OzSTOC
OzSTOC Ride Reports, Pictures & Videos => RIDE REPORTS => Topic started by: Supafrog on August 29, 2022, 12:59:53 PM
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Well it all started when I had a st1100.. loved it but had to sell it when moved from Western Australia to Remote NSW. I had lots of adventures, lots of RTE’s and joined the far riding community.
I also learnt how much I detest riding on gravel.. but that’s another story…
So I’d been looking for over a month and resolved myself to the fact I would have to travel to find a new STeed as the only bikes for sale out this way are dirt ones!
I located an interesting st1300 on the east side of Melbourne. With the help of Williamson to share his video I got a chance to eyeball it. A week later I was on 2 planes , 1 bus and an hour train to pick it up.
The plan was simple- pick up the ST , fill it up and ride it home (approx 1000klm). This would give me a great chance to become acquainted with the 13.
Moving through the peak hour traffic felt good.I think the deflectors worked, as I didn’t cook.. or is that because it was only 16 degrees?
As the traffic started moving headed out on the Calder I felt the smoothness ; and played with the electric screen (new novelty)..
I found the lighting terrible after dark; I could read the dash well but found I needed to hug the tail lights of the cars once in the hills.
Pulled into Bendigo for the night. I can recommend the food at the National hotel; but I must say the room wasn’t as cheap as I liked!
Filled up and left in the morning.. it was a nice Spritely 8 degrees. Double checked my math as the fuel consumption seemed too good to be true!
As I got rolling I enjoyed the effortlessness of the st; it overtook freely.
As the mileage set in; my disdain for the seat grew. It’s hard! I thought I had padding; but obviously not enough!
Stopped at Mildura for a stretch and top up and kept going as I wanted to reach home before dusk.
I stopped 120klm south from home at a truck stop at coombah. Word of warning- this has been closed for sometime now meaning the 285klm stretch broken hill to Wentworth has no fuel. I smiled knowing the ST is more than capable in the distance.
Only other hiccup on the trip was 12 emus that took some persuading to get off the road. I had to basically stop and tiptoe through them.
All in all I made home while the sun was still up.
My reflections of the ride are that the ST13 is a nice ride; I just need to fix the lights and seat to make it better :)
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Thanks for posting your imprressions. The common mods seems to be Seat, Screen & Risers, and when I had mine, I certainly found that the OEM seat got uncomfortable pretty quickly.
A common solution to the seat issue can be found here..... https://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=11369.msg1209319#msg1209319 It works really well, and costs nothing.
Another option is a Sargent seat, whish if flatter and wider, and is what I finished up with.
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Thanks for posting your imprressions. The common mods seems to be Seat, Screen & Risers, and when I had mine, I certainly found that the OEM seat got uncomfortable pretty quickly.
A common solution to the seat issue can be found here..... https://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=11369.msg1209319#msg1209319 It works really well, and costs nothing.
Another option is a Sargent seat, whish if flatter and wider, and is what I finished up with.
Thanks for suggestion. I’ve adjusted the height up so I’ll see it it makes any difference on way to mannum.
It could just be saddle sore due to being off the bike for a while.. so I may take a cup of cement as well
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Well it all started when I had a st1100.. loved it but had to sell it when moved from Western Australia to Remote NSW. I had lots of adventures, lots of RTE’s and joined the far riding community.
I also learnt how much I detest riding on gravel.. but that’s another story…
So I’d been looking for over a month and resolved myself to the fact I would have to travel to find a new STeed as the only bikes for sale out this way are dirt ones!
I located an interesting st1300 on the east side of Melbourne. With the help of Williamson to share his video I got a chance to eyeball it. A week later I was on 2 planes , 1 bus and an hour train to pick it up.
The plan was simple- pick up the ST , fill it up and ride it home (approx 1000klm). This would give me a great chance to become acquainted with the 13.
Moving through the peak hour traffic felt good.I think the deflectors worked, as I didn’t cook.. or is that because it was only 16 degrees?
As the traffic started moving headed out on the Calder I felt the smoothness ; and played with the electric screen (new novelty)..
I found the lighting terrible after dark; I could read the dash well but found I needed to hug the tail lights of the cars once in the hills.
Pulled into Bendigo for the night. I can recommend the food at the National hotel; but I must say the room wasn’t as cheap as I liked!
Filled up and left in the morning.. it was a nice Spritely 8 degrees. Double checked my math as the fuel consumption seemed too good to be true!
As I got rolling I enjoyed the effortlessness of the st; it overtook freely.
As the mileage set in; my disdain for the seat grew. It’s hard! I thought I had padding; but obviously not enough!
Stopped at Mildura for a stretch and top up and kept going as I wanted to reach home before dusk.
I stopped 120klm south from home at a truck stop at coombah. Word of warning- this has been closed for sometime now meaning the 285klm stretch broken hill to Wentworth has no fuel. I smiled knowing the ST is more than capable in the distance.
Only other hiccup on the trip was 12 emus that took some persuading to get off the road. I had to basically stop and tiptoe through them.
All in all I made home while the sun was still up.
My reflections of the ride are that the ST13 is a nice ride; I just need to fix the lights and seat to make it better :)
The lights, yeah not up to the standard expected by many for a long-distance tourer. I've thought of an upgrade, but as I don't do much night riding, I haven't bothered - but one day.\
Seat, yeah could be better, (as mentioned elsewhere) sit on my RDL and perhaps some others at Mannum.
The RDL are custom made, I've been told they are tailored to suit height, inside leg, weight, etc.. of rider. I bought mine 2nd hand from a short, tubby guy (more so than me), it didn't suit him, but was on the ST13 when he bought it. The guy it was made for must've been similar dimensions to me - 178cm, 85 to 90kg.
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Custom seats are always hit and miss depending on person…
I saw that there is a gel seat listed as a part for the st13.. they know the seat is uncomfortable!
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Be careful of gel seats, they soak up the suns heat and stay hot for ages.. Mine did anyway. Iy you have a motor trimmer in town, see if he is able to rework the seat for you..
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There wil be plenty of folk at Mannum who can help you with the seat position mod that I posted. It works a treat. :thumb
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Thanks!
I’m looking forward to seeing how people have configured the 13s..
:wht13
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Common headlight fix is the h4 mod (search for it). I run philips ecolife bulbs and so far have 60,000km on then so far. "Feels like" double the light, and not as yellow.
Congrats on the new ride 8)
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I found the lighting terrible after dark; I could read the dash well but found I needed to hug the tail lights of the cars once in the hills.
I run these in my ST... https://www.powerbulbs.com/au/product/philips-x-treme-vision-moto-h4-single (https://www.powerbulbs.com/au/product/philips-x-treme-vision-moto-h4-single)
I find them perfectly adequate at legal speeds... :thumbs
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I find them perfectly adequate at legal speeds... :thumbs
Legal speeds? Pffft!
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Probably perfectly adequate at illegal speeds too but as I'm a very law abiding citizen, I wouldn't know about that!!! :p
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Probably perfectly adequate at illegal speeds too but as I'm a very law abiding citizen, I wouldn't know about that!!! :p
I’m a law abiding citizen.. so suggestion duly noted :)
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Common headlight fix is the h4 mod (search for it). I run philips ecolife bulbs and so far have 60,000km on then so far. "Feels like" double the light, and not as yellow.
Congrats on the new ride 8)
Thanks for tip .. !!!
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Sargent seat and handlebar risers made a big difference for me
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I too recommend the Sargent seat... :thumbs
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Update:
Removed headlight today to find it was a 60/35!!!!!!!!
No wonder I was blind on low beam….
So now I Have acquired narva 110+ 60/55 for the short term..
But my fingers are too fat to get the lightbulb clips back on :angry-old-man-smiley-emoticon
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If you decide to go down the H4 bulb route you might want to buy a pair of the H4 adaptors rings.
You can buy them here: https://www.mccruise.com/pages/h4-adaptor (https://www.mccruise.com/pages/h4-adaptor)
They aren't a necessity but do make it that little bit easier to seat the bulb in position...
*edit...too late he cried! :fp
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If you decide to go down the H4 bulb route you might want to buy a pair of the H4 adaptors rings.
You can buy them here: https://www.mccruise.com/pages/h4-adaptor (https://www.mccruise.com/pages/h4-adaptor)
They aren't a necessity but do make it that little bit easier to seat the bulb in position...
*edit...too late he cried! :fp
It had the adapter rings already (thankfully)
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Update:
Removed headlight today to find it was a 60/35!!!!!!!!
No wonder I was blind on low beam….
So now I Have acquired narva 110+ 60/55 for the short term..
But my fingers are too fat to get the lightbulb clips back on :angry-old-man-smiley-emoticon
And you need to be a contortionist to get your hands in place to remove and refit the clips.
If you decide to go down the H4 bulb route you might want to buy a pair of the H4 adaptors rings.
You can buy them here: https://www.mccruise.com/pages/h4-adaptor (https://www.mccruise.com/pages/h4-adaptor)
They aren't a necessity but do make it that little bit easier to seat the bulb in position...
*edit...too late he cried! :fp
Is it the H4's that need the tabs bent back / off to fit 'em?
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Is it the H4's that need the tabs bent back / off to fit 'em?
Yes, well 2 of them anyhow... :thumbs
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Update:
Removed headlight today to find it was a 60/35!!!!!!!!
No wonder I was blind on low beam….
So now I Have acquired narva 110+ 60/55 for the short term..
But my fingers are too fat to get the lightbulb clips back on :angry-old-man-smiley-emoticon
Bring 'em to Mannum and someone with experience can help you with the tab trim and fitting them. No need for the adaptor ring if you trim the tab, but fingers like ET are helpful.
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No need for the adaptor ring if you trim the tab, but fingers like ET are helpful.
Mmmm ..... the adaptor ring makes it a tighter fit and more difficult to fit the clip?
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So I’m in a bit of a pickle…
Can’t get clip done up. And my fat fingers don’t seem to bend like they should…
I think I’ll try without the adapter ring and see how it goes… :H
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So I gave up… and decided I was too far in to back out..
Took windscreen and dash out.
Managed to swap bulbs using h4 spacer ring
And also took opportunity to swap the running bulbs :beer
Now I just hope the bulbs will give decent life as I really didn’t enjoy that!
-although I know I’ll be doing similar in future to install spotlights .. and I should run the power cables properly at some stage…
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Goodo! :thumbs
I did mine when I had the fairing off which made it a much easier job!
Like you, I also took the opportunity to swap out the parking lights (and added an airhorn) while it was all apart... :beer
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Goodo! :thumbs
I did mine when I had the fairing off which made it a much easier job!
Like you, I also took the opportunity to swap out the parking lights (and added an airhorn) while it was all apart... :beer
I looked at fairing instructions but they scared me!
In hindsight I wish I had spotties to install etc .. but at least I know how to get in the front now :)
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I felt the same way the first time I stripped the fairing off but it's actually not as bad as it seems...as long as you can remember what fastener/bolt goes where... :thumbs
Unfortunately I took the fairing off my bike around 6 weeks ago as I was going to do a bit of maintenance/fit some accessories but fell ill and haven't got back to it since so I'm dreading having to work out what fastener goes where when I finally get back to putting it all back together...It doesn't help when you have a memory like a sieve... :fp :rofl
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I felt the same way the first time I stripped the fairing off but it's actually not as bad as it seems...as long as you can remember what fastener/bolt goes where... :thumbs
Unfortunately I took the fairing off my bike around 6 weeks ago as I was going to do a bit of maintenance/fit some accessories but fell ill and haven't got back to it since so I'm dreading having to work out what fastener goes where when I finally get back to putting it all back together...It doesn't help when you have a memory like a sieve... :fp :rofl
I’m one of those people that no matter how much care I take.. I end up breaking the trim clips etc so I’ll be stocking up on them before next fairing attempt :)
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I found the cheat sheets here to be very handy. Printed them out and laminated them, and never forget which goes where.
Still break the odd one or two though.
http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=13.0 (http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=13.0)