Get Farkled!!...It has a sort of ring to it that might shock or perturb some non-bikers, but I'm pretty sure most bikers would know what one was on about....although even then, I've yet to hear a the exact definition and origin of the word. Some would say it stands for Functional-Sparkle, while others insist it stands for Functional-Accessory-Really-Kool-&-Likely-Expensive? Having just bought my new bike, it came with three farkles, namely: a Rider Seat (Sculpted modified seat), Datona Heated Handle-grips, and a Radguard (protective radiator screen). I also have some farkles from my last bike, which came to an unceremonious end, some which were fitted at the time and some that were not, namely: Top Box with spoiler/Hi-Stop light Garmin Zumo 660 GPS Pannier Bag Liners (which were all fitted at the time of the accident) Top Box Bag Liner Tank Bag Footpeg Extensions (to lower and bring the footpegs slightly forward) Smokey Front Indicators. These items came with the bike and were never fitted or used anyway. Anyway, once I had purchased the latest bike, I went straight online to order some more bits that I had liked from the last one and this weekend was spent tidying up and fitting these. As soon as the bike arrived it went to Rayzsignz for the application of yellow reflective pinstriping as well as scuff stuff up the front of the farings, along the top of the panniers, down the back of the farings and on the metal around the footpegs where the boots tend to rub. I had fitted the Headlight Armour and swapped Top Boxes as soon as I got the bike, but this week I acquired some waterproof, mini-spade plugs and sockets so I was able to tidy-up the gash connection I had organised last week. The same went for the GPS, I had fitted it last week, but just tidied up the routing of the cables around the tank to achieve a little more length to the Cigarette-Lighter Socket secured under the seat. The big job for this weekend though was installation of the 6” Amber Led strip lights on the side of the bike, above the heads. This is big because it requires removal of the farings so as part of the preparation, I did a bit of trolling online for info and tips. The farings came off OK but when I located the Spare Power Socket, it had obviously been sitting in moisture, one of the wires fell off and another three of the six spades were corroded so I removed them from the socket then spliced on new wires and waterproof sockets for each side of the bike. I stuck the light strips to the farings via cushioned doublesided tape, rather than the screws that came with them as that pointed the LED's outwards as well as leaving more room between them and the heads.....all good so far!! Then it came time to refit the farings. Bloody Hell....anyone would have thought that Gremlin was helping!!?? The left side had a couple of strips that were obviously there to clamp or support a large connector, but I just couldn't get it to fit right, so I applied a little pressure and got everything to go back in place....but I didn't really feel comfortable about it so I went back online. Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed so I went back in and found that some dickhead had put a tiewrap around the wires at the base of the connector...bastards! This had prevented the connector from slotting into the brackets and now I was happy....and even better, it only took an hour to remove, fix and re-attach the left side....and it all worked....so I felt a ride was in order! I kitted up and hit the road for my first real jaunt on the bike, heading out of the bright sunshine for the gloomy and gusty Hill. It felt great to be back in the saddle...albeit somewhat different sculpted saddle and I was soon in Featherston and heading toward Martinborough when I reached the drizzle, so turned back to SH2 along Camp Rd and back over the Hill. There was heaps of traffic to slide past and by the time I was coming back past Kaitoke, I had done 90Km.... and my butt was starting to object! Damn!...I've got to do 1,000Km in three weeks time!! That's going to be fun!? ….so I stopped at Steve's for a coffee and whinged about conditioning and lack of it.
There's only two more farkles to fit now. I already have Tip-Over Bars which I'll put on when I'm doing slow stuff because they make it easier to pick the bike up if I have to step off...and I'/m still waiting for the Stebel Nautilus horn.....but that's another story....(Aussy Pricks) All in all it was quite a rewarding Farkling Good Weekend!
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These blogs were posted on the KiwiBiker forum but I decided it was time for a change. Archives
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