2013 C1KC (Capital 1000km Cruise)

So Saturday was the Annual Wellington C1KC (Capital 1000km Cruise).  I have been reading people previous write ups on these type of events and fancied having a crack at it myself. Did a few 500k plus rides in the weeks building up to try and condition myself including a 650km blast week before last in some pretty grim weather .

FJ Cleaned and Ready

Anyway bike washed tyres checked , front bit scrubbed out on the edges but plenty of tread in the middle J.  Alarm goes off at 4.30 am and woke bright as a button up breakfast and out the door about 5.15.

Nice ride over the hill to Upper Hutt where there were already a good collection or riders ready to go.

Didn’t know anyone on the ride so didn’t know what to expect but had an open mind. Not really keen on riding in groups of people I don’t know so had planned to do my own thing really and was happy with that choice.

People soon started heading off so I put on my yellow ribbon geared up and started what for me was an epic journey.

The Rimutukas were covered in low cloud and quiet wet in places not my favourite ride in the wet, had a good ride to the summit then got caught behind a few cars following a land rover towing a trailer. Decided to just stay behind them, no heroics so early into the ride.

Nice ride up to Eketahuna managed to get a huge moth smack bang in the middle of my visor pulled over to clean it off and off again. Picked up some bikes behind me and we all made our way over the track together.

Pulled up at first checkpoint and got cameras out for evidence photos. Then headed off into Ashurst where we all got a bit confused at which road to take, a quick chat and we were off again.

First Checkpoint of the Day

Next stop Kimbolton where we stopped again for photos and introductions. The 2 guys on Suzuki 109s and I decided to stick together so headed off for a great run through Rangiwahai on some awesome roads. Was a bit startled at how quickly the FJs fuel gauge was going down so did a few mental guesstimates and worked it out I should just be able to get to Taihape. Got there with a litre left in the tank !!  Lots of bikes filling up so quick as we could and off again. We picked up another rider on a Busa and made our way to Rotorua. The mountain looked quiet magical but no time to stop for pics today.

Kimbolton Church

Got to Rotorua in good time our moving average for the section from Taihape was over a ton.

FJ gasping for gas again so stopped at servo and decided to have our lunch break there, its then the guys on the 109s told thay had planned 3 fuel stops as they had a 350km range ! Just missed meeting BanditRider here we were leaving as he was pulling in . Tagging along with me didn’t help their cause. Anyway feed fuelled and toilet stop and off to next photo stop at the Skyline.

Skyline ( KoroJ in background)

This is where my GPS packed a sad so we decided to go back to following KoroJs notes and headed off again. KoroJ came past us while we were at the side of the road we decided to follow him, he orginised the event so he must know the way was the logic behind the decision. Followed him for sometime when we got stopped at roadworks , at this point he told me he was doing a diversion and we needed to keep on to Putaruru which was great as we would have quite happily followed him all the way .

Next photo stop on Old Taupo Rd at the hall then off again. Fantastic roads all the way down never rode before I was in heaven.

Next photo stop on Old Taupo Rd at the hall then off again. Fantastic roads all the way down never rode before I was in heaven.

Picked up another rider on a bandit and had a good jolly down the Western Bay Road. Then picked up another that turned out to be KoroJ again.

Next stop was National Park and more Gas for the FJ. Then just down the road for picture at Raetihi then blast down the Para,s Great fun then boring roads back to Wellington from there.

Last stop of the day

Back to Parrot and Jigger to sign in Just over 12 hours all up so happy with that. Thought I would feel totally shattered but was fine, arse ached badly at about the halfway stage but that sorted itself out and was quiet comfortable on the whole downward leg.

All in all a fantastic day meet some great people no one with ego’s to fulfil bust good people with a comman interest having a bloody good time. Bring on next years J

FJ performed well but front tyre really scrubbed out on edges now J

South Island

Hi

On holiday in the South Island with Pauline and my friend Steve ( Ed ) from the UK.
Weather has been fab, roads awesome will do a full post when I get home to proper Internet connection.

Pic below of bike with Mount Cook in background..

Taking a break Mount Cook in Background
 

Day off work today so out for a ride !

Day off today so thought it would be good to get some more use out of the FJ .
Ended up talking to my mate Steve in the UK for an hour on the phone. He is coming to stay with us in a couple of weeks time so doing some planning.
We are taking both my FJ and XJ to the South Island for a couple of weeks. I have only been to Nelson and my wife Pauline who is a kiwi has seen very little of the South Island also. Everyone tells us how wonderful it is down there for motorcycling so getting very excited.
Had planned to go to Wanganui up the Para's round the mountain and home but getting a late start made me rethink a bit.




FJ at lunch stop on Wanganui River Road

Had thought about going up the river road as I have not done that road before but decided to leave it for a day with less time constraints.



Beautiful Scenery even on a cloudy day
 

Made my way back through Fordell to come out at Hunterville. About 50 km's I think, I didn't see one other vehicle just half a dozen cattle that managed to find their way onto the road .

Any 365kms and bit of a sweaty bum Im told sheepskin covers are the way to go ?


View Larger Map

Roadsafe Training Day

Our local Kapiti branch of the Ulysses M/C club organised a training day last Sunday for members.
The training was subsidised by our local council and ACC.  The cost to us was a mere $20 per person, outstanding value.
The course was run by Andrew and Lynne Templeton who run a company called Roadsafe .
We had a morning classroom session that included some great videos demonstrating the importance of looking where you want to go when things get challenging.
We were told to come to the day with an open mind that I did but it was certainly full by the end of the day.

After lunch we headed just up the road to Southwards Car Museum who very kindly let us use part of their car park, they even arranged to have the area swept just for us.

Here we were given the opportunity to emergency brake and find the limits of our brakes in a controlled environment. Managed to lock up my front wheel on the FJ but my human ABS came into action swiftly enough !!

We also did various exercises using body weight to turn very tightly at low speeds etc etc.
A great day and I personally learnt heaps.

Pay It Forward: Rider Blog

I am sure we have all been thankful of some help from fellow motorcyclists at some time at the side of the road..     Great article follow link



Pay It Forward: Rider Blog

Paekakariki Hill Alarm call out ride.

So its Sunday Morning and Pauline and I decided to et some work done in our garden before it got too hot, been getting up towards 30 degree,s C here !
Get a call from my work alarm company telling me that the cleaners have not reset the alarm so work not being monitored. Phoned cleaners office to get a message telling me they were still closed for the holidays, dont you just love that !!
Told alarm company to give it 30 mins if still no alarm reset I would go and set it.
Got the call so decided it would be better to take the FJ in case of holiday traffic !!
My work is in Porirua about 30 mins away but decided to take the longer way home along Paekakariki Hill Road. This is a great road but has had quiet a few deaths on it and the local council have lowerered the speed limit to 60kph recently which does seem quite pedestrian in places. Great view from the lookout though, always takes my breath away.



Kapiti Island from the lookout
 

Kapiti Coast Where we live

You always meet some great bikers at the lookout and this day was no exception.
Met a guy who had just been doing a few days around the East Cape on a very nice Laverda Jota.

I remember as a teenager riding my Fizzy Moped and back then a Laverda Jota was right up there with the very best of motorcycling exotica you could get.

This guy had owned it for quiet a few years but was saying how expensive everything is now to keep her up to scratch.

The Jota had the 180 degree crank and when he pulled away giving it a handfull of the throttle the sound was pure music to my ears.

Lovely Laverda Jota , What a great sound :)
 

So anyway my alarm call out ended quite well I thought :)

Pro-oiler Installation

For some time I have been sitting on the fence and looking at all types of chain oilers for my Yamaha fj1200.

There are many different types of oiler available, probably the most popular and well known being the scottoiler. The choice is from systems with a bottle you just give an occasional squeeze to send some oil to the dispensing nozzle at one end to electronically controlled systems at the other end of the scale.

So why did I decide to fit an oiler ?  I had a chain break on one of my GPZ 900R s some years ago. To be fair I hadn't maintained the chain as well as I should and the bike had been parked up for the winter in the UK. I had been for a ride a few months earlier when then was salt on the roads due to icy conditions and I had parked it up without thoroughly cleaning my chain and the salt had started some bad corrosion on my low mileage chain (4000miles)..
Anyway out for a ride with a couple of mates in the Norfolk countryside when a huge bang and shuddering form the back of the bike.  One of the sideplates on the chain had snapped in two, I was very lucky it didn't all get wrapped around my rear wheel. Anyway after a change of underwear the recovery service arrived to take me home.

Anyway decided to go for a Pro-oiler after looking at countless write ups on the web. Certainly not cheap ( cost NZ$ 310 delivered from Europe ) but I did like the quality and their attention to detail.

Oiler arrived in 7 days from Europe.

Contents of Pro oiler Kit
 

Read and studied very comprehensive instructions ( 30 Pages ), trouble shooting , and programming guides before tackling the install.
As the FJ has a mechanical speedo I had to fit a reed switch and magnet to the rear wheel, the system activates the pump every so many wheel revolutions depending on how rich the system is set.
If you tell proiler what bike you are fitting it to they pre programme the unit for your particular wheel size chain size length etc.  Mine was already set by them and upon first reading the instructions it can look a bit mind boggling.
Anyway cable tied and glued the small reed switch to the rear caliper carrier, you also get a small magnet that fitted very tightly into one of the allen screws that hold on the brake disc.

Reed Switch fitted to caliper bracket
 

Next find a suitable place for the controller. Pro-oiler suggest you place it so you can access it with your left hand for easy adjustment while on the move. On the FJ I found what I thought was the perfect place but on the right hand inner fairing. My thoughts are that once I am happy with the richness of the oil flow it is basically fit and forget.  Pro-oiler recommend you turn up the oil in the rain of if on dusty roads where the chain may get dry but I think I can use my right hand for those operations.

Pro-oiler Controler


 

The brain of the system is the junction box .  I found an area behind the right hand side cover that I thought would give me enough room for the junction box and the pump next to the battery box.
Prooiler supply self adhesive velcro lads to install the components but I chose to use long cable ties that went around the whole battery box seemed more secure to me.

Junction box with oil pump fitted below
 

There was still enough room to fit the oil reservoir behind the panel in a position that would make topping up easy, although pro-oiler say that one container can last 10000 kms so not topping up that ofton..

Oil Reservoir

 

Now time for the business end .
The nozzle that dispenses the oil onto the rear sprocket. This is an area there are different versions but I thought the proiler dual sided nozzle was one of the best. The nozzle comes with a nice stainless bracket that can be glued or bolted to the swinging arm. As the FJ1200 has a steel swinging arm I decided that two small holes and bolting it on was the best way to go.  Not sure if I would with an alloy swinging arm.

Nozzle Set up


 

The nozzle runs on either side of the sprocket so the oil is forced into the chain by centrifugal force.

I have done just over 1000kms with the oiler installed and very pleased with results.
The chain remains very clean, i am using just normal engine oil as it flings off the dirt with the oil. One of the problems with sticky chain grease it it does stick to the chain but so does all the dirt and grit forming a grinding paste type effect. The chain remains just lightly oiled and very clean.

I did find that the oil fling off was covering my number plate and would cover my panniers if fitted so decided to make an extension to the chain guard this has worked very well, there is some fling off onto the tyre and wheel but being plain engine oil is very easy to clean off.

Chain Guard Extension
 

Anyway very happy with the whole Pro-oiler package and would highly recomend it, they have taken a lot of time and effort to produce a first class product..

As a Footnote

I sent a few pictures to Pro-oiler http://www.pro-oiler.net/ as they have a gallery of differant bike fitments but the FJ1200 was not there. I did find it usefull when panning my install though to look at what other people had done.

I got a great reply from Arnold at pro-oiler below

Hello Phil,
Thank you very much for the pictures,
We uploaded them to our gallery.

http://pro-oiler.net/gallery/yamaha/fj1200/

If you like, we could put your name/site under the pics:
Photo's courtesy of Phil Biggs from New Zealand
Sometimes people don't like their name published, so therefore I am asking.

Also:

Pro-Oilers are programmed a bit on the rich side, judging from the pics, I'd say you can select a lower setting, like 2 or even 1.
If there's still too much fling off, you can select a leaner table (14 or 15) and save the new table.
Panniers influence the drag too, so that's also a reason for a lower setting.




Best regards,



Arnold Wubbels
Sales
Pro-Oiler NL
T 0031 (0) 485 372286
F 0031 (0) 848 316201