My Favourite Photos Of 2024 - A Photo Challenge

My brother over at Road To Nowhere has decided to resurrect an old blogging challenge of  "show us your best photos of 2024" or something like that. 

Well, mine are all taken with a phone camera so aren't up to the standard of his. Following are equally my "best" photos and the ones that mean the most to me. 

This was 2024....

I spent a lot of time looking out the window at work (as usual) and I like this photo for several reasons. Firstly it is how I see it most days and secondly it is pretty much in focus inside and out.  No mean feat when trying to take a photo through those thick windows.

  

 

 The next is from a day out driving through Condamine Gorge with a couple of mates.  There are 14 creek crossings on this track and this is Dan tackling one of them. It is always fun driving your car through water and even better with good friends. 

The next is me on my new track bike, a GSXR750, at Morgan Park Raceway during our winter.  I decided I needed a dedicated track bike now that Will is doing a lot of track days on his Daytona as I am keen to join him but don't want to thrash the old R1.

Lucy and I did a looong road trip to pick up her new motorcycle early in 2024.  Here she is sitting on the bow plane of the ex Australian Navy submarine HMAS Otway in Holbrook, NSW.

 It is HUUGE!

The following photo was from my first ride on the newly opened Northern Rivers Rail Trail with the elusive OM. We have an - as in only one - annual ride somewhere and this was our 2024 ride. 

The next photo was taken from the deck of our accommodation in Maydena after a great day of mountain biking with mates.  It was a cool night with a million stars beginning to show themselves as the sun retreated below the horizon. 

The following was a cool,  misty, midweek day at the range. One of the few I managed in 2024.

I love this next photo of Steve and I on track at Motegi in Japan. We had a great trip and I hope we can do it again soon. 

The next pic was of our floating home during a holiday on the River Murray near Morgan in South Australia.

Shane doing what Shane does on one of our regular ride routes. It was certainly a wet start to 2024.

This photo was taken on the drive to a track day at Warwick. Winter sunsets in south east QLD are epic.

Ripping the trails in Derby, Tasmania on our annual mountain bike trip. Derby is a special place. Go if you haven’t been before. 😉

I’ve seen more than my fair share of sunrises and sunsets. Some were voluntary, most were at work. Sometimes it isn’t a bad view.

Well, that was 2024. I hope you had a good one and let’s look forward to 2025.

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XIII)

I flew back into Launceston late on the 24th of March, too late to get on the bike and go anywhere, so I stayed in the Kings Meadows Hotel again. Nothing flash but good value at $50 a night.

Not A Mid Life Crisis - Honest

 

Ever since I bought the BMW F800 a few years ago I have entertained the idea of riding it around Australia. The only problem is that I don't have enough time off work to make it happen without it being a somewhat rushed trip (Australia is a BIG place you know!). Now owning the even more capable Africa Twin, the thought has stayed with me and perhaps grown stronger throughout this Covid debacle.

Blindsided

 

Again, it has been a little while since I wrote something on here. Things have been predictably unpredictable in Australia. We are trying to keep Covid levels at zero and of course there are constant outbreaks with cities and states locking down continuously and the other states locking those states out. As it stands today the only states not under any restrictions are Tasmania and Western Australia. That means they can go to any other state or territory but no person from one of the cursed states can travel to Tassie or WA. That means about 23 million people are locked into their own states or territories.

Riding The Great Dividing Range

Ok, so I eventually got away.....

(The prelude to this post - you can catch up here.) 

...with the intent to roughly follow this route. I would make variations to the route if the weather wasn't playing nicely but at this stage the forecast looked promising.

You can zoom and pan the Ride With GPS map . You can also download the route!

Leveraging

Thanks to a “new bike update” from the chap at Confessions of An Ageing Motorcyclist, I decided to try some updated, modern, ergonomically designed control levers for my R1. I had been avoiding changing much on the bike as I want it to be pretty standard but honestly the standard clutch lever is stupidly long in reach as well as length. I mean, for the ridiculously low cost of the levers, even if they were rubbish I could hang them in the shed as “art”.

They came from the land of eBay and the tracking communications from the seller were excellent with messages at every stage of the delivery process. Within hours of the delivery message (I was on the other side of the country at the time) I had another message asking how I liked them and asking for a photo of them fitted...now if you please!
Steady Mr Wong!!

Well, I had to get home from work then wait until the weekend to find the time to fit them. I really didn’t need much time though. Finding the key for the bike took almost as long as fitting the damn levers!

New and old.

I went for the all black levers. Blue was an option but I have seen colour matched grips before and hate the look, so thought of colour matched levers in the same vein. Thinking about it now, titanium pivots with black levers would have looked good too.

Old and new.

They are reach adjustable, folding plus they have a length adjuster as well.

I honestly don’t know how they stack up against the genuine Pazzo levers for quality as I haven’t seen an actual Pazzo up close (that I can recall) but at $30.84US versus $281AU (about $180US) for the Pazzos, the price alone warrants a look at the eBay levers. 

 A quick test ride and they feel fine. I need to adjust the clutch cable slightly as the knock-off levers must pull the cable a smidge differently and there is currently almost no slack between letting the clutch lever out and the clutch clutching. 

Easily fixed though.

Cheers.

More Farkles

Things have been a tad quiet here on the blog but as usual, that doesn't mean there isn't shit going down! I have just returned from a two week 4wding holiday across the Simpson Desert with the kids but more about that in another post. When I returned from that trip I had a couple of cardboard boxes waiting for me.....

The FC Moto box was all the way from Germany. I have been looking for an adventure lid for over 12 months now to complement the BMW and couldn't decide on whether I wanted to go the "all bells and whistles mega expensive" route or the "$200 cheapie and get a new one every other year" route.

Well, I sort of put a foot in either camp in the end and went with an Airoh Commander. It had all of the features I wanted, was still a very light (1510 g/3lb 1oz) helmet AND by buying through FC Moto, I had it landed at my house for $105 less than the cheapest I could find it domestically! I like to support local retailers but when they are 21% cheaper, including freight from the other side of the planet, how can you not shop online?

Anyway, it is a thing of great beauty, to wrap a thing of not great beauty (my head) and protect it from the elements and the hard, hard ground.

It has the much desired flip down sunnies and Airoh include a pinlock in the box! I haven't fitted the pinlock yet but the flip down sunnies and sun visor are gold with the low sun we seem to have this winter!

The colour options are a bit limited but the one colour I didn't want in an adventure helmet was black.... and the most prevalent colour in adv helmets is.....black!?  Black helmets are just too hot in the Aussie sun. I like the bit of red as it breaks up the "too much blue" theme I have going on with my RST suit.

The other carton, from Staintune exhausts, was a bit of an impulse buy. Well, an impulse on the day that I saw the R1 pipe was half price! I had priced one of the stainless steel pipes up for my R1 back in 2012 when I first bought the bike but couldn't justify spending $800 on a slip on pipe. Especially when the bike already had a slip on fitted to it. Proving that good things come to those who wait, a mere 7 years later I was able to snag a bargain. 

Not that there was anything wrong with the little Remus pipe that came with the bike though. I did sort of hate it at first because I wasn't used to the modern style "mini" mufflers but it came to grow on me and after I ordered the Staintune pipe I was having some doubts about how the older style pipe might look. I did want an ADR compliant exhaust as interactions with the mobile tax collectors aren't high on my wish list.

I needn't have worried. The pipe looks awesome!!

The sound is much quieter than the Remus, which is to be expected as the Staintune meets the ADR requirements with the removable baffle installed. To be honest, I am happy with it as it has a better note than the stock pipe and will hopefully let me fly under-the-radar.

Cheers.

Exploring New Roads And Remembering The Fallen

Again, I had some days off during the week and with crackingly great weather, thought it would be criminal to waste it by doing nothing (or staying at home if you like). Following on from the aviation theme of my last motorcycling post I had read of a roadside memorial to two RAAF pilots who had lost their lives in an F111 training accident near Tenterfield back in 1987. I decided that I wanted to pay my respects and designed a route around that location. The route would also be largely new-to-me roads too, making it an interesting prospect.

The route

A Day In The Dirt - Down Under

What the hell is A Day In The Dirt I hear you ask?
Well, click on that link and it will take you to the original US of A website for the ADITD and all will be explained. Except the bit about Down Under that is. Basically, someone (Red Bull?) decided that it would be a good idea to host a version of this weekend of everything dirtbike down here in Oztraylia. Hence, A Day In The Dirt Down Under (ADITDDU) was born.

I happened to stumble across it as a mate of mine works for one of the sponsors, Lusty Enterprises, importers of (sweet looking) Fasthouse apparel. He was able to score me a promo ticket or two for the weekend. I combined this excuse to attend with a ride on the BMW to get there, then a mtb ride out there as the location of Queensland Moto Park (QMP) is right by Mount Joyce mtb trails! Win, win, win!!

Rolling up it was obvious that the event was well attended with heaps of camping set-ups in the parking area already. It was only Friday morning!

Looking to the trails and there must have been 100 bikes ripping them up! It was free practice for anyone and everyone. I soon saw a big Red Bull emblazoned KTM cleaning everyone up on the track. Of course, it was none other than Toby Price. He certainly had that big Kato flying on the tight moto tracks!

There was ample room to move in the promo area. As well as displays from Fasthouse, Bell helmets, KTM and a few others there was plenty to eat and drink. I wandered around in the relative quiet of the Friday pre lunch rush, taking a few photos.

As it was still pretty quiet I jumped on the F800 and rode around a bit to check out the facilities. At the top of the hill I sat for a while watching the action spread out below me. Apparently QMP had linked up all of the tracks for the weekend so the laps were quite long. This is just a portion of the track.

Behind me there was a motocross/supercross track (not sure of the difference to be honest) and I watched the lads practice there for a while. Some shaky video that I did as an Instagram post is below.

My mate and I made a break for the mtb tracks just after lunch. He had taken my mtb and riding gear out in his car as he was working the stalls for the weekend which worked out awesome for us getting a ride in. A short 15 minute drive saw us at Mt Joyce for a few hours pedalling. I hadn't been to Mt Joyce for two or three years and was a bit shocked at the state of some of the trails. They were highly eroded and quite challenging on my 120mm travel bike. I had definitely bought a knife to a gun fight today!

Either way, I survived the ride but I won't be hurrying back. We have too many great trails on our doorstep to do the two hour roundtrip drive out to Mt Joyce.

Back at ADITD the Dirt Hustle races were beginning. This was basically a small, mostly flat track with just a few small jumps that was being raced by all manner of bikes. The first out were the pit/Posty bikes. The first three riders in this race were absolutely flying around the track, roosting the spectators and getting seriously sideways around most corners. One guy was on a little two stroke Yammi, with a doll strapped to his chest, sunnies and a fake hipster beard and was absolutely smashing it. He had everyone in hysterics as he roosted his way around the track, all the while the ultra-high-pitched Yammi screaming it's head off in a two wheel drift. He ended up coming in 2nd place but both he and the winner were flying and COULD ride despite their diminutive bikes.

Baby Dude from the Friday race. 

This is Saturday morning and you can see that they have had considerable rain overnight.

Unfortunately I didn't get many photos as I was just enjoying a post ride Young Henrys while taking in the racing - good fun in the dirt not to be spoiled by looking through a camera lense. 

I sort of wish I had taken more photos though as the next group out were all on classic bikes. There were Maiko's, Bultaco's, old Jap two strokes and this beautiful Triumph powered Rickman which was music to the ears as he powered past! He was rocking the full Steve McQueen look and watching these bikes I could have been time-warped 30-40 years into the past......

While the Friday was dry and trending to be dusty, overnight storms Friday night dumped about an inch+ of rain on QMP. This turned the dust to mud and added another complexion and level of difficulty to Saturday's riding. I am sure glad it wasn't my bike out there in those conditions!

Yeah, easy if you were just walking around taking photos.....

Actually, it sort of doesn't matter that I didn't get that many photos as this YouTube video by MXStore captures much of the feel and look that was ADITDDU. 

Enjoy the bikes and the vibe!!

 (baby dude at 2:50 if you want to hear what he sounded like)

If they run it again next year I am pretty sure I will be there. Now I just need to find a classic two stroke dirt bike to take along...........

Cheers and thanks for checkin' in.

Nothing Much Happening

There hasn't been much happening here as there has been too much work at work and too much work at home lately. 

Painting the garage (plus a few other rooms) has eaten up all of my free time but Will and I did get out for a quick ride Saturday afternoon to grab some hot chips and to sit in the winter sun.

We are loving this BMW and I haven't even had it on the dirt yet!

Victoria Point sunset. Winter in Queensland.....

Still no farkeles yet but I am researching a slip on pipe for more road presence and more importantly, some sort of luggage. Who'd have thought that hard panniers were so expensive?! If anyone has any advice or tips on luggage, feel free to comment below.

Cheers.

Just Like A New One

I posted up a little while back here that I was sending my R1 down to Sydney for some much needed suspension work. I also proclaimed that I would post "in about a month" about riding with my little Bro down in Sydney.

Well.......that "month" seems to have morphed into 9 months but just like a new baby, it was probably worth the wait.

What happened I hear you ask? 

Weeelllll, the bike went to Sydney with Rick as planned in that post above. It then sat at Chillertek's house for a few weeks until he had time to take it out to Teknik Motorsports in Penrith. They had done work on his 2000 model R1 which Steve was very happy with. 

I wasn't in a huge hurry for the bike, what with winter approaching and Teknik took me at my word. "No rush" I had said and they certainly didn't rush. Just over two (2) months later I had a call saying the bike was ready to be picked up. It took Steve another few weeks to get out there to pick it up. When he did finally make the trip I received a phone call from him - "did your bike have a dent in the tank and a cracked fairing?" Hell, no! I said, it was almost unmarked - rare for a 14 year old bike.

To his credit Steve went in and approached them for me. They denied doing any damage or knowing anything about it. Grrr.

I sent an email, courteously pointing out that the bike was unmarked when it went in and asked what they were going to do about it. Belatedly, to their credit and with minimal arm twisting, they agreed to pay for the damage to be fixed at their cost. Clearly they knew they had caused the damage as there is no way you would wear that sort of cost if you knew you had not caused it. Both Steve and I are a bit pissed off that we had to challenge them. They should have been upfront and told us they had damaged it. This grubbiness is what turned me off the motorcycle industry years ago. If you fuck up, admit it, fix it and move on.

While a positive outcome, it meant the R1 had to stay in Sydney for another month or two for a visit to Sydney City Smash Repairs. While it was in there I took the opportunity to get a few small blemishes fixed up at my expense. The result is one very tidy looking R1.

Between picking the bike up from Teknik and dropping it at SCSR, Steve took it for a spin with one of his mates, Geoff. After a good day out he splashed some fuel in the tank to get him to the smash repairers. Well, that fuel must have been contaminated as the bike then began to miss and only run on a couple of cylinders under 3000rpm! 

I finally made the trip down to Sydney to pick the bike up in October, with Rick again kind enough to lend me his trailer. Throwing the mtb in as well, I planned on hitting a few trails along the way.

I bought a new set of spark plugs and a fuel pump gasket while in Sydney. I planned on cleaning the tank out and throwing the new plugs in myself but there simply aren't enough hours in a day so after another month I decided to drop it to the professionals at Ultimate Yamaha.

 I did enjoy the road trip down and back though, with a stop in to visit the folks. The signage around Coonabarabran was a little different, with planets of the solar system dotted along the highway at representative distances from the sun (well, the observatory at Siding Springs representing the sun).

The Yamaha dealer said the fuel filter was full of black gunk but the plugs weren't too bad - they did fit the new ones while in there though. I discovered the bike has a K & N air filter (score!) and that they balanced the throttle bodies. The number 2 cylinder was a fair way out of balance so it is dialed and now the bike idled smoothly as well.

Riding the bike home from the shop the engine felt silky smooth. the suspension feels tight and compliant and best of all - it is ready to ride!! I do need to set the suspension up and I must admit, I don't feel comfortable asking Teknik where to start. I guess I will just have to figure it out myself. I will post up my thoughts on the suspension work once I get a chance to dial it and put some kilometres (metric miles) on the new squish.

Today is the first day of Summer and it is a scorcher. I may need to wait until March 2017 for it to cool down enough to ride.

Luckily I am not in a hurry............