This week I booked the bike in to have its 120,000Km Service on Monday, which apart from the usual oil & filter, is just a whole lot of inspections, but I did specify to do the air cleaner because that’s done about 23,000 and I also asked to have a look at the brake pads because the front set have done 77,000??? (this is only the 2nd set with the first set only managing 42,000Km) I suppose as I’ve got used to the ST and its lack of engine braking, I tend to brake a lot less and I am still more inclined to tap the rear going into a corner to scrub off a bit of speed when I find myself overcooking. Then on Thursday, I took the bike to work and happened to have a good look at the front tyre and shock horror, I found the bloody thing was almost bald through the centre on each side. I knew I’d need a new one before the GC, and at a quick glance, it looks fine with plenty of tread along the centre strip and out on the edges, but it has only lasted for 12,000Km, which is about 2,000Km less than my worst previous tyres. I had checked with Boyles a week or so back and found the Storms would not be in until the 3rd week of October (cutting it fine for the GC) but they had a Battlax 023 in stock. Oh well, I was never impressed with the OEM 021’s so now I’ll get to check the new breed from the Bridgestone stable. This didn’t stop me from getting the last drop from my Avon cup by going on today’s Uly ride, but it was only a short one to Gladstone...and I’d take it easy. The ride was a dual Road & gravel ride, with the dirt-trackers taking on the Admiral Range and the road riders doing something else. The weather was predicted to be crap today so I wasn’t that optimistic that we would be riding, I cleaned the bike yesterday, and got away from home at 0900 to fill at Caltex Kaiwharawhara, surprised to find the day was clear and calm. By 1000, there five of us, (it would have been interesting to see how many turned up at 1100 on the first day of daylight saving) and I trailed out at the rear, having decided the road riders would ride to the gravel on Hinekura Rd, then ride around to wait at the gravel on Admiral Rd. We had a quiet ride over the hill, regrouped in Featherston, then stopped again on the way out of Featherston as it turned out, Ken had been kissed by a bee. More sedate riding and another brief stop in Martinborough, then on on around the tablelands, but instead of taking the usual turn onto Martinborough-Masterton Rd, we took Hinekura Rd for 13Km until it turned to the Dark Side. This was the first time I had ridden the road and it was OK, but being an unmarked, single lane, it’s not the sort of road I include on my ride list. From here the two dirt-trackers continued on, whilst the three normals headed back, this time taking the Martinborough-Masterton Rd past Gladstone, then turned onto Admiral Rd and took that for 12Km to the end of the seal, where we waited and chatted for 5 or 10 minutes until the other two arrived. Once again, quite a nice road but generally too narrow to be considered. This was the 2nd time I had been up here. We finished the day with lunch at the Gladstone Tavern, then I was last to leave because I decided to put the wets on and was chatting to a ‘Capital Cruiser’ who turned up. The ride back was a mixed bag of rain and dry, so I had to be reasonably careful with my marginal front tyre. I ended up enjoying 268Km for the day at an average of 18.2Km/Ltr. The bike now has 119,884Km on it and is in for its 120K Service tomorrow.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Old Blog?
These blogs were posted on the KiwiBiker forum but I decided it was time for a change. Archives
January 2017
Categories
All
|