Feeding the addiction...

With four bikes in the shed and generally using any excuse to get out and enjoy two wheels, you might say that I have a bit of an addiction.  You could be right, and that addiction is definitely encouraged by a couple of "pushers", namely Colin and John.

Yes, they are definitely to blame...

And thus a new designer drug appeared on the scene:

Yeah, my first brand new bike in fifteen years (remember that silver bike languishing in my shed) and ain't she pretty?

I picked it up from Upper Hutt on Saturday morning and then one of the aforementioned drug dealers joined me in a fairly cruisy ride home via the Wairarapa.

After a not too bad (it can be very slow and busy) trip over the Rimutakas we puttered out to Martinborough and took more back roads (all seal) to Masterton for lunch.

Right away I really liked the sweet little motor.  It's very smooth and offers up some pretty reasonable torque.  With it's great Adv bike riding position and (relative to the S10) light weight it was very easy to ride and I was immediately at home.

After putting some gas into at Masterton (just $3/l) we carried on up through Mauriceville to Eketahuna where I just had to have a wee play on the gravel.  It's safe to say the bike likes the gravel too.  Once again that smooth little donk really is nice, giving you nice smooth acceleration out corners.  I wasn't game enough to switch the ABS off but had no issues with brakes and tyres on the gravel.

Purdy!

A quick jaunt over to Feilding to show the olds and then it was time to introduce the bike to it's stable mates.

Yeah, there's an extra WR making itself at home at the moment

Team Yamaha

And so, now for the farkling...

There's are a few things already on order but the stuff that I had put on before delivery was: rad guard, bark busters, crash bars, Givi luggage racks and a tank ring.  My old luggage from the S10 goes straight on but I am considering soft luggage for use on both Teneres.

And in the above pictures you can also see one of the other farkles that turned up while I was picking the bike up.  Another Cool Cover to help the comfort - yes, they work.

Still to come are the hot grips, an Eastern Beaver 4 circuit aux power thingee to run 'lectrical stuff off and a mount for my GPS.  That may do for now...

Really looking forward to getting it all setup and putting plenty of dirty miles on it.  The big Ten can have a wee relax from that duty...

Hmmmm

 

Captivity Day 8

One to watch later...

Meet Mighty Mouse

Ok, so before I disappeared off to take part in the TT2000 I did something foolish and bought another bike.  Except it wasn't foolish - I needed another bike for my single car garage (now containing 3 bikes and a car).

Enter the little WR who now shall be dubbed "Might Mouse":

After chatting to Colin about his one I had a quick look on Trademe and stumbled on this one.  It looked like it was in pretty good nick (it is a dirt bike - people bin them as a matter of course) and only had 5,600km on it.

Dad and I drove down to Otaki to pick it up and I got to ride it home on the main road.  At 100km/h she is working away but from everything I hear they have indestructible motors and thrive on revs.

I then got to ride it to work one day before parking it up and heading South.

In preparation for its first outing today, I checked out the air cleaner (sweet as), found a bolt to bolt the muffler to the frame and added some go faster farkles...

So, why buy it?  Well, apart from the need to work on my N + 1 problem, trail bikes rock and this little beast is going to be able to take me into all sorts of places that the Tenere just can't.  Really looking forward to finding some of those places...

Oh, and the farkle list so far:

1. Bigger tank - going to need this for longer Adv type rides
2. Better bash pad
3. Seat (ouch)
4. A rack or something so I can carry a little bit of gear
5. Turbocharger and nitrous system...

Anyway, another blog is coming with the details of today's ride but here's a preview:

Water

Somebody told me I shouldn't wash the Tenere - it might shrink...

So yeah, Chillertek, I'm working on the N + 1 thing...

And now there's an odd number to boot...

Oops!

Cardboard boxes...

...are great things.  They occasionally magically appear on the doorstep and contain farkles...

Maybe it's bikkies?

To kill the suspense that must be bugging you by now - it's a new tank bag.  Before the TT2000 I attempted to buy the one I wanted in NZ but the supplier could not get the tank mount for me in time so I left it until now.  In the end FC-Moto had a wee sale on at Easter and I managed to get it shipped to NZ for slightly less than it would have cost me in NZ so that was a wee bonus.

Now for the install.  New bag from a different manufacturer meant a new tank fitting.

Off with the old

The item on the right is what I couldn't get in time for the TT...

Fitted up

Not so goolie grabbing as the old SW-Motec item...

The Givi system is slightly tidier than the SW-Motec one and I hope it is a little more reliable than the SW-Motec one - I have had the locking pin pull out of the mount twice leaving the bag stuck to the bike...Luckily I've been able to fix it each time while on the forecourt of a petrol station...

Underside of bag showing attachment system

The next job on the cards was to get power to the bag for charging my phone, cameras and intercom.  This time around I just decided to install a dual USB socket and haven't bothered with the 12v socket that I have in my other tank-bag.  There is a pass through in the bag so it was easy to get the wires into the bag.  I gave myself plenty of extra wire too so I could perhaps pull the wire through into the map pocket of the bag - time will tell if I need that.

Ergs delivery system - it even works!

Now for some more about the bag.  I did a little research on the Tenere forum to see what other guys were using and in the end opted for the Givi XS308.  Here's some of the specs copied from Revzilla:

• Water-resistant zips
• Made from 1200D nylon with PU inserts
• Expandable
• Reflective inserts
• Rain cover in fluorescent material
• Weatherproof internal compartment to store the rain cover
• Additional protection against dampness
• Removable tablet-holder
• Cable port
• Handle and shoulder-strap for easier transportation
• Removable side and front pockets that can be converted into a waist-bag
• 20L capacity
• 13.7"L x 11"W x 7.8" to 9"H

Map?  Tablet?

The warning sticker in the above picture is already gone and the waterproof cover has been moved to one of the little side-pockets.  I've also shortened some of the straps so that I don't have excess flapping around and getting in the way.

And this is why I got it:

2019 TT can't come soon enough...

My idea is that the bigger bag will easily take my camera and TT T-shirt and maybe make those photo stops just that little bit quicker...I'm sure the 0.01seconds saved will add up...

Oh, and Happy Birthday Tenere - two years and about 26k lugging me around the countryside.

Enlightening Farkle

Righto, so Saturday's ride had another purpose and the reason why I went so late and came back in the dark was because I had to try out my latest farkle...

I have a farkling disease...

Yes, some led's imported at great expensive from the land of Trump.  And of course getting lights meant that I also needed a mount for the lights and a mount for the switch...

So anyway, the stuff all turned up once I'd paid the taxman and a couple of Friday's ago I tore into the install.  I was initially a bit daunted, not wanting to stuff it up but in the end it was a piece of cake.

First up was the mount.  This fairly basic but it does mean I have this spare piece of plastic with no use anymore.

The mount dangles down below the main headlight and provides a nice sturdy home for the lights.

Next up was the scary part, wiring things up.  But with the help of the interweb it was a piece of cake.  It was easy to hook the harness to the battery but then I had to locate the high-beam wire and tap it - that's where the web came in handy and the job was soon done.

I then quickly tested everything and was rewarded with plenty of working light in the shed.  The last job was to tidy up the wiring, mount the switch and tighten up the lights on the mounts after setting up the angle of them.

Switch allows me to run the lights once high-beam is activated but to also run just the high-beam

Disappointingly, it was still light outside when I finished so I geared up and rode over to the old's place to zap them through the lounge window and await proper darkness.  When it finally got dark I mounted up and went off for a proper test.

Each of the lights has 2 led spots in them and 2 that act as floodlights giving a wider beam of light.  The floods in particular really impressed me.

So, just out of town I stopped and got ready to film their effectiveness.  Unfortunately, my GoPro session decided to have one of its moments and just wouldn't play ball.  So, all I got to show for my ride in the dark was some very crappy photos that don't really show a lot...

Dip only

High beam

Everything going!

Blurriness!

On Saturday's ride I swapped GoPro's and finally got some semi-decent video of the lights in action.  I still reckon that the video doesn't do them justice...

Now to put them to some use...