Well ghost cats and dogs aside, it's been a weird day. I had to go to work again, for the second time in over a year today, so awoke at 5am, and was on the road by 0515, where I joined in on the "Tradie's Grand prix" where all the carpenters, plumbers, electricians, builders etc, still high and angry from their methamphetamine's from the night before, race each other to the jobsite in the early hours of the morning.
This is not a good time to be on a motorcycle, as these lunatics try to at least double the posted speed limit, whilst changing lanes without indicating, and cutting you off if you're not prepared to compete with them for "Who's gonna lose their license for the longest period" award. I tried as best I could to stay out of their way, and managed to get to work in the barracks by 0550. Now when I've been working from home for the last year I've been rewarding myself each morning for waking up in time to log in for another day of boredom by making myself a delicious breakfast of egg, bacon, home made toasted sourdough bread, butter, cheese, baked beans, tomatoes and button mushrooms.
Sunday K2 Bitsa ride 28 Mar 2021 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Today I did think about walking across the road to my favourite restaurant for a hearty breakfast, but instead decided that I'd just eat some almost 6 months out of date cereal (which tastes slightly less enjoyable than the carboard box it was packaged in) as I wanted to save myself for a delicious lunch at my favourite Chinese restaurant, "Celestial Dumplings", a couple of blocks up the road from the barracks. I started work at 0550, so by 1145, I couldn't wait any longer, I almost ran up the street to Chinese dumpling heaven! Or so I thought. I arrived there to find that they had become another victim of Covid-19, and the place had closed down. Sh1t!
I went into a Thai place next door called "Peko Peko" and was miserably disappointed. Ordered "Satay Beef Fried Rice" and expected Satay Beef with fried rice, but no, got fried rice with (perhaps) a Satay Beef flavour? It just tasted burned and horrible. I ate about 25% of it and had half a can of coke, and walked out $20 poorer, vowing never to go back. They should rename the dump "Puke-o Puke-o".
K2 bitsa Tuesday 30 Mar 2021 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Anyway, I dragged my sorry arse back to work and felt sorry for myself until 2pm when it was time to go home. Traffic was light, and I was home by around 2.40. There were a couple of parcels waiting for me, two sets of new brake pads for when I install the Lesters, and the replacement monster sized step drill, to replace the one I destroyed fixing the mufflers on the Rat bike. I wandered out to the garage, and first thing I did was made a simple bracket to mount the horns on either side of the oil cooler, because they wouldn't fit in their original position once I mounted the radiator last night. I had to mount the horns "backwards" so the forks would clear from lock to lock, but that was a small price to pay.
K2 bitsa Tuesday 30 Mar 2021 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I fired the bike up and although it started instantly, the oil pressure was now reading slightly under 60 psi? That was weird, it had always been 70 psi on the gauge until I mounted the oil cooler, did adding the cooler reduce the oil pressure? I'd never noticed this on my K1 with it's "Terry Built" oil cooler (this one's a Lockhart) but what the hell, I wanted to go for a ride. By this stage it was after 4 pm, and traffic was building, so there was a bit of "Stop/start" until I got out onto the freeway, but the good thing was, the oil pressure never dropped below 50 psi.
I stopped at the Shell gas station on the Hume Freeway in Kalkallo and immediately wondered why I keep going there, as their fuel is 30 cents per litre more expensive than any of the half dozen gas stations around my area, but what the hell, it's a good place to stop on a "shake out ride" to check for oil leaks etc, to ensure that things are as they should be, before going any further. As it turned out, it needed a whole 6 litres of fuel, so it wasn't the end of the world. As I was filling, an old guy (well, he was 5 years older than me, as it turned out) wandered over to check the bike out. "Let me guess, you had one just like it, yeah?" I challenged him, and he replied, "Yeah mate, and I've still got it!" And he showed me pics of his K1, which I think he said he bought in 1973? Turns out he was a nice guy, and by pure coincidence, his name was Terry too. He was an interstate truck driver and had a massive truck which was impressive, although I couldn't help but think that by the time I'm 66, I want to be comfortably retired. Anyway, I told him all about this forum and suggested he check it out if he loves CB750's, so we might see him here soon.
I got off the freeway as soon as I could and hit my favourite 60 mile circular route. The bike was running great, and the oil pressure hadn't dropped below 50 psi since I left home. 60 psi is ideal @ 4000 RPM (60 MPH in 5th) but after the problems I've had, I'll take 50 psi all day. Being an old man, and having already drunk 500 ml of Ginger Joe (don't try this at home kids, I'm a professional drunk) I had to stop out the back of nowhere for a piss, so I took the opportunity to snap a pic.
K2 bitsa Tuesday 30 Mar 2021 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I continued on for another 40-odd miles, and I'm happy to report that the oil pressure gauge sat firmly on 50 psi for the whole trip. I don't know if the stable oil pressure is a result of cooler oil, or thicker oil, or maybe a combination of both? Regardless, it works, and I'm happy. I came home and celebrated with one of my "Ginger Terry's", the rocket fuel version of ginger beer, not just due to the alcohol content, but also the taste. Oh well, I imagine heroin doesn't taste all that good either?
K2 bitsa Tuesday 30 Mar 2021 5 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Anyway, after a disappointing lunch, I made some rice cakes with Maasdam cheese, salami, camembert, pickled onions, olives and almonds, washed down with even more Ginger beer.
K2 bitsa Tuesday 30 Mar 2021 6 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I must have been very tired from my hard day in the office, because I immediately fell asleep (or unconscious) and didn't wake up again until almost 11pm. Oh well, apart from having to get up at 5 to be at work at 6, suffering the misery of finding my favourite Chinese restaurant has ironically been destroyed by a pandemic originating in China, eating the crappiest asian food I think I've ever had, then paying too much for my fuel, the rest of my day was really good, the bike is running well and it is fast, I accidentally saw the "Ton" several times without really trying.
I'm looking forward to receiving the K0 carbs that JamesH is sending me out from England, as even with the work I did on the weekend, I'm still not impressed with the heavy throttle on this bike, the only thing that's letting it down, IMHO. In comparison the light throttle of my K0 is like a modern bike with EFI. I figure that throttle response with the 836cc engine and the Andrews cam should make it an even more wicked weapon. We'll see.
