequently rough seas. It is also home to the tallest lighthouse in the southern hemisphere. Because my brother lives in the south of the state, we would have to sail almost the length of Tasmania’s beautiful east coast to reach our destination. “Count me in,” I said.

Then it occurred to me that I could ride there. Riding and sailing and then riding. All in one trip. And, if I was lucky, seeing some mates. What could be better?

The Plan
I sent an email to Pterodactyl, noroomtomove and Aussieflyer letting them know I’d be passing by in January and inviting them to join me. I was a bit surprised that they were all up for bits of it. There was even a possibility we might get 4 CB1100s in one place again, albeit briefly.

To my shame, I forgot to let Tezza know. Sorry, mate. I did recall late in the piece, but by then he had other plans.


Chapter 1

In which Cormanus comes to understand that no plan survives the first engagement with the enemy
My late father was fond of telling me that the great German general, von Moltke the elder, once said, ‘Of the three choices available to the enemy he always takes the fourth’. While I’ve never been able to find the quote, Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke certainly wrote ‘No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force’. Which is kind of the same thing, I guess.

Plans were made. Noroomtomove planned to ride into New South Wales and meet Pterodactyl and me at Dungog. Three would ride together to Boorowa and meet Aussieflyer. We would eat, drink and be merry and four would go riding for a day or two in the Snowy Mountains. We might also do more eating, drinking and merry making; who’d know? After all that, Pterodactyl would head north to Sydney and noroomtomove and Aussieflyer would escort me through Victoria and on to the ferry to Tasmania.

Then Australia caught fire. Queensland and northern New South Wales burned first. Then the fires moved south. The Snowy Mountains were out of bounds and there was a daily risk that planned routes would be impassable due to fire, smoke or the need to keep well out of the way of people fighting the fires or providing relief. Additionally, temperatures threatened to rise to the point where riding would be miserable. And that was without the smoke.

I looked seriously at abandoning the ride and catching a plane, but the financial penalties of cancelling my ferry booking made it prohibitive. I’d have to ride.

Noroomtomove dropped out. The fires were racing across Gippsland in Victoria in the general direction of his house. They didn’t get there. Pterodactyl and Aussieflyer were still in but were watchful and reserved the right to abandon the plan if circumstances changed.

At the last minute, I decided to leave a day later to avoid having to ride through much of New South Wales in temperatures above 40ºC. Pterodactyl kindly agreed to delay his departure by a day. Aussieflyer remained watchful, and hopeful.


Chapter 2

In which Cormanus gets under way a little early after all
As is customary in these chronicles, there are complete maps of the journey. The outward bound map can be found [url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qE9y4nn7sVhTLD-zkZfgY1MDvoZwxEMb&usp=sharing]here. As usual, you can zoom in and out and view individual days using the legend on the map and toggling layers on and off.

[url=https://postimages.org/]

Unusually, I was not altogether looking forward to the ride. The prospect of heat, looking at the consequences of a long drought; fires forcing me to miss roads I love to ride, all the while wondering how much damage was being done to them; and the distinct possibility of having to make lengthy detours to avoid fire, left me feeling decidedly ambivalent about my decision.

I planned to leave first thing on Sunday 5 January; but, in the end I decided to leave after lunch on Saturday 4th as the worst of the day’s heat was focussed on southern New South Wales and Victoria and I'd planned a long first day. Removing my visor to clean it, I broke it. I know I’m clumsy, but the design is poor. I tracked one down at a dealer north of home—in the opposite direction to my intended route. It wasn’t too far so I loaded the bike and left in time to get to the dealer to pick up the visor before it closed. I made it. Just.

Then I headed out into a hot Saturday afternoon and made my way to Kyogle via the Lions Road.

I’ve reported on it often in the past and so won’t repeat myself now. It was hot, the detour for the visor took me longer than I anticipated and by the time I started along the Lions Road I had my fingers crossed I’d make it to the other end before skippy and family came out to play. I did and all was well.

The Exchange Hotel in Kyogle had a room, beer and a meal and I passed a pleasant enough evening. Australian country pubs were often built of brick or stone in the days before air conditioning. The accommodation is upstairs and a heat trap. The economics of retrofitting air conditioning don't stack up. The Exchange in Kyogle, while agreeably renovated, is such a pub. It was a hot night and I didn't sleep wonderfully well.

I am considering getting a protective cover for the oil radiator. Not absolutely needed, but you never know. Something [url=https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Radiator-Grille-Cover-Guard-Protector-For-Honda-CB1100-2013-2018-2017-2016-2014/113827627232?hash=item1a80a7c0e0:g:im4AAOSwo-ldNgex&vxp=mtr]like this.
Has anyone on the forum tried this out?

Apart from looks and obvious protective value, I am not sure to what extend this cover will perhaps block cool air reaching the radiator. Or is this negligible? Or perhaps this is a good thing if one rides often in cooler temperatures?

Curious to find out what you think.

Last night it snowed really hard. Woke up to about an inch on the porch, grass etc, but the sidewalk and driveway was clear. It was supposed to get into the high 30's today so I know the roads would be good. About 1:15 I suited up and took a 93 mile round trip ride up St Rt 52, the Ohio River Scenic Byway, along the Ohio River (duh) to a little town called Aberdeen and back. Got up to about 37 degrees, the sun was out and shining brightly, it was simply a beautiful day for a ride on the 29th day of February

(click on any photo to enlarge)

Nice stretch of road, bright sun, blue skies and what appears to be puffy white clouds



only the clouds were man made lol



Speed limit plus 5 is not fast enough for some people lol



the side with the little house is Ohio..the other side of the river is Kentucky. Hard to believe one fought for the North and one fought for the south during the Civil War. We still think people that live on the other side of the river have an accent



The large Sycamore tree in the middle of the picture has a Bald Eagle's nest in it. Sometimes we see the pair nesting there, or flying nearby hunting. I didn't see them today but I did have a River Otter cross the road in front of me. First time I have ever seen one in the wild.



Competition is good, but this is a little ridiculous.. in the little town of Ripley two Dollar Stores right next to each other. Every dollar means a lot to these people in one of the poorer counties in Ohio, unfortunately the local gas station was 24 cents higher a gallon than the one 20 miles further west on the road, which was 17 cents more expensive than the one ten miles to the north. $2.49 a gallon in Ripley, $ 2.25 a gallon in Moscow, $2.08 a gallon in Amelia.

Ok, so did a search, and didn't come up with any threads addressing tank interchange between submodels and years.

I have a 2014 standard. And want a bigger tank. And prefer the tank off the 2017.

Straight bolt on?

I'm not looking for opinions as to why, or opinions on costs. I'm just looking for the straight, nuts and bolts answer.

I just watched race 1 of the 2020 SBK on you tube in Australia.
GREAT race , hopefully the whole season will be like this.

Want to redo my "engine side covers" which are polished and clear coated. The clear coat is starting to peal. Do you folks have High Temp Clear Coat recommendation? Looked around forums and internet, but no one had a specific brand they used (or spray can vs bulk for spray unit).

this brewery....i guess it will be very cheap........
......
https://twitter.com/LittleRedof81/status...2759116800

Over the years I have frequently used magnetic drain bolts in my vehicles. This was particularly true back in the day for my motorcycles, as the oil filtering systems were not nearly as good back then as they are today. There are differing schools of thought as to whether or not magnetic drain bolts are effective, but I tend to view them as an inexpensive extra layer of protection for my engines.

When I bought my CB1100EX, I asked the dealer if Honda offered a magnetic drain bolt for it, and of course the answer was "no". Consequently the parts guy consulted an aftermarket catalog, and ordered me a drain bolt. The drain bolt size for our CBs is 14mm - 1.5 x 16. Anyway, the aftermarket drain bolt made in Taiwan, came in and I paid around $10 for it. The first oil change came later, and I went to install the drain bolt after removing the stock drain bolt and draining the oil. As I started to screw the new magnetic drain bolt in by hand, I felt it bind, and immediately removed it ( yes I had cleaned the pan threads first ). My thread gauge showed 1.5 thread, but aparantly the thread was just slightly off. I was not going to risk damaging the thread in the oil pan, and it was long past being able to get a refund, so the Taiwan bolt was pitched in the trash. If I had a 14mm - 1.5 die I would have tried running the bolt through it, but my largest die was 12mm - 1.5.

I started doing some research on magnetic drain bolts after that episode. I found that most of what is available out there is made in China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong. Nope not going there again. I also found that many of the aftermarket bolts are made of aluminum. No thanks there also. I did find a couple of premium magnetic bolts though, Dimple, and Gold Plug. Dimple touted very strong magnets, but I did find a couple of drawbacks, a price of $35 plus shipping, and some reviews that indicated breakage due to thin bolt side walls, the result of accommodating large O.D. magnets.

What I ended up going with is Gold Plug, https://goldplug.com/ . The model for our CBs is MP02. The bolts are machined from stainless steel, cost $18.95 plus economy shipping, and include a new aluminum crush washer. The hex head takes a 17mm wrench, and the magnet is strong. I was/am so impressed with this company and the quality of their drain bolt, I bought one for my Monkey Z125, and both of our cars. The bolts are machined by Gold Plug, in Montana. Anyone that likes old school magnetic drain bolts, and the corrosion resistance of stainless, will like Gold Plug. [attachment=10860]

bcos ice snowrain last night....no no this makes no mood for....