Another working week done and it was time to do my first Friday night ride in a quite a wee while so 6pm found me gassing up at Ashhurst and looking forward to winding the week down with a nice wee blast. It was also great to see 86 out for a ride (as pillion) following his nasty prang a few weeks ago - very keen considering the broken bones and other damage he is still sporting.
Leaving Ashhurst we pootled through the gorge, turning right through to Balance (left fork Al) and then on through to Mangamire before finally stopping at Eketahuna for some cake (cheers Dogs). Here we split up with some heading further down the road to Masterton, some returning up the main road and the rest (me included) taking the back roads back to Pahiatua. This was a magic ride with just the odd bit of loose metal to keep you on your toes.
Had a pit stop in Pahiatua and while getting a drink & snack ran into Mr & Mrs Hitcher who were also out for a Friday night ride - they'd come a bit further than us (Wellington) and were just finishing their tea before continuing on their outing.
Thirst quenched it was just a quiet ride home via Woodville and the gorge after a great ride and a great wind-down.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday Pootle
After a pretty average Saturday weather wise it was nice to be able to get out on the bike today.I met up with Yod and Leonie at Ashhurst before heading through to Danniverke where Sarge was just finishing filling his black beast. While we were filling up our bikes Owl pulled up and fed his horse too.
After a wee coffee break we hit the Weber road and Yod and I had a nice run through to Weber where we had a quick stop before heading on to Wimbledon.
Pressing on we finally stopped for lunch at Porangahau where we weren't the only bikes parked up and still more arrived while we were having our lunch. Leaving Porangahau we took a road that I hadn't been on before (Blackhead Road) which was a great little ride that ended up back on Route 52 into Waipukarau.
After a stop to work out if anyone needed fuel (nope) we pressed on South down the main road before turning off again to take the back roads through Takapau and Ormondville and into Danniverke for a drink & more fuel before the final wee squirt home.
More pics here.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Tubeless Tyre repair kits
As mentioned in my blog on last weekend's ride I managed to puncture the Connie's rear tyre in Hicks Bay. Once again the tyre pressure monitoring system on the Connie was fantastic in alerting me to the issue straight away and I pulled over before all of the air had leaked out.
The main cause of this was riding on a gravel road on a pretty well stuffed tyre. When I left home I knew that the tyre was on it's way out but I thought that it would last the 1,600km ok. I probably didn't allow for the very hot conditions and the crappy condition of most of the North Island's roads but luckily the story has a happy ending.
Following a puncture the day before on Cowboyz ZX-9 the team were pretty practised at using the repair kits so plenty of help was on hand to advise me on the repair job. The hole was discovered pretty quickly and the rasp in the repair kit was used to hone the hole out a little before I poked the plug in. We didn't use any of the gas canisters to inflate the tyre as the house I stopped outside of had a compressor that we borrowed.
Riding off I was quite cautious and kept a close eye on the tyre pressure readout all the way home but had absolutely no issues at all and in the picture below you can see what the repair looked like after another 500km of riding. Cowboyz also had no issue with his repair and he was traveling two-up for the most part.
All in all the repair kit has more than paid for itself by getting me home safely after an incident miles from a friendly bike shop. The only issue I think there is with the kits is the gas canisters. Firstly they are expensive and you'd need a few to get decent pressure in the tyre. The second issue is that I doubt that you'd get the full required pressure as once there is some pressure in the tyre it gets to the point where it equalises with the pressure in the canister.
On Cowboyz's bike we only used one canister (still had plenty of air in his tyre as it hadn't actually gone down) and when it was removed there was still air in it but because of the pressure balancing out the air was wasted. We could have put on another canister but you'd end up getting less and less of the air from the canister into the tyre as the tyre's pressure increased. I am seriously thinking of getting a cheap 12 volt compressor to plug into the Connie's accessory socket as you can't pick where the next puncture will happen...
Used Strada:
The main cause of this was riding on a gravel road on a pretty well stuffed tyre. When I left home I knew that the tyre was on it's way out but I thought that it would last the 1,600km ok. I probably didn't allow for the very hot conditions and the crappy condition of most of the North Island's roads but luckily the story has a happy ending.
Following a puncture the day before on Cowboyz ZX-9 the team were pretty practised at using the repair kits so plenty of help was on hand to advise me on the repair job. The hole was discovered pretty quickly and the rasp in the repair kit was used to hone the hole out a little before I poked the plug in. We didn't use any of the gas canisters to inflate the tyre as the house I stopped outside of had a compressor that we borrowed.
Riding off I was quite cautious and kept a close eye on the tyre pressure readout all the way home but had absolutely no issues at all and in the picture below you can see what the repair looked like after another 500km of riding. Cowboyz also had no issue with his repair and he was traveling two-up for the most part.
All in all the repair kit has more than paid for itself by getting me home safely after an incident miles from a friendly bike shop. The only issue I think there is with the kits is the gas canisters. Firstly they are expensive and you'd need a few to get decent pressure in the tyre. The second issue is that I doubt that you'd get the full required pressure as once there is some pressure in the tyre it gets to the point where it equalises with the pressure in the canister.
On Cowboyz's bike we only used one canister (still had plenty of air in his tyre as it hadn't actually gone down) and when it was removed there was still air in it but because of the pressure balancing out the air was wasted. We could have put on another canister but you'd end up getting less and less of the air from the canister into the tyre as the tyre's pressure increased. I am seriously thinking of getting a cheap 12 volt compressor to plug into the Connie's accessory socket as you can't pick where the next puncture will happen...
Used Strada:
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