THE OLD BLOKE'S BLOG
Welcome to The Old Bloke’s Blog! Well, it's more than just a blog actually; it's a blog combined with general bits ‘n’ pieces, and smaller items of interest etc.
It's a traditional type blog of things that I've been doing that will, hopefully, be of some interest to the reader too. But, as I said, it's more than that; it's also where I put items of interest that I've come across that aren't big enough for a separate article.
It's set out month by month, going down the page - so for the latest entries, scroll down to the bottom.
For previous installments in this Blog thing, just scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the button there.
I hope you find it interesting!
Click here to go to my Blog for the second half of last year, 2010.
JANUARY 4, 2011. Well there goes one article I was going to write! On my "to-do" list has been an article on buying a repairable write-off. Why would you want to buy a written-off motorbike? Well, bikes are often written-off for what is actually fairly minimal damage. If you are prepared to fix the damage, and perhaps put up with a scratch on the side of the motor or something, you can end up with a great bargain. Here's an example. A near-new Yamaha FJR1300 that was involved in an accident. All damage was confined to the lower sections of the bike (it was wedged against a gutter). It sold at auction for $6,500 and the new owner spent $1,500 repairing it. (The fairing was obviously repaired rather than replaced). Total cost $8,000 for a bike that, new, retails for over $25,000! Sounds good? Well, unless you are very quick, in NSW you won't be able to do it. From about the middle of this month it will be illegal to sell vehicles that have been written-off. I spoke to the RTA and asked what would happen to bikes that were written-off for minimal damage. I was told that they could not be re-registered. The only exception being that the bike could be purchased by the owner and repaired; but it would have to be done within a certain period of time, and subject to usual checks etc. I'm not sure what the situation is in other states (at the moment I think it is still possible to buy a write-off), but the prediction is that all states will eventually be the same. 

JANUARY 6, 2011. Went for my first ride for 2011 today. With dodgy weather, and having a cold since Christmas, (plus a couple of other commitments), I haven't been out on the bike, until today. And then it was a bit of a mix-up. A tentative ride had been arranged with a friend, but the morning dawned overcast and threatening rain. A delayed start saw actual rain falling. Okay, so best to call it off. After lunch my mate wasn't able to go, (at least not by the time I was ready), but I thought I'd go for a ride if the weather looked okay. It was sunny outside, but a few clouds around. I checked the radar. Still some rain around, but the clearest direction seemed to be to the south-west. So I decided to head in that general direction. But before I got to the end of my street I could see clouds hanging over the mountains in the direction I was headed. The weather to the north looked sunny. Out with the phone and check the radar. Rain that had earlier shown to the north had broken up a bit. Look at the sky again. North looked the most sunny, so I turned around and headed north! Nice and sunny all the way! A good ride with a relaxing coffee-break along the way, and then back home. My mate and I are now hoping to get a ride together on the weekend.

JANUARY 13, 2011. I’ve just spent the last few days, with my wife, visiting friends in Newcastle. While there I got to see the site of the up-coming Ulysses AGM. The grounds where the main event will be held, and a nearby camping area, are big and quite close together. It should work well! It’s not too far to walk into the town either; although that might depend on how much you like walking! The site should work pretty well, anyway. And Newcastle is a nice area, with some picturesque countryside within easy riding distance.
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While there I also had a look in a couple of motorbike shops.
The pick of the ones I saw was undoubtedly Fraser Motorcycles. They’re agents for Harley, Ducati and Yamaha, and have a good range of each in stock. They've got all the new, and best-selling models.
I noticed the new Yamaha XJR1300 there. Apparently Yamaha have reduced the price to $13,990. It’s a good move, especially with the demise of the Suzuki GSX1400. The XJR is about the only big-bore Japanese naked left!
There was a good selection of 2nd-hand bikes on offer too.
Other shops I visited were Brisons, which is a BMW dealer, (and who are in the process of moving to bigger and better premises), and  Kawasaki Newcastle, the local Kawasaki dealer.
In my article on buying a new helmet, one of the tips I gave was to check the date of manufacture; often helmets on the shelf can be several years old. In one of the shops I visited there were a bunch of plain-colour basic full-face BMW helmets for sale at a discount price. Normally $750, they were priced at $500; although you had to look carefully at the tag to know that the $500 was, in fact, a discount. I checked the date of manufacture; one was 2004, the next one was 2003. Yep, that’s right, 7 years old! Okay, so they were unused and you were saving $250 on retail, but nowhere was it explained that this was why they were being sold “cheaply”. Personally, I think you’d be a bit miffed to pay $500 for a helmet that, technically, you should already be replacing!

JANUARY 15, 2011.
I’ve seen some “interesting” things on the road over the past couple of weeks. On New Year’s Day I was driving along a multi-lane highway when I heard a roaring flapping sound. The sound came from an old model Commodore that cruised past me at 120kph with the back / left tyre completely flat. Smoke was pouring off the tyre, but the driver was apparently unaware anything was wrong. How could he not know? Then the tyre began disintegrating, with bits of rubber flying into the air. The back of the car began to wobble and the driver, finally realising something was wrong, slowed up and pulled off the road.
Next, on our way to Newcastle along a similar divided multi-lane highway we came upon a car on the other side of the road that was upside-down up the embankment beside the road. Straight road. How does that happen? By idiots not knowing they’ve had a tyre failure could be one thing, but I’d suspect someone changing lanes without looking.
Today I went for a ride to a nearby touristy type town. I was sitting having a cuppa at a table on the main street when suddenly, BANG! I looked around to see a bike lying on its side behind a car. The rider was also lying on the road. The bike had run into the back of the car. Must’ve hit pretty hard, as there was a big dent in the bumper, and it also broke off the back portion of the car’s exhaust. The rider got up and, despite wearing just jeans and a T-shirt, seemed relatively unhurt. The bike didn’t seem too bad either, from what I could see. Details were exchanged, and the car driver seemed quite concerned about the rider and his bike. Usually it’s car drivers saying “Sorry I didn’t see you”. This time, apparently, it was the bike rider!

JANUARY 23, 2011.
Sunny skies and comfortable temperature. Rain and blustery wind. Procession of traffic with a young hoon behind me. Back roads with no traffic and great rural scenery. A ride of extremes today! But enjoyable.

JANUARY 25, 2011. It seems that social-networking is the way of the world now. For a long time it has been almost an essential for businesses to have a presence on sites like Facebook, or Twitter. And recently a couple of bike manufacturers have turned to that. Yamaha has disbanded its “Club Y” owner’s club and turned it into a factory-presence on Facebook. And Kawasaki has done the same; they’ve set up a Facebook page where owners can get latest news, info etc. I suppose it’s a “do it all on one site” type thing, but I still like the old “owner’s club” concept.

FEBRUARY 2011. I am in the process of organising another Charity Ride. This one to benefit victims of the recent disasters in Queensland. The last one (which you can read about here) was intended as a kind of friends-of-friends type event, but this one is aimed at being much bigger and better, and is being promoted in the local paper, and with flyers at various places. Donations are being made through Anglicare. I just hope it all comes together well – and that the weather is kind to us!

FEBRUARY 15, 2011. The first time the bike has been out in almost 3 weeks. Weekends have either been rainy or 40 degrees! Today was just a ride to a nearby picturesque location for a photo-shoot for the local paper’s story on my charity ride. And, at this stage, next weekend is looking like another weekend with it staying in the shed.

FEBRUARY 20, 2011. This weekend was supposed to be raining. I went for a short ride yesterday because the bike hadn’t been out in a while (see above). Then today – which had been forecast to be showers followed by rain – dawned fine and mostly sunny. So I joined a group ride to a nice coastal spot. Only down-side was that it got to 33 degrees! Too hot!

FEBRUARY 20, 2011. Ever been tempted to ride past a front-facing speed-camera at above the limit and give it “the finger”? Here’s a tip, if you do, don’t have your visor up. Click here for the story.

MARCH 5, 2011. Well, the Charity Ride I mentioned above (first entry in February), was held today. The planning of it turned into a rather stressful business, but it ended up being a success, and an enjoyable day. The weather deterred a few people (overcast and threatening rain, and we did get rain returning home after the ride), which was disappointing; it would’ve been good to get more bikes there. Still, we had almost 40 bikes and raised just on $600 for victims of the Queensland floods and cyclone. You can read the story of the ride – and get a few tips if you ever plan one of these yourself – here. In the meantime, here's a photo of some (okay, most) of the bikes at the end of the ride.
MARCH 12, 2011. Again! Once again - as has happened a few times recently - I got rained on coming home on a ride. Today a mate and I left in beautiful sunshine, had an enjoyable lunch and chat at a tranquil location, but when we left to come back, it rained! A storm shower that dumped some quite heavy rain on us. And once again my wet-weather jacket leaked. I got soaked all down the front of me; water was even seeping down inside my jeans wetting my undies. (No, it was rain! The water did not come from inside!). Not sure what's happening. My wife replaced the elastic on the bottom of the jacket, and I thought that fixed it (I didn't get wet in the light showers last week), but obviously not. Might have to get a new one. My gloves are over-due for some wax-type treatment and soaked up the water like a sponge. Thankfully we rode out of it, but I was still rather soggy when I got home! And I had to wash the bike again.

MARCH 20, 2011. Possum is not only a regular reader of this web-site, but he is also an occasional contributor to Australian Road Rider magazine. Writes a good article he does too! On the cover of the current issue is a photo of him piloting a Honda Goldwing that he took on a weekend ride. It’s a good article, so worth getting the mag to have a read. I was surprised to read that the Honda doesn’t ride very well. (His pillion said that the Burgman scooter they took on a previous test was better!). The problem is suspension travel at the rear, which is a bit limited. He summed it up (to me, not quoting the article) like this: “You can see its DNA. Great on the freeway, rubbish on NSW roads. At 130km/h on the F3 it was excellent and made sense. On the Golden H'way at 100 km/h it was like wrestling a jackhammer. It is a made in USA bike for made in USA roads.” He reckons it needs a makeover to bring it up to standard. Good article, Possum!
APRIL 9, 2011. Ah, yes, this is what motorcycling is all about! Well, to me it is anyway. Great weather (no rain - for once! - and temperatures in the low 20s), good company (a riding friend and his wife), some enjoyable roads, and some great rural scenery. And the autumn colours of trees turning gold and red are really beautiful.
An enjoyable long ride through the Southern Highlands area of NSW. Lunch was at a cafe that presented reminders of other types of two-wheeled transport.
MAY 6, 2011. Apparently today was International Female Ride Day. A day that ackowledges and celebrates women riding motorbikes. A good idea - to have the "day" I mean. I totally support and encourage women who ride.

MAY 8, 2011.
One of my music pupils took this photo. Cute isn’t it! A future motocross star for sure!
What impressed me about this was not only is it a good photo, but it was taken on a farm; and check out the riding-gear. No thongs and T-shirts here; he’s got all the right gear on.
Growing up riding good dirt bikes with the proper gear has got to be a good start to future motorcycling, no matter which way his interest goes.
MAY 10, 2011. I replaced the battery in my bike today. It's been giving trouble, on and off, for a few months now; not so much over summer, but now that the colder weather has returned I've had a couple of occasions when it's been necessary to use the jump-start pack to get it going. I'd gone through the process of checking out batteries when it first gave trouble late last year; and that, aided by the experience of a friend who bought a replacement for his bike about the same time, made the selection easy. A couple of phone calls just to make sure, but I bought a SuperStart battery.
The original battery was Yuasa. Dealer price is some ridiculous price - well over $300! Normal retail price was $279, but one place said they could do it for "no more than $240". The SuperStart retailed for $139, and after a 10% discount, I got it for $126. My friend's experience is that the SuperStart has been a good product. The manager where I bought it claims that they are designed by a guy who worked for Yuasa for over 10 years designing their batteries. He left and started up his own company. The amp-hour rating is the same as the Yuasa, and the CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) is actually quite a bit higher for the SuperStart than the Yuasa. Time will tell, of course, but for half the price of the Yuasa I think these are a good buy!

MAY 14, 2011. I had a friend call me to discuss CTP insurance. He has registration due soon, and went through the usual procedure of checking prices on the MAA’s Green-slip calculator. He was surprised at the expense; for his FJR1300 he was up for over $400.
So I checked what it was going to cost me for my XJR1300. The cheapest was GIO, at $405. Then Allianz and NRMA at about $540. QBE, which is often competitive with green slip, was $680. The most expensive was AAMI at $683. (That’s with full comprehensive insurance with maximum no-claim bonus). That is ridiculously expensive!
Now, here's a strange thing. I went through it again, changing just the age of the owner and youngest rider to my eldest daughter’s age of 31. GIO was about $50 dearer, a lot of the others stayed the same. Isn’t insurance supposed to be cheaper for us “oldies”? Then I changed the age to 24; under 25 is supposed to be much more expensive, right? That didn't alter the most expensive ones at all, just the cheaper ones; which went up to about the same price as the more expensive ones. So now you know why there’s so much difference in price; the more expensive companies don’t make any adjustment for the age of the rider!
Investigating further, I then went back and put the age as original and changed just the engine size, from 1251cc to 648cc. GIO came in cheapest again, at just $240, with the most expensive, again, being AAMI, at $405.
So there we are folks, the insurance companies don’t want you to be older and wiser, they want you to get a smaller bike!

JUNE 4, 2011. Would you know what to do if you or one of your riding mates was involved in an accident? Yes, call an ambulance if he or she seems badly hurt. But is that it? Well, no, there’s a lot more. As someone said recently, knowing what to do can mean the difference between life and death. That especially applies if we’re riding out back of beyond somewhere. So it helps to know what to do. To help with this, Accident Scene Management Australia (no, I hadn’t heard of them either!) is running a series of courses called “Crash Course for the Motorcyclist”. They intend running other courses as a follow-up to this, based on similar courses that have run in the U.S.
One of the courses is called the “Bystander Assistance Programme”, and is intended to teach riders how to take control of a crash situation until professional help arrives. It teaches not only the practical things, but also how to cope emotionally with the situation. For more details go to www.asma.org.au 

JUNE 11, 2011. The dodgy weather continues! A long weekend and the forecast is ...showers, showers, showers! Oh well, I did get a brief ride in today (about an hour), my first time on the bike in a fortnight. No rain, and it was cold (although I was pretty well rugged up so I didn't feel it too much).
I recently bought a new rain-jacket too. My old one was leaking. I use just a fairly cheap one. I looked at R-Jays, at $39.95, but the elastic in the back of the jacket was too tight. I then tried a MotoDry, priced at $49.95, but which I got for $44.95. Like the R-Jays, it seems well made, with plastic strips "welded" over the seams and so on. But more comfortable than the R-Jays. It is much better than the old one ever was, so hopefully this will keep me dry again. 

JUNE 18, 2011. Finally, after almost a month, there is a fine day with no other commitments; so it's out on the bike for a decent ride (instead of a short run in between rain showers). The wind was blowing fairly strongly, but it still felt great to be out on the bike!

JUNE 19, 2011. Yamaha are holding a series of what they call "Power Trip Demonstration Ride Days" around the country.
They bring a whole heap of bikes and turn them loose on the general public to ride. Today it came to NSW, at the International Equestrian Centre a bit north-west of Sydney. (More horse-power!). You had to register to have a ride, but extra rides were available on the day on bikes that weren't already booked. Most models were there, including some you hardly ever see as demos at dealers, like the V-Max and MT-01 etc. There were two of several models there. (Two FJR1300s, two XJR1300s, for example). Of course, I had to go!
The test-route they took us on was a very telling one too, consisting of some town riding, some suburban back-roads with a few choppy sections and sweeping corners, and some open highway. (Perhaps a bit too telling for some, as apparently there were a couple of minor crashes during the day. No problems on the rides I went on though).
I rode three very different bikes on the day. (Test-reports will be coming soon!). 
I also met one of our regular readers there, who recognised me and came up to say hello. How did he recognise me? Good question! The photos on the web-site aren't that clear. Maybe the sight of a lanky old bloke with grey hair taking photos of bikes from various angles was a giveaway clue! It was good to chat with him and his riding companion anyway.

JUNE 23, 2011. Wire-rope barriers on highways are a real concern for motorcyclists. The “cheese-cutter” aspect is one concern, but I think I’d be just as concerned about hitting the posts that support them. Armco is solid, but at least it’s consistent and continuous in form, so a bit better for sliding along. If you want to get involved in getting the government to ban these, there is a petition you can sign at the following web-site. http://www.banwirebarriers.org

JUNE 24, 2011. Here's a clip that you've just got to watch! Two bikes come down in a race at Magny-Cours and get locked together. And ... well, just take a look! It's amazing, and funny, all at teh same time!