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 of interest, and smaller items 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.
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JANUARY 5, 2012. The first ride for the new year! Why is that special? I don’t know, but these sort of things seem to be. Today was an enjoyable 180km loop through the country that I always enjoy. It includes a variety of roads, from a well-loved winding mountain pass to a multi-lane open highway. It also passes through some quaint little country towns that always add a certain pleasantness to the ride. Even the highway section is just long enough to be enjoyable – it’s good to be able to let the bike stretch its legs a little and cruise along at 120kph in touring mode for a while.
The weather had me checking the radar though. The forecast was for possible afternoon storms, and the radar showed there was weather approaching from the west. On the return leg I skipped an intended stop for a cuppa in one of those "quaint little country towns" (I had stopped for a late lunch earlier) and rode straight on home, with heavy clouds threatening behind me and a definite chill in the air. I got home with no rain and having had an enjoyable afternoon out on the bike.

JANUARY 6, 2012. That corner! It’s been bugging me for a while. You will almost certainly have seen it – pictured in road-tests of bikes, and I think it was  in a safety ad also. The latest place I saw it was in the Yearbook edition of Australian Motorcycle News when they did a multi-bike comparison for their “Motorcycle Of The Year” award. The thing is, I knew where that corner was – or I thought I did! Everything was the same; the shape of the corner, the lay of the land, the direction of the road either side of the corner. And then there was the driveway – look to the extreme right of the photo about half way up the side. But I was sure there were no white centre-lines or edge lines! When I first saw it there was only one bike in the shot. “They’ve Photoshoped the lines in!” I thought. But especially with this one, the lines don’t look like they’ve been added to the photo. So is it the same corner? Are the lines in the photos fake? Well, today my curiosity was cured. Yep, as you can see in the magazine photo and the one I took today, it is the same corner – and it does have white lines! They’ve obviously been there for a long time; and I’ve ridden up that road many times. Oh, dear, the poor old memory – or powers of observation and retention – aren’t too good are they! Although I did recognise the corner, so that’s something!
The corner is on Jamberoo Mountain Rd, a back-road that runs from Jamberoo in southern NSW up into the Southern Highlands. The road is open and undulating at each end, with a mountain section in the middle that is steep and winding. For almost the whole of the mountain section the road is very narrow, almost single lane, and there aren’t white lines; well only in a couple of places anyway. On this section the road turns left on the up-hill side, and right on the downhill side; and that’s about where the lines end and the road narrows again.
The driveway I mentioned is the entrance to a Benedictine abbey. In fact, the TV series “The Abbey” that ran on ABC a few years ago was filmed there.

JANUARY 6, 2012. “Vehicles have changed dramatically since the current national speed limit was set in 1965. Technological advances mean that cars are significantly safer than they were. I want to make sure that our motorway speed limit reflects the reality of modern vehicles and driving conditions, not those of 50 years ago.” Can you believe those are the words of a politician? No, I didn’t think so; but they are! They were spoken by Phillip Hammond, Secretary of the UK Department of Transport, in support of moves to raise the speed limit on British motorways from 70mph (110kph) to 80mph (130kph). It makes a lot of sense doesn’t it! And it’s what most of us have been saying for years! The plan is to have a look at the issue during this year and implement the changes in 2013. Better late than never, I suppose. But can you imagine our governments and state traffic authorities saying that? No, neither can I! They aren’t that clever! Well done you lot over there anyway! Can you send some of those awake pollies and traffic officials over here please?

JANUARY 12, 2012. I’m on holidays at the moment, and spent a few days in the Queanbeyan / Canberra area. Of course a visit to a couple of motorbike shops was a must (squeezed in between the other touristy type things). I got to Dahlitz Motorcycles in Queanbeyan (where, a bit of 5 years ago, I first rode the Suzuki Bandit), and Eurotune Motorcycles in also in Queanbeyan.
Eurotune have been Triumph agents for about 40 years, so have a very rich history in the motorcycle industry. For what is a prominent dealer, the shop is relatively small, but still had a good selection of new and 2nd-hand bikes in stock. A kind of old-world charm about the place too. I also intended going to Canberra Motorcycles (where I rode the KTM 640), which is quite a big shop, with a good range of new and 2nd-hand bikes. Much bigger than the other two shops. But, sadly, I just ran out of time.
JANUARY 13, 2012. Kawasaki has now released its up-dated version of the Ninja ZX-14 R. The main difference is an increase in engine capacity, from the ZX-14’s 1352cc to 1441cc.
Along with the increase in capacity comes a corresponding increase in power, which, Kawasaki claim, makes it, “The world’s most powerful motorcycle.”
They also claim it to be the fastest accelerating production motorcycle. Unfortunately, they don’t provide any figures (at least not yet) to back this up.
But with the previous model being known as a bit of a rocket-ship, this new one is sure to be a top-shelf goer! (Thanks to Rod for sending me the link to this).
JANUARY 15, 2012. My son-in-law, who had the Kawasaki KX125 motocrosser and for a brief period an Aprilia RS125, (as well as a couple of other bikes not reviewed here), is back into bikes again. Today he bought a 2001 Suzuki GSX-R750. In good condition and at a good price too.
The seller even threw in a matching Suzuki race-style leather jacket! Here he is on the bike, with borrowed (from me – my old one kept as a spare) helmet and no gloves (couldn’t find the old motocross ones; new ones – along with a new helmet – are coming). Of course I had a ride! You can read a more detailed report on what I thought of it here (just scroll down till you get to it), but I’ll briefly describe the brief ride I had on it.
As you’d expect, the riding-position is pure sports-bike and puts you into a racer’s crouch; although it’s not too extreme. The seat was actually quite soft and reasonably comfy. It feels small, even a bit cramped for a lanky old bloke like me. It also feels quite light – which, at 166kg (dry weight) it is. According to figures I found, the 750cc donk pumps out 103kW; pretty good for a 750, and enough to propel the bike along at a rapid rate.
In terms of sports-bikes, these are great bikes – not as peaky as the 600s, and not as never-be-able-to-use-it powerful as the 1000s.
The ride went okay until I got to the end of my street. I’d taken off at a reasonable speed, and when I came to the T-intersection at the end I applied the brakes. Brakes! BRAKES!!! The front worked okay, but with a damp road I didn’t want to be just pulling on the front. The back brake was … well I wasn’t even sure I was pushing on the right bit! I had a look down, confirmed where the brake pedal was, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything. I tried it again and it was working – just! – but there was a massive amount of travel to get there! When I got back I grabbed the spanners and adjusted it. Riding along a highway at 100 – 110kph on a damp road with virtually no back brake was not a comforting feeling! But it was interesting to ride it.
Like most sports-bikes, it works best when ridden fast. At slow speeds it didn’t feel so good. Tipping it into a corner at slow speed the steering felt heavy and stiff; an effect, probably, of the steering damper. That felt a bit intimidating, which made me slow more, which made it even worse. So I trickled around corners at ridiculously slow speeds! But when I started to trust it a bit more and enter corners a little bit faster, the steering lightened and it felt better. There's no doubt it’d be at its best when ridden in a more sporting manner. Same with the engine; it does its best work when the tacho needle really gets swinging. At low revs it got up and boogied fairly well, although not in a spectacular way. On the highway, cruising at around 100kph (tacho sitting just under 5,000), when I gave the throttle a twist it took off well enough, but not really quickly. Actually it felt almost a bit lethargic. You’d need to snick down a cog or two to really access the performance. Then, as my son-in-law and road tests confirm, it really goes well. As it should! I look forward to getting out on the road with him again!

JANUARY 22nd, 2012. Josiah is a young 13-year old boy from San Diego USA, who has a terminal illness. He is currently hospitalised. Of all the things that he could ask for as a last wish, he wanted to see and hear 100 Harleys go past his hospital window. (He's been passionate about bikes - and Harleys especially - since a little kid). A local radio personality organised a ride to take as many bikes as possible (probably many more than 100) on a ride to fullfil his dream. That happened today. In Sydney, the Christian Motorcyclists Association got to hear about it and organised a group of bikes to meet and send this video message to the little boy. Nice one!

JANUARY 23rd, 2012 Following on from the item above, apparently there were around 2,000 bikes that joined the ride past Josiah's hospital room. There was a group in England who, like the group in Sydney, orgainised a group and posted a video on YouTube. Here's the news report on the ride. Kind of melts your heart, doesn't it!

JANUARY 31st, 2012. Rod sent me this, partly I suppose, in response to my pick of the “Best And Worst”. It’s a link to CarsGuide’s choice for Motorcycle Of The Year. Yes, most of the mags do it, but you might not have seen CarsGuide’s choice. Well, I won’t keep you waiting, their choice is BMW’s K1600GT. From all reports (I haven’t ridden one yet) it’s a great bike. It certainly achieves a lot of advances in technology. Click here to go to the page where they announce the decision and also list their top 10. You might be surprised at what’s on there!

FEBRUARY 2, 2012. Okay, so you proudly make the claim that you make the world’s most powerful production motorcycle – even though you won’t actually say how powerful it is. (See the item above on the Kawasaki ZX-14R). What do you do to officially launch it to the press? Well, what Kawasaki decided to do was to invite a select bunch of journos (for some reason they didn’t invite me!) to try out the new bikes on a drag strip.
And so it was that journalists and bikes were assembled at Eastern Creek Dragway, near Sydney.
Kawasaki make the point that most, if not all, of the journos had very little experience at drag racing. (And I'd have even less!!).
Bikes aren’t easy to do quick acceleration runs on – because they tend to do what the bike in the photo is doing. Try opening the taps up on a bike with this sort of power and you either turn the back wheel into a circle of burnt rubber, or you flip the thing over backwards. Still, they managed to put down some respectable times, getting the quarter-mile done in the 10-second bracket, and topping out the quarter at around 240kph.
Fastest on the day was AMCN’s Sam Maclachlan. Watch out for the stories in the mags – they should be interesting! (Thanks to Rod for sending in a link to this).
FEBRUARY 20, 2012. Rain, rain! How many days of rain are we going to get in February!? Well, I heard someone say that (here in Eastern NSW) of the 28 days, 23 of them were going to have rain! I don’t think it has been quite that bad, but it’s not been far off! That, and a family illness, has kept me off the bike recently (apart from a short ride squeezed in when time and weather permitted). It's kept me off the computer a bit too, so the up-dates to the site have been a bit slow of late!
The afore-mentioned occurrences resulted in the cancellation of a couple of good rides, including an over-nighter to a touristy spot down the coast. A couple of short rides between showers or before work on a sunny day have been about all I’ve managed. The coming weekend I had two rides planned – and the forecast is looking grim again! Now, I should say that it’s not that I won’t ride in the rain, it’s just that my reason for riding is that I ride for enjoyment; and heading off on a ride in the rain is not especially enjoyable. It takes ages to clean the bike afterwards, and you’ve got to dry out the wet-weather gear … so I’d prefer to leave it until the weather is more suitable. For the moment, the weather (and the family illness, sadly) continues, so it looks like more time spent in the shed for the bike. Oh well, maybe it will allow me to get something done on the web-site!

FEBRUARY 25, 2012. Finally the rain stopped! Today was a beautiful clear sunshiney day. A bit warm, but not too bad. A great day to be out on the bike!
I finally got to go for a ride with my son-in-law, Damien, who bought a Suzuki GSX-R750 recently. (See entry above, under January 15). He's been riding it to work, but this was the first decent open-road ride he'd been on. In fact, when we had our first stop at about 70km from home, it was already the longest ride he'd had on it. And we were to cover about three times that distance by the time we got back.
Damien, as you'll see if you look at the item above, has owned quite a variety of bikes, but it'd been a few years since he'd been on a long ride on the open road. He is a very capable rider, but as he followed me on the ride it was interesting to see him fall behind a bit on open-road sweepers. On tighter corners he was right there behind me. I guess it takes a bit more confidence to commit to a corner at 100kph than it does at 60kph. (Later though, when he was leading, I was dropping back a bit on some tight mountain turns).
The bikes were even enough in performance. If you look at the figures in the item above you'd expect the Suzuki to run away from the XJR if it was opened up; and it probably would. We weren't racing of course, but there were some bursts of enthusiastic acceleration - some while overtaking, and some just for fun - and when I was in front he kept up, and when he was in front I kept up; so they seemed even enough.
One thing he did comment on was that it bogged down when accelerating out of corners at low revs (3 - 4,000rpm). 
This confirms my comments above, of it feeling "almost lethargic" unless you got the revs up. Change back a gear and he reckoned it was hard to keep the front wheel down!
Anyway it was good to get out on a nice sunny day again, and good to take my son-in-law for a ride. I look forward to more riding with him.

March 8, 2012. What is the world coming to? It seems Asian countries are buying up everything – including high-profile respectable automotive companies. Saab is owned by a Chinese company; and those icons of British engineering, Jaguar and Range Rover are both owned by Indian truck manufacturer, Tata. And now they’re at it again. Hero, which is claimed to be the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles (really?) is reported to be on the verge of buying Ducati. Yes, that proud and fierce Italian brand, so loved by all motorcyclists (even those who would never buy one) may soon be owned by India! (Thanks to Rod for alerting me to this).

March 22, 2012. I just got word that Jeremy Bowdler, editor of TwoWheels magazine, has died. He suffered a heart attack a few days ago and was undergoing treatment in hospital, but he did not survive. He was just 52 years old. I would've guessed at him being younger than 52, although he has been around the bike mag scene for a long time. That makes two prominent magazine editors in successive years, and both in their 50s.
I read a story once about Jeremy Bowdler that he had the names of his wife and children sewn back-to-front on the sleeve of his leathers. The idea being that he would see the names in the mirrors and it would be a reminder that he needs to stay alive for those he loves and who love him. I'm sure they are going to miss him.

March 25, 2012. An up-date on the item above on Hero buying Ducati. Apparently that is not going to happen. Standing at the head of the queue with a cheque-book is Audi, who, it has been reported, has until the middle of April to decide if they want to buy it or not. I think I'd rather a company like Audi buy it than Hero!

APRIL 10TH, 2012. I got a couple of rides in over the Easter weekend. Weather was good, if variable. On Saturday the forecast for the coastal area where I live was 25, and for the mountains where I was headed, 18. As I said to my riding companion, “We nearly need to take a change of jacket with us!” I wore my summer air-flow jacket, and began with the wind-liner zipped in. We’d only gone a couple of kilometers when already I was starting to sweat. So I pulled in under an over-pass and took the liner out. That was better, and at times the weather was perfect! On the way home it varied quite a bit, but the last 50kms or so was mostly into a strong head-wind and was very chilly! I should’ve stopped to put the liner back in, but my friend was in front and I just kept on going.
Traffic was a bit varied too. Being Easter you expect to encounter some traffic, even though we chose our route to avoid the worst of it. There were still quite a lot of cars on the roads, and some of them were a bit, well, all over the place! (Apparently putting your right blinker on at a roundabout means you are going straight ahead!). No close calls, because we were careful!
On the Monday it was a mostly solo ride to meet up with a riding friend, Noel, who lives about 90kms away. He had organised a group ride with some of his mates (a couple of whom I’d met before) and we arranged to meet at a location he was heading to for lunch, which was about 55kms from where I live. I enjoyed a meal and a chat, and then rode some of the way towards their home with them. After they turned off I meandered home by a different route, with a couple of detours along roads I hadn’t been on for a long time, or at all. (Gotta love having Google Maps on the mobile!). Along the way I made the obligatory stop for a cuppa. An interesting detour that added another 160km or so to the ride. It was good to catch up with Noel and good to ride with them. And I enjoyed my wanderings too.

APRIL 15TH 2012. The latest sales figures are out, and encouragingly, sales of motorcycles has risen! By almost 10%, in fact. All categories rose, except, for some unfathomable reason, scooters; which was down by around 14%. Top-selling bike was, as usual, a Honda – but not the ubiquitous Postie-bike. (You’ve got to wonder why Australia Post buy so many of these! I mean, what happens to the ones they already have – do they get eaten by dogs?). Anyway, the top-selling bike was the new CBR250R.
MAY 2, 2012. Victoria’s TAC (Transport Accident Commission) is no stranger to controversial ads – especially when it comes to motorcyclists. And they’ve done it again. This time a video – shown in reverse – of a motorcyclist breaking his neck when thrown from his bike after hitting a car that pulled out on his left. The ad state that the bike was traveling at 68kph and makes the point that had the bike been traveling at the legal limit of 60 kph, the rider would’ve had more time to react and avoid the fatal crash. Traveling at 65kph in a 60kph zone, it claims, doubles the chances of a crash. It also makes the – quite valid – point that if you are killed in a crash it doesn’t matter if the other vehicle (the car in this instance) was in the wrong. Now, you can argue the merits or otherwise of shock ads like this, but my point with this scenario is this: if the bike was traveling at 60kph (as the police say he should’ve been), but was a few metres closer to the intersection when the car pulled out, the result would probably be the same. In saying that I’m not advocating speeding, just making the point that the ad does very little, in my opinion, to address the real problem with excessive speed. (Click here to see the news report on the ad).

MAY 7, 2012. Here’s an interesting statistic for you. What percentage of Australia’s roads do you think are gravel? 5%, 10% maybe? At a stretch, perhaps 15%. How about 60%?
Okay, so most of that 60% is comprised of outback roads that run from Black-Stump to Backofbeyond, but dirt roads aren’t all tracks that cross the Simpson desert or the like. I live in a city, and yet I can think of maybe a half dozen dirt roads within a 50km radius of where I live. True, most are little-used minor back-road that run between two sections of tarred roads, but at least one is to a tourist attraction. I recently spent a bit of time in the South-West Slopes of NSW, and you don’t have to go far to encounter some gravel roads there.
And this made me think just how suitable dual-purpose bikes are for our country. (And no, that’s not a duallie in the photo!). People have been saying that for years, of course. They are ideally suited to our poor-surfaced bitumen roads and can handle a bit of dirt where required. Ideal for Aus, yet they are hugely under-represented in sales figures. 

MAY 25, 2012. I don’t usually ride on a work day (I work from home) but I took some time out late morning and went for a ride. Beautiful day, great to be out on the bike again! I’ve had members of our family sick and moving home etc and with all that and other commitments the only time the bike has left the shed in the past 4 or 5 weeks was once to ride into the hospital. Today was good though, even if it had to be a relatively short ride. (130km or so, but over some good riding roads).

MAY 26, 2012. No more rego-labels from next year for people in NSW! Apparently this follows the lead taken by W.A. and S.A. The strange thing is, according to this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, a majority of people in W.A. want them back again! They reckon they forget to renew their registration. Weird people over there in the west! (Not any of our readers, of course!)
In the accompanying video in that article, I loved James McCall's description of the removal process of the sticker 20 years ago: "Half an hour later and 7 stitches in your forefinger later you got the label off!" Ah yes, I remember those days! I used to use a paint-scraper (the type fitted with a razor blade) to get them off. And yes, there was blood shed on occasions!

JUNE 15, 2012. Here is a very worthy cause you might like to support. A riding friend of mine (and reader of this web-site), Noel Taylor, is embarking on a trip from Sydney to "the red centre", in an effort to raise monoey for the Black Dog Institute. For those who may not know, the Black Dog Institute is an educational, research, clinical and community-oriented facility offering specialist expertise in mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. The Institute is attached to the Prince of Wales Hospital and affiliated with the University of New South Wales. Its main mission is to advance the understanding, diagnosis and management of the mood disorders by continuously raising clinical, research, education and training standards. In so doing, the Institute aims to improve the lives of those affected - and in turn - the lives of their families and friends. I haven't suffered from depression, as such, but I have suffered problems with anxiety, so I consider this to be a great cause and very worthy of our support. Mental illness, to any degree, can be so dibilitating for the person suffering from it, and this effects surrounding family and friends. To read more about the event, the charity, and to support our friend, click the link here. http://www.everydayhero.com.au/noel_taylor

JUNE 20, 2012. Calling all Triumph owners and enthusiasts! The annual NSW RAT (that's "Raiders Association, of Triumph") Raid will be held in the Wollongong area this year, on the weekend of September 7 - 9. The local Triumph Dealer, City Coast Motorcycles is hosting the event, so go to their web-site for all details and registration etc. Here is their web-wite, where you'll find all the relevant details. http://www.citycoastmotorcycles.com.au/news.html. Thanks to Paul for sending this in. 

JUNE 30, 2012. The frustration of irregular riding continues! I had a ride with a couple of riding friends - one who I hadn't been out with for a long, long time - planned for today, but it didn't happen. This time it was my back that threw the proverbial spanner in the works. My back threw a wobbly last week, with a lot of referred pain down the leg, but I was hoping I'd be okay by today. Even a couple of days ago I thought if I took some pain-killers before I left (early enough so that I could take another lot before the return journey if required) I should be able to make it. We had planned a shortish ride anyway - 75km to a lunch destination. And, unlike the last time I went there, (when I zig-zagged for about 150km or so on the way home) I'd come straight home. My initial concern was that I had no strength in my right leg, so if I had to support the bike with my right leg I wouldn't be able to. But the strength in my leg is getting better. Yesterday I sat on the bike and wobbled it around in the shed, and then went for a short ride around the block and down the expressway a bit to see how it felt. I could feel the pain in my leg, but it wasn't too bad just sitting there. I stopped and put the AirHawk on (which I had intended doing anyway), and that was better. I felt okay but I could imagine it being aggravated by the ride; and dosing myself up on pain-killers to go for a ride is probably not a great idea anyway. So I cancelled it. It was disappointing, as we'd been trying to get together for a ride for so long now - our last attempt being rained out.
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