Scratching My Head

For the past two days I've felt disconnected... strange "The Hulk" is gone on her way north to await my arrival.. but me I'm here .. nothing to do.. ACDC was an absolute Blast.. a bloody good nite.. when I say nothing to do I forgot about SWWBO and her magical to do before you go list..

 Fix the stereo in the room ( speaker playing up) tick

Mow the lawn  tick

fix doggy door okkie strap  tick

Block dogs view thru fence  tick (sort of :)  )

find headphone adaptor socket  tick

now that I've written it down it was a pretty easy list.. so that's probably why I feel so weird.. nothing to do and all day to do it in.. so now we're on the couch just about to watch Dance ya Bastards or some such show.. not my style but eh whatcha gonna do LIl' app SWWBO & SWWBO luv it and well I'm leaving tomorrow so this is family time... thank God/Goddess for Wine... 

Bring it on...........

And So It Begins..........

And So it begins...

Like all great adventures it starts with a single step.. this single step came in the shape of SidY and his idea born many months ago will today bear fruit.. "The Hulk" is headed for NPD transport for her trip to the Sunshine State of Qld.. 

Preparations have been many and frantic.. anything that might have presented as a problem did.. but was overcome.. So here we stand today on the verge of The Great Ride Down/Across.. in the coming days and weeks many many klms will be covered over many varied and exciting roads.. Travelling in concert with an ever growing flotilla of GPz900r's will be an amazing thing.. Excitement levels are on Meltdown.. concentration on anything not related is impossible and a waste of time.. 

ZERO

TaDa... She's done... well for the ride she's as good as she is  gonna get... I'm very happy with how she behaves.. love riding her can hardly wait to get her on the road with a heap of other 900's... Yeeehaaaa... 

The Great Ride Down /Across is about to commence tomorrow I prepare the crate for the transport section.. Next installment here will be the first of a series of reports from the ride...

Let the fun begin........

ONE

Well it's happening finally.. The Final assembly ( Well for the Great Ride Down/Across at least) Last nite .. I took the Black Beast out to the shed.. totally forgetting that it was the first tuesday of the month.. That's Hotrod Gathering evening .. 

So cruizin' out there I'm about 2 mins out when I spot a Kool looking Orange ute very similar to Young Mick's coming at me in amongst a heap of traffic.. as he goes past I see that he and Miss Vicky are looking at each other and have totally missed seeing me.. Bugga .. no biggy..  I keep going coz i know that Dewey (Dwayne) will be home.. yep.. so it's 5.30  unload bike off trailer and commence the disassembly .. It's warm has been a good 34 all day the shed is warmish but the fans is doing its job.. Gus (big dog) is out cold on the floor  so he's no help.. anyway 2 hrs and she's an empty roller.. stripped of pieces to be used on the ride and the rest stored in big blue box for storage back home in the garden shed.. for next project .. 

Thankfully Micks shed has every tool needed for any project.. the engine crane is a god/goddess send .. slowly piece by piece she is coming together .. each piece added I take a pic then sit and look and drool and anticipate what she'll feel like under me... soooo close now I mean sooo close after 3 years of planning cutting adapting welding grinding mfg thinking waiting looking drooling the time is finally at hand for the riding ... 

TWO

Billy ( Steve's brother) arrived this morning to take the black beast to the B****d RWC Guy for me.. only to find me at home.. t'is kool says Bill.. Ok so off we go deliver the beast.. he gives me the "Have you fixed it all .. where's the noise test certificate.. I says don't need one .. we repacked the muffler and then added two baffles... 

phone rings.. its RWC guy 

( 2 hr have now past due to a mad dash to RWC guy cause bike wont run...)

Got a call from RWC guy bike wont run..it's shit he says.. I emit a few expletives and say I'm on my way.. I grab the 5 lt jerry can and head full pace to the bike .. add fuel Say nothing to B****d RWC guy .. turn to prime wait eyes skyward ..fires up first go nothing no missing no nuttin'.. I give him "" Die You B*****D stare" He says OK will it idle..she does.. he grabs helmet and is off... Waiting Waiting 5 mins.. Steve calls ..whats happening .. I tell him.. I'm sweating ..praying please please.. 10 mins ..OK now it's freaky ..he's crashed ..blown up or she's died again... there he is .. fart bubble pop brrraaattt.. OMFG Now What.. .. She's a pile of shit he says..it rides OK Just wont run... AAaaaarrgghh.. He gets Off muttering something about More money for extra lookies.. and the left blinker not going... Wire popped out easy fix ..done.. OK Prime..fireup ..she's revving like a nutta ..what what what.. calm..Choke why is the choke on..no wonder it's running rough.. choke off revs drop fuel on.. smooth as silk ..blat blat..vroom I jump on..fly out the drive blast around the short block ( Ooooppps No helmet) come flying in the drive.. What da F*#K is going on Pete I cant find anything wrong... Just get on it ride and round the block don't touch anything come back and sign THE F*#KIN' RWC.. please ... so he goes ..I lay on the boot of SWWBO car.. trying to breathe as calmly as I can ..releasing all tension.. searching for option 2 should this not happen.. 2 mins he's back she's singin' he blips and blips the throttle ..nice.. he gets off the bike and .............

We now have a RWC.. Rego tomorrow... Riding Wednesday .....

THREE

Whatcha gonna do??.. Wench more wine...  

Went to take the bike out to the Shed to do the forks exhaust etc .. 

key in 

ignition on 

vrooom 

Bop 

pfffffftt  .. 

It backfired in the carb and blew a diaphragm.. 

I shit blue lights thought I'd holed the casing or at the least bent a valve...  shitty fuel still in the tap and bowls and carbs etc etc.. it took a day to work out what the problem was and now fixed... Smiles..

 but only until I went to put it back onto the trailer to bring home... no speedo ... it seems that there's a problem with the drive mechanism in the wheel .. 

So now tomorrow  I'll get Billy to run it in to the RWC guy so he can road test only to tell me that the speedo don't go .. as long as thats all then I have saturday to fix it..we have 2 spare drives etc.. then back monday get the certificate and rego wednesday 8.55am... 

Please God/Goddess Smile upon this bike and let her pass...

FOUR

Well RWC went Ok a few little items.. he was a little anal about stuff..ie  

Clean LH mirror, 

Rear Shocker Noisey

Forks not rebounding

Cannot Road test

Scure plastics properly 

handgrips loose

gear lever loose

moisture rear indicators

front indicator lenses not sealed

So I've fixed most of those just need to add oil to the forks, change plugs and give the rear shock a liberal dose of WD40.. will do all of that tonite so that Bro-in-law Billy can run it back to the guy for a final check and clearance then it's off to the Rego branch..

Then it's all systems go .. will need to send both mine and Steve's in for a final tune up then a few shakedown runs to sort any probs .. Gotta go down to the local Yamaha store and grab a bike crate so that I can ship her up to Brisbane safe and secure..  Everything is sooo close now..  The excitement level  is growing.. last nite i was thinking about all the stuff I'll need to take..

Tent,

Sleeping Bag,

Self-Inflating mattress,

Self-Inflating Pillow,

Kwaka Manual Tool Kit & spares

5 litre plastic fuel can (WA run)

Assorted Clothes/Jocks/Socks and runners

Sports Chamois,

Leathers & Boots

Helmet & Gloves,

One piece R-Jays rain suit couple pairs latex gloves,

Disc Lock and Sturdy Chain

Phone, Charger,

Camera & Spare Batteries,

Video camera and SD cards

Maps

Notebook & Pens

Small Bottle Chivas Regal and Hip Flask

2 pair of Sunnies, earplugs,

Just to start things off, I'll add more I can tell but I must be smart as I only have the 2 hard panniers, tank bag and rear rack, as well I don't want to over load her ...

FIVE

And so it begins.. the week of getting it done.. The story so far ..

Building "The Hulk" and the "Pickup Ride" .. a joining of the two.. Steve's bike is all done apart from a tuneup.. "The Hulk"  is all but finished.. tomorrow I'm out at the shed and fitting the water pump repair kit to the Black Beast's motor and then this motor will be fitted to "The Hulk" frame for the Gathering of the Faithful.. Christmas brought on a few more unexpected expenses which in turn have forced me to postpone the Professional paintjob ..so instead today I gave the Black Beast's fairings and the Tank a coat from a spraycan.. it's rough but it'll do for the time being.. I've gotta make a new bracket for the lower fairing ..as the mufflers will be in the way... fit a manual over ride for the fans a manual cut out for the headlight.. finish the choke switch.. it's the little things .. I'm not gonna run the LED indicators for the time being .. they'll have to wait for the good fairing.. Soooo Close now.. praying for a smooth time with Rego...

SIX

Woohoo "It's Alive" ( key in Frankenstein Movie Clip) The Electric String has done what its supposed to and fired up the Gauges and lights and blinkers and ignition and all the necessary bits.. still need to check Tacho and speedo to see if they both need to be connected to operate ..But I'm one happy chappy ..of all the mods this is the one that gave me the biggest drama.. maybe because I didnt really understand it all .. but now thats not a problem.. at this point in time the water pump repair kit needs to arrive so that I can transfer the motor into "The Hulk" and then assemble and ride .. but I cant do any of that till it arrives...  I'm not going to properly paint the bike as I'm a bit short of funds.. buying the 2 bikes (SWWBO's GPz500 and Lil'SWWBO Dirtbike) has taken a big chunk out of my Play funds.. So I'll use pressure pack cans and give it a reasonable coat and after the ride I'll save up enough to get it professionally painted .. as well as getting the RX lump rebuilt into a fire breather.. But so far pretty excited and nervous.. gotta get it rego'd next ..and by next I mean next week ... Eeekk

SEVEN

Countdown to Ecstacy.. 

By that I mean .. Riding "The Hulk" on "The Great Ride Down/Across" .. 

At times during the build I've actually wondered if I would get it finished..  I never really had a time frame for the build .. it was a just a fun thing to do, a life long ambition to build a bike just for me.. incorporating all my loves in a bike.. Fat rims.. ballsy motor .. stoppers that make your eyes pop.. knife edge handling .. nice paint.. tricky fairing mods.. etc etc ...

But now here we are just over a month out and i really want to ride her down/across..  

Basically we are at a point where everything is ready just waiting on the water pump repair kit..  Gotta do the PET Seal on the tank some filler on the fairings.. and a great coat of paint.. and then it's Assembly time..

EIGHT

Ok it's been a while ..  basically I've done bugger all in preparation as I've been working like a madman to get the funds required for the trip and to cover costs while I'm away.. OK now to get it all together.. gotta now replace the water pump and put a kit thru it.. I've just been in contact with Our illustrious leader Craig and he has done an amazing job of water pump kit and sent off to me all up time under 1 hour.. hopefully about 5 days travel time and we can fit it.. then it's tuneup check everything .. between now and then thou I've gotta get "The Hulk" painted and fitted out for the trip..do a couple of day rides with Steve to sort out any probs.. I finally got all the necessary pieces of the camera setup together only to find out that the storage device was all but useless to me.. I would need to use about 50 x  2 gb cards to store the trip ..so it's back to the drawing board.. maybe just a video cam hand held or ?? or a helmet cam from Fleabay..