What started out to be just a simple no fuss ride over to Port Augusta for a medical visit and a long overdue fork seal repair ended up to be a little misadventure. One of the other things to be done was the fitting of a new main spring for the centre stand. I had the spring for awhile but could never fit it and relied on the weaker second spring to keep the stand up.
The 130 km ride over was smoothing sailing with an 8am start with an ETA of about 9.30 am. There was a rough plan on place to fit the GoPro up front plus a cheaper sport cam on the rear of the bike to get the ride through Horrocks Pass from both angles but time was against me and I rode through nonstop to the bike shop. When dropping the bike off I could find the new spring anywhere in the bike so that would have to wait for another day.
The medical visit was only a 20 minute walk and I arrived 30 minutes early (not much else to do) watched the idiot box until my time for the doc is up. Just typical "over the hill" old people issues that need a Urologist to get some pills as the GP can't do the original scrip. That's all done and the main shopping area is to far to walk (1.5 km) both ways in bike boots so back to the bike shop to wait it out.
Not to many bikes unless you're into dirt bikes to look at but a used BMW R1200S was a possible buy if I was in the market. The vertical twin beam headlight look weird comparing it to my 1100 and I guess the "S" meant it was the sportier version of the RT plus it did come with BMW side cases and priced at $12,000. There was also a not so little Yamaha Cruiser which I almost insulted by thinking it was a hardly rideable at first glance.
I did wander out to the workshop a couple of times and took this one of the bike minus the forks. Picture not to good as I used my phone.
Sometime around 2:30 the bike was ready and paid for and I could be on my way. The mechanic informed me that on his test ride the bike felt as if the front tyre was down a little so he replaced the valve and put the air up to 40PSI. When I went to ride off I could feel the bike handled different but in a bad way. They did balance the front wheel at my request so I suspected they got it wrong but it wasn't any worse than when I had the front fitted the week before so I let it go.
Before I could leave town I had to visit the supermarket and the Reject Shop plus refuel so I rode over to the shop car park and did what I need to do, packed the bike etc. and as I was about to get under way a guy pointed out my rear tyre was flat. Well that explained why the bike felt a little different and with Woolworths Fuel across the road that was my next port of call but for air then fuel.
Inflating the tyre up proved almost a non-event as the air was escaping almost as quick as it went in so rang the bike shop and let them know. I managed to get enough air in the tyre (14PSI) and headed back to bike shop as quick as I could and just made it before what little air was in there was gone. There was no chance of getting it plugged and they wouldn't do it anyway even if they had them available for road bikes so it was a new tyre.
Which one do I want? T30R 160/70ZR17 or a 170/60 from the 1300, they both fit so either one. Next comment was along the lines of is it a BT 23 and they have a 160/60. No I said that's underrated for an 1100 and stressed the two sizes again. I had a feeling they don't do a lot of road bike tyres; especially the heavier ones like ours. Well I couldn't do anything else except find away home. One positive was that I found the centre stand spring. It was in the RH fairing pocket underneath the air pressure gauge which is wrapped in a rag to prevent vibrating on the plastic.
Finding a way home was easy but I had her debit card so I rang the tyre dealer at home and he okayed me paying it over the phone for her. Well and good so I rang Heather and told her the good news and that she'd have to come over and pick me. Told her to ring me so I could pay for the fuel. I'm waiting at the bike shop and it's nearly five and no call; rang home, no answer and the same for her mobile. Rang the tyre dealer again and found out I could pay the fuel on Wednesday and that she was on her way to Whyalla. He told her Port Augusta but Whyalla was her response.
I knew I had a little time to wait so I got the shopping out of the bike and it all fitted in one side case bag, locked it all up and handed the keys over to dealer and made my way over the hill to KFC on the highway. About 5:45 I had a call from Heather saying that she's near Whyalla (I didn't see the car go past). You had better not be there......Heather was just joking and new where I was but not exactly so I told her to just stay on the highway and stop at KFC which is what we had to eat and my first meal of the day. Arrived home about 8pm.
23rd July
Rang the bike shop to confirm that the tyre was ordered and whether they had the moly paste for the splines and if they didn't I'd bring mine over. She'd call and let me know when the tyre arrived.
24th July
Waited all morning and no call so I rang at 12:30 to find out. All ok to come over and they had the right stuff for the splines. Put some fuel in the car and we headed off and arrived about two hours later. I also ordered a couple special screws/bolts and they arrived over night (that's a first) so they were added to the bill plus a LH (disc side) wheel bearing. Paid it up and the mechanic/owner caught me on the way out and showed me a picture of the failed bearing. I thought the other side might have gone with the wear caused by no thrust washer but he said that one was ok but I'll get it sorted and get a new one for that side before I head west.
I collected the old tyre as Heather wanted it for a flower pot and I could see the nail that caused the drama. As far as the bearing goes it sounded ok at the last tyre change so having the nail causing the flat probably saved prevented something going wrong for the border ride.
Bonus today: fitted the cam just before Horrocks Pass and I'll post it in the next day or so as it's still uploading.
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Added video link
http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=9660.new#new
