Topic: 23 Rides in 2023, Frank's New Years resolution that we can all enjoy.

[spotty]

I’m in Melbourne’s far northern suburbs, an hour or so’s drive (depending on the time of day….) from the CBD.

And i live 10 minutes closer to town and i get classed as inner north

I’ll be there 12th of March. Depending on the schedule, may have to visit you guys! John D.

excellent, thats even a weekend, bring helmet and gloves, i may be talking out of turn but i'd dare say terry might be able to find you a spare bike for a saturday pie run, hopefully i'll even have one of mine running by then.....

[ekpent]

 That would be cool if you all got together.  Somebody finish this joke for me " Two Aussies and a Canadian walk into a bar and---------------".

[RAFster122s]

That would be cool if you all got together.  Somebody finish this joke for me " Two Aussies and a Canadian walk into a bar and---------------".

Hahaha...the trouble those 3 could cause could be the start of an epic story!

[Terry in Australia]

Well Spotty was born in England, so that adds another nationality to the time honoured joke…

[BenelliSEI]

I’m in Melbourne’s far northern suburbs, an hour or so’s drive (depending on the time of day….) from the CBD.

And i live 10 minutes closer to town and i get classed as inner north

I’ll be there 12th of March. Depending on the schedule, may have to visit you guys! John D.

excellent, thats even a weekend, bring helmet and gloves, i may be talking out of turn but i'd dare say terry might be able to find you a spare bike for a saturday pie run, hopefully i'll even have one of mine running by then.....

We’re making plans now. Keep you guys posted! John D.

[Terry in Australia]

We should be able to find you a helmet John, just remember we’ll blame you for any speeding fines incurred, we’re law abiding types……

[PeWe]

Riding on the wrong side of the road too
https://brilliantmaps.com/left-right-drive/

But correct side of the law? Grey areas and excuses excluded

[BenelliSEI]

We should be able to find you a helmet John, just remember we’ll blame you for any speeding fines incurred, we’re law abiding types……

Brilliant. My wife’s Team is completing in New Zealand at the International Dragon Boat Festival. Planning to visit Australia first. Nothing finalized yet, keep you posted! J.

[jgger]

Wow if Benelli can do this meet up he can have 2 of his 23 rides on different continents! How cool is that!?

[PeWe]

Wow if Benelli can do this meet up he can have 2 of his 23 rides on different continents! How cool is that!?

That's cool!
Ride report with photos

Something fun to look forward to before spring.

[Terry in Australia]

Well it's a bit late, but I've been very busy since bringing the blue F2 home on Wednesday. Anyhoo, yesterday I wanted to see if installing the 2 new NGK coils in the Moto Guzzi (and I made up two new copper cored plug leads to replace the old ones, there were nothing wrong with them, but because I couldn't fit the larger NGK coils in the standard bracket, I needed leads 3 inches longer than the old ones) had fixed it. I fired it up and it started right away, and settled into a happy idle. I hit the road and headed out thru Wallan, Romsey, stopped in Lancefield to fill up and continued on to Kilmore. The bike went faultlessly.

F2 Friday 27 Jan 2023 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I rode straight to the chicken place and ordered the "Chicken, chips and coleslaw" pack. It was delicious, the chicken breast was hiding under the slaw and chips (fries) but it was a huge meal for me, and I almost cried when I couldn't eat much more than a 1/4 of it. The chicken place is my new favourite eatery.

F2 Friday 27 Jan 2023 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I jumped back on the Guzz, and rode the long way home. I messaged Rob and told him it was done, and he rode his sh1tty Royal Enfield 350 over to my place and collected it. As nice as it was I could never own a California 3, my legs are way to long. If you've got "Ducks disease" (short legs) you'd love it, but it's no good for tall people. Spotty would look hilarious with his 5 foot long legs wrapped around his head. Anyhoo, ride #5 is down, and I think I'll do #6 tomorrow. Not sure what bike I ride, it might have to be the Rocket III, we'll see.

F2 Friday 27 Jan 2023 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[BenelliSEI]

Well done on the coil fix! J.

[Terry in Australia]

Well done on the coil fix! J.

Thanks John, yep, I'm still astounded at the fact that Melbourne's leading Italian bike shop couldn't fix it, and a backyard hack like me could pick it up right away. I think I might have to open my own backyard shop when I retire. Dave, the Guzzi's owner said that he had no problems paying me the same hourly rate as them to service his bikes, and other people have asked me to work on their bikes for them in the past, so if I did a few hours per week working on other people's bikes, (and actually fixing them.....) it might be a nice little earner.

[BenelliSEI]

Well done on the coil fix! J.

Thanks John, yep, I'm still astounded at the fact that Melbourne's leading Italian bike shop couldn't fix it, and a backyard hack like me could pick it up right away. I think I might have to open my own backyard shop when I retire. Dave, the Guzzi's owner said that he had no problems paying me the same hourly rate as them to service his bikes, and other people have asked me to work on their bikes for them in the past, so if I did a few hours per week working on other people's bikes, (and actually fixing them.....) it might be a nice little earner.

Terry..... I did this for a few years when I first moved to the farm, full time. Most people were OK, but the few arsholes got annoying. I now say “No” to anyone I don’t know. Just saying......

[PeWe]

Good work within short time, Terry.
I usually think about my hours when working on my bikes. It happens that I think, yes, I could have done this as business.
Most often is my time double or triple what I would like to pay for it
No tax in my garage as retired  another thing.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, my cousin, who is the best mechanic I’ve ever known, had his own shop for years but because he was a much better mechanic than he was a business man almost went bankrupt so got a job working as a turbine tech for Esso. He retired 2 years ago but now works one day a week for a European car specialist fixing the unfixable and his boss loves him. He doesn’t need the money but likes to keep his hands busy.

[Terry in Australia]

OK, so I'm a bit late again, too much bike work, not enough computer time, or something like that. Yesterday I was staring at the ugly spud of a Royal Enfield "Classic" 350 that Rob had dumped in my driveway when he picked up the Guzzi on Saturday. He was keen for me to hang on to it for awhile and "Terry-fy" (as opposed to "Terrify") it as much as I want, he was tired of it's current look, and I don't blame him, I still remember when it was a shiny original bike with nice paint........

Royal Enfield Sunday 29 January 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, I decided that I'd take it for ride #6. While the bike has a very optimistic 160 KPH (100 MPH) speedo, google said that it was 110 (65) top speed with a more comfortable cruising speed of 80 KPH. (50 MPH) Hmmnn, I still wanted to go to Kilmore for a chicken lunch, but there was no way I'd risk riding this thing on a freeway, so I took another backroad with less traffic and a lower (60 MPH) speed limit, hoping that there'd be fewer cars to overtake me and yell abuse. As it turned out, the "performance mods" that Rob had added, an old Harley Sportster muffler and a sock over the carb's bellmouth allowed a fairly comfortable cruising speed of 100 KPH (60) except for any uphill grades, where it would drop to 80 (50) until I changed down to 4th gear, where it wouldn't actually go faster, it just got louder.

That probably sounds like I wasn't enjoying myself, but in truth, I was laughing like a loon, it was great fun riding this thing like I couldn't hotwire a Harley so I stole this instead. Seriously, riding a slow bike fast is much more fun than riding a fast bike slow, as I often (but not always...) do with my bigger bikes. I made it to Kilmore, and ordered a "small" serve of chicken coleslaw and chips, (fries) but instead the lovely ladies behind the counter gave me this huge bucket of food, of which I was only able to eat 20%, lest the extra weight slowed the 'Enfield even more.

Royal Enfield Sunday 29 January 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

After a post dinner cigarette (yes, I've fallen off the wagon after 8 years, to the day that I gave up in 2015....) I hopped back on the bike and headed for home. Good thing was this was the last day of an unofficial 4 day long weekend, so the traffic was much slower for most of the trip home, but down one particularly steep hill I saw 125 KPH (77 MPH!) but the wobbling and wallowing on those (probably under-inflated) skinny tyres when I leaned into a fast right hander at the bottom was a little scary, and I promised that I wouldn't do that again, until next time, anyway.

The first thing that I'm changing are the horrible "wheelbarrow" handlebars that Rob installed because he thought they looked "Cool", which, at speed make me feel like I'm gonna pull the grips off the ends of the bars.

Royal Enfield Sunday 29 January 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I've also got some nicer grips to put on it, to dampen the vibes at warp(ish) speed, then some skinnier "bobbed" fenders ala early English "Trials" bikes, a "Lycett" style seat, and some better (AKA gloss black rattle can) paint. The good thing is, I couldn't make it worse. But I do like it, Rob can leave it here for as long as he likes.

Royal Enfield Sunday 29 January 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

[grcamna2]

Terry,glad you got out on the road;the Royal Enfield 350 with the roto-tiller engine is amusing  I hope those parts accept paint. I hope you didn't get onto your Honda RC51 after riding this machine.. 

[RAFster122s]

You need a buddy, cough Spotty, who could put a modest size blast cabinet in his garage or shop area where the humidity would wreck the blast media, so you could pop things like that and and fenders in give them a good blast before wipe down and spray bomb or repaint. Heck, if he put together a vapor blast setup you’d have a money maker for side jobs if you were so inclined…
Just need a parts washer and vapor blast machine to handle things…

Too bad a PDR guy couldn’t work out the dents before the repaint to make it look a bit nicer.
Give it a clear or satin SprayMax 2k clear and it will handle scuffs and fuel spills like they were nothing…

[RAFster122s]

Maybe you need to throw a small soft cooler bag on the back and food storage containers (for rest of your meal) on the back along with a cold pack and couple cold non-alcoholic drinks for stops other than at lunch break…

[Alan F.]

Terry once you've settled on your favorite upgrade bits for this 350, you might consider offering "Terry-fy" kits, there are tons of them out there.

[PeWe]

#
Give it a clear or satin SprayMax 2k clear and it will handle scuffs and fuel spills like they were nothing…

SprayMax 2K clear rattle can is good. I covered the brown on my K2 with it.
Very durable and hard to sand if there are scratches in need of removal.
Petrol will not harm it, that's for sure. Probably not brake fluid either.

[Terry in Australia]

I don't know if that stuff is available here, but I need a good thick rattle can clear to do my F2 tank, so I'll see if I can find some. My favourite "Supercheap Auto" store burned to the ground yesterday, but luckily they're like Starbucks, there's another one two suburbs over.

[Terry in Australia]

I found the Spray Max 2K clear on Ebay here (not cheap, so it better be good) so I bought a can. I'll see how it goes on the F2 tank .Way too good for Royal Enfields......

[RAFster122s]

Remember this stuff will really screw you up for life if you don't respect it, so use proper precautions to avoid contact with the vapors and over spray. We want you around for a while. Once activated it sets up in can any remaining in 24-48 hours tops. So tank and side covers are going to be about the max for one can with enough coverage to give a smooth clear coat. 2 cans are better. Having a 2nd set of side covers to clear if you can clear the one set to your liking in one.
You are a good painter, so I don't see you having any problems. The nozzle on the SprayMax cans is very good too.