Basic Basil"s corner

I am looking forward to seeing you there, Aslan.

Here are some of the photos I took, not just from the ride.

I met this guy from Kansas on the ferry. He's been travelling Australia and NZ on his Harley. What you see here is all the gear he has. He's assured me that he washes every few days. That's travelling light.



Sheep on holiday, sailing on the Interislander..



Mount John









Beside the lake









Somewhere on the Dusty





Some of the photos are a bit out of focus, as you can tell. Maybe I need to give the camera more time to do its thing.

I spent some time up here, reattaching the carbs.





Photos appear to be out of sequence, but I guess it doesn't matter.



A few pictures of Oli.





He gets through crossings all right.



Near one of those reservoirs on the Dunstan



Just a few random shots, I have no idea where we were.





The Carrick Town track. Doing that at the end of the day was a challenge for me. Thankfully, no drops. That's one track that keeps getting worse.











Dansey's







That's all I have. Oli has some more. I post them when I get hold of them. The Black Forest station was uneventful. I also thought that it had deteriorated since last time I went through. The we did it int he rain with cloud cover. It made it easier to ride, cause I couldn't see where I might have ended up.

Looking forward to seeing other peoples' pics.

Absolutely awesome pics koko. Great views from the tops aye?
thanks for sharing

Thanks for the posts Koko. I NEED to do the Dusty next year....

Great pics Koko, pleased to meet you and sorry if I kept you awake. The dustys great aye, but like we were talking about 3 or 4 days would be nice to get a look at some scenery, smell the roses etc.

That guy on the Harley you met on the ferry has a write up on a harley forum here:
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=1346643

I got home ok, but had issues with my front brake sticking on again. The brand new pads now look like small pieces of burnt toast. Didn't touch the front brake from Ashburton to home. Will look at it when I can be bothered with motorbikes again.

That looks so cool, great pics. Is there a route map somewhere that I can see where y'all went?

Here...................
http://www.db1k.com/2013/route.php

Gives a rough idea

Thanks for the link, I am just catching up with it.

I just found this, looks like he took a photo, too.



The snoring was no problem. I came for the adventure. If a good night's sleep had been this important, I would have stayed at home.

I know we went over a bit of private land, but I am guessing that a lot of those roads can be accessed legally. That Lammermoor area was neat and the Old Dunstan road was fun to ride. Is it possible to ride the little Omarama at other times as well? I could spend a day in that valley, just lazing around and enjoying the scenery.

Yep, both the Omarama Saddle tracks are open all summer. There are a couple of nice basic huts on the big side, we stayed in one on a previous trip, cool spot. Later in the year all the stream crossings in there should be much cruisier.

Cheers
Clint

One more thing I've noticed, I wish people would tie down their plastic bottles and other rubbish a lot better. The amount of plastic on the Omarama track and other places was embarrassing. A lot of people don't seem to understand the concept of "unspoiled", there are very few place left of the planet that are like that. Let's not ruin our little corner of the world.

Also, while I am complaining , when there are cyclists, pedestrians or animals on the road, I make an effort not to dust them in or scare them, because these are the reasons that will see us locked out of these places in the near future.

I've finally started to clean my gear and give Basil a wash. He is filthy and short of pulling everything apart, cannot be cleaned properly. Once he's clean, he'll have an oil, filter and air filter change.

Much better, but not good considering the time I've spent on it. No water in the engine oil or gear box from what I could tell. But the final drive has some in it. I pulled about 30cc of contaminated oil out with a syringe. Once warmed up, I'll probably change all the oils again. I've just put a new oil filter in before I left for the ride. I wonder if I can leave that?

I do the filter every second oil change..

Yes, I have recently started doing that since reading " Guzziology" ( a good practical book). He describes the oil system as 'the sewer' .....I've always thought of it as the blood supply but it both really. He said that the filter does not need to be changed each time as it catches large particles and the smaller ones just keep on circulating in the oil.
I was down at Supercheap yesterday and picked up some Castrol 4T motorcycle oil, usually I use GTX or any cheap one as there is no clutch to worry about....but now I worry about lack of some substance that flat cam followers need and it not always there.
On a Norton forum some of them use diesel oil as it exceeds the specs of the petrol ones.

opps....as you were.

On cleaning, avoid using a water blaster near any bearings as water gets in and stuffs them....common on dirt bikes, bearing shops love waterblasters.....I suggested to the local one they should give them away to customers....

Hahaha, you'e read another oil thread . I saw that, too. I've been using GTX and other cheap 20w50 oil for years. The 1150 does not seem to mind. Did those Guzzi even have an oil filter. I thought they'd used some sort of mesh .

I think I'll leave the filter this time, only because I don't have one handy. I'll change at 5000km next time, because Basil only does rides with at least a gravel component.

Its zinc that is being reduced as it messes with catalytic converters and DPF filters on diesels. Be careful with choosing a diesel oil because oil manufacturers are now reducing zinc in them too so they can be used in DPF and non DPF applications. DPF = Diesel Particulate Filter.

This is Basil you are talking about. He does not go near a water blaster. Sponge bath only, at oil temperature.

I am in the process of fitting a pair of new front indicators to Basil. Why? Well, the HH-Racetech cartridges are not compatible with the indicator stalk mounts. No biggie, I found some on Trade me, no expense spared and really quite cheap.



I knew I might have trouble with the flash rate and indeed I do, or maybe Basil is just excited about having new parts fitted, who knows? Anyway, electrical stuff is not something I like to think about, because it makes my head hurt. Do you guys have any suggestion of the size resistor I might need, to slow the flash rate down? Or should I just buy a handful and experiment?

Hmm, looking at that picture, I'll need to paint those brackets black.

Replacing front & back, or just the front? This will work if you replace just the front. The resisters get too hot to touch if they are left on, so you need a location in the breeze.

There is another way that may work, which involves cutting a trace in the flasher circuit board. Here you go. I haven't explored this link properly yet to see if the R100 flasher unit is the same. When I have time to find this & check, this second option would be preferable. This works on R1100 & R1150 GS's

Scott can help you tonight. Tag, you're it...

Thanks for that, I am starting to get my head around it. I'll buy two 10ohm resistors and wire them across the cables on each side, maybe they can live under the top of the triple clamp. Maybe a bit of shrink wrap to go with it. Nothing is ever straightforward.

I've done a bit of research on "cutting the trace" and came across this I don't know if the flasher units are the same for the R80 and the 1150. Maybe it's just safer to go with a resistor.