And I needed a taste of gravel. Initially, I had visions of spraying gravel around on the T7 but I changed my mind on entering the shed and see a poor wee WR gathering dust.
The bike hadn't been fired up in a few months but as usual, you wouldn't have guessed that as it fired up when my finger got in the vicinity of the go button. Putting some air in the tyres and 15 bucks of super was all the bike needed to be ready for adventure.
The spanner in my ointment (I'm sure that's the correct metaphor) didn't rear its ugly head until I hauled on the anchors riding into a fairly corrugated corner on Pohangina Road and had the front end compress 3 or 4 times more than usual and the bike shorten up and want to head straight ahead instead of slowing gracefully before attacking the corner as usual. Hmmmm...I was starting to think that there was something slightly amiss.
Slowing up from the normal triple (at least) digit speeds, I trundled on until I came off the gravel just before the Coal Creek bridge.
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| Behold, that mightiest of mouses! |
Having had a tiny inkling of the potential problem, it didn't take me long to find my proof.
Bummer, and I was really enjoying the ride too!
I decided to carry on a bit further but shelved plans on an exploration of a road I'd noticed on Saturday.
The leaky fork seal definitely affected the handling on descents or anywhere where some brakes were required, and I started to get an idea of what riding a harley must feel like, although I'm sure it wasn't that bad, and the engine performance was still adequate...
In the end, I turned around once I hit seal again at the little one lane bridge on Makoura Road and made my way back home the same way (maximum gravel).
A great ride on the little bike and now I've got to revisit changing a fork seal. I must have done an ok job last time as it's the other one that's gone this time. We'll see how this one goes...
I see it’s good to use a Harley as a comparison. Finally a use for them.
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