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19/5  I've been shifting house last few days, 2nd time in 10 months, what a  freaking nightmare....sorta in and settled , just a heap of boxes still to be emptied, the garage sorted out etc...but at least I got a ride in between houses, all 8km of it! Hopefully we can stay here a couple of years or until I can get a deposit together for our own place of course the 5 odd k you need to shell out , tho you get some back... to do the move slows the savings down a bit... We managed to move so the kids can stay in the same school, and with it being Emily's first year and only a couple of months in, we didn't want to have to shift them.

We got a place on 5 acres and the 7yr old boy has had the pee wee out a couple of times already, so he's happy as with the shift, and when he asks again we'll try him on the 110cc  'pit' bike we picked up for him a few weeks ago. It's a touch big for him, and he has to learn to use a clutch and gears like a real bike, and the clutch is a little hard for him yet, so we'll see how he goes... His mum's anxious to give it a go though, so there'll be some photo opportunities there!

22/2 RIP my old gran, wouldve been 117 today !   God save me from tiny little carburetors.... I bought a peewee 50 about 16 years ago for my first son, and now my 7 year old has finally decided he wants to ride it, after choosing not to 2 years ago, when I stripped the carby down and cleaned it and got it running immaculately...So we resurrected it again, a few weeks ago and had it running at the house fine....Took it up to Pacific Park last Saturday, and do you think it would start..... It did finally but would only run for 50 yards then die... After and hour in the sun pulling it to bits we gave up and came home, only $100 poorer after entrance fees and gas for the trip......and with a very annoyed young man... I decided it needed rings, so ordered some for $30 on ebay, had em 2 days later, bought a little honing tool, and stuck the new rings in. no difference.

So I pulled the carb to bits yet again, and buggered if I could see anything wrong, any blocked jets etc....Then the other day looking at an exploded view online , thank christ for the internet, saw that I'd missed the pilot jet...I should have looked at a diagram so I actually knew what I was doing instead of relying on memory...so try and remove it and it wont come out, so get the air onto it and it manages to blow the jet out somewhere into the recesses of the garage...but I dont notice this, just think its cleared as now I can see light up the tube... Put it back together and back on, and now it wont start cos its flooding horribly...I finally figure it out and will buy a new jet today hopefully...worlds smallest part , be interesting to see what it costs...:-/ BUT I'll get that damn thing running if it kills me! and put a smile back on the boys face...

2/2 Talk about crap weather....all time high temps  a week or so ago, and today I'm sitting here in track pants and a jacket...Had a ride planned today to a Vietnam Vets show a few hours up the road, but they were flooded out with the storms last night apparently... and its still raining here...another wet weekend with the kids stuck inside oh the joys....

13/1/13 Hmm unlucky numbers there..however I managed to finally pump up the rear tyre that wont stay up unless I'm riding it, and as the temp had dropped below 100degrees for the first time in a few days, according to the forecast,  struck out for the blue mountains, that I live at the foot of...

Got the boy to take a pic, course he's too young to hold the camera still....

Stopped at the first garage in Kurmond, filled one tank, paid the girl, and went to take off...and went nowhere...engine turning over but no spark....After five minutes remembered this has sort of happened before, flicked the kill switch a few times, same with the ignition, and off she went again....I suspect a bad contact in the kill switch, must investigate( before I'm 80...)

Nice and quiet as it was only 9am ish, and cooler than expected with quite a bit of fog about....

which after I stopped and took these pics got quite a bit worse for a while, so I had to slow down...

Passed Mount Bell which I think said 1003m, then did a u turn here and headed back down home....

World slowest drive back down the hill behind a line of cars... :-/

Jees been busy working lately , couldn't even slip away for a day or two on a run....pulled my primary cover this morning, as theres been some god awful noises from that area at idle when cold, thought I might have forgotten the spacer under the mainshft nut head, but no it was there, but the nut was loose! I blame my ebay rattle gun, I knew it was useless...have to buy a better one. Bought a lazymans tools this morning, 3/8 square drive on imperial allen keys...in the rattle gun and those primary bolts fly out... I will put them back in by hand though..honest!

Next project is a new boiler for the still... from 45litre milk can...

2/8 that feels better , nice giving those that deserve it a mouth full sometimes...wheter its done any good or not is yet to be seen...

1/8 As I mentioned earlier, we've just shifted house.. and the dirty lying real estate agents that managed the last place,  Fabre and Flammia  in Penrith , 5/37 Lawson St NSW,ph 02 47222900 are trying to rip me off. We moved out on  a Monday and the wife spent the next 2 days cleaning the place, and did a good job, it was as immaculate as you could get.

As soon as we moved out Anthony Flammia, one of the agents  rang me and said "theres some problems with the cleanliness of the place, I reckon its going to take a few guys a couple of days , probably $1000 worth."  

Like what? I said. He then mentioned  the carpet as being filthy.  The carpet is less than a year old, exeept the lounge, and we just had it all cleaned  I said , and subsequently sent them the receipt.( we had it cleaned on the Tuesday)

Then he said the dishwasher is dirty. No its not i said , its clean, the mark around the outside of the door is where the rubber seal came off, that you never got fixed...which is why it leaks...

Anyway this went on similarly about the stove,and other things  and for everything they  mentioned I had an answer for . I spoke to them a couple of times after this, and eventually they sent me a bill for $1210.00 . This bill as per below mentions a heap of things not originally mentioned and is basically bullshit.

I looked up the cleaning company, cant find anything on the net for Trades United...but  on ASIC what do I find : the ABN , the holding company under that number is but  Mirma and Associates ,Sole director Mark Flammia!!   Business name not registered, cancelled in 2004.

Well well well...Looks to me like they have a little scam going where they do a beat up cleaning bill every time someone moves out and they pocket the proceeds. I wonder how many other people they've tried this with? I rang the number this morning, and it sure didn't sound like a cleaning company..Mark Flammia runs a restaurant in Penrith, Valentinos Woodfire Pizzaria...sounds like I woke him up at 9 30 this morning...

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has suffered this from these clowns...email me

BS invoice

I guess I have to go and talk to them....

28/7 Finally felt well enough to see a doc, somewhat paradoxically! and a dose of good antibiotics and I'm feeling (sub) normal again...

25/7 GAwd the longest ride the last couple of month has been over to our new house, a week and a bit ago, a total of 25kms... the shift has nearly killed me. We got removalists in for the furniture but I usually do the office and garage myself to save some money. I'd jacked up a mate to help, as its a pig of a job, everythings heavy...but he had to work, so it was me and me. Didn't feel too bad doing it , but a day or two later I could hardly walk or move round the house at all...That came better slowly over the next day or two then last Friday I got a gall bladder attack. I had one once 10 yrs ago after a big night of chillie and beer etc, but a day in hospital with good pain killers fixed it and nothing since. This time, its been 5 days so far, but getting better the last couple thankfully. If you've never had it its like you've been stabbed under the ribs on the RHS and gradually turns into an aching over that whole side that's like you've been hit with a baseball bat...hurts when you breath ffs...I got on the net and found that apple cider vinegar and apple juice helps relieve the symptoms, so that and any pain killers I can get my hands on has kept me working everyday. I've been too busy to go and see a doc...  aah the joys of getting older!

26/5 Good ride last weekend, just a few hours up to Taree for Friday night, then off in sunshine up towards Ballina . Stopped for a beer at Mackville on the river, a pretty spot, then up into Coffs Harbour where we turned off and headed into the hills towards Nana Glen. Stopped for lunch at a good pub there where I had a good feed of chillie prawns for $16

After enjoying that it was on the road again towards Grafton. we'd only gone a half mile or so and I felt something strange in the rear end, like something had flicked into the chain perhaps..bike then seemed ok again, but I thought I'd better stop and check...Couldn't see anything wrong so continued on hoping like hell nothing was about to break.....Made it to the next stop, and rechecked everything in the rear thinking maybe I'd lost a chain guard bolt or something, but everything was tight as...

The next 90 odd km's to my mates was a good ride only marred by being stopped for a breath and licence test, which everyone passed, so it was on our way again...

A cold night was helped with a roaring fire and great entertainment by way of a duet called the Troubadours, who played all my favorites for hours...

After stumbling back to a tent at god knows what hour I woke at dawn, and a few of us ventured off again in the morning chill back towards home.

Did the 700kms in 9 hours reasonably easily, without the bike missing  a beat. Tightened the rear chain at one point and suspect the earlier scare may have been it riding off the edge of the sprocket or something silly due to it being a bit loose. Jacked it up this morning to have a look and cant find anything wrong so I guess that must've been it...

13/5 Bit of a ride next week, 1400k's return trip, so thought I'd change the oil and filter and try a thicker oil , I seem to burn a bit on a trip, and if ya cant get 20-50 anywhere and use 10-40 or similar, it doesn't last at all. reading the Harley manual today, it says 60 weight in hot temps, so should be ok..I'll see how it goes...$39 at local auto one .

Interesting thing was I checked the dipstick before I drained the tank, and it was on the "full when cold" mark, but when it drained into the container, with the filter oil as well, barely reached the 2 litre mark....and there's meant to be 3..so Ill make sure I put exactly 3 litres in and see where that is on the dipstick...

30/3 Had a quiet day work wise so started putting the new heavy duty rear chain on the bike. I wasn't gonna bother for a few months, but then this morning I saw how much the other one had stretched....Put some oil in the lift so it would go up more than the 2" it did last time and pulled the existing chain off without too much bother......measured the new chain against it, and had to remove 1 link, so it was out with the 4" grinder and take the heads off one side of the rivets then punch the link out...Threw the new chain on the bike , well not really threw its a real PITA getting it around the front sprocket, but a lot easier on the lift, and after removing the front bolt from the chain guard so I could get my hand in there a bit better. Loosened off the rear wheel and adjusters and kicked the rear wheel forward a bit, and after greasing the master link with the supplied grease and sliding on two of the o rings, slipped the master link through the chain. added the two other o-rings, and put the side plate on. or at least tried to...tight...Vice grips out and after squeezing one side and then the other for 20 odd minutes have the rivets just protruding through the side plate. I cant remember how I peened over the rivets last time I did this 8 odd years ago, but I think I'm gonna bite the bullet tomorrow and go and buy the proper tool and do it the right way so I get maximum life out of the chain...

So the next day its down to the local jap bike shop, who were the only ones I could find who kept any sort of chain tool, and shelled out $99.95. Looks ok, and after studying the instructions ventured to the garage and put the tool on to press the sideplate on firmly. With two spacers that came with the chain in place to protet the o-rings there wasnt any danger of overtightening the sideplates and crushing the o-rings.

However that's when things stopped going well....after disassembling the tool to put in the riveting piece, and tightening it as per instructions I hear a snap, and the shaft behind the rivet end has snapped...Hmm..after looking closely I looks like i used the thinner of the two rivet ends supplied, so maybe its my fault, though there's no indication which one you should use for which size chain. Put the slightly larger one in and try again. Seems to do the job, but on the second rivet, snap again....Now I'm not usually too ham fisted, and there's no torque settings or other warnings as to how tight these things should be taken, and its got a 17mm head, so you can put a fair bit of force on it....and Id expect it to be able to turn until I couldn't turn it anymore....and that wasnt the case...

I really cant be f ed taking it back and moaning, and if I grind off the broken stems flat I'll be able to use it again, but what a pain in the proverbial...if aanyone caan suggest what I might have done wrong I'd be interested to know..

$100 POS.Looks good but breaks.

17/3 For almost the first time in living memory I was out on the bike last night, and it wasn't long after I left home that I remembered why I don't do it every week anymore...First was the traffic, I'm about 8kms from the M4 freeway but on a Friday afternoon in rush hour, it takes a bout half an hour to get there. It was going ok, slipping through the traffic as much as we could , but then there's the Highway Patrol in my lane...so that's the end of that, and we sit behind him for a slow last 2 or so km's to the turnoff, where ,thanks god, he turns off too....F me, life in the slow lane...

After we follow him down to the M7 turnoff and thankfully he goes straight ahead, we have a reasonable run down to the M5 where turn into bumper to bumper stuff, stopped or at a crawl. Slip down the middle again for a mile or so, and then I don't believe it,  another cop....Drop in behind him and sit there...At least I'm stinking hot in my drysabone full length coat I chose to wear, as it had thunder stormed for an hour or so before we actually left, but of course now, not a drop....

Finally off the freeway and onto Milperra Rd, and then down to the showgrounds for a meeting about the upcoming show in 3 weeks..

Fish and chips and hamburgers and a beer or 3  for dinner, (I might have had 2 burgers, but I'm not saying)....then a yack, and after that back on the bike and back up the freeways home.

Nice ride home, a bit cooler , and with f all traffic this is more what its about. The rain had just been through in a couple of spots, but I stayed dry as. Couple of Bourbons when I got home finished the night off nicely.

10/3  Put the primary back together during the week, and headed over to my mates place about 15kms away on late Saturday morning to escape the aural onslaught being perpetrated in the house by 5 kids 6 and under...

Stopped for gas on the main road on the way to the Kurrajong pub

Been done up a bit since the last time I was here, nice food, and friendly barmaids and staff...

surprisingly Muzz didn't scare the table of Japanese tourists

Lots of bikes out about on such a great day....

Sydney over there in the distance 80 odd kms away....

Anyway had a good feed and a schooner or three and all was right with the world again...except for the traffic crawling back into North Richmond when we left, however

I turned off on to Castlereagh Road and had a good blast back home...

25/10, good ride on the weekend about 1000kms up to Bellingen and back, stayed in Hungry Head , good spot....bike went good, but I've got to get an oil cooler...rattly as after some long hard runs in the heat...seen one on ebay thats looks like it'll do the job so I'll order one soon ..oh and another gear linkage ...the one incident was when the little ball joint popped off and stopped me from changing gear..thank christ for cable ties...

13/10 Well the primary chain turned up today, so I put it on, and I think for the second time (now I remember..) it was waste of money..! didn't seem much different to the other one, pulled off the front sprocket the same, which probably shows that's worn...However it can't hurt, and should be ok for another 5 years or so....

11/10 Getting some strange and horrible noises from the primary area, when I got back from Brisbane last a few weeks ago. Tightened up the primary chain, which went to the end of its adjustment travel, and one noise disappeared, so thought I'd do the right thing and replace the chain. I had the idea from somewhere that they were $200 odd, so started trolling the net...Best I could find was an Aus supplier with some Indian brand, which I chose to dismiss, for $80 and J&P who had one for $99, but with $60 odd postage...Thought I'd ring local and check. MCA didn't have one, but Frasers (local dealer) could supply one for $79 and deliver for an extra $10. So its ordered and I'm waiting.....

So I pull the primary to bits, and the chain will pull away from the sprockets far too easily....Get out the rattle gun and the engine sprocket nut comes off far to easily....I suspect that was one of the noises, the compensator must've been moving a bit under high torque applications......so that's easily fixed...

But everything else seems ok, clutch sprocket is still attached to the basket ok,(another worry) and no bits of metal floating around...so when the new chain turns up all should be sweet...

Tidiest the garage has been in a while!

11/9 aah I must be getting old..I remember when you could walk into an auto parts store and buy a 5 3/4" sealed beam headlight ....(I noticed my low beam had died)......Not today....walk into the Penriff Repco and ask the pretty little 19yr old behind the counter for one and if they have any variations in bulb intensities for a shell type....Blank stare..Looks at me like I'm speaking Greek for a moment then  pulls out a catalogue...  aah dont you have any generic ones on the shelves? Immediately gave up trying for anything fancy...."na what we've got is there" pointing to the 12" spotlight combos...she finally see's she's out of her depth and gets the guy from out the back..."We used to carry them but don't anymore....can order one in etc..." aah well I'll try Auto-One up the road... Walk in there and the guy serving is older than me and immediately goes out the back and brings out a shell and a halogen bulb...Bulb wont fit the shell, goes and finds another one..works....Aah whats this gonna cost me I ask fearing the worst....The shell was $10 , has 1992 on it ! and the bulb was $10.50.... a pleasant surprise for a change....

4/9 So I thought I'd give the bike some love yesterday, check the oil adjust the primary chain etc.....ended up being a bit of a marathon....First thing I noticed after adjusting the primary chain, that really needs replacing by the look of it, was that my coil was hanging loose. Lost a bolt.... However replacing the bolt was to prove problematic. As the original mount for the compufire coil had to be extended outwards some years ago to not foul the larger engine, access was by way of removal of the electrical relays backing plate away from the frame ...That  was all fine till I put it all back together and went to start the bike....after checking the oil which incidentally was fine after the last 160km stage of last weeks trip. The starter seemed sluggish then everything just died. First thought was that I'd jammed a cable in somewhere putting everything back together....so pulled the side cover off then the plate away from the frame again, tried starting it again, still f all. Tried again and saw a spark down behind the plate somewhere. Investigated with a torch as I could see nothing and realised that on the back of of the front securing plate bolt there's meant to be two large earth wires attached. The nut securing them would have just fallen off when I undid the bolt, and not being able to see this hadn't realized what had happened...  But to get a nut back on meant loosening off the battery box so the horn would drop out of the way a bit to give access , just a bit of a PITA...but when done all was well again...amazing what you can forget when you haven't pulled something to bits for a while....

I then thought I'd pull and clean the air-cleaner and drain the fuel bowl, as it was playing up a bit just before I got home last week and suspected dirty fuel... pulled the cover off the air-cleaner and there's a bout 3 sq inches of foam left on the screen.. I guess the bike ate the rest... jees it looked alright last time I looked, glad it didn't stuff the engine completely, I don't imagine that baked foam will do the valve seats much good if it stuck...I guess I could have been lucky and it went straight out the exhaust ports....so new filter on its way from the States..$50 seemed a good price...

I think I'm gonna change the oil and filter and make sure I get a good oil this time and see how the consumption goes. There's no smoke on start up or general running just when I give it to it when over taking, so the ring job may be able to wait a while yet...

1/9 I could have waffled on and on in the poker run tale about the state of the roads in NSW...jees some of em are bad....where all the road works are where they're building the new 4 lane, it encroaches on the existing roads, so ya down to 80km for yonks....theres so much space there you think they could take a few more meters and keep the existing at 100km.....There's one section just out of Kempsey heading north through some tiny little bf town, that's a disgrace, down to one lane on Sunday, queued for about 20 minutes as they're patching a hole ffs....the road is barely wide enough for 2 semis.... As we left Woodburn coming back after a bit of rain the day before the potholes were getting horrendous... I saw one that thankfully I dodged about 300mm deep and about 600mm long, I think I'd been history if I'd hit that one. Bloody tricky seeing them down that stretch of road in the shadows of the trees on a wetish road too....

The bike held up well except for a couple of things, using a heap of oil so a ring job coming up I think, hopefully no new pistons, but we'll see....Interestingly my speedo just clicked over 20000 miles so that's pretty close to what that engines done...also I was getting a nasty noise from the primary when taking off from a stop which I think/hope will just be the primary chain, so I've got a bit of work to look at next few weeks....I must look at the saddle bag anchoring too...Ive got little bolts through the top of the bags attaching them to the support frame I built and I noticed one had left the party, and realised if they all fell out the bag could come off, as the bags are  not connected together anymore since I re-did the rear guard and taillight....I think a decent bolt through one of the supports each side will fix that though....

2/7 

In the middle of the latest news article there's this little gem:

"The gathering was one of the first since June 23 when the High Court ruled invalid laws that made it illegal for members of motorcycle gangs to associate with one another."     as if to suggest that previous to the High Courts ruling on the subject,  motorcycle gang members couldn't associate with each other........which isn't the case at all.... The laws were there so potentially the courts could ban association, between some people, but it never happened...and now , until they introduce another bill, it cant....

25/6 So the rear light turned up from J&P , only 9 days so I cant moan too much, had to go and buy a meter of trailer wire from he local Auto One to extend the cabling....Solder and heat shrink for a wont come to bits solution...

That done drilled the holes for the light and the cabling in the swiss cheese rear guard

I knew I might be taking a chance putting the guard and rear wheel on before mounting the light, but as usual I was too impatient...and I paid for it...After about 1 1/2 hrs trying to get the second bolt through the guard into the light I gave up and cut the heads off some longer bolts and put them in as studs into the light. Then it was easy to put spring washers and nuts onto the studs from under the guard when I could actually see what I was doing...

End result, would probably look better black than chrome, but it'll do for now....

Patched the tank as best I could, but I ain't no painter....doesn't look too bad in the pic, but its a bit how's ya father....but it'll do for today, off for a ride...

20/6 Had a bit of spare time Friday, so got the 150 rear tyre that's been sitting in the garage for a while stuck on the rear rim and went home to fit it...Is it just me or are rear wheels a right PITA....letting down the lift to try and get it as low as possible for the axel to slide through, the wheel gets hung up some where, and over the bike goes, on the floor.....Knocked out my last tank patch, and bent the forward controls bracket...

I bent that back with a bar with cloth wrapped round it levering off the frame, but the tank of course will take a bit more work...

With the help of the ever eager wife (not.....!, new fingernails...) finally got the poxy wheel mounted. Then I realised I'd left the caliper under the bike, and with the hose attached , ya caint fit it...wont fit between the wheel and the swing arm. Pulled off the hose, put it on, rebled..... Refitted the saddle bags and rear guard using all the original brackets this time, the right one of which I took off 5 or six years ago when I fitted a 160....which was shortlived. So now I'm just waiting for the light from J&P to turn up, which I think Ill probably paint black and then fit....after that I've got an idea about fitting a front caliper behind the existing rear caliper and and refitting the back brake controls...I've found myself searching for it when my leg's been feeling cooperative... That's if I can bring myself to roll around on the concrete for a few hours again, I think I'm getting past it...!

Getting there...

11/6 Rear tyre needs changing, and the rear guard has started to split where I bolted the rear indicator bar on, So I pulled the rear guard off, sounds easy....after removing the saddle bags and brackets, PITA...and had a go at welding up the crack after removing the tail light lens and got the cabling out of the way.

Went ok, but the result is that after a good look at it the light bar is just too heavy for the gauge of steel I think....so I decided to bob the fender just above the taillight mount and that'll save me patching 6 holes I'd made mounting the bar. so it was out with the masking tape and the trusty 4" grinder and hey presto done.

Mocked it up and it doesn't look too bad...nest step was deciding what to do about a light and indicators...

So I ordered one of these from j&p cycles......which after my previous bitching about them, so far has been an easy experience....ugly little troll of a thing but'll do the job...

While I'm waiting for it to arrive I'll be putting on a new rear tyre and seeing if I can get away with the paint on the guard....

4/6 Managed to get out for a bit of a ride today, up Castlereagh road, and over the Nepean up towards Yellow Rock, and through to Springwood in the lower Blue Mountains. Threatened to rain all the way, but didn't thank christ  so it was quite enjoyable...Good blast back down the freeway to the Penrith turnoff then the long way out to Londonderry road and then home...

21/4 now here's a funny story ..not....I finally got paid this week, and thought I'd put some money away for a change, expecting more in later in the week. So I through some money in a share trading account that hasnt been used for some time...No extra money came in of course so I go to transfer the money back into my cheque account. First problem is my password wont work, ring up and they were efficient and fixed that. Then when I go into the account to transfer the money out iafter another 1/2 hour of complications and phone calls I realise the receiving account is one the bank kindly closed without asking me a few months ago, as it wasn't being used....So I ring up to get the receiving account changed. fill in online form and email back. BUT! account must have same name as share trading account, which it doesn't.....I try to sneak it through saying its a trading account under the same company.... but a few hours later its yet to be changed. So I better see about opening the account again....or a new one with the right name. That actually went ok on the phone, but it looks like I still wont be able to access the money till all the paperwork is done, probably late next week if I'm lucky......I knew saving was for suckers...

Aah well big day tomorrow to take my mind off it!

5/4  Work died in the ring last week, so I thought I'd take the time to do some vehicle maintenance. I brought an oil filter for the Explorer when I got it quite a few months ago but hadn't got round to buying the oil...So went and got 15 litres from Peps in Windsor, as the jags sump holds 10 litres,  grabbed my ramps back from my mate and  got stuck in...   And what a joy it was... The car wasn't too bad, everything came off easy enough, the filter and the sump plug, and I didn't get completely covered in old oil...but even on ramps there's f all room under the Jag... I think the truck oil hadn't been changed for quite some time, the filter was nearly impossible to get off, and is located in a space where a filter wrench can turn about 10degrees....and the sump plug was also stuck as. But eventually the sump plug came undone, and in a brilliant bit of design work by Ford, the stream of hot oil spurts out far enough to hit a chassis member and be diverted in 10 different directions ensuring sweet FA of the first litre goes anywhere near the container underneath....Of course a smart man would have foreseen this and held a funnel over the plug hole...So the rest of the job, the half hour to get the filter off ,was spent avoiding lying in the pool of dirty black stuff...Jees the engine sounded sweet when it was done tho....hasnt used a drop since I bought it so it may last a while yet... I actually did the bikes oils about the middle of last year so everything's sweet now for a while...

19/2  Kiwi press and public getting all worried about the Rebels MC "moving in" makes me laugh.......any Motorcycle club'd have to be preferable to the street gangs that have regularly shamed the country with their wanton violence and other animalistic behaviour over the last 40 years.....

21/1 Ride down to my mates place,  who builds the sanddraggers , later today. 33degreees here so at about 6.30 pm it should be very pleasant for the  60 odd km's of mostly country roads....I'm taking a bottle of my best homemade rye whisky, (aged a good 45 minutes by the time I get there..) so I expect to have a late-ish one...like probably back tomorrow morning ...Dont wait up kids!

3/1/11 I've had Foxtel (satellite TV) for years, but before Christmas I finally got sick of paying $109 a month for crap repeats. A mate of mine came out with a USB HDD that had 300 movies on it and I managed to copy about half. He told me about the AppleTV media center he'd bought where you can play movies on your TV from the PC...So I had to get one. I bought a Compro T1000 for $225 odd off ebay. I wouldn't recommend them tho...It does play the movies from the PC fine, but its a bit slow, and you need to do a firmware upgrade to get some of the extra features working, and then they still don't work, but for just watching the movies its ok...You connect the media center to your TV through an HDMI or other cable and to your PC via an ethernet cable (cat 5 or 6) This can be problematic if the TV and PC are in different rooms as mine are, but I just bought a 25m cable and ran it round the walls and taped it where it goes across doors...or you could do it properly and get a sparky to put in a couple of RJ45 points...

Compro media center, pretty, but pretty useless...

I've seen that some media centers are wireless enabled so that may be better in a lot of cases if you have a wireless network, but I've also heard that wireless isn't too great with streaming HDMI content..

Took me a while to get my head around the concept of torrent files and clients but when I did, its pretty simple really...so now we sit there with another remote, and access our movies from the pc's.

For those that don't already know there are a heap of websites out there that host torrent files. These are files that you download , that cause you to download the content you want, when put in a program, a client, that will then download the movie or other files you have chosen from other users, much the same way you may have done it with music in the past.

I've been using http://torrentz.eu/search?q=&p=6 to search for what I want then getting the torrent file mainly from 'pirate bay' when they have it. You also need to down load the client, and I've been using the Frostwire software to good effect.

So the whole point is we now have movies to watch every night , and I've cut the Foxtel down to the basic package with telstra for $35 a month.

Media center such as Apple TV also can access the internet and certain sites ,such as u-tube, for playing direct to your TV. Some come with built in hard disks so you can save all your media content there. from what I've seen the best deals on the centers themselves is through ebay in the states, where the western digital units are available for less that $100

2/1/11  A New Year and another effort at this blog. I guess if I actually did anything interesting occasionally anymore I could write here a bit more,  but working from home and rarely leaving the house except for visits to the quack or funerals doesn't leave a lot to go on about....I did try some new flavors in the home brew over Christmas,.... Tennessee Bourbon , and a rye whiskey, which went down ok, and were a change from the rum I've been thrashing the last few months.....trouble is other than the wife ya don't get to share em with anyone much ,as everyone , including me, is too worried about getting caught after a session on the way home....that is other than my 21 year old daughter and her bf who had a few with me on her birthday here, and promptly vomited....but then they were keeping up, and probably their combined weight ain't anywhere near mine...

Twas a year of ups and downs...lost two good mates late last year, RIP Fox and Drains, but saw a very old mate from NZ who stayed for a few days , where we tried to kill each other first from drinking ourselves to death over 3 days, then when that didn't work by a brawl at 3am...mind you its not much of a brawl when I cant stand up and cant reach the poker...

Got diagnosed with diabetes , which I sort of knew I'd had for the last 10 years, but hadn't bothered doing anything about it. Good thing really, as its meant I've watched my diet and lost 10kg..well until Christmas struck...Interesting it doesn't really impact on my life at all, just a few pills every day..

This year I'm planning much of the same, except this year I WILL win lotto, and marry Elle.

I'm not actually much for New Years resolutions, but I gave the missus an extensive  list....fk that made her happy...( I think I could tell the difference...!) Aah thats right, try to cut down on the misogyny...and the carbs....

Must ride bike more often. Try to at least start it every month...thats about it, catch ya here in another 2 months!

23/10 Well still working on the rego's...finally got the car done today, I really dont understand the RTA's logic for not allowing 6 month rego's if its been expired more than 3 weeks....makes it that much harder...now if a few more people would pay their bills I'd have the bike done too...

21/9 Good ride on the weekend , now the memory of the cold ride home is fading!, bike went well , if I could just train it to go around right hand corners a bit quicker it'd be great....Something to do with the wheels on this model Dyna not being inline as you'd expect makes it a lot easier to swing into a left hand bend than a right hand bend. Not usually a concern but on the Putty road with its multitude of 35km/hr and similar corners it was a bit painful, that and my foot rest bolt on that side scraping repeatedly took the shine off things a bit, out with the 4" grinder later...Christ 2 rego's this week , didn't plan that well, doing 6 months mostly now, and I knew this would happen sooner or later, time to chase some recalcitrant customers for some dough I think....otherwise its no more rides for a few weeks..

11/9 Managed to play lawyer and dentist this week, and surprisingly, reasonably successfully... Lawyer was Thursday , where I defended myself against a talking on the phone while driving charge. 6 hours freezing inside and outside the nearly 200 year old Windsor Courthouse, brought the required 'case dismissed' from the Magistrate, so I saved myself $253.... Dentist was Friday.....Somehow for 54 years I'd managed to let my behind my bottom teeth get a really bad calculus buildup that's like concrete, and I was embarrassed for myself when I finally saw it...but only ever choosing to go to the dentists for emergency requirements will do that I guess. I've had dentists have a go at it before, but as it was pretty uncomfortable they didn't persevere,..... apparently these days they use a machine which I investigated , and you can buy one on ebay for $180.....but I thought I'd make something myself, to scrape it all away with while I had a bit of spare time yesterday. The first thing I found in the garage was the little tool they gave us for pulling on the springs for the kid trampoline, perfect shape!. With a bit of judicious grinding to sharpen the leading edge the right shape, and a quick dunking while hot , which hardened it up a bit, I was ready to have a go. Bloody awkward holding a mirror with enough light to see what I was doing, but after about an hour it was all done...Surprisingly the teeth were still in good nick under the concrete  but Ill spare ya the before and after shots....

Soon to be patented DIY teeth scaler!

18/7  No problem starting the bike yesterday after a damn cold night here, so alls good...The Local dirt track race way ( Nepean Raceway) had a meeting on, so a few of wandered out to have a look, you may remember I went a year or so ago..Perfect day for a ride if getting a little coool when I wandered home at 4 30. Good bit of action there, sidecars are pretty interesting to watch to say the least...The main meeting is on today, I might take the family out there later..pleasant spot.

15/7  Its funny how ya forget the basics....bloody bike's been giving me a hard time every time I go to start it the last two months, about 3 times..,! so last week I left it on a trickle charger thinking its just the cold getting to it or the battery is finally failing, been on it 5 years now...Today I go out remove the charger, and push the button...and its still not over anxious to turn over...Air turns bluish...F me the battery must be f ed I thinks...then notice some smoke coming from under the seat..just a little...but I realise what it must be when I touch the battery terminal and get a good burn! Bloody terminals loose....I grab a 10mm ringy and give it a quick tighten, push the start button, and it sits there idling as happy as a stone cold 124" can.... I decide to do the right thing and take the bolt out of the terminal again and clean the contacting surfaces up, and while I'm there put a new lug on the wire going to the fuse box, as its lost a few strands...Hopefully I'm ok again for a few years!

Didn't go out to start it primarily as it happened, went out to look at lifting the windscreen a bit. Yes yes I'm a silly old duffer that needs a screen....As it happens when I first put one on I was amazed on a long ride how unsore my arms and shoulders were after it. That's the main benefit I find, no more hanging on for grim death as the wind is trying to force back off the bike....I can sit on any speed for hours and feel fine. Takes a heap of pressure off the lower back too if ya have a problem there like I do...

Originally I put a stock screen off an Fl of some sort, but it was a bit bigger and uglier than I wanted, so I got a slightly smaller smoked one off ebay later on. Looked better ,but I really mounted it a bit low for full effectiveness.

Anyways take the two bolts out of the top of each side of the top of the triple trees that hold the screen on and see what its like 4" or so higher...I read that a correct height is nose height...you Greek and other Mediterranean buggers will have a bit to play with there, but for me its a fairly cut and dried height...

As luck would have it i happened to have some slotted steel brackets left over from a job mounting projectors in a business college. I'd already used some to fix my office chair, that although was supposed to handle 120kgs, obviously couldnt...but I digress...

I tried them against the bike, and they looked like they would fit, so on they went and on went the screen, poifect! Good height now for the cooler weather, and I can loosen off the bolts and drop the screen 4" or so when it warms up again...

  Not as noticeble as this when ya stand back...and Ill tidy up the bolts and brackets with a lick of paint

next time, ya cant rush these things...

Just got to do something about the gap under the screen to the headlight now....Im thinking some alloy checker plate cut to fit and blacked out or leather...

6/6 Went out for my ride around the block as I call it, about 30kms out to Richmond down to Windsor and home again, decidedly fresh out there this morning,  but a good ride apart from half the idiots in cars doing 10kms under the limit....The bikes running well, after a battery charge last week, when I thought I was going for a ride up to the Central Coast until the weather turned feral.....I dont mind if it rains a bit once I'm on the bike, but fuck going out in it these days...

25/4/10

Virgin sucks.....Bought my 11yr  daughter a new phone,to replace the prepaid I bought her a couple of years ago, which I wouldnt have chosen personally, but she wanted Virgin and she liked the pretty red one...which she's had since last Tuesday , and by Saturday it wont take a charge....Ring Virgin support last night, and of course after only 15minutes waiting I'm talking to a nice girl in the fucking Philippines...who tells me to take it to a Virgin shop. I ring the shop today to see what the story will be and "bring it in we'll send it away, and it'll be 4 -6 weeks...." Your fucking joking I say, only had it 3 days before its crap....why cant you give me another phone? They tell me I should be able to get an "early failure replacement" and I need to ring customer support again... So I just did...I'm starting to understand the American Phillipino accents by now....as she tells me they'll send out a satchel to pick up the old phone...but it will still be at least 2 weeks before I get a replacement....Well I wont be paying rental for that 2 weeks will I? I say......you can imagine how much sense I got after that... Anyway nothings easy, daughter is 45kms away, but I suppose I gotta go and pick it up...

21/4 hmm ,that was smart...trying to bring all the old news articles from International Biker News pages , and only brought the links before I deleted the whole site....start again..!

5/4

I was composing a parody of 'Home on The Range" out loud in the kitchen, basically bemoaning the fact the kids woke me up at 6am thanks to daylight savings finishing, and generally insulting the wife, when I thought about the original words that include "where the deer and the antelope play" ...Antelope?? what f ing antelope??? I thought ... I've never heard of  antelope in North America, arent they only in Africa?...and don't forget I come from an upbringing on westerns and cowboys and Indians and hundreds of movies showing the rugged plains with the bison and tussock....

Hobbling quickly back to the PC I typed in the name of the song in the google toolbar and quickly brought up the lyrics...The missus was wrong, I had the lyrics right, Antelope is there...so I looked it up and found the North American Antelope is also known as the Pronghorn antelope, and once numbered in the millions....

Heres a pic or 2 pinched from Wiki

I guess they may have been seen in movies over the years, and I'd have thought it was just a deer, but I can never remember them being referred to as antelope.... ya learn something every day....

4/4

Well I had a coupla good 1hr rides each way Thursday and Friday from my place down to the show grounds and back, M4, M7, M5 two days running, the first one could've been better tho if a police car hadn't pulled on to the M7 between me and my mate tho....christ its hard doing 100ks on the motorway...bike went well, and I think I've finally got the footboard sorted in the right position so my foot stays on it at all speeds. Now if I can just find a way my back doesn't fuck up after a few hours so I cant walk the next day Ill be happy!(moan moan moan..)

I've got the rear brakes working off the front master cylinder now, with the use of the proportioning valve, and it seems fine, got the fronts turned down, so in the wet or gravel etc, theres' a bit more back brake, but yet to be tested in panic!. hopefully I never have to...

The show went well, good crowd and some awesome bikes there as usual. Also as usual the flashest longest ones didn't look like I'd wanna try and do a 1000ks on em, but they are works of art. I should have some better pics soon.

16/3

Finally got on the bike again today, and went and got a pink slip for my rego. 16th birthday coming up for the old girl next week...Lost my bloody sun glasses  as I went for a blast up Castlereagh Road, cant remember last time that happened....Yeehaaa Gladiators show at Maitland on Saturday, so I might finally have some pics for the site...

2/3 Got the missus to grab a copy of that  "Aussie Biker Build off" DVD. Only $20, so good value really, interesting, saw a lot of familiar faces. Bikes all looked good but without spoiling it for ya, everything didn't really go as it should've...I imagine we'll see one of more of the bikes at the show...

25/2 Anyone else watch Undercover the other night? Interesting for me as it was about New Zealand in the 60's and 70's. If ever there was a reason to hate undercover cops this program was it....Not perhaps for the busts they did so much as for the other parts of their wretched existences.....

There's one guy who sits on a beach and doesn't assist at a young child's resuscitation efforts after drowning, because he doesn't want to blow his cover ffs.....What cover???, he was on a beach, no one knew him....

Then there was the guy who was sent to Gisborne, a small rural town, that supposedly had a drug problem. He found there wasn't. there were no drugs available in town, so he coerces some locals into growing large marijuana crops on their farms, and then busts them, and they're proud of the amount of drugs seized..!

All in all I looked at their efforts and said what a waste of time that was. It hardly put a dent in the drug trade, it just dented supply perhaps for a short time, and inconvenienced those that they locked up. It corrupted and changed forever the cops that were involved, ....they admitted taking all the drugs they were meant to be getting off the streets, lying in court, serious assaults and  entrapment ....christ knows what they didn't tell us...

Its a series, on again next Tuesday....

14/2 Watched "Inglorious Basterds" last night, was ok, good laugh...about as historically factual as my recent coronation, but with the second  40oz bundy  a mate brought back duty free to get into, in 2 days,  all was right with my slightly out of focus world last night.

Summer in western Sydney is still a joy, either 40degrees or raining still, and as I sit here its  76% humidity....just thinking about moving is making me sweat lately...

Started the bike yesterday, first time in about 3 weeks, but a ride wasn't really on the cards with the world steepest driveway being wet, and me not being able to use the back brake sometimes, I could see my future being another trip to the pavement  after the front wheel locked up...

I've bought a proportioning valve, and have intended to hook front and back brakes together, but the projects on hold as I try and devise another way of working the back brake separately with only a limited number of limbs....a push button with an actuator that will retract after being energized seems a reasonable idea, and I'm thinking of something like a windscreen wiper motor on a gear attached to the brake pedal....suggestions (physically possible only please) welcome...

Well I found out why we lose our Foxtel Signal, its because the shit technology was already in England and Rupert Murdoch was in a hurry to get it in here...apparently microwave had been mooted, where I understand ya don't get the weather problems.... so we're all rooted for the forseeable future..

Sent the missus down to register the car today, as it had just ran out, due to the RTA not sending out a reminder.....and now the queer cunts don't take cheques!??? Since when? Nothing on any paper works I've got.... Between that, a parking ticket , and homo and butch highway patrol fuckwits ( I thought it was a man at first..) bothering me for a total of $890 today, its not been a good one. Lying f ing hp cunts, take my phone from my pocket as I stopped, and they give me a $200 ticket for being on the phone....see ya's in court...

Fuck me arrested for wearing a t shirt...( news ,front page...)whats next ? Welcome to Nazi Australia...

3/1 Bah humbug, Happy New Year my arse...! Heres a couple of moans... firstly how come every time it rains hard I lose my Foxtel signal ? Isn't this supposedly satellite technology? I don't lose my mobile phone signal or did I ever lose my 'analogue' TV in the rain, or radio ffs...so why this.....maybe we aint paying enough a month....

The second moan is farking rubbish.....they put us on this 3 bin crap where your not recyclable and not green rubbish is this half size bin that they only empty every 2 weeks..! A new green bin, emptied weekly, full size , is for food waste and garden waste. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't throw f all food away and I don't have f all garden waste so this new bin is a cracking good idea isn't it you pack of dicks in council....and fuck sorting food waste into its own little bin, without a plastic bag......And Christmas is always good for rubbish, cardboard box pile 4 feet high now...rang the local tip, and $55 minimum charge to dump anything...used to be $7!

28/12 Site was down for a couple of days, must be the holiday season and people having more time to browse.....caused it to go over the bandwidth limit for the month...

Chrissy come and gone, good day, nice to have the 5 kids all together.... only happens once or twice a year. Now its over what the hell am I gonna do for the next two weeks without any work..??? I get bored easily, and after 2 days on the couch watching more crime than I really needed to see, could do with a project.....If it stops raining for a day a ride wouldn't be out of the question.... I went out round the 'block" about 50kms on Christmas eve when it was about 38C degrees and  it wasn't particularly pleasant, so these lower temps'll be ok...

Someone enjoyed the day...

8/11  I had to buy a new rattle gun recently, got a cheap kit off ebay, $47 for a rattle gun, air ratchet and 8 or 10 sockets. Works ok...However it came with different air fittings to what I already had. My existing stuff was all Ryco fittings in brass, but the new stuff was all Nitto, and as ya may or may not know, they aint interchangeable. So I went down the local Auto-one to get more Ryco fittings. But they didnt have any, so I bought a slew of  Nitto fittings and decided to change everything to Nitto.

Bad idea. First off I couldn't remember what size my hose was (dont laugh...) and ended up with too small a coupling fitting, 5/16 instead of 3/8. So sealing the hose was a pita...Then there's the fittings themselves. Crap. Hard to put together, and fall apart if ya touch em.....Working on the car the other day, just put the ratchet down gently on the tappet cover, and it blows apart....

Until yesterday I didn't know what the various systems were all called, but decided I couldn't live with the new one, which I discovered was Nitto.

Here's what they look like:

If you've got these and they work for you, fine, but I prefer these:
 

  This is a Ryco coupling (200 series), Goes on the hose.

  This is a Ryco 200 adapter, goes on your tools.

Anyway I thought I'd have a look at the Supercheap site not expecting them to have these small bits there, but they had everything I needed , from the adapters to the coupling and also the male to male adapters  like below which you may need if you cant get the male adapter like the above pic.

So for $10 delivery fee I didn't have to leave home.....

There seems to be another common fitting in Aus, Jamec and there's a good page of examples here : Jamec

aah the monthy blog....shows how much I've been doing bike wise...went into the city Saturday night for a mates 20th Anniversary, nice warm night, good ride, and didn't see 1 cop...so it was a good night.

Been flat out working until this week , when the arse dropped out of it, so after a boring day in front of the PC Tuesday, decided I'd put the new AC compressor back in the Jag. Aah the joys ,to save a coupla hundred...lying on my back with a 20 lb chuck of alloy above me hoping I wont drop it on my face....Did the right thing for a change and changed 2 of the 3 belts, as the AC belt was shot anyway, and the supercharger belt didnt look much better..the alternator belt looked fine...and after about 4 hours was all done, apart from getting the inch of grease off my arms from fingers to elbows...and its been pressure washed about 3 times lately.... Today I've just got to remove the top plate over the radiator and replace the dryer, which is far too well hidden, and then get it regassed, and drive without dying on a hot day again..

My brake proportioning valve arrived in the post this morning so the next bike project is hooking up my brakes so I can hit the back brake as well as the front with the front brake lever. This is so when my right leg chooses not to be movable to the brake pedal ,its not all front brake in a hard stop, especially on wet surfaces...this has caused me grief before...I'll try and remember to take some pics

The warm weather must be helping , managed to get off all my pain pills this week, feel like crap coming off those tramadols though...like 50 coffees , and the missus telling ya she's pregnant again. Cos she did. So Ill be 75 at my youngests' 21st, they'll probably have to dig me up to see me tho...

11/10 Further to the bleat below, decided after fixing the ball joint , that I'm sure had nothing wrong, I wasn't gonna replace a perfectly good tyre for fuck all, and tracked down an old mechanic I used to go to years ago in Dural. First thing he said was "tyres look good.".!! Took it for a drive for the brake test and wrote the pink slip....

Out for a ride round the 'block' yesterday. Got a lot of good country roads round here, one in particular that's known as a bit of a drag strip, where ya can see for probably half a mile in all directions and there aint nowhere for an oink to hide...nice to open the old girl up occasionally. My meandering didnt last long tho, half a mile from home realised Id forgotten my wallet, so curtailed things a bit. At least it was windy and cold.

Before I went out thought id see if there were any shows on anywhere. Noticed a distinct lack thereof in NSW at the moment, we're still suffering fallout I guess...

Do mechanics that ya dont know personally all take it in the ring or what? I had a  local garage for a couple of years, but since Ive moved further westward, unfortunately I don't know anyone. When I first got here (near Penrith) I rang a crowd Id taken my car to about doing a rego check on my jeep. The guy goes away for 10 minutes, then comes back and says " seeing its a car we're not familiar with its probably better if we dont do it, as the RTA might call ya in again to re check it..."  WTF's that about? ok....forget them. Made the trip down to where I used to live, and no problem.

Then a couple of months ago had to rego the falcon s/w I use for work. Take it to another local garage where I don't know anyone..They put the car up on the hoist and were under it with lights and torches for 45 minutes FFS!  Now when I take a car in for rego, I check it myself first, and there was f all wrong with the ford, other than maybe a small oil leak, that would leave a couple of drops a night.

So they fail it on that and the two rear tyres....hmmm  ok, maybe should have pressure washed it first, and the tyres well maybe, but they still had full tread. Didnt argue tho, replaced the tyres and pressure washed fordos arse....went back and passed. Wont go back again tho. you wankers.

Jag needs rego, spent 2 days underneath it 6 weeks ago fixing oil leaks, exhaust bolts etc, however one small leak returned...

Made the 40km trip down to the old place, and f me all changed, no mechanic or even petrol!

Jacked it up first thing this morning, pita, and checked the front end. Felt fine, maybe a touch of bearing movement in passenger side.

Down to the clowns who wouldnt do the jeep, as they are MG specialists, and thought maybe the British car thing..etc etc...might help..

Wrong! The mechanic couldnt work out how to start it as ya have to pull the gearshift down a little to make the inhibitor switch work, and it ends up on the defect list!  Its a "safety" issue, f me....what??? if ya cant start the car its unsafe,??? I said to him its a f ing good anti theft device actually.

Apparently it also needs a ball joint and the bearings adjusted....hmmm....Anyway went and bought a ball joint so Ill do it tomorrow. Apparently ya have to jack a car under the suspension not the side, to take the weight off more to check it? we'll see...And he also picked a rear tyre, which looks fine to me and the oil leak, and the windscreen which has a crack right down the bottom of it and was passed at the old place at least twice...So $295 for a windscreen, $190 for a tyre, $75 for a ball joint,a 80km drive to get it,  and a day of joy in the garage to look forward to. I gotta move to Queensland where there aint no checks...or dickheads.

5/9 Aah the monthly blog, Im obviously not up to much...I think I started the bike last week to move it from one side of the garage to the other, no, I cant push the friggin thing, it weighs half a ton and the front tyre drags on the guard going backwards...Hey, the foots healed up, in case anyone gave a fuck, sob sob, lol, 

Was down at my wholesalers the other day and a new Polaris shop has opened up there, actually I think they just moved from up then road, but I digress....they had two Victory's in there , a tourer and a sportier chopperish thing with a solo seat, no prices on em of course, no info sheets  and not a sales person within walking distance...I spose they'll sell themselves??? I dunno about them, very fine line between different but ok, and fucking ugly....The finning on the engines must be massive as the cylinders look twice the size of the ones on my bike, which of course if it aids cooling isn't a bad thing, at first glance tho the word obese comes to mind. ...Just to get some of my own back..:-) Fathers day tomorrow so I expect to be blotto next week from the incoming spirit line....at least Im easy to buy for ! Between  my eldest daughter buying a manual trans car she cant drive ffs, and my eldest son being disqualified  it might not be a packed house tho!

2/8  gotta stop drinking, yeah right....but as if I aint crippled enuf, after a couple of the blow ya head off vodka martinis I made on Friday night, make the mistake of trying to stand up. Get about 3/4 of the way and the old knees collapse, and down I go. Missus nearly craps herself laughing while I writhe around trying to extricate myself from between the coffee table and the couch.....Anyway decide the stairs'll be too much and sleep downstairs....find the right foots blown up an bit and its pretty likely somethings cracked...Drag some shoes on yesterday arvo and waddle out to do the rear brakes in the car...pull off one wheel, and find the pads they sold me aint big enough, same shape but about 30% too small....turns out their manual was outa date and they've ordered the wrong ones.....didn't want to take the kids anywhere today anyway...

23/7 Damn I must be old, 40 years since the moon landing, I remember sitting in French class at Porirua College, and the school PA speakers being turned on and listening to it, then seeing it on the news that night on tv....I guess there must've been some benefit to mankind from all that money spent...aaah that's right my eggs don't stick some of the time...

Nice little ride the other day in summerish temperatures, just up the road and back on what is one of the most picturesque roads Ive been on, tho Australia is full of them...Getting the itch for a long ride again, boys must be going up to Queensland again soon, might have ta go again..

11/7 J&P Cycles Sucks

F ing  J&P cycles.......Thought I'd treat myself and buy some lowering blocks for the rear of the dyna seeing I'm finding it harder to get my leg over these days( no jokes!) There were some advertised on ebay here but I was too slow....anyway go thru the checkout bit...New address and credit card details etc....First annoying thing is they never give you the shipping cost....god knows why, other sites can introduce a feature that calculates shipping of anything to anywhere in the world, I've f ing used it!.... And I remember being charged $90 for shipping an electrical component once, for my ignition, so I really shouldn't have used them again, but....then they send me the confirmation email then, and...........wait for it.........Out of stock..! Dirty email being returned to them shortly.

Update, the mother just admitted it....artificially inseminated...

29/6 I know nobody gives a f@$#k ,but I gotta say something.....Who else saw Michael Jacksons kids on TV last night?  Now has anyone ever seen quite a dark  black man, as he was before he started bathing in bleach or got his "disease", medication whatever,  have blonde blue eyed children before??? whether the mother was white as snow or what.....give me a break.....someone's taking the piss here..

28/6/09 Well apart from working I've been doing lots of f all lately.....Of course apart from mourning the worlds most famous child molester who passed away far too soon...c!@T should have kept suffering like the rest of us....Be interesting to see if  Macaulay Culkin ever says anything about the weird one now.

Under the car this morning changing the oil, I'm ashamed to say I cant remember doing it before, and I've had it 4 years....friggin 10 liter sump tho so should be ok for a while again. Bikes looking a bit forlorn in the garage, have to try and take it out this week sometime, before I forget how...Hard as ya get older, less energy for a start, and with a young family again, every time I'm out the front door the 3yr old wants to know when Ill be back.....

Aah my luck strikes again.....Lynny decided to book us a weekend away a couple of months ago, she seems to get the shits cos we haven't had a holiday for 3 or 4 years for some reason, and selected Port Macquarie, about 4 hours north. I winced a bit at the time, cos it was gonna be in May and the weather could be shit...

As it happened I had to be right this time, and the worst storm for 30 odd years was heading down the coast.

Not wanting to lose the nearly $400 we decided we'd go anyway, and as I had work for the day, left at about 3.30.

First mistake, ...traffic absolutely shit getting out of town at that time of night, took an hour just to get to the F3 at Hornsby, then it was the interminable crawl up towards Brooklyn.

Traffic thinned out a bit after Brooklyn and we were getting close to hitting the speed limit in spots...

The two kids, 3 and 1 were doing quite well with the DVD in the back, till it finished, and after a quick stop for gas just past Karuah, in the heaviest rain Ive seen for a while we took off again. Then the youngest decided all this rockin and rollin wasnt going to agree with her stomach......up it came. Without going into too much detail now the car sure does pong a bit...

The whole way its been raining, with the occasional downpour where I've actually got to slow down a bit cos I cant see f all, and its just getting worse as we get further north. Traffics thin cos now its dark and about 8.30 at night, and we've still got 100 odd kms to go.

We run into about the 10th set of road works ,just south of Kew , when bang ,we hit a monster pothole on the left hand side..... be lucky if that hasnt dented the rim I think. 100 yards later I can feel we've got a flat.....

Now its absolutely pissing down, pitch black, and the road is only 2 lanes wide with no shoulder cos of the road works.....I limp forward till theres enough shoulder to get the car out of the traffic lane.  Its still hosing down.... wait till it eases a bit and jump out into the mud.

I'd really felt the bang in the front, but its the back left that's flat. This'll be fun.  Pull all the luggage out of the boot, find the jack, and fortunately the spare isnt completely flat.....Throw a baby blanket down in the mud to kneel on, and hope like hell I can loosen the wheel nuts with the retarded wheel brace/spanner that comes with the car. Unbelievably they aint too tight, so whilst being happy there aint no hairdo to ruin, get the tyre off whilst getting soaked. Cant see f all, but with the abck door open, a mobile phone light, and the semi headlights I sort of see where I am. Get the spastic skinny spare on, good for a whole 80 km/hr! and get back in the car cursing about smashing my little finger when the spanner slipped off....

On we trot at a reduced speed for another hour..

The apartments fine, and the kids are happy and we all get to bed just after 12....after a rather large drink...

Get up Saturday morning, and I gotta get the puncture fixed.....open the boot and have a look at the wheel. Crap crap crap, big dent in the rim, which has broken the seal and let all the air out.

First tyre place , I show em and ask if I can use a big hammer. But no, ya cant do that, it might break, ya gotta heat and roll it etc etc..

Well I gotta fix it, cos I cant drive 400kms on that skinny thing. Ill buy a gas bottle and a hammer. Off ta supa cheap auto, and get a small gas torch and 2 hammers, 1 soft faced. Think it'll be better to heat it up with the tyre off so pull into another tyre place and explain what Im doing. Older guy here about my age, and he says, just hammer it back, dont heat it. So I do, and I get it pretty straight with the little plastic hammer that's about 2 sizes too small really. He throws some gunk around the rim, puts some air in it, and after a few more hits it holds. Yeehaa! They change the wheel and for a whole $10, I'm back on the road.

Rest of Saturday, go out for awhile, but cant take the kids to the beach as its still pissing down most of the time, and the beaches have disappeared under 10ft waves and brown foam...

Sunday morning out the garage door at about 8.30. turn right onto the main road, and the front end feels shit. The front left tyres flat.

I dont f ing believe it! The air turns a very dark shade of blue, as we're too far from a gas station to limp it there. Out with all the luggage, out with the jack and skinny spare, and change the wheel...Pull the flat one off, and the inner rim has a dent like the back one, maybe slightly smaller. Beat shit out of it on the side of the road till the little hammer head comes off. Change the wheel and head to the nearest gas station.

Miraculously a workshop is open and I ask to borrow a big rubber mallet. :"that wont do it " he says, but graciously lends me the tool... "it did yesterday" I reply, and beat it almost back to shape. Put in air, still leaking, beat some more, still leaking, but keep the air on it and it pops into place. Fill to 40lbs. Fill all tyres to 40 lbs, I still have to drive back through all those shit areas with low profile tyres on 2 bent rims and figure more air will help. It did. We trot off, and I poop myself every time we hit a bump for the next 50kms or so. They both held fine tho, and we made it home ok. Now I really should get the wheels fixed properly. Cant see it happening tho....

I'm staying home next weekend.

11/5 I couldnt make this stuff up if I tried......Put the head back on the car on Saturday...(sounds easy doesn't it...frigging thing must weigh 40kgs..Fortunately the missus is 1/2 monkey and climbed into the engine bay...) and pull out my brand new torque wrench that I bought about 18months ago, and then never used. Set it to the required 29ft lbs, and tightened up the first bolt, and listened for the click...At about 40 lbs I realised this aint working...and hastily loosened the bolt off again. Put it in the vice, dropped the setting to 10 lbs and try it....nothing. JFC! I could have just wrecked the head...but hopefully not. So I pull the b wrench to bits and decide that they must have assembled it wrong, try it a couple of different ways, and finally get it working. only took an hour...

Buy the missus a gps for mothers day so when she needs to rescue me, theres no excuse for taking 2 hours...Go to set it up and it'll go so far thru the menus, will find where you are, but thats it... doesnt fucking work! Down to Dork Smith at 10 when they open and consult the hippopotamus at the returns desk..."seems to be working to me..." Try and plan a trip" says I feeling steam appearing at the ear holes...She consults a superior neanderthal, and they ask if I want a replacement..."no thanks I just came down to show you how lucky I am" came to mind ,but guessing it would only confuse them opted for a 'yes please" and waited 30 minutes while they found the keys to the cabinet.

Got it , it worked, stroke narrowly avoided.

6/5/09 Is a loud Hallelujah in order? I note the latest news about the 'boss' of Notorious ,doesn't  call them a "bikie" gang . Has the penny finally dropped with the mainstream media...????, if they dont ride motorcycles, or at least noones ever seen them ride motorcycles, they aint a 'bikie" gang....Or a motorcycle club as I'd prefer to term it...

19/4 Well that was a week of mixed fortunes....last Saturday my cheap old Ford work vehicle, that had been running so well I didn't believe it, decided it had had enough of 100k's a day on the freeways and burnt a valve...So I stumbled it home and diagnosed it after checking injectors and plugs somewhat hopefully. Disconnected the injector feed, and Im still driving it  and did a 1000ks on it this week, just a wee bit slower...Went down the local car yard and signed up for a 2003 BA XT wagon. After a slight hiccup with the finance, thanks to an art union ticket still going out monthly on an Amex card, 9 years after the account was cancelled, was approved, then I found out I've got no work after next week...ho hum...Been so busy working 6 days a week I haven't had time to register the bike, so hopefully this week, if I get paid...

JC, what about these new laws , be laughable if it wasnt so serious...

15/4 Articles the like of which appeared in today's news are pissing me off....Some little pissant playing up at 5am in the Cross is being named as a member of an organization, that obviously ,if it had any sense of self respect, would be kicking his arse itself... The worst part is he's being referred to as a 'bikie" (still hate that term..) bringing his indiscretion on to the backs of the rest of us...as if we need any more at the moment. The sooner a certain group is seen in their colors ,on their bikes ,for the world to see, disproving all the 'pseudo' rumours, the happier Ill be...

8/4

NEW LAWS: CLICK HERE FOR DOWNLOAD OF CRIMES ACT

Christ, from what I read, if you're in a club that has been proved overseas to be a "criminal organisation" they can declare your club to be the same based solely on that evidence. Starting to know how the Jews felt in Nazi germany.....

29/3 Well this has all turned to shit in the blink of an eye hasn't it....I doubted we'd see the South Australian style laws here , but thanks to perhaps the maximum possible indiscretion last week, it looks like we're going to get them very soon.....My thoughts a couple of weeks ago when all the drive bys were happening, and bringing bike clubs into the spotlight every day ,  were I just wish all these c!@#s would pull their heads in ,  but alas it was not to be....Just bad luck too for us older folks that so many young hotheads looking for a brotherhood and an identity have all chosen bike clubs at the same time....Hopefully a few reflections may be happening at the moment, and a glimmer of reason suggesting a few large chill pills may be permeating more than just a few minds...

Where do these journalists dig up their headlines, is there a book of irresponsible  inflammatory rhetoric available for those starting out?

Forty years of bikie hatred

Prepare for more bikie bloodshed

being todays winners...

25/3  What a joke today, radio was  on at work and Ray Hadlee ex footballer on and on about how The HA Derek shouldnt have his job at the RTA, and generally about how all bilkies should be shot at birth basically....Wish Id had the time to ring him up and ask what he thought about the big group of drunken rapists in NSW that have been getting plenty of press for years but still carry on regardless....whos that ? The NRL.... bout time they banned em and had non association orders on all of the bastards!

21/3 later:  'king hell front wheels with 6 spacers are fun by yaself....bloody heavy bugger of a thing...Feels great tho, forget what a difference a front tyre makes till ya put a new one on....and what a great day for a ride, course with my 10yr old being over this weekend, I could only slip away for an hour or so...

21/3 Happy Birthday old girl! The dyna is 15 today. Though not quite as spritely as it was when brand new, due to putting on a bit of weight here and there, shes still pretty good in a straight line. There's a few chips in the paint and chrome and there's the odd seal that could probably do with replacing, but with any luck she'll still be carrying my slim self around in another 15. Birthday present? new front tyre...now to put the wheel back on...

17/3 Living out near Penrith I saw the Ulysses campground today,theyve got a big gathering this week,  christ looked like 5000 tents there...Ive seen a few groups riding new Triumphs this week, and today a whole heap of new Victory's, including the spaceship/tourer. Seems like its a great machine , according to Bikernets new write up, looks pretty good on the road,  there was about five of them, plus about 15 other Victory's and  almost all looked like customs... good looking bikes...didnt know there were that many in the country, I wonder where the dealer is?

14/2 Jees Sydney weather, either 40C degrees  or pissing down, At least I could work this week without being blinded by sweat, thank christ I was too lazy to take the bike last night, 120 kms in the rain would've annoyed me somewhat....Here's a pic of Waskos chop, neat! In another vein, do all the people who have lost houses in Victoria have grounds for  class action against the Victorian Govt, for preventing them having adequate firebreaks around their houses?

http://www.sysharleydavidson.com.au/Default.asp?Page=184    check out this link on Sy's site, christ $53k and its only got a single front disc!

24/1 Sweated my way through another week here, temps up to 38 most days, and its aiming for 40 today, oh joy .of Course the work wagon AC had to decide not to work on the center vents....Bike is still sitting on ebay, dropped the price a bit to see if there's any more interest...if it sells ill be looking for a Triumph Rocket 3, Ive seen some good prices for these in Victoria.

17/1 Whatafuggingweek....! Back to work on site, and if that aint bad enough its gotta hit 43 degrees on Thursday, and I get two tows home Tuesday and Wednesday in my work vehicle due to a fuel pump crapping out....The one and two hour waits in the sun were the highlight of the week...al I can say (again) is I must've been a bad bastard in a previous life ....Sitting here this morning its back to 21degrees and I can breathe again, bloody Sydney weather...

6/1/09 Hate having to do it, but after a diabolical December where almost noone paid me ,bloody construction industry! Im up to my ears in bills and somethings gotta give. So Ive added a donate button that might help with the $50 odd dollars a month in hosting fees. Thats presuming I survive the 40C temps we're getting this week.....All donations gratefully accepted.

21/12 Friday was fun. Finish work out near Liverpool at about 1.30, and ring up this guy who said he'd pay me today. no answer. Hmm. He usually rings back in 5  or ten, so onto the M5 towards Old Canterbury Rd. No ring back tho. Into the back of his shop and 'aah its a nightmare in here today, can you wait half an hour'...from his off sider. Ok I spose...But its hot so f this, so after 10 minutes bowl round the front of the shop. "aah he just left..! He'll be back at 4..."  Still manage to stay calm, but as its just after 2 I aint hanging round for 2 hrs....Ill go home.

Up Old Canterbury, across New Canterbury and into Ashfield. Turn right and the car dies..Manage to drift to a halt over a driveway. Battery flat, wont turn over. Push the wagon clear of the driveway. Open then bonnet. Check the battery ,9v ,not looking good...try starting again, starts but still reading 9V . Doesn't look good for the alternator. Call NRMA. Wait 1 hr . He confirms diagnosis. New alternator $309.00 fitted! Fortunately Im broke. Ring home, help,  rescue me. Wait 2 hrs......I swear if there's a long and difficult way to go she'll find it...

So now its after 5pm on Friday night and we have to tackle the M4. Crawl home, take another 2 hours.

Get up Saturday and mosey around for a while. Id remembered that wreckers have cheaper alternators, after 10 phone calls to auto electricians who don't answer their phones at 4pm on Friday, and have found one for $75 at Padstow. Course its not easy, my model and year, they changed from Mitsubishi to Bosch....Settle on one that looks similar and head back to the car. It could have been worse, but the alternator is under the power steering unit at the bottom of the engine...Takes about a half hour to get it out. Takes 1.5hrs to get the bottom bolt back in, which is now put in from the back as the alternators are different...oh the joys. Change the plug, start car. Hmm... still 9v. check connections. Start car again with booster. Still 9v and dropping. horrible scream from alternator. Ring wreckers, are these checked? Sometimes they cant check them...I cant do this again so I ring the NRMA, as I have been paid Ill just bite the bullet...

Fortunately however when he turns up and I tell him what the story is, he immediately diagnoses a loose belt...And it is. Feel stupid. But  fing glad that its what it is. He tightens belt and Im on the way again....The joys of city life.

16/11 Finally got on the bike after a few weeks, Missus and kids went out, so no excuses left! Popped an extra pain killer and headed out towards Richmond on Mulgoa Rd. Pretty as next to the river then pristine country side, suprisingly green for a change. Turned left at Richmond and headed up towards Kurrajong.

Turned right and  ended up on Blaxland Ridge Road, which goes for 20 or 30 ks and then hits the Putty Road. Decided not to turn left and do the 160kms to Singleton, turned right and back down to Windsor.

Pretty as out here.

Quite a big crowd at the Windsor pub, band playing, but couldn't be bothered stopping, and just trundled home quietly...

14/10 Im glad i did my trade, otherwise at 52 years of age I might be standing outside in all weathers looking into ditches...aah hang on, I am!! Christ I think I almost got sunstroke yesterday, and today its pissing down, Im covered in mud and have to put my hands in my pockets to keep em warm..! Im subbying for a guy who does water board work, and I have to put a meter on the water pipes for the plumber as he cuts them, to make sure there's no dangerous voltages present as they fit the householders mains to the new street main. None so far, but a few tingles reported...Talk about boring, tho yesterday was moderately amusing when a tap on the mains broke and there was a fountain 20 ft high, cooled me down a bit...

2/10 Jesus love a duck...Ive had some vehicle fun lately. My ever tormenting jeep did a head gasket a few weeks ago, and to cut a long story short I sold it on ebay after 2 weeks and bought  92 ford station wagon for work. So Lynny gets the car back and I drive to work in something more suitable, that I can carry a ladder in...Been at work 2 hours and I get the phone call the Jags broken down 1/4 mile from home...Nrma cant tow it home cos of the baby, so its sitting on the side of the road, hazard lights still flashing (why??????) 8 hours later on my way home....However on my way home in the new vehicle the friggin battery light has come on....aah cheap shit vehicles what do I expect ?....I manage to just get home and deal with corroded battery terminals before attending to the other car down the road, until it starts pissing down. Give up for the night but find a fuel pump fix( theres 2 pumps and you can bypass the crook one) on the internet, and fix it at 6 the next morning. Off I go to work, a distant 76kms away in Caringbah. Due to two separate accidents on 2 separate major routes I must take, it takes me 3 freaking hours to get there...After work I have to drive to another job in Camden another 66 klm away. On the way there the battery light comes on again. So I get to the job and leave the car running for 10 minutes while I do the repair. When i finish, the light is miraculously off again, so all is good till I get home.....Next morning off I trot at 6 oclock  ( I know ..Im a poet...)  so Ill miss a bit off traffic on my way to Caringbah again for 8 oclock start. On the freeway and the frigging battery lights on again....and it doesn't go off  this time. So I stop halfway to work and have a look with the engine still running. Lo and behold, the wire to the alternator is floating free ...somehow its broken off..So I turn the car off and do some electrical repairs...Only takes five minutes, but of course now the battery is flat and car wont start. No matter I've got a jump starter. Crap crap crap, wont do it...only used once too since I charged it, I figure at 5 years old it might be time to replace...So call NRMA again....Tell me they'll be an hour. Usually they're less, so I should still get to work on time. Two hours later I think I'm going to have a stroke....I'm  sure the NRMA guy can see steam coming from my ears and apologizes profusely....Blames in on Ramadan and traffic jams further up the road, joy of joys....

Anyway the car starts and off I go , and arrive at work 3 3/4 hours after I left home....Today has surely got to be better....

Is my tyre in competition with my head?

31/8 This is mildly interesting....on the subject of bald and balding tyres...when I went away last week ,due to being terminally broke lately, my back tyre was well past its use by date. But having done it before, I knew( or at least hoped heavily..) that it'd get me to Brissy and back (2000kms). It was pissing down when I left and apart from a 15 odd km stretch of freeway that must be grooved slightly, I had no problems at all. I do tend to 'body english ' it slightly anyway in the wet, which may help, as a mate I was riding with ,with good tyres reckoned he changed lanes sliding on the 90km/hr area just north of Brooklyn.....

Not recommending riding on these of course, the grooves( when present!)  do dissipate water and help keep the contact patch dryer , avoiding aquaplaning and unintended periods of ass on the tarmac...

Just noticed that chain needs a lube...king of maintenance me...

28/8 Busy this week, working on site every day, so didn't get a chance to catch up with the Rebels articles I missed.

16/8  Damn a bit warmer at last. Nice ride into town yesterday, go the long way, down Richmond road, then the M7 onto the M2 but only about 3 sets of lights in the 70 odd kms, which is great. Nice blast coming home too up the M4, and about 6-7 degrees warmer than last time.Wrapped up so much I was in a sweat stripping off the layers... Good thing I've noticed about living out west, f all piglets on the freeway...

27/7 Is it just me or has Sydney been extra cold this year? Minus freakin 2 at work at Camden yesterday morning, and I guess my unintended move as far west as ya can go without hitting the big rocks hasnt helped...Rode home on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago, and its only an hour, but I was so cold I had ta stop and put the good gloves on , and ended up coughing my ring out for a week...Ill blame old age and not being allowed by law  to imbibe enough alcoholic insulation these days.

Damn I dont want one of these but my wobbly ass could sure do with one:

(pinched from bikernet.com see all the 2009 range Harleys there)

HARLEY-DAVIDSON INTRODUCES TRI GLIDE ULTRA CLASSIC--
Designed from the Frame Up for Reliable, Comfortable Three-Wheel Touring.

MILWAUKEE (July 22, 2008) – Harley-Davidson brings original-equipment design, quality and service to the three- wheel motorcycle segment with the introduction of the 2009 Tri Glide Ultra Classic motorcycle. Based on a new chassis designed specifically for this three-wheel application, the Tri Glide offers the classic styling and popular touring features of the Harley- Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide in a vehicle that will be sold and serviced by the network of Harley-Davidson dealers and covered by a two-year Harley-Davidson limited warranty. The Tri Glide will have an MSRP of $29,999.

Harley-Davidson launched a “wheels-up” strategy in the development of the Tri Glide, and has created a frame and associated chassis structure that is engineered specifically to handle the loads generated by the steering forces and weight of a three-wheel vehicle. Changes to the front-end geometry enhance steering control by reducing steering effort up to 25 percent. The forks have been lengthened by 1.775 inches compared to the regular Touring motorcycle, and rake is increased from 29.25 degrees to 32.00 degrees. A steer damper controls coast-down wobble, and minimizes bumps and other road inputs during turning events.

Harley-Davidson has designed a new rear-axle assembly for the Tri Glide that utilizes an aluminum center section with steel axle tubes. The Tri Glide retains the high-strength and low-maintenance advantages of belt final drive, and the smooth operation of a rubber-cushioned, compensated rear drive. The rear suspension features dual air-adjustable rear shock absorbers.

The Tri Glide is powered by a Twin Cam 103 V-Twin engine with Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI), rated at 101 ft. lbs. of torque. It retains the 6-speed Cruise Drive transmission used on Harley-Davidson Touring motorcycles, but adds an optional electric reverse ($1,195) integrated with the rear differential assembly that is engaged with a handlebar- mounted reverse module. The Tri Glide has dual front disc brakes and a Hayes Brake dual-disc rear brake system with a lever-actuated, integrated park brake.

Classic Harley-Davidson Styling

The Harley-Davidson styling department gave the new body components of the Tri Glide clean lines that integrate with the existing Ultra bodywork, especially the Tour Pak luggage compartment and the passenger seating area. The new bodywork is painted with the same quality OEM paint and process used on all Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and is a perfect color match for the tank and front fender. The composite rear fenders complement the lines of the front fender. Because the rear fenders are each a separate piece from the rest of the rear bodywork, they can be removed individually for repair or replacement, or when required to service the Tri Glide.

The molded-composite trunk provides 4.5 cubic feet of storage space and can be accessed through a rear hatch. The trunk and Tour Pak have a combined capacity of 6.56 cubic feet and are rated to carry up to 80 pounds. A single key will handle all luggage locking functions, and activate the ignition. Dual mufflers with tapered end caps exit below the trunk. Brake/tail/turn lights are located on each fender, and the Tri Glide retains the Tour Pak lighting used on the Ultra Classic, including the LED side running lights. Matching front and rear black and machined split seven-spoke cast aluminum wheels provide the Tri Glide its integrated and true, factory-built look. The 16-inch front wheel is three inches wide and carries a MT90B16 motorcycle tire, while the 15-inch rear wheels are five inches wide and are fitted with P205/65R15 tires.

Forward of the rear wheels, the Tri Glide retains the style and features of the Ultra Classic Electra Glide, including the distinctive “bat wing” fairing, auxiliary driving lamps, and deep- skirted front fender. A low-profile chrome console tops a six- gallon fuel tank. The fairing holds complete instrumentation and the 80-watt Advanced Audio System with CB radio and passenger intercom system. Adjustable air deflectors on the fairing and vented fairing lowers allow the rider to control wind flow for comfort in warm or cool weather. Cruise control is standard equipment.

The Tri Glide Ultra Classic will be offered three colors: Vivid Black, Dark Blue Pearl, and Red Hot Sunglo

29/6 Been looking forward to a Friday night ride all week, left home about 3.30pm and had a good clean run down the freeway then Parramatta Rd to Camperdown. After hanging round b s ing for a while we shot over the Harbour Bridge where Mr Impatient raced ahead straight onto the wrong off ramp....

After 20 minutes cruising round fuck knows where I headed back to North Sydney, back up the freeway and off the correct off ramp, and straight into the boys who were just ordering at the Pizzaria.

Very pleasant place, tho sitting around outside in the middle of winter only to be recommended if ya all wrapped up for the bike. A few wines, beer, ports and pizza and garlic bread ensured protection from the cold and  complete sobriety, but the added center of gravity kept me reasonably stable.

I headed up the Pacific Highway and then jumped into the Lane Cove Tunnel for a (moderated) blast up the M2, the M7 and then cold and dark Richmond Road towards home.

BBit wobbly...aaah its Friday Night! Almost forgot to mention it was the Hard n Fast social club that organized the evening, cheers boys.

U

21/6 Yeehaa , finally after nearly 3 months out of rego, I'se got it again. So I decide to ride to work yesterday morning..wont be too cold..Off I trot at 5.30am  to do the trip from Penrith to the city. Its about 65kms and mostly straight as a die freeway. Bit foggy, not exactly hot, wet, tho not really pissing down, and Ive got a  freaking headache for some reason...On the freeway in a bout 10 minutes, and the bikes a bit skittish, Ill have to stop for air in the rear tyre at the servo halfway in. As I do I realise, by changing vehicles, Ive left the workshop key at home... ho hum so much for my usual 6.15 start...Ill have to wait till someone else turns up to let me in.

Back on the freeway and the 7 or 8 odd minutes Ive been in the servo has seen the traffic bulk up so now all 3 lanes are congested and running at about 60 km/hr if Im lucky. Ill pull back in and weave slowly towards the city...

Slow uneventful ride but damn good to be doing it again. Not so good stopping at the other end at a another gas station, just running on to reserve and it costing $28 to fill up!

25/5 Jesus, finally had a ride yesterday, tho only down to Mick Dyers shop in Penrith to get a pink slip, Nice friendly shop, so now I can do the rest of the rego....For the last few years every time my rego falls due I spew on the price of the Green Slip here in NSW. I get quoted between $680 and $750, and end up paying around $688.00. Which is why the bikes been unregistered for nearly 2 months ffs. Christ nearly $4000 to shift this month.

One of the boys said he got third party insurance and for some reason it made the green slip cheaper, so I thought Id better check. Watching TV Saturday arvo and a crowd advertised , insuremyride.com.au. I got a quote for third party, which if paid online, is $64, which I thought was bloody cheap. Then I went to NRMA.com.au and got a quote for the Green Slip. From $750.00 down to $460 odd! So the total is $524 instead of $688, and Ive got some insurance. Well worth doing, tho why it makes a difference im stuffed if I know. Still dearer than my Jeep tho, christ knows why, when I drive the jeep every day, and the bike once a week if Im lucky...

30/4 Well havent had much time to spend here, shifting house working etc....not much news lately either so its all looking a bit stale...3 degrees when I stepped outside at 5.30 this morning, so winters on its way, oh the joy...

27/4 Well that was fun, been shifting house since Friday...backs fucked, garage is too small, pools still cold, but at least we're settled for a while.Best part was riding the 40 odd k's over here yesterday, (albeit unregistered...) sun shining, f all traffic, and Windsor road is a nice piece of pavement these days...

19/4 Heres a hint, if yr an old fart like me and on blood pressure medication, dont stop taking it.! My script ran out a week ago, and being busy at work and not feeling like sitting at the docs for 2 hours after work, thought Id be ok for a while. Fine for the first few days, then the headache starts....and wont go away no matter what I take. Well it eases off for a few hours then back again...by Thursday I have to leave work early and collapse at home for a few hrs, then drag my arse, chauffeured, up to the docs. Seems my BP had rebounded after the meds wore off to 198/ 110, and I was in serious danger of a heart attack or stroke...(I should be so lucky!) that'll learn me...Anyway the docs laid me down gave me a handful of pills and 1/2 hr later Im semi human again. Be nice if they told ya this sort of thing when you were put on these pills tho dont ya think...?

3/4 Damn I gotta stop drinking, 4 55am here, 'king headache, woke up about 2 hours ago and caint get back to sleep.....Decisions decisions...been looking for a rental house for nearly 8 weeks, real PITA, and 2 weeks till we have to move out...Put in about 6 applications and got nothing. Then finally yesterday we get approved for this luxurious place in Cranebrook, with a heated pool, spa in the bathroom etc. So , happy as......but then another phone call and we've been approved for a home loan for about 350k...great, but now gotta house hunt in a big hurry...Didnt think we'd be able to get anything I'd be happy with for that money, but if I aint too fussy about where it is , theres some relative bargains out there at the moment. Thing is will the dipshit landlord let us stay another 6 weeks I wonder or will we have to motel it for a while...

I must be getting old(er)....out for a drive with the family yesterday, looking for another rental house to live in as our a 'ole landlord who wont fix anything has decided he wants to live here himself. What a pain in the butt.....but Im getting off the subject..Missus said a few days ago she was hanging out for some fish and chips..It was 4 30  and I was starving so we pulled into the shops on Annangrove road. Nice fresh new takeaway, lots of stainless and the food looked ok. Course as usual Ive got no cash so ask if they have an atm. They don't but the supermarket next door does. So I order up and say Ill shoot next door. Go next door and ask where it is. "out of order" I hear in her best broken engrish.....aah crap, miles from any other shops, back next door and tell em to cancel the order...Off to the next choice up in Dural which we know has another atm next door. Get the dough out first this time( see Im not thick...)and order up.

Looks ok and 15 minutes later our freshly battered baso (whatever the hell that is) is ready. Lighting like sausages for fingers raps out a tune on the cash register and says $32.50....I hand over a fifty while doin the maths in my head.....2 fillets at $6, 2 at $4, $7 chips and a large coke to complement whatever I buy next at the bottlo...I ask her if its right and she says  yes after checking it . Im getting raped $5.50 for a 2 litre coke but apart from that its all correct. Damn that seems a lot of money for what once was one of the cheapest meals around...My first year at school, which was now a distant 46 years ago , I remember there was two choices if you wanted to buy your lunch, 10p for a pie, and if feeling well off ,a shilling  (12p, or roughly 10cents!) for fish and chips. Pies for 3 of us wouldve cost about $10, but to be fair Id have needed 3 to equal the feed we got of fish and chips I suppose....I guess if you aint watching yr weight the best value takeaways out there is still mackas or hungry jacks, wouldve been less than $20 for 3 of us...

19/1 Sydney in the 19th century here this summer......Every time we get a thunderstorm here, on the rural outskirts of NW Sydney, the freaking power goes off. Usually only for a short period, up to an hour at most, but its probably been 5 times in the last few months...Then on Wednesday it happens again at 5.30pm. Fortunately my dinner was already cooked or Id have been doubly peeved....Anyway its doesnt come back on before dark so its out with the candles and a bottle of whisky to ease the boredom....No battery power radios or TV's in the house but I remembered I had a tiny wind up torch with radio in the truck that the wholesalers had given me. So hello triple J all evening, interrupted only by fighting with the 2 yr old as to who was gonna wind it up every 5 minutes....if only his ability matched his enthusiasm...Surprisingly it ended up a reasonable night anyway, but alcohol will do that for me...Missus thought this was too funny not to take a pic....good flash, the room was in darkness cept for the candles...

If  I wind this for 1400years, I might lose some gut.......

10/11 Ive been playing with breathalyzers a lot lately, and come to a conclusion: I reckon most people who get done and are under .1 are probably not over the limit at all. Ive found that if I have a few drinks, say 3 or 4 beers, in an hour or so and wait say 15-20 minutes, and then blow the machine, I may well blow anywhere from .07 to .15. But if I go and have a few drinks of water effectively cleaning out my mouth properly, Ill blow anywhere from .02 down to nothing. Proof  was a couple of months ago, had 5 schooners over about 3 -4 hrs, but the last with a meal, and finished the drink before the meal. Left the pub and was stopped a mile down the road and bagged....zero! Mouth alcohol makes a hell of a difference, and just waiting 15 or 20 minutes doesnt get rid of it, you have to wash your mouth out. Body weight comes into it of course, and at 127 odd kgs, I can supposedly have 7 drinks in 2 hrs before hitting the .05 limit anyway, but the point Id make here would be, if ya get bagged, and are over the limit Id be insisting on the blood test. Id also  be having a water after a few beers before ( not that anyone'll bother..) leaving the pub to avoid actually blowing over.

9/10  On the road again, about bloody time too...Got a couple of clutch baskets off ebay from the states for $150 all up, which was cheap, tho they both had stuffed ring gear. My original one was ok tho, so drilled and punched out the rivets, and resecured with 10 bolts and nuts. Reassembled using the old clutch hub, (which I gently hammered back into the basket bearing, who needs a press?! ) which needs replacing due to the splines disappearing from the outer end, but it'll have ta do for now......Threw in my 1 litre mix of 20w-50w and auto trans fluid, and its all happy days again.

15/9  Found this song on You tube and grabbed it, dunno how Ive not heard it before, but i like it , so here it is Pancho and Lefty (clik to hear or right click and save to download it, 6.5mB) Willy and Bob, so it must be ok..:-)

2/9

aah what a mess, engine had a leak from the rocker boxes so

pulled the tanks and took off the top covers, just as well, almost every bolt in both of them was loose. Awkward little Allen keys to get at, had to bend and cut standard ones to fit......Got the new valve plate for the compressor, so the clutch is out now on the bench waiting for a replacement. Might wheel the bike outside and hit it with degreaser later, after the tanks back on.Gonna remake the tank dash plate I made so it fits better, and both sides are straight, so up to Bunnings for more checker plate.

26/8 Now this pisses me off....A month or two ago, a poor family of 5 was killed on the Central Coast, when they drove into a collapsed part of road during some pretty bad weather. Well the papers the other day ran a story about how police/whoever  had analyzed the father and mothers blood for drugs and alcohol.

They said that the fathers blood alcohol was just over .05 (the legal limit) and that the mothers was twice the legal limit! Now as far as Im aware the father was driving, and as far as I know THERES NO LEGAL LIMIT FOR PASSENGERS!  So what the fucks the difference what the mothers blood alcohol limit was? Why are they publicizing it? It couldn't be the powers that be trying to obviate responsibility for maintaining the roads in a safe condition by trying to apportion blame on the hapless couple and there children could it? Wankers...

2/8 Wimmen, aah ya gotta luv em....Ive got a 12Gb a month allowance for the internet, and the last 2 months, a week or so before the month is up Ive run out, so I get slowed down to 65kbps ,from 1500 so ya sorta notice it....I change the plan last month, or updated so I had an extra 2 Gb which I figured would last ,then this morning I see we're slowed again. Thought I might have a look at the usage meter, on the bigpond site, which took 5 minutes to load...However once its loaded I see that we've downloaded about 5Gb this month, but uploaded 7Gb. How is this so? I know I aint sending up f all, so ask the other half,"you havent got that ares (music swapping) or anything running non stop have you?"  She looks at her monitor, cliks something and says, yeah...so?   AAAH! freakin things being set to come on every time her pc starts and running basically 24 hrs a day since god knows when!

"I didnt know you had to pay for that " she says.....

I was not amused....changed the plan again, from tomorrow so we get 8000bps downloads, for $20 a month more, be interesting to see if it makes a big difference for what I use it for....

3/7 Well the bikes back together again, decided to weld the clutch, due to a lack of funds for a new one at the moment. Going ok, but I wouldnt expect it to last forvever.....now heres a bleat about telstra and bigpond, christ theyre useless. I had a cable internet account at my old address a year ago, and  as cable isnt available at my new address, I had adsl installed. After a few months I realized I hadn't had a bill, or accessed my new email address that comes with the account. I ring Bigpond and they tell me there is no adsl at my address! After arguing awhile I give up and forget about it. About March this year I get a ring from Bigpond......we're gonna cut you off, you havent paid your bill.....I HAVENT SEEN A BILL! Turns out theyre sending the bill to the old address.....but I had my mail forwarded for 3 months, and theyre werent any bills...ho hum. They send the accumulated bill from October to March to my new address, and I duly pay it. About this time I start getting phone calls from some idiots in Melbourne, that appear to be an accounting firm. Fuck knows who they are, so I dont take the calls, and hang up when they want to do the "we need to check your details for security purposes" bullshit...I mean ffs, they rang me! After about 3 of these calls, I start to wonder if its something to do with the bigpond account, which Ive paid....so I take a call thru to hearing it they are chasing a bigpond account that's unpaid. I hang up and ring Bigpond. NO sir, all your accounts are paid up! Thankyou...but the phone calls keep coming. Eventually talk to the idiots enough to get an account number, and after about 4 phone calls to bigpond find out YES there is an unpaid bill the CUNTS have passed on to their debt collection agency.

What is this unpaid bill? Well it turns out its for the cable account at the old address from June to October 06. This is for 5 months after I left!  I obviously advised them I was shifting to get the new service at the new address....Now Ive got the shits, these wankers have passed on ,to a collection agency, a bill that's completely wrong! Not only that, but I dispute the bill was even sent, cos if it had been, Id have received it for three months after I left....So I contact complaints again, and advise I'm  complaining to the telecommunications ombudsman. Eventually a woman rings and apologizes and says the bill has been removed from the system, however they cant remove the 20 points on my blood pressure......

Anyway that's forgotten about till yesterday when I realize the internets been bloody slow the a last few days.... Do the phonecall and wait 10 minutes bit...eventually find out its because Im past my allowance of 10Gb...but there a new plan available, at $30 a month cheaper that I could have been on for the last six months or so,that includes an extra 2 Gb, if Id gotten the emails! But I couldn't get the emails, because you said I didnt have an account at this address! (and when I access the account this morning, there aint no such emails there anyway). What a bunch of fucking thieves....they wont credit me the $30 extra Ive been paying for the last six months....why didnt they just drop the charge to everyone? great customer relations....Come the revolution!

4/6 Stopped by the constabulary (just for a change ) on Friday night as I headed home from a meal at the pub at about 10pm. Blew zero as Id only had about 5 beers all night( pays to be a fat c!@# as I mentioned to the officer...) Take off slowly and miss a gear, then another one, then another one...drift to a halt in the middle of a roundabout....Too old to be embarrassed thank Christ, so drift backward, only holding up 2 or 3 cars, and park against the kerb. Fortunately its a quietish bit of road on an approach to the harbour tunnel....Get on the mobile phone and call the pad. Boys turn up with my mates f250 40 minutes later and its heave ho, and back to the pad.....Lynny picks me up an hour later, only got moderately lost, so Im home around 12 30.

Up Saturday and its about time I sorted my trailer out so it'll take the bike. Its always been too short, but years ago when I used to drag the old girl occasionally at Canberra, Id cut the front out  to elongate things. However as times passed the trailer has had a couple of other incarnations...dirt bike hauler, and general use for my electrical work. Id put a back door come ramp on it a couple of years ago for the dirt bikes, so the back was OK, just needed to sort out the front. Been doing some steel work at a job, building a gate and handrails, and had some bits of steel left over. I bought myself a cheap little gasless mig a couple of months ago off ebay, and what a little beauty...$290, .... I expected it to be crap, but it does a bloody good job.

So I welded the frame you see in to take the front wheel, after getting the boys to measure the bike for me that was still in town. I had a sixteen inch front tyre to play with to get a width and length, so everything shouldve been ok........if id remembered the discs....I had the side  rails too high when we went to load the bike...threw a piece of wood in to lift up the wheel, and it worked ok, got it home anyway. Lowered the rails today.....Really looking forward..(not..) to pulling everything to bits this week....I suspect mainshaft 5th gear, but talking to a more knowledgeable mate, this might be unlikely....

Ill update as I pull the beast to bits...

3/5 Off to the Brissy show tomorrow at their Pad. Just under 1000kms Leaving about 8am, should get there around 7pm tomorrow night or later if Im taking it easy and having a few rests...Beautiful weather and the forecast is good, what more could ya ask for......Well a new back tyre would've  been nice, but the cheques didnt come in so Ill have to chance it...take a few pics and post em Monday probably. Bikes the cleanest and shiniest its been for years, had a few weeks off, so with f all to do I've been titivating it daily...

29/3 Sad news this morning, another old mate passed away in NZ overnight. RIP Tiny. Wasnt called Tiny for nothing, about 6'3" and 24 stone when we were in our 20's back in Wellington....Condolences to his family.

5/2 jees Im a bit slack with this blog.....but I spose I aint been up 2 much.....Fitted the bike with a new seat, and tinted screen off ebay,  el cheapo, as well as doing the tank panel and footboards in checker plate... and been for a ride down the south coast but that's about it..

1/1 Well I guess thats christmas..ho hum....had a few days on my mates property a few hours north , in a tent, which was ok, fished a bit, drank a bit...gotta make an effort next year to plan better......Oh started the bike again after about 3 weeks, lost the keys for a while there....Got a project or two in mind for the bike soon...I bought a 16" twin disc harley mag for the front, so that'll be interesting.The spoke Ive had on for years has a few dings, and when I last replaced the tyre I noticed its about 1/4 inch out of true...Id prefer to run tubeless so I can fix a flat if I get one on the side of the road.Not too sure if Im gonna like the look tho...Also bought a smoked screen to replace th clear one Im running, might improve the looks a bit...if not it might be out with the trimmer.....

24/11 heres another moan....my mate who gives me a bit of work asked if Id pick up a water blaster from Kennards for him on the way to the job the other day, as he's down from Queensland, and only got a small rental car. As the back of the jeep aint too big, and its still in good nick, I thought Id take the trailer....I hadnt got round to buying an adapter yet as the jeeps plug is flat, and the trailer ' is round. As its a 50km drive across Sydney to this job I thought Id do the right thing and buy one, as Id seen the local garage had em. $22.50 later, plug it into the truck, then into the trailer, test the indicators.Nothing.Pull plug out..still nothing, looks like its blown a fuse. Walk round to passengers side to open the glove box where the hand book showing the fuses is.....Glove box wont open.Hmm is it locked? cant really tell...either way it wont open, and I cant f around, as its 6:45 and the traffic is building. So its 50km across Sydney in peak traffic with a trailer and no indicators....managed to do it without too many people hating me I think...

Pick my mate up and we head to Kennards I am loading the thing with the back ramp of the trailer down, as a Kennards truck turns past me. Its tight and he manages to roll over the edge of the trailer as he completes his turn, which bends the tailgate frame. He continues on his way without stopping...I appraise the manager of the situation. He's ok ,and says they'll fix me up when we come back...We go back to the job, and while I carry on with the electrical, my mate tries to get the blaster going. It wont go, cos he cant find the choke knob ffs, so he uses the firehose.....which he could've done the whole time....

I get the pleasure of helping him return the blaster which they dont charge for as payback for my tailgate...Then its another 50 k's back across Sydney with no indicators...I still havent got the glovebox open, jeeps are a hunk of junk, but Ive managed to get the manual out and find the fuse....

11/11 Dragged the bike outa the shed yesterday and cleaned it,christ 3 weeks since I'd ridden it , so it was about time to do the decent thing.Id pulled the windscreen off last week, as i aint to keen on its looks. Anyway spent a good hour and a bit cleaning with towels and mr sheen, and was fairly happy with the result, altho after the run I shoulda pressure washed the front of the engine....Any way about 4pm jumped on and headed to town...Got up to the main road about 5 kms away, and the traffic comes to a standstill. Sat there like a good little citizen for a few  moments, then , f this and shot up the lhs...Get 75meters up the road to the corner and theres about 10 cops there. Slip back into the queue of traffic. Bloody booze bus, holding the traffic up. naturally I get pulled in...but only just,  the car in front stops so my arse is still in the street...moan loadly to policeman.Get to front of queue and 6'8 skinny d head wants to 'go over me' after I blow zero, cos Im wearing colours. complain loudly, followed by , f ing hurry up, Im in a hurry. Not appreciated. 4 of them want to talk now...anyway ta cut a long story short, no tickets thank christ, but then it started raining....I wonder why I bother sometimes...

Ive combined the new subdomain international biker news into this one, to stop me having to do shit twice...

31/10 After being shafted by Google a few weeks ago,(my own fault) I thought Id try again with a parallel site featuring just news. Ill build on it in time I guess but for now, its just news, with google ads, which by the time Im 126 might have made me $50....new site

30/10, well the ebay shop has worked well the last week, sold about 10 items so far that were collecting dust in the garage.Id also shifted em about 4 times from house to house, an was getting heartily sick of it...so its good all round.

26/10Seeing work is slight at the moment Im determined to make some money somehow, so theres now an Adult links section...jees did I have fun this arvo changing the link buttons, simple little job when I remembered how Id done it originally, but brain refused to cooperate...

21/10 Just got back last night from 2500km odd trip down NSW coast, into Victoria, across to Melbourne and back up thru Bendigo and Albury. Bike went good, apart from throwing out some smoke occasionally, the old body suffered a wee bit, but with f all rain it was a great ride. My thumbnail program is refusing to cooperate so pics will be later today or tomorrow....heres a shot of getting ready to leave the pad....

2/10 Interesting video on steroids and their non-harmful long term effects.Guess what! something else we're being lied to about....

                                                                                                             Steroid Video clik

24/9 Well bush fire season came early to Sydney, today...Took my son and his mate up to Pacific Park for moto x riding, and about 2pm a fire was over the other side of the river, It was blowing a gale,32 degrees, and everyone started packing up. The 4wd in front of me had just moved from under the trees when a 3m branch came down...Course the boy didn't want to hurry off, but the the fire jumped the river  about 200m away from us. so it was pack up quick and make a run for it before all the bush went up and we couldnt get out...Made it out ok , but on the main road back it was still blowing a gale, tree branches down everywhere, some big buggers too, and we copped one right on the windscreen on my side. Gave me a hell of a fright.....Stopped a few miles down the road , and it had dented the roof a little, and taken the aerial out too, so seeing I opted not to take windscreen cover it turned into an expensive day out.....

small vid of the fire before it jumped the river    Clik here

14/9 Well that was short and not particularly sweet, google cancelled me for click violations, so now I gotta go and remove all the ads from the pages....what a pain in the arse..wankers they are.

13/9 5 freaking days its taken me to get a bearing out of the rear axel of my Jeep. It'd been whining like a woman once shes married . Strange design where the rear axel is held in place with a c clip inside the diff.... Did all that without too much bother, and it was particularly pleasant over the weekend as it was wet and cold....The bearing needed to be extracted using a slide hammer...however repco wanted $350 for one so that wasnt gonna happen. Saw one on  ebay for  $65 but doubted it was heavy enough...So I made a puller.Then I made it stronger.Then I made it again when I stripped the threads. Then I bought a $20 slide hammer and welded it it on the end.Then I heated the housing. And still the f ing bearing wouldnt move. Then on day 4 using a pinch bar on the seal the seal flew out and I saw Id been fighting against the seal..JFC...Now it will be easier. No it wasnt.Back to the slide hammer idea. Remake puller again with longer threaded rod...use large socket as hammer

Heath Robinson eat ya heart out..

Still no go....eventually smash sides off bearing to make it a bit weaker, and add heat, and it came out with the puller action. now to buy bearing,seal,  handbrake shoes and put it back together....

7/9 If ya watched American Chopper tonight, you can win the bike they made by donating to the charity it was made for...

wasnt a bad bike i thought so I  did, heres the link....http://www.victoryjunction.org/aa_misc/news_sunoco.html then clik the pic down the bottom of the page,

6/9 The day started well....up at 5:30, on here for a while, then at 7 ish leave home, as Ive an appointment at 9, and its possibly gonna take 90 minutes to do the 45 odd kms to the city. 90 meters up the road, think Ive left my wallett at home.Turn around,  back down the drive and jump out of the truck and run inside, leaving the truck running. Come out 5 seconds later when I realise my wallet is in my jacket pocket, and go to jump in the truck.No such luck, the f!@#ing thing has locked itself somehow, and we dont have a spare key... Ring NRMA. "your road service for this vehicle has lapsed" Bullshit!! They tell me I still have road service for two other vehicles. However one of these is the vehicle Ive rung up about twice now to have changed to the new vehicle.....Meanwhile the truck idles away merrily, and Casey Chambers belts out somewhat muffled through the closed windows. After yelling for 5 minutes more at the NRMA( Not Really Much Action) they say theyll send someone...Fortunately he was quick, and as he'd done it before had the window open and thereby access within 5 minutes of arriving. I trundled off , wondering how I havent had a stroke yet....

5/9 Vale Steve Irwin: Quite shocked when I heard the news yesterday.... I saw him at Australia Zoo a couple of years ago, when  I took my kids there.Worth a visit if ya havent done it.. I saw him jump out of an enclosure and from one fencetop to another then down to the ground, bloody athletic he was. Sad for his family, and a great loss to Australia.

5/9 Talking to a mate the other day and he told me how I might be able to make some money out of this site at long last, which is why you're now seeing the google ads.Christ taken me all afternoon to redo the pages to include the relevant code.So anytime someone cliks on an ad  Ill get a small remuneration...no idea what...but if it pays for the hosting Ill be happy....Whipped the front wheel off the bike on the weekend to get a new tyre at long last, and I see I could do with brake pads too...

29/8 Back yesterday arvo. The trip was almost magical till the ride yesterday...hit some storms south of Coffs Harbour, particularly on the freeway coming into Buladelah that had us slowing down or stopping due to being able to see sweet FA.....Fortunately I ended up completely soaked and f ing cold as usual, to prevent the possibility of my ever believing there actually  is a god...However managed to blow dry the outer layers by the time I got home so the missus couldn't actually see what I was moaning about....But hey I feel so much better this morning...not!

24/8 Oh good its raining....off to Brissy tomorrow morning, and was hoping it might be fine...Ive got to sort out some waterproof pants ..again...I bought some oilskin jeans a couple of years ago, and theyre not bad, but Ive outgrown the f ing things...What Id like is a waterproof bib overall, in something not too disgusting a colour, but I don't want to pay the earth either....Theres a boating shop that sells this type of thing so i might have al ook today...nothing like leaving it to the last minute...

9/8 Census smensus, what a load of crap. So the information they collect will help them build better hospitals and transport systems! Will they know where all the schools with prefab buildings are and build decent classrooms now and plan better in the future? Will they not spend billions on licking George Bushs arse, because the Australian people would rather they spend the money on better facilities? I dont think so... They havent yet so why should this round of gathering far more private information than they need be any different ? I refuse to even read it. It might have been a good idea once , but its information has obviously never been heeded appropriately, so why persevere with it?

16/5 After f ing around with it for an hour, I decided I cant fix it so........ring Frasers for a speedo drive for my 94 Dyna....seeing Im on a good behaviour license ffs from June...."No we dont have any, seems theyre obsolete...when we did have them they were $136....none in the country" f me the bikes only 12 yrs old... arent we supposed to still be able to buy parts for all models still? FAct is i can buy one from MAS at parramatta for $60 ,but Frasers is easier to access sometimes...

22/4..I hate work...so I had a lazy week after the show and all...hadnt done any work for 2 weeks after f ing up my back kangoing concrete etc at a job Im doing. So yesterday when my 14yr old son became available again, the 2 of us and another mate hit the same job again...Trenching 165m of bitumen near the airport and laying mains for a scaffolding company. So we leave home at 6am, get to town, empty the trailer so we can pick up a trencher from Coates Hire....but theirs comes on a trailer, and looks a bit big. Go to Kennard's, suitably small one available, but same price as Coates..ho hum...get it and head to site. Gosh my mates almost on time, its 8 20 now...However he gets on the machine and starts cutting. And Christ its slow.. 100m took all morning and I want to get the job done today...Me and Dyls start rolling out the mains... hmm 4 x 165m of 25mm cable is forking heavy...but Dyls rolls it out as I instruct , and we start putting the conduit on.....Its about 1.30 and I can hardly walk already...(thankyou c!@# in a commodore 7 years ago..) but if we want to go home tonight better keep going....at least its hot.... Anyway we manage to sort of finish at 4:45pm and rush the trencher back to Kennards where they cant get my refund to come thru...thankyou god...Mate rings me as we're leaving, "seen the news?' "uhh no..still working"...anyway we're all over the news as youve probably seen but no-one knows who it is...get home 1.25hrs later and me and dyls both nearly fall out of the truck and stumble inside as sore as f!@#. If that girls drunk all the bourbon today, there's gonna be trouble...Fortunately she's finally looked up the word 'temperance' and there's a tipple left...However instead of  elcollapso on the couch there's phone calls to make, people to talk to etc...all to no avail so far, ho-hum yet again...At least I was still sore as when I woke up...

16/ 4 well almost recovered from Friday....christ I had a headache yesterday.More from dehydration i think..only had a couple of drinks in 24 hrs, but sat at the show all day and was too busy to drink anything almost except diet coke, which doesnt help at all...feeling a bit better this morning. Gotta change the carb back on the bike..got 122 hp on the dyno, which was bertter than last year..but I had 119.6 with a 103' motor, so Im still not too impressed..The D series would probably tune up ok, but f!@# running round with no air cleaner and an inlet a small bird could nest in...

15/4 F!@# me police state or what??...breath tests at 10am from the wankers this morning taking my boy to the bus stop,....I dont know about everyone, but I get sick of the sight of them, must've seen 4 cars at 9am yesterday morning riding across town to the show...

Bought a D series carb a couple of years ago,  2 1/4" choke size, and I've had it on the shelf as an ornament, as its about 300mm long all up... Was about time I bolted it on and tried it on the dyno at the show on Friday. Took it for a ride yesterday, and apart from a bit of hesitation if ya snap the throttle open, (no accelerator pump on these..) it flies...Its running a .90 main and a 32 mid range jet, as I bought it, and seems about right...Only problem is the strange angle the throttle cables come off it at, might have been meant for a forward facing manifold. Sharp eyes might notice no fuel line, had to stretch the original to fit, new one coming today, Now Ill go and clean it...

8/4 Aah just like when I was young last night...out on the bike, coming home from Sydney, riding up Victoria Rd then onto Burns Bay Rd. There's often a booze bus on the city bound side at the bottom of the hill, and I was thinking about going the other way, up through Hunters Hill, then down Pittwater Rd, but traffic was heavier that way....There's a bit of a straight section, and I was just sitting at a reasonable speed, and out jumps a man with a glo stick..bugger! 97 in a 70, wasnt too bad, at least its not double points this time...Carry on my merry way, up Castle Hill Road, and theres another one 2 cars in front of me. Dutifully pull in a respectable distance behind him and sit there bored...At a set of lights the left lane has a long tail back so I slip into the right lane and overtake him, all at a legal speed. Leave him behind at the lights, but, when Im at the next set, he's a couple of cars behind me. I manage to get the next light, and everyone else gets the red, so I open it up a bit and get to enjoy the last mile home, tho checking my mirrors. I pull into my driveway and up to the shed, get off the bike, and  walk to the shed, and the world turns blue and red...Christ he must've moved to catch up that quick....Old bastard (probably my age....) jumps out, accompanied by pimply faced kid, looking decidedly worried,  and asks if I live here..yes I do, whats the problem? You seemed to be pulling away from us a bit he says....I dont think so  says I. Listen dont argue with me mate, he says, Ill argue with you if I want to , says me...

Anyway Im pretty sure he caint do f all, as he couldn't have actually checked my speed....He takes my license, makes a few notes, to be sent back to the unintelligence unit no doubt,  while I put the bike away. aah ok, no dramas mate he says, and hand back my license, gives me the usual speech about keeping my speed down...You can get out this way I say indicating he can drive round the circular driveway, taking full view of the grounds and gardens...just to piss him off...( he wont know Im only renting...). 

Hadn't been stopped twice in an hour  since the good old days in Wellington...bought a smile to my dial..

1/4 Ive got a conspiracy theory.....How come every one of the 7 CTP insurers in NSW now charge almost exactly the same for motorcycle green slips over 300cc? For the last few years you've always been able to find a divergence in price of a couple of hundred dollars, so you could choose a cheap one if you so desired.(and who wouldnt..) Now they're all the same, and dearer than ever...last year I think I paid in the $300's......looks like price fixing or collusion or both to me...

 

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