The Throwaway World...
I've never been one to hang onto old rubbish, ok that's a lie. If it might come in useful one day, it stays... forever.
But the old portable compressor has been sooooo useful over the years, and I didn't really want to buy another, not yet. It was working its heart out the other day while I was blowing water and dust of my deck, when its tone changed, and not for the better I can tell you!
Had the head gasket blown? Filter blocked? Piston holed?
Ten minutes later the head was off. I'd actually never looked inside one of these before and was surprised at the valve set up. Just a couple of sprung steel strips, and one of them had worn thin and snapped. Apparently a common fault.
Getting Balance In My Life.
Because I fit my own tyres, I knocked up a contraption to balance wheels ages ago, but it involved a couple of lengths of wood which needed to be supported high enough to get a wheel off the ground. All this took up space and was a pain to set up, even if it did the job ok.
What I wanted was the nifty little self-standing static balancer I'd seen online. A quick perusal of eBay had one snapped up and delivered for less than seventy of the finest Aussie dollars. And, what's more, it arrived two days later! In Australia that's pretty much unheard of.
Just a quick look at the box and you can already feel the quality can't you?
"This twin purpose wheel balancing stand and stand..." I'm lost. And "twin purpose" means? Well, according to the destructions, either a biker or motorcyclist can use it.
Alright, sarcasm over, let's have a little decko and see if it actually works.
I've been busy... with wood. And I'm not a very accomplished woodworker. Prefer metal, but I wanted to create something out of junk. Pallets in this case. They'd been sat outside where I work for awhile, and were going to be broken up, so why not?
One at a time...
So I was going for the approach here of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Only the RH fork seal is leaking on the little CBR, but it's long overdue (just like tutorials on this blog). Well, no more! I haven't been riding as much because of it. I seriously needed a kick up the arse.
For the good lord said unto them... "Tell me what it is you want."
And the fools they cried, "We want power. Great power, over people."
But the wise, more importantly, asked of power from a different source. A device that could invoke feelings like no other. A mechanical device, designed by the hands and minds of humans... an engine. An engine that could deliver oodles of power from low revs, and induce wheelies at the slightest provocation. And the diligent were patient, and they duly received.
Four-stroke singles. Word.
Unheard horsepower from a mid-sized single is a great feat. For years they were dull, docile, heavy lumps that were dependable but, essentially, boring. Then they got quick, lightweight, scared the shit out of us, but were slightly unreliable. Because great power comes at great expense...
In time though, we got it all. Including 10,000km service intervals from a single cylinder midsize, pushing out around 66BHP. Stone the crows cobber, I think we're onto something.
The 690 SMC-R.
With great power comes great responsibility.
I hate plans...
Always have, the best New Year's parties I've had have all been unplanned. And I live my life that way for this very reason.
I prefer to choose whether I go to a track day at 1.00am on the morning of the track day, just in case something better comes up. 😉
So, the other day, when I was out testing, playing and working on Smithy's Panigale, I fully intended to go for breakfast at the Metz, in Canungra, and then go home. But the best made plans...
When a job's worth doing...
People scare me. No, mechanics scare me. No, I just hate people. 😉
The reason I really love my job is because you can take something that isn't working quite how it was designed, and improve it. Sometimes you can improve it even beyond the original designer's idea because he/she was probably restricted by time or, more likely, money constraints.
But in the last few years that has become harder because most vehicles are amazing straight out of the box. No question. You can literally jump on a 650 Versys and embarrass the average Joe on an R1, easily. They are that good!
Why am I ranting?
Because I just rode a three year-old bike which, arguably, should out handle most things on the road. And yet, this thing was hopeless, dangerous even.
Scrub the suspension, we can all ride around that. Tyre pressures might cause a few indiscretions, but hey ho. Brakes? Brakes that are downright dangerous, on a modern bike, is not the way to make progress.
