I hate this one

Actually, I didn't hate it too much.

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.

GPS woes

Ok, so the poor old Zumo has been having a few issues of late and I now fear that she is fading fast and may have to be retired 😢

While the route worked fine on Saturday there were a few other interesting issues:

• Continually telling me how far to the next turn - on occasion interrupting songs 4-5 times!  It seemed to get worse the further into the ride I got so I ended up turning the Bluetooth off on the GPS.
• Telling me that I was off route and suggesting recalculation even though I was bang on the purple line all the time.  This also seemed to get a little worse later on in the ride.
• Not telling of upcoming turns.  Kinda funny considering issue #1.  Caused one episode of sudden braking and quick turn.
• As I neared home I cancelled the route (which would just take me into town) and just said take me home.  Unit locked up for a while before waking up.

Yeah, but other than that all good...

So, I'm currently shopping...Looking at either the Zumo 595 or 396.  Only interested in Garmins as that's what I know and Mapsource/Basecamp are pretty easy to use.  Also, I think both will be capable of driving my Virb too.

There's a $400 difference but from what I see you don't really get a lot more except a slightly bigger but higher rez display.  I'll need to buy an extra cradle so I can use it on both bikes so that's even more $ so the 396 is probably looking more likely at the moment.  Also concerned that the slightly wider 595 might struggle to fit where the current 550 is on the Connie.

But, if anyone's got any opinions - I'm all ears!

Splash

Can you see where I went wrong?

Trying to keep the air in

As mentioned in my last blog, I came home from the Moto-X on Sunday to discover that the poor Connie was sitting on a flat tyre.  Tonight it was time to take a look at it and decide how I was going to get the bike or the wheel into the bike shop for some new rubber that is sitting there waiting for me.

I decided that I would see how bad the leak/puncture was by blowing the tyre up.  Then I could decide whether to just wait and pump the tyre up before I took into the shop or learn how to remove the rear (I still haven't done this in 6 years of ownership).  Ideally I wanted to get the bike into the shop as both tyres need replacing and I didn't really want to have to make two trips to get the job done.

My first issue was getting the bike into a position where I could put her on the main stand.  But man was the tyre flat!  It was so flat the bike could nearly stand up by itself.  It was so flat I struggled to move it.  It was so flat I couldn't lift the bike onto the main stand.  It was so flat...

In the end I actually had to put some air into the tyre before I could move the bike and get it on the main stand.  Then I could start looking and listening for the leak.  With a bit of air in the tyre I spun it around and immediately spotted the culprit.

If you look closely you may see a little shiny something inside the hole.  I still don't know what it was (perhaps a nail, maybe a stone) as I could not pull it out and it ended up inside the tyre.  So, I decided that I would try and fix the puncture rather than either of my two previous plans - at least it would be good practice in case I was unlucky enough to get another puncture out on the road.

After first running the awl through the hole (to make it easier to get the plug in) it was time to push the plug in.  This was pretty tricky as the tyre had gone flat again so I poked it in a little and then pumped more air into the tyre.  It was then easier to get the plug right through the tyre.

A quick twist and then I removed the insertion tool.

Followed by a little trim of the excess sticking out.

Then it was time to see how well the plug was sealing.  I pumped the tyre up and grabbed some soapy water to check for leaks.

How's that for a surprise?  The plug is sealing perfectly but there are two other tiny leaks just in that portion of the tyre!  I decided against checking the rest of the tyre...

Tomorrow morning I'll check the pressure and hopefully be able to ride it into the shop for two brand new PR2's...well, that's the plan...

Gremlins

A few weeks ago the DL needed a warrant and I was down at the testing station first thing in the morning to beat the rush.  The bike passed everything until I went to hit the horn.  Instead of deafening everyone in the building I got nothing and all the lights and gauges died on the bike...

Not good!  And so started the investigation.  The WOF guy was not much use to me and after pressing the horn button himself a few times (and probably damaging it - see further down) left me to it.

As everything was dead I naturally assumed it was a fuse - but which one, and where was it hiding?  I figured it must be the main fuse as I had no ignition but the first fuse box I looked in just had accessory type fuses in it.  Where was the main?  Time for some googling on my phone...

Thar she blows!

As you can see from the pic above it was right in front of me.  I quickly had the cover off and discovered the spare fuse was also located in there too.

New fuse in, I flicked on the key and was back in action again.  That is, until I hit the horn - oops there goes another fuse.  With no spares left I wandered across the road to a garage and bought another one (actually a packet of them but only one 30 amp).

As I replaced the fuse I decided I would not touch the horn again, just ride home, sort out whatever was going wrong and then come back to finish off the warrant.  This time when I turned the key on the horn instantly came on!  I quickly turned the key off, got my warrant so I was legal again, disconnected the horn (back to illegal again I guess) and got myself home for further diagnosis.

The first thing I noticed when I got home was that the horn button looked like it was pushed in - it was almost flush with the switch block.

Well, that gave me a starting point...

Not really sure if I want to be pulling this apart...

Sure enough the spring under the horn button had been crushed so the horn was button was not returning after being pushed.

I managed to fix up the spring (I will need a new one at some stage) and then get everything back together properly.  I then hooked the horn back up to the battery again and turned the key on.

No blaring horn so that was a good start, now to press the horn button - click, click...Not good.  So there was something else wrong somewhere - the relay seemed to be clicking....hmmmm.  I know let's just ignore it for a few weeks....

Fast forward to today and I started pulling things apart so I could check wiring and plugs etc.  When I pulled the little front, lower cowling off the front of the bike so I could get at the Stebel a whole lot of little stones fell out but the wires to the horn looked good.

All the other connections and wiring looked ok - what now?  I know, let's try the horn - Baaarrrrrrrrppppppp!  Great, the horn works, but why?

So now I have a working horn but do I still have some mysterious gremlin lurking in the wiring, waiting for me to be way out the back of beyond so that it can ruin my day?  Who knows - I hope not, watch this space...

Some prep

I'm counting down to the start of the TT2000 so on Saturday it was time to do a bit of basic maintenance on the Connie.

Unfortunately before I started I was in for a shock.  As I started to wheel the bike out of the shed I noticed that the Connie felt even heavier than usual- a sure sign of something amiss.  This time it was the front tyre - doh!  As it's the front I'm not going to muck around getting it repaired, the bike shop has a couple of PR2's put aside for me so they will be going on earlier than I had planned - the old one's would have lasted the trip.  A bit of a bummer but...

Next up was a quick bath and then I rode it into the shed to drop the oil out of her.  Once the engine and final drive oil was changed I gave her a quick polish and then it was time to farkle...

Nothing that interesting this time - I noticed some different leds in a shop a while ago and thought that I'd try them for size.  The pic below shows the previous leds and the one on the right the new ones.

It is hard to tell from the picture (the new one appears bluer than the old when it is actually whiter) but the new leds are a bit brighter.  Not really sure if they're going catch anyone's eye better (if you can't see a Connie with +100 bulbs coming then you shouldn't be driving) but I guess I just like farkling...

So now I've just got to get the rubber fitted, get through a few more days of work and then we're off!

Hunting Season

Yes, with the recent arrival of some better weather there has been a little action on the tag hunting front.  After a massive 195 days my old tag finally got nabbed.

World's hardest to find tag

Pegasus was the successful hunter and here's her new tag:

I knew where it was straight away so thought that a quick pootle after work was in order.

And then I turned around to head back to where I'd noticed something pretty cool for the next tag:

I then headed home pronto to do some uploading only to discover this on the tagorama thread:

Foiled!

But much worse than this I also found this:

So no tag hunting on the DL for a little while!

But I bet even my favourite international readers know where the tag is currently...

Bummer!

This morning I went out to the shed to get the DL out for the ride to work and made  a disappointing discovery.  The bike was difficult to wheel around so straight away I new that I'd picked up a puncture somewhere - perhaps some of those sharp rocks on the tracks up to the dams.

After I got home tonight I had a quick look at the tyre and besides a few nicks here and there I couldn't seem to find the cause of the puncture.  So I fired up the compressor and blew the tyre up to about 60 psi.  After turning the compressor and the radio off I could hear a pretty good hiss from the tyre...

So five minutes later the shed looked like this:

And I was then able to give the wheel a decent scrub before throwing it in the car for tomorrow's trip to the bike shop and repairs.

Incidentally, the tyre now has just under 4,000km of hard riding on it so it looks like it's lasting as advertised - fingers crossed!