2025 Glacial Lakes MC Grand Tour

Part 2 After what seemed like weeks but was probably only days, my friendly Workshop Manager gave me a call to inform me that my new shims had arrived. Now, as everyone will know, each shim has a 2-digit number etched on one side. This number indicates the thickness of the shim. click on the image to enlarge For example, a shim marked as 85 means the shim has a "nominal" thickness of 2.85 mm. Likewise, a shim marked 05 has a "nominal" thickness of 3.05 mm, and so on. I say "nominal" because the actual thickness of a 05 shim can be anywhere between 3.035 and 3.065 thick, and by knowing this, it is possible to "cherry-pick" shims for your engine if you have access to enough shims to choose from. So armed with my trusty micrometer and a list of what shims I really wanted, I headed down to the Workshop, and after sweet-talking the Manager for a while, I was eventually given permission to root around his collection of shims. This chart shows the resul...

Winter Maintenance July is the middle of our Winter, and just 3 words sum up the current situation perfectly. Cold, Wet or Windy or a combination of one or more of those factors.   Cold as in 0*C ~ 15*C, Wet as in 20 days of rain per month or more, and Windy as wind gusts exceeding 100 kph.  Not the best riding weather by any stretch of the imagination. Lately, it's been cold & wet & windy, so it is the perfect time to perform that much-needed routine maintenance.  Now, it is fair to say that there are 2 schools of thought regarding routine maintenance. The first is " if it ain't broke, don't fix it ", while the second is " a stitch in time save nine ". Apparently, that saying has a maritime origin from the 1730s and relates to the idea that it is better to repair a small tear in a sail than wait until it is a large tear, particularly when you are in uncharted oceans. So with that in mind, I pulled out the Service Manual ( as in RTFM ) and pull...

North Coast Loop click on image to enlarge   It would seem that the Rain Gods had taken pity on your humble servant and had granted me 3 mid-week days of sunshine, with no rain forecast.   So without further ado, I pulled out my remaining Grand Tour riding plans, and over a glass of a fine Shiraz, considered the "pros & cons" of each route. The South-West Loop was a no-go, for while the weather was going to be sunny, it was not going to be warm. The forecast was for overnight temperature down to minus 4*C (25*F), with daytime temps only around the 10*C (50*F) mark.   That will be a "pass" for me. The Western Loop was not much better with a temperature range forecast of 0*C ~ 12*C, so again I passed up the opportunity for hypothermia. That just left the North Coast Loop with temperature forecasts of 5*C ~ 17*C (40*F ~ 65*F), and while this is considered "cool by some and cold by many",  it would be tolerable if I "layered up". The downside was...

 Intermission Anyone familiar with the lay of the land here in Oz knows that the Great Dividing Range is a mountainous area that runs the full length of the eastern seaboard in a north-south direction and separates the Western Plains from the Eastern Coastal fringe. It is not a particularly tall mountain range, with an average height of only 750 m / 2,100 ft, but it does run 3,500 km / 2,175 mi, from the tip of Cape York in northern Queensland to the  the Grampians in southern Victoria.   click on image to enlarge This weekend, Winter arrived early, with a polar blast dumping the first significant snowfalls on the Kosciusko Mountains area on the Victorian border and a light dusting of snow on the Southern and Central Tablelands of my State.  The Northern Tablelands missed the snowfall this week, but their time will come soon enough. Daytime temperatures on the Western Plains are now around 0*C~10*C, with a wind chill taking that down to around 0*C.  This wi...

  North West Loop click on image to enlarge It has been some weeks since my last bonus ride, way back in late March. This delay was not due to a lack of desire but rather a combination of Autumn school holidays, Easter public holidays, the ANZAC Day holiday, and extended above-average wet weather.   However, the coming of May promised some fine weather, and sure enough, the Rain Gods took pity on my poor soul and gifted me 3 continuous days of sunshine.  Needless to say, I did not waste this opportunity and quickly pulled out my plan for a 3-day North West ride. I also took pity on two of my riding companions, Tim & Harry, who were also starting to suffer from "cabin fever" and I invited them to join me. Tuesday morning dawned with clear blue skies, and we met up at the designated starting location in Berowra, on the northern edge of Sydney. Once underway, we took the dreaded M1 to Freemans Waterhole ( 90 km ) for the obligatory morning coffee and a chicko roll. ...