posted by Beaker at 12:36 PM
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Have been flat out at work for the past few days and am working all this weekend, so have been unable to post details from the ride to Kenilworth that a few of us did last Sunday. Will try and post some pix early next week.
In the meantime, have a great weekend and ride safe....
In the meantime, have a great weekend and ride safe....
Labels: General
posted by Beaker at 8:02 AM
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Phew!!!!! Just got into work and my heart is till pounding away. About 20 minutes ago I was happily riding along Wynnum Rd passing through Morningside when it happened - a young guy driving a beat up old Magna decides to drive out of a shop carpark on the side of the road and directly into my path.
I saw him coming but thought he would pull up as nearly all do - uh uh. He just drove straight into my path, leaving me no time at all to brake. I prepared myself for the inevitable whilst swerving in an attempt to avoid him. Luckily I pulled right hard enough to miss the front of his car by about 6 inches and the median strip by about 12, whilst managing to stay upright. There was no other traffic around me, so fortunately I had an out! I just caught the look on his face as I passed and he looked surprised, as if he didn't know what I was doing there. I immediately slowed up and waited for him to pull alongside - the driver was just a kid. He immediately apologised to me whilst I "politely" informed him to take a little longer and look next time.
You know the worst thing about this - he didn't even bother to look for oncoming traffic - just drove straight out and almost put me out. Oh well....I'm still here!! Lesson learnt => always expect the unexpected.
I saw him coming but thought he would pull up as nearly all do - uh uh. He just drove straight into my path, leaving me no time at all to brake. I prepared myself for the inevitable whilst swerving in an attempt to avoid him. Luckily I pulled right hard enough to miss the front of his car by about 6 inches and the median strip by about 12, whilst managing to stay upright. There was no other traffic around me, so fortunately I had an out! I just caught the look on his face as I passed and he looked surprised, as if he didn't know what I was doing there. I immediately slowed up and waited for him to pull alongside - the driver was just a kid. He immediately apologised to me whilst I "politely" informed him to take a little longer and look next time.
You know the worst thing about this - he didn't even bother to look for oncoming traffic - just drove straight out and almost put me out. Oh well....I'm still here!! Lesson learnt => always expect the unexpected.
posted by Beaker at 7:18 AM
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Kat and I got up early on Saturday morning to participate in SMART - a day long advanced rider training course put on by the Gold Coast City Council. I thought it would be good for Kat to come along so she could at least learn some basic safety before learning to ride herself.
We arived at the council chambers at Bundall and proceeded indoors to the training room where they had set up a motorcycle simulator for us to have a go on (I didn't get to it) whilst waiting to sign in and do license checks. Once we were all present the guys kicked the day off with introductions and then some basic stuff on protective gear and what the agenda for the day was. As all this was going on, one of the trainers left and as I found out, checked our bikes for registration and roadworthiness. On return he called out a few bikes asking where the rego label was and then asked me to step outside. He then said to me that he could not allow me to participate on the course this particular day as my rear tyre was not roadworthy! I realised that I was due for a new one but was a little surprised when he told me as I thought that it would have been ok.
I went back into the training room and sat through the rest of the introductory session until we all headed out to the bikes - it was then that I informed Kat and whilst we were both a little dissapointed it was a fair decision. We left Bundall and headed straight down to the Motorcycle Tyre Shop on Lawrence Drive at Nerang. I got one of the guys to check front and rear tyres out and he said that my front was scalloped and so would be best to replace both. I decided on the Michelin Pilot Roads as this was what I had on the back and wanted to convert the front to the same. I gave him the ok and we then headed off to check out the other bike shops along the street. We managed to browse through a few dealerships before returning to pick up the GSX in her new "shoes".
All up it cost $450 fitted and balanced which I thought was a pretty good price for these tyres. I know.....it was a big shock to a former cruiser rider who was used to paying just over $200 for both, but it is a very different bike and it does require a good quality tyre. The ride back to Kingscliff was spent getting a feel for the new rubber - I had worn a flat spot into my old rear so was getting used to the handling again.
So I had to settle for new tyres instead of a day of training - a good investment either way. We managed to reschedule our SMART day to mid September, the last weekend for the year that it is being run - really looking forward to it.
We arived at the council chambers at Bundall and proceeded indoors to the training room where they had set up a motorcycle simulator for us to have a go on (I didn't get to it) whilst waiting to sign in and do license checks. Once we were all present the guys kicked the day off with introductions and then some basic stuff on protective gear and what the agenda for the day was. As all this was going on, one of the trainers left and as I found out, checked our bikes for registration and roadworthiness. On return he called out a few bikes asking where the rego label was and then asked me to step outside. He then said to me that he could not allow me to participate on the course this particular day as my rear tyre was not roadworthy! I realised that I was due for a new one but was a little surprised when he told me as I thought that it would have been ok.
I went back into the training room and sat through the rest of the introductory session until we all headed out to the bikes - it was then that I informed Kat and whilst we were both a little dissapointed it was a fair decision. We left Bundall and headed straight down to the Motorcycle Tyre Shop on Lawrence Drive at Nerang. I got one of the guys to check front and rear tyres out and he said that my front was scalloped and so would be best to replace both. I decided on the Michelin Pilot Roads as this was what I had on the back and wanted to convert the front to the same. I gave him the ok and we then headed off to check out the other bike shops along the street. We managed to browse through a few dealerships before returning to pick up the GSX in her new "shoes".
All up it cost $450 fitted and balanced which I thought was a pretty good price for these tyres. I know.....it was a big shock to a former cruiser rider who was used to paying just over $200 for both, but it is a very different bike and it does require a good quality tyre. The ride back to Kingscliff was spent getting a feel for the new rubber - I had worn a flat spot into my old rear so was getting used to the handling again.
So I had to settle for new tyres instead of a day of training - a good investment either way. We managed to reschedule our SMART day to mid September, the last weekend for the year that it is being run - really looking forward to it.
Labels: Mods and Maintenance, Safety, Training
posted by Beaker at 8:46 AM
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Well Jim had his 50th birthday on Saturday, and there was absolutely no better way to help him celebrate on a fantastic winters day than joining him for a ride. Seven bikes met at the Park Ridge Tavern and we all decided to head to Rathdowney and then follow one of the better bike roads into Boonah for lunch, but first stop was Jimboomba to pick up Mike and Lizzie. Panda led the ride down to and then through Jimboomba at a fairly good pace, but in her haste, completely forgot to stop to pick up our two colleagues waving to us frantically from the servo. I don't know exactly why, but we all followed like sheep in not stopping - they did eventually catch up with us at Beaudesert where we had pulled over for a break.
We continued onto Rathdowney where we pulled in for a drink at the pub and to wait for Grizz to catch us. He rolled in after about half an hour and then we were off. The road between here and Boonah is a great one for bikes - not too much traffic, lots of twisties and a couple of nice long straight bits. I took off and rode it as I thought it should be ridden - hard and fast. I really put the GSX through it's paces and was not dissapointed - she held the road beautifully and when asked, delivered the grunt with little effort. The only thing that was a little scary was the number of dead roos on the road - I reckon we passed about 10 in a very short period, due mainly to the lack of feed, except along the roadside. You wouldn't have much chance if you hit one on a bike, especially when right in the middle of a corner!
We pulled into the Dugandan Hotel around midday and settled in for some lunch. I really enjoy stopping at this pub because the food is great and it is located at a tee junction, right alongside the road, so you could sit there in the shade with your favourite beverage watching the bikes pass. After a really good feed, the girls arranged for a huge piece of cake to be brought out as a surprise for Jim and it went down really well. We hung around for a while longer as Jim ate his way through this chunk of cake, and then once he had finished, headed back towards home.
The ride back was great fun - three of us, Banjo on a Speedmaster, LJ on the Rocket and moi on the GSX, took off and really hooked into it. I was really surprised at how much stick the Rocket has - at one stage we were really moving along and LJ gave her a fistful, leaving me struggling behind attempting to catch him. I assumed that I would catch him easy, but there was no way I was gonna get there in a hurry! The Speedmaster was also a bit of a surprise - he was out in front setting the pace and took a fair bit to reel in. We took a different route to the others on our way back but did finally catch up with them as we rode into Jimboomba.
We all stopped for a break in Jimboomba and said our goodbyes from there. A couple of us returned to Jim and Tracey's place for a post-ride drink and photo session from their recent US trip which was really interesting. I left there about 5ish and headed down to Kingscliff. I reckon Jim would have had a really happy birthday - I know I really enjoyed it!
We continued onto Rathdowney where we pulled in for a drink at the pub and to wait for Grizz to catch us. He rolled in after about half an hour and then we were off. The road between here and Boonah is a great one for bikes - not too much traffic, lots of twisties and a couple of nice long straight bits. I took off and rode it as I thought it should be ridden - hard and fast. I really put the GSX through it's paces and was not dissapointed - she held the road beautifully and when asked, delivered the grunt with little effort. The only thing that was a little scary was the number of dead roos on the road - I reckon we passed about 10 in a very short period, due mainly to the lack of feed, except along the roadside. You wouldn't have much chance if you hit one on a bike, especially when right in the middle of a corner!
We pulled into the Dugandan Hotel around midday and settled in for some lunch. I really enjoy stopping at this pub because the food is great and it is located at a tee junction, right alongside the road, so you could sit there in the shade with your favourite beverage watching the bikes pass. After a really good feed, the girls arranged for a huge piece of cake to be brought out as a surprise for Jim and it went down really well. We hung around for a while longer as Jim ate his way through this chunk of cake, and then once he had finished, headed back towards home.
The ride back was great fun - three of us, Banjo on a Speedmaster, LJ on the Rocket and moi on the GSX, took off and really hooked into it. I was really surprised at how much stick the Rocket has - at one stage we were really moving along and LJ gave her a fistful, leaving me struggling behind attempting to catch him. I assumed that I would catch him easy, but there was no way I was gonna get there in a hurry! The Speedmaster was also a bit of a surprise - he was out in front setting the pace and took a fair bit to reel in. We took a different route to the others on our way back but did finally catch up with them as we rode into Jimboomba.
We all stopped for a break in Jimboomba and said our goodbyes from there. A couple of us returned to Jim and Tracey's place for a post-ride drink and photo session from their recent US trip which was really interesting. I left there about 5ish and headed down to Kingscliff. I reckon Jim would have had a really happy birthday - I know I really enjoyed it!
Out front of the Rathdowney Hotel
Ooooh yeah - show me some skin, baby!!
Our lunch stop just outside Boonah
The birthday boy with his cake - he ate it all too!
Labels: On the road
posted by Beaker at 12:23 PM
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