Wrench'n Ride'n

Who here remembers the Suzuki Katana from the 1980s? I sure do. Was a wild design back then. The Katana was designed by the same guy who designed the BMW R65LS.  Suzuki hired Hans Muth, ex-chief of styling for BMW. I found this photo on the net today of a 1200 Bandit fitted with a Katana fairing. I love it. Wish the Jap makers would do retro looking bikes.

Just fitted some BarkBuster Storm hand guards this arvo. Took 45mins all up. Very easy to fit. Did not have to do any cutting of anything. Follow the instructions and its a breeze. I bought them through  .adventuremoto.com.au  Ordered yesterday arrived this arvo. Thats service for you.

Last 5 bikes, not including the BMW, I have fitted a headlamp protector from Australian Motorcycle Headlight Protectors . I think they are well worth the money considering it could save hundreds of dollars to replace a broken or cracked headlamp lens. Easy to fit with 4 "dual lock" Velcro dots.

Below is a copy of Twisty Bits 6th Dec 2011. Written by Boris from BikeME . His column appears every 2nd issue of Australian Motorcycle News. Thought this was very worthy of sharing here. When there are stupid laws, it is your right, obligation and duty to break them. For when enough people agree that a certain law is indeed stupid and begin to break it, then that law will be repealed and a new and more acceptable law will take its place. Or have we all forgotten who is in charge here? I actually think we have, given how eagerly we have permitted ourselves to be enslaved to the lie of “safety”. Mankind has a rich history of stupid laws – and just as rich a history of breaking them when it eventually comes to its senses and says: “Hang on. This is just stupid. Why am I complying with this stupidity? I will no longer do so.” Australia is no exception and we’ve had (and still have) many impossibly dumb laws – some of which we break with impunity because not even the ideali...

Have just been out on the bike two up. This mod has proven to be a great success. As per my last post here.  Jan reports her legs are in a very comfy position now. When I gun the bike or hit the breaks hard she is now not thrown all over the back of the bike. Bear in mind I did have the airhawk cushion and sheepskin on her part of the seat. This is set up to make the seat at the back straight now not slopping forward. Our feet do not foul up at all. I looked down while riding and Jan's feet are splayed out. Enough that the front of her foot is not near the back of my leg. Moving the pegs hangers forward has also moved the passenger pegs a bit further out than standard. I am so happy with how this has turned out. Last thing I wanted was a bike that we both could not enjoy at the same time. Had that before this conversion.

I hope this is the final fix to make the pillion position way more comfy. It started with  "..."el Lobo" hunches up the knees..."  Searching the net for a way to lower the pillion pegs I found a guy with a 1250 Bandit had made a set of brackets to move the whole pillion peg hanger. He used some metal plate fixed to the mounting brackets for the hanger. I had been wracking my brain for 2 weeks now trying to work out a way to move these pegs. Yet here is this very simple solution. I am a metal worker by trade. So I can make some brackets too. Here is what I did. Bought some 40mm x 3mm flat metal stock. I then drilled and cut these to shape. They will be painted black when done. I have made them so that the pegs will be 2 inches lower and 4 inches further forward.  I have used the mounts that are on the frame to hold one leg of the pillion hanger plus the bracket. I wanted some strength due to the fact I could not get 5mm flat stock metal. This would have had...

Day off. Just did an oil change on the Bandit. Was home alone so decided to ride over to Mt White to the Cafe there for a cuppa. Week days you can get a few bikes there. Also this ride would give me a chance to see how the Bandit handles the twisties.  Places that I would normaly bottom out on the Old Pac with the BMW can be taken with greater urge on the Bandit. It handles that much better than the BMW. This with stock suspenders too.  Rounded up one of those new 6 cylinder BMW cruise liner bikes. Floundering great things they are. They should be made to wear a sign that says wide load.  Arrived at Mt White Cafe only to fing it is empty. No sign up to say what had happened. Maybe it is too far to ride form Sydney for all the sports bike riders and this killed it off. Where to go from here? Not the F3 and back home. Did that last night.  Back towards home I head but will turn off at Kariong and go down Woy Woy road. Have not be...

Found on the Interwebthingie. Looks like something Rommel may have used on his days off in North Africa during WWII.

After a good wash and polish time for some details shots.

So far my Bandit, "el Lobo" is a dream to ride and own. For me the ride position is just about perfect. The seat can be a bit hard. That has been fixed with my Airhawk blow up seat cushion. For the pillion (for you Yanks that's passenger) it is another story. The pillion part of the seat slopes forward and the pegs are very high. This kinda sours the bike a bit. To make the pillion perch flat we have added a small Airhawk and a sheepskin. This helps Jan from sliding into my back when I brake or de-accelerate. Some how I would like to mod the pillion peg hangers so her legs are not so bent at the knees. I spent all of yesterday trying to rig up the spare BMW pegs I have. I had them is a great position too. The mounts I made were way too weak to take the weight of a person swinging up an onto the bike. Back to the drawing board.

Yesterday I made Sofie's retirement official.  I took the number plate into the RTA and handed it back in. Filled in the form. Plate was thrown into a box of other plates without a care in the world. I just stood there and watched the lady behind the counter do this. My heart sunk. Sofie had lost her name plate. I was told I would get a cheque in the mail for the whole sum of $10.00. She sits out the back all covered up. I have started to make a list of what needs to be done. It is getting longer everytime I sit down and do this. Maybe I should cafe racer her or bobber her.  One day in the future I shall decide.

I have bought a low mileage 2002 Suzuki GSF1200 Bandit. It has only got 37k on the clock. Very well looked after by the previous owner. Full service history. A rare find I would say.

Sneek peek of El Lobo. All going to plan I pick the bike up tomorrow. I am keeping the BMW and will one day restore her.

No spark what so ever.  2 days ago she cut out on me while riding home from work. No sooner had she cut out that she fired back up. Then cut out and then straight away fired back up.  I checked the Omega system and found that the plastic screws that hold the Printed Circuit Board had come loose. I replaced these with small metal bolts. Set the gap between the Printed Circuit Board and the magnet carrier as per the fitting instructions. Took her for a run and she just did not feel right. The  plastic  screws have stripped their threads too.  Started her up this morning and as she is warming up then she cuts out. Pull the plugs, ground them to the cylinders with plug leads attached and see if I have any spark. Nothing on either side.  New coil, plug leads and caps were fitted March this year around 6000 kms ago. This was when the Omega was fitted too. I don't believe its the coil.  I had fitted the coil and Omega as the bike had cu...

Ben Carufel from the ADV forums has allowed me to share his ride report. He went and bought a truly lovely old lady of a R60/5. Then rode her home. I would trade my R100 for an R60 in a flash. Even more so aftering see this one that Ben bought. So over to Ben..... I got to thinkin' a few weeks ago when Jo-Nathan posted his thread that, dammit, summer is ending and I didn't do any sort of multi-day ride this summer. In fact, my last multi day trip was in April for the ADV WARPED VII event. A 5 hour ride each way with two nights of camping between. So of course I started looking for a nice airhead which I could pick up not too far away and ride back to San Diego. Something which will give me an airhead to putt around town on while I really dig into my R65. After the R65, I reasoned, I could pull the newer (to me) airhead apart and do a nice restore on it, too. Thinking about things, I thought I'd like a little older bike than an R65. I dig my R65, but I have always...