Finally, after 11,500km, the rear tyre on the Tiger was toast. The original (subject to a do not ride recall that I was unaware of until I got the bike serviced!) has lasted longer than any rear tyre that I've had in a long time. Maybe it was actually a good tyre (apart from that whole recall thing) or maybe it's the smoothness of the triple? Anyway, I was pretty happy but I'd already bought an Anakee Road to pair up with the front which I replaced at around 9k.
On with the job. The first step was to remove the rear wheel and to do this I needed to work out how to do it. I was looking at the rear end and thinking that I'd have to remove the hugger thingee but after closer examination this looked like a major job with one bolt completely inaccessible (removing the wheel would make it easy). So it was off to the interweb and the first video I stumbled on was gold.
So, back to the shed I went. And promptly discovered I needed a new 36mm, 12 point socket...Off to town I went. I then found out exactly how many tools I needed - a lot! It might not be the hardest job in the world but you certainly use a few of ya tools just to get a wheel off.
Missing is the hex tool for the RHS of the axle - and the actual tyre changing stuff...
Like I said, it was actually not that hard (although some of the bolts were insanely tight) and everything goes together really well - I quite like the way bracket for the brake caliper locks into that other triangular piece and of course being a shaftee, the wheel will sit there nicely while you line everything up properly before replacing the axle - nice!
Swapping the tyres was pretty easy too. One benefit of "road bike" tyres are that they don't have that massively stiff sidewall that the adventure tyres have and are a lot easier to both remove and fit.
The job probably took this amateur just under an hour (not counting my trip into town) and pretty painless. No to scrub that sucker in and see how long it takes to wear out...
This year Christmas was in the 'naki at my sisters. I drove up on Christmas Eve morning with the 450 in the back of the ute and stumbled straight into some major engineering works.
My nephew Alex is starting to outgrow his little CRF125 (which spends some of its time with the wheels on the ground), so Dad was working on one of the farm bikes to give him something with a bit more poke. A bit of weight has been taken off the bike and you can probably see the nifty little muffler Dad made up for it - it actually sounds ok, The seat may need a cover at some stage...
Then of course it needed a road test...
And then that afternoon (and on boxing day), I spent a bit of time chasing Alex around the farm. It was great at wearing me out as I was already a bit sore from the ride up in the Maungatuks and it was pretty darn warm. Some neat hills to blast around on though and I also got to see my niece have her very first go on the 125 - go Rosie!
The rest of the time was pretty much spent eating, roaming around the farm, eating, watching movies, eating, a bit more roaming, eating, a game of cricket and some more eating. It is a great spot though!
Hydrocarbons coming out of the ground - I love hydrocarbons!
See that dangling thing under the cows schnoz? It ain't no bell, these girls are connected! These magical devices can be used to move the cows around the farm (yes, I'm serious), keep them out of paddocks they shouldn't be in and obviously let Stu know where they are along with some info on the cows health. This means Stu's dog is now a pet...He's got this and some other pretty amazing tech that helps look after the cows and the farm - it's very cool.
Here's some of the girls busy making milk (and petrol for my bike) and in the second half of the video you can see the light show that Stu can dial up at night if he wants - or for Xmas...
And that is just about it of 2024 except to say that the bike needed plenty of waterblasting after its "work" on the farm!
With two weeks off over the Christmas break there was going to be some riding to be had. On the 23rd of December I ticked off the first one with a quick quad ride with Colin, Graeme, Geoff, Liam and a few others...
My memory for names is shocking but here's a nice blurry photo of someone on a massive 1,000cc quad
Driving down to Param I was a little worried when I hit some rain. Rain and Maungatuks means mega slipperiness on the clay and this can also mean faceplant!
In the end we even got a reasonable about of drizzly rain throughout the day but I managed to stay on and even cross a certain stream without incident - bonus!
Here's the first little uphill section where you'll notice some of the quad riding maniacs disappearing up a slippery, snotty little climb that would have killed me.
I stuck with the more sensible riders (Geoff and Liam mostly) but still managed to find some slippery stuff on one descent which made be lower the bike gently onto it's side when I ran out of room.
Geoff
Liam
We figured we'd be ahead of the other chaps as they were taking a more adventurous route but once we arrived at the orange hutt we decided to head along the track that the others would be coming along and instantly ran into them. Time for a breather at the hut then.
While we were there, some other guys (bikes on the right in above pic) arrived having entered the area from the Hutt side and they had some nice scary tales to tell us about one track they'd taken. This of course peaked certain people's interest and after our break we headed up the below track (nice and rough in a few places) before Geoff, Liam and I turned back down to let the others go play in the mud.
Trundling down the hill again, we rode off to explore a few other trails.
Heading back towards the cars, I got away from the other two (they even explored some other stuff I missed), I was first to hit "that crossing". This time around a got through pretty painlessly, parked up and sat under a tree out of the rain to await the other guys.
After a while they turned up and also had no trouble crossing the creek.
We then spent a bit of time waiting and listening for the sounds of the other guys coming. They ended up taking a while and came with stories of getting stuck trying to get under fallen trees and a certain green quad throwing its rider off a couple of times - he should know better!
After our second stop at the orange hut it was time to head out and I even managed to stay on coming off the clay again. Great little ride out just before heading away for Christmas!
Recently I've been fiddling with different (free) AI products - you will have noticed the different branding I've stuck on my pictures and videos.
Initial AI-generated image
Editing to give me no background so it looks nice overplayed on other images/videos
All the products have their differences but the key is always in giving the right prompt which can be tricky. As you can see from above, Tigger is not quite like the real Tigger (perhaps there's some copyright stuff built into the AI I used) and likewise the bike doesn't really resemble my Tiger. But, I like it!
Anyway, after watching a tutorial on LinkedIn the other day, I got introduced to some other AI products (mostly free trial or limited number of jobs you can run) and decided to try a couple of AI's that can produce music - after all, I wasn't that happy with the Youtube stuff the other day.
So here we go. Some snips of the same video but with new audio:
And of course, they can create lyrics and a vocal track...
It's been a while since one of my bikes has been in to a shop for a service but with the Tiger still under warranty I dropped it in to Courtesy Motorcycles in town last week for its second service (first service was done in the Hutt by TSS).
And I needed a ride to work...
Apparently both the usual loaners were out so Phil had to dig something out for me. Firstly he had to shift a full dresser Harley (careful of the oil Phil) which he suggested I'd look good on...I quickly put him right!
So he gave me this:
Yeah, it's a pretty little thing and it fired up just fine, warming up while I sorted out my gear.
Riding up the road, it took me a little while to get to used to its tiny size and low weight and I also was surprised that it needed to be prodded a bit to get moving - I think I was expecting a bit more from a 650 twin, having ridden a few from the land of the rising sun. I was kinda expecting a low revving, but reasonably torquey thing.
Heading across town in rush hour traffic, it was an easy little bike to ride but getting off the line needed about 3,500rpm and careful use of a clutch that seemed to only take up in the last little bit of travel. Changing up required another 1,000 revs or so to keep up with the cars - definitely not a pocket rocket but it did sound pretty sweet (lovely at idle and low revs).
Anyway, it got me to work just fine and a few of the guys thought it looked ok (so at least I was probably right about that) and then when I rode it back to the shop in the afternoon I actually found myself enjoying it...a little bit đŸ˜‰
After returning the keys I went to pay the bill and then got a bit of a surprise. Apparently there is a recall on the rear tyre for the Tiger and Triumph are wanting to give me a new one! I wish all manufacturers would give you new tyres when they're worn out...
Last Sunday I felt the need to listen to a T-plane triple and also wanted to try out some different settings on the new DJI camera. Initially I'd planned a bit longer ride over the Gentle Annie to finally finish off the rear tyre but with the weather being a little bit funny I decided on a shorter trip through to Pongaroa and then home. I also really enjoy the Makuri Gorge and thought it was worth videoing again...
Riding over the track there were a few spits and some damp roads and this pretty much continued all the way through to Pahiatua and the quarry just before the Makuri Gorge.
It was here that I turned the camera on. The result is whatever Youtube did to my original 50fps, 4K video. I also tried out the noise suppression on the camera at maximum, this was a big mistake as everytime the "noise" changed, it would take a while for the camera to sort it out and the result wasn't that great. Enter some crappy Youtube tracks...
At least you can see that the ride was fun!
In Pongaroa, I only stopped briefly to turn the camera off and grab another Fire Station pic.
Next up was the bumpy little stretch of Route 52 to Weber and then a left turn to take be back through towards Dannevirke. Lots of road works on the Weber Road.
Back on SH2, I got off it as soon as possible and took backroads towards Woodville before scooting over the Saddle and home in time for lunch. A nice little run and it looks like the last Tigger ride of the year.
I went for a ride yesterday, so I thought I should blog the one from a couple of weeks ago...
I was due to pop into the olds for Sunday dinner and with it being a decent sort of the day, I figured that there were some stones that needed flipping and a T7 in need of a little run.
I decided to make my way out Pohangina Road and through to Apiti before turning back onto Ridge Road for a bit until I found a likely looking road across toward Feilding.
Pohangina Road was its normal magic self with just a bit of more freshly spread gravel towards the Northern end. Ridge Road was more of the same, except there was the odd spit and with plenty of time on my hands, the opportunity for some pics.
Turning off onto Londons Ford Road (a little early), I was disappointed to be back on seal so soon and once I got home, disappointed to see that I rode right past Londons Ford and the reserve there. When I saw a sign pointing towards Bartletts Ford I didn't make the same mistake and turned off to go sight-seeing somewhere I'd never been before.
There was quite a nice little reserve at Bartletts Ford and there were some guys packing up their fishing gear and another carload of campers just leaving when I got there. They hadn't even met me yet...
Londons Ford Road spat me back out onto the Apiti Loop and after charging up the hill towards Kimbolton, I turned right instead of left to pick up some more gravel on Junction Road. I even stopped to turn on the camera to capture me wobbling along on some pretty fresh gravel...
Junction Road led to McBeth Road and at the end of that I made a blue and went left instead of right. Right would have got me onto some more gravel and allowed me to cross over to Beaconsfield before cruising into Feilding whereas my left turn got me back into Kimbolton and a sealed route to Cheltenham where it was past time for a cold coke and a piccy of the Fire Station for Advrider.
From Cheltenham, I avoided the long straight of Feilding by taking a roundabout route to the folks place. I may have missed the odd turn, but it was still a nice way to get to Feilding...
Seeing that it is December, it's probably past time to write-up the last ride of November...
Way back last month I loaded the RMX onto the ute and joined Colin, Graeme, Geoff and Geoff's son Liam on a quad ride in the Maungatuks. And it went fairly well with just a few little hiccups.
Number one hiccup was the battery on the RMX. It's a wee lithium jobbie which lately hasn't been living up to their normally good reputation for holding a charge. Last time I rode it the bike needed to be kick started for the first start of the day but then quickly came back to life for the subsequent starts.
Loading the bike up (I idle it up my ramps, walking beside it to load) definitely required a kick and then so did the initial start in the carpark which wasn't unexpected. Unfortunately, I also need to kick it all day which did present some issues later in the ride...
Leaving the carpark we started our way up the hill and it was a little exciting in places as they'd had some recent rain, and the clay down there is of the slippery when wet variety. This is where the application of torque must be undertaken a wee bit carefully.
At our first stop the gang split into two with Colin and Graeme wanting to do some more tricky stuff (stuff I've done before on the 450 but didn't really want to given that recent rain) while I joined Geoff and Liam on a more "scenic" route. Along the way we stopped so that Liam could have a bit of a blast around and we could check out the views.
Once Geoff managed to get the quad back we carried on dropping down the hill before entering the pine forest to splash our way closer to the Orange Hut. I led but actually took it pretty quietly as there were a few slippery bits on the decent. I even managed a styley stall just before a large puddle along the way...
I also took the opportunity for a quick cool off...
We ended up beating the other two to the hut, there were some excuses like "big puddle", "winching" and "upside down" but we still haven't seen any pictures...
After a munch and a bit of rest we carried on up the road with a 450 breathing down Colins neck and the odd bit of excitement along the way.
Next up came this bit:
Yeah, come to think about it again, I hate this bit!
Yeah, I hate it.
This crossing is reasonably long and happens to contain some reasonably large, slippery rocks. I often take a couple of bites at it but this time I started off reasonably confident - and then I stalled the bike. And had to kick it over in the river.
I then ended up a bit too far left in some deeper water and the front hit a decent rock. Normally I'd just put my foot on the bottom and hold the bike up but you can't do this when your foot goes out from under you on a slippery rock. What happens next sucks!
Pushing the bike out of the river sucks too! My boots were full of water and the bike weighs about five tonnes when being pushed over slippery rocks. Basically, it sucked.
Graeme not getting wet feet supervising...
Geoff not getting wet feet either...
Yeah, thanks Geoff...
Next up was seeing how much trouble I was in. We started with removing the air filter and mopping out the airbox (it can hold at least a cupful of water) and then we tipped her to see if any water had got up the exhaust. We then quietly operated the kick starter to turn the motor over. Luckily, it turned over (slowly does it) nicely with no evidence of hydrolock. But would she go?
After kicking it over too many times, I discovered that kicking didn't work. In another piece of luck, Graeme had some jumper leads (I like Graeme) so after removing the seat, we hooked these up and the bike fired up pretty quickly and sounded ok - phew!
With that excitement behind me (and only a dead battery to deal with occasionally), it was back into some great riding on the awesome trails (see super-long video at the end) and no more over-excitement.
So, perhaps a bit more eventful than I'd planned but everyone got home safe with smiles on their faces, and there's a new battery waiting to go in the yellow bike...
And now for that video, but first some comments on the DJI Osmo Action 5 after its first decent day out:
It went every time I pushed the go buttons and stopped every time I tried to stop it - unlike my GoPro
I could even hear it starting/stopping with helmet on and RMX making a ruckus
I only recorded at 1080p but got at least 1 hour, 20 minutes of video with 58% battery life remaining
The sound recording is pretty good - I am going to play with the noise suppression setting when I try it out on one of the "quicker" bikes. Will be great if it can catch bike noise without all the wind noise.
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