OK, so this weekend I decided I was gonna go visit my Ma, who lives in my home town for my first 17 years, before I joined the Army and never moved back. It's a 200 mile ride or drive each way, so I usually drive or ride every few weeks, but due to the Covid 19 lockdown, I haven't been home since March last year.
Rather than drive my big comfy Ford SUV with it's luxury leather interior and icy cold aircon (it's been in the high 70's-mid 80's for the last few days and will be over 100 tomorrow) I thought, Why not ride the big blue Yamaha FJR1300? So I drove over to the self storage place yesterday, and by high noon I was sitting on a big watercooled bike blowing hot air all over me, resplendent in my heavy Leather jacket, boots, jeans, helmet and gloves.
After riding it 246 Km (154 miles) on Thursday, the fuel gauge said that I was half full, so I assumed I could take a break from the ride at the halfway mark, but the gauge got down to 1/8 of a full tank, and I sh1t myself, pulled into a gas station 20(?) miles short of my target town, but was still happy that I'd done 250 miles on 19.83 litres of gas. (54 MPG) While at the gas station, I bought a cold drink to rehydrate, and to wash down a couple of Voltaren anti-inflammatory tablets (that I'm not allowed to have) to reduce the pain welling in my lower back, shoulders, and neck.
FJR1300 weekend 9-10 Jan 2021 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
The big blue beast was behaving beautifully despite the heat, and the temp gauge only climbed above the halfway mark once or twice whilst going thru slow moving traffic, but the "good used" thermo fan that I installed 3(?) years ago fired up as soon as it went past the halfway mark, which was great, as the old one didn't work at all. I stayed on the freeway with it's 110 KPH speed limit until I jumped on my favourite back roads where the posted speed was 100 (60 MPH) but (Kangaroos, Wallaby's, snakes, echidna's, possums and wombats permitting) anything up to 250 is possible. (not that I'd do that, of course....)
I stopped at this intersection, where "Prendergast Drive" was signposted a couple of years ago, named after my Dad. (true story) It's a dead end street, kind of ironic as it was erected a year or two after his death.
FJR1300 weekend 9-10 Jan 2021 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Anyway, that was 10 minutes from home. I dropped around to my mate Pete's place, but he was out, so I continued on to my Ma's place.
FJR1300 weekend 9-10 Jan 2021 4 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
FJR1300 weekend 9-10 Jan 2021 6 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Ma is 92, still lives at home, still has all her marbles, completed another university degree last year (the oldest ever graduate of Melbourne University) was nominated for "Australian Senior of the Year 2020" and was interviewed by the BBC (in Britain) as a piece they did on "The world's 20 most influential women of 2020". After watching my dad rot in the dementia wards of several homes in the two years he was an inmate, she told me that she will never see the inside of a nursing home. Her house is weird, everyone says it's haunted, and everyone has a story about it. I stayed up until midnight watching "The Godfather Part 2" (Ma went to bed at 9pm) and had an interesting night's sleep, but I digress.
I'd checked the coolant level in the header tank before I left, and it was empty. Hmmnnn, I'd replaced all the hoses a couple of years ago and filled it with new coolant, and "burped" the system properly, but when I was having electrical issues (before I finally replaced the battery and they all went away) I do remember the smell of burning coolant a couple of times? It didn't overheat at all yesterday, but things like that burn into my anxiety, so this morning I decided to fill the tank before I left.
To do this, you need to reach into a gap in the lower right fairing panel, undo a 10mm head bolt, remove the metal cover on the header tank, and pull the rubber plug that seals it. I did all that, then the rubber plug fell into the bowels of the bike's fairing. Fcuk. OK, tools out, removed six screws, pulled the lower fairing panel, and retrieved the plug. Poofter. Ma loaned me a funnel, and I tipped some tap water into the header tank. It took all of about a cupful of water. What a waste of time that was. Oh well, I suppose it would have been worse if needed a gallon?
Anyway, My Ma wanted to take a pic of me with the bike and she reminded me that she took a pic of me with the same bike in 2016. They're an interesting "Before and after" if anyone here is a tad overweight and considering bariatric surgery.
Before:
Fat Terry and his FJR1300 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Today:
FJR1300 weekend 9-10 Jan 2021 9 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I left around 9am and at that time it was only in the low 70's, so reasonably pleasant, even with my 30 year old leather jacket, helmet, boots and gloves on. After the first (slightly illegal) 90 miles, I stopped for a disgusting McDonald's breakfast (I haven't had one in maybe a year, and wondered how for a few years I lived on that sh1t?) then another 50 miles up the road I filled the tank again, and once again was amazed at the gas mileage of this thing, I certainly wasn't riding it easy, but it sipped the 98 RON fuel like a little commuter bike.
As I rode on, it got hotter and hotter. A big watercooled bike can be a pleasure in cold weather, but on a hot day, heat that's built up under the fairing then blown over the rider isn't much fun. I'd bought a bottle of water at the gas station, so I rode on another 10 miles and stopped at my mate Fred's place. Fred has a mint K1, a well worn K1 he's owned and ridden since the 80's, a couple of Triumphs (old ones) AJS, Matchless', etc. We sat under his tree and talked #$%* for half an hour while I drank a litre of water. By this time it was 1pm, so I rode on to Melbourne, as it got hotter.
I wasn't too unlucky, I got more green lights than red once I got back into the 'burbs, and was happy back at the self storage place where the big Yamaha lives, and able to strip off the jacket, lid and gloves. I got into my car, turned the aircon on high, drove the 5 minutes back to my place, stripped off my sweaty T shirt and jeans, and jumped in the shower.
I must have been really dehydrated still, because I've drunk 2 litres of Ginger Joe and I'm not drunk. Well maybe I am, because I just bought this bike off FB, had the seller deliver it, and sneaked it down the driveway. I wonder if it'll still be there when I wake up?
RT360 10 Jan 2021 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
RT360 10 Jan 2021 2 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
RT360 10 Jan 2021 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
