Stroamin' round my back yard

stewy

Still young and stupid
Well here is just a few till i finish sorting, editing and fixing the rest. Rest of report will be up hopefully by end of weekend...but let's just say i have truly fallen in love with the 650.....funny thing is 2 weeks ago i had almost convinced myself too sell it (still might but that is a whole other story)

SV500011.jpg


SV500053.jpg


SV500126.jpg


Geez i just love public holidays :flame:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Hmmm...:???::???:




....please explain?

Sorta gathered lately that the Strom wasn't for you... too 'old fart', slow, soft, not enough this'n that, whatever.
 

stewy

Still young and stupid
:eek: What have you done to Barry's brother? :wot:


fixed that ugly front end and removed a the weight of a small car of it.....and woahlaaa instead transformation in handling, oh yeah a few other goodies including a AT rear shock (which is a straight bolt in btw), though unlike everyone else where everyone is jacking them up i used the a longer shock and then used sv links (they will lower the strom) to lower it (getting some slightly shorter ons made at work to drop the rear about about 10mm thus bring is back to almost stock height)...thus not having the chain eat into the chain guard but giving it a whooping 214mm rear travel (huge bonus on the rough stuff, but still too stiff for the 650 imo) need a slightly lighter spring for my weight and once a bit more is done too the rear hence making it lighter it will certainly be too stiff, as i had it step out a number of times on me on the black top on bumpy corners as is and i can assure you it's not fun), front forks are still a work in progress but are a mix of dl/dr though not for this trip (as briaded lines didn't show up in time, but as keen as mustard too see if they work out as well as the rear end mod has.

Anyway the front end you can see, just some streetfighter lights with homemade brackets, a acewell speedo (another story behind this and will get to it later) and a old husky front guard i picked up for a bike shop for 10 bucks...

:wink:
 

stewy

Still young and stupid
Hmmm...:???::???:




....please explain?

Sorta gathered lately that the Strom wasn't for you... too 'old fart', slow, soft, not enough this'n that, whatever.


Whole issue with lenna riding, has all but been knocked on the head for 2 wheels, but things are in motion on other ideas for the road but not sure how long that is going too take, one another we are considering is making the switch to dirt bikes and getting her a quad (which vicroads has just changed the law too allow ppl to rec rego them although at full rego costs) so it's might mean switching too a drz400 with sm rims so i can continue to do both.

Then maybe looking at something a low and pillion friendly road bike and yes she loved being on the back of the strom (it was wonderful for her sitting position it's just too tall, too slide her up onto by myself) so we can continue on with road stuff 2 up.....till we see how this other option is going too turn out.....

So the dl would of been perfect for us if it had worked and she was riding but alas it's hasn't so need to reconsider all option. But after this last 3 days ride i have really fallen for the 650, spent 3 10+hr days really sorting out what works and doesn't with my riding style and adjusting it too suit the bike, and gotta say on the last day i reckon i was probably as quick if not quicker then on the 1000 :doh:.

:whistle:
 
B

Bee Cee

Guest
Adam; Stretching my memory at midnight but when i fiddled with raising/lowering my strom a couple of years ago, I think raising the bike meant shortening the link and vic/versa. Could be wrong, I was once before.
 

stewy

Still young and stupid
It's a bit of a read bit there are pics if you just wanna see them, if there are (sp) mistakes, poor grammer etc. deal with it, it's why i make my living drawing pictures :icon-maffick-:



So plan was to head away with a friend for 3 days camping and riding the snowy’s trip (road only). Well day Saturday morning I decide to go (ie be ready to leave first thing Easter Sunday) so new tyre (yes I know shock horror, me leaving with a new tyre:whistle:) still hadn’t wired up the lights or speedo, and before I knew it Saturday arvo was almost over.:eek:

Had to be up in Lancefield for a family thing (relatives aren’t they fun:lol:) so rushing to wire up the lights, all good one done, works from low to high beam, no speedo meh, iphone has a gps with speedo on it, in the top of tank bag and a run up to lancefield about 7.30pm for it’s trail run.:so Speedo in phone works great, thinking to myself I will just use this for the 3 days and no time to wire it up now anyhow.

All good Saturday night, kiss the missus goodbye about 1am and ride home arriving about 2ish and see a message on the phone, friend has had to pull out, oh bugger.....was just starting to get all fired up about it the trip. Oh well off to bed not sure what I was now going to do.

Wake up about 10 (ah the single couples life eh), to the sun shining thinking bugger it I am still keen, doona off, into gear, run round the house pack a few bits of kit, sleeping bag check, mattress & pump check, clothes check, touch check, does it have battery no :)doh:)....hhmm iphone car charger hmmm OH F.... IT left it in lenna’s car which is still with her in lancefield.....:bang: oh well, I was too close too packed now too let a little detail like this stop me from going (thought to myself will just shot in to kmart and buy a replacement, remember this was going to be my speedo for 3 days), cool got everything packed, start tying it all down, running through a list of everything tent, :)whistle:) tent :)whistle:) doh :doh:, untie the it all run in grab the tent it it back down again, all the usual riding gear (I have that pretty sorted :wink: )

So on the bike and across to kmart, guess what the only bloody thing they are sold out of is....yep iphone car chargers :doh:....shit well guess I will just have to use the phone sparingly and top it up when I stop for dinner....by now it’s about 11.30am.

On the road blasting down the hwy, doing I guess 100 as I was sitting with the rest of the car around me (and some cars I could see the speedo, which was handy).....blasting along thinking to myself what am I going to do about no speedo, then all of a sudden I had a Wile E Coyote Moment



index.jpg




and pulled off to Warragul where I knew Jay and Lil have just move out too, stop at servo fill up and call Jay, no answer, and a very very very light shower passes over bloody brilliant, yep a real Wile E Coyote plan because at this point i realised i had no way of knowing how many km's i had done between fill ups :rofl: ....oh well guess I am an adventure rider now... and I am only an hour from home :bs.....


Well After reading Steve’s report on Grand Ridge Road and I had ridden a small section of it with Pete (vtwin) and Marty on the way home from bear gully I thought now is the perfect chance to ride the whole thing, no one to complain they are going to get dirty or don’t want to ride in the mud etc.....

So I left Warragul and headed for the start of grand ridge road.


Wow there are some views, it’s amazing what you see when you don’t have you head down ass up and knee on the deck lol truly amazing , because before now all I had ever seen was the tree line and the next braking point/tip in point, and everything further out then that had also been a blur


SV500001.jpg




Was quite interesting the switch back onto the 19in front, certainly much better and easier work in the mud and gravel sections, and quite a different feel on the road (it doesn’t drop onto its side as it does with the 17, ie always felt like I was catching it with the throttle mid turn)

So remember this was my first solo trip and I must say it really took me a bit to feel confident riding by myself. (Its not that I am not a confident rider, but at the start of most rides I get nervous about the what if’s anyway, guess that is my cautious side coming out.) The whole feel of the ride felt more like the day I picked up my first bike, in that I was nervous and almost a bit scared of the what if’s, of riding but yet I knew the excitement that came with bike touring and still the reality of the whole thing was right there and things like recently, a friend of on another board had an accident and was laying in a ditch for 4 hours before someone found him, and all of a sudden you think back to reading others trip reports and all these ppl take about the spots trackers etc....and I had always passed it off as a bit of girls safety issues, but now here I was, lenna only really knew I was heading for dargo, and yet had no idea what roads I was riding too get there...Reality really hit home, if I made the slightest of screw up i was on my own......

Then road turns and I see this

SV500003-1.jpg


Blackness and i am heading straight for it:rolleyes:
 

stewy

Still young and stupid
Then the rain started, and it was heavy and it was coming down hard, just as well i was still on the black stuff at this time.....i mean it was some seriously heavy rain, and yet here i was planning to camp tonight :bang:

Wasn’t long before the tar stopped and the gravel and mud started, and the rain eased. It would appear i had ridden right through the storm and on the other side was near perfect blue sky and white fluffy clouds with every corner I was feeling more and more confident, winding on the throttle on hard and getting the rear end to break loose like I had seen marty and vtwin do on the bear gully ride...oh there were smiles a plenty :flame:


Some more views along the way.


SV500014.jpg






All was going extremely well when i saw this down hill turn, it was banked like a nascar speedway track :drool: didn't look like that sloppy wet clay, i mean the last few corners were the same clay sort of colour and were pretty grippy.


I mean seriously i should of stop to grab a picture :rolleyes: but i just couldn't help myself, started the turn got the front at pointed at the apex and just had cranked the throttle and whamm this corner as it turned out didn't have the grip of the last couple as the rear came round too see what the front was looking at, for about 1 second i felt like Rossi, where i seriously thought my ambition outweighed my talent, but alas no my god like crappy brown underpants saved the day with legs failing everywhere the inside foot hit the ground hard and luckily stood must of helped the rear regrip and stood the thing back up....:kna but meh what can i say about us true motorcycle hero's, it's just all in a days work for us:icon-maffick-: btw VR my mobile is 0407..... give me a call and i will give ya a lesson or two in how too keep it upright :so :oops: oh boy let's just save i lost all confidence for a fair while after that little episode and the pace might of slowed slightly....



To be honest though these are the moment when i am normally the rider watching someone else do this sort of stupid stuff, cause as i rode away all i could think about was how piss funny it would of looked had i been the following bike and how much i would of loved too of caught it all on camera (if it was someone else that is) :bs


This guy didn't seem too find much funny though


SV500024.jpg




This is somewhere along Grand Ridge Road, when i decided to send a message saying i cbf with a day ride that was planned for the monday ie next day (all the b/s that went on about a meet point ppl had to travel 1 hr to get too etc....) sent a message apologised for picking a shit meet point and i would be in dargo if anyone cared


SV500019.jpg





From here it it was a bit more dirt before i reached the sealed section which would give me an amazing view of the morwell power stations with a setting sun set.....my photo doesn't do it justice:oops:



SV500028.jpg


SV500029.jpg


Rolled into maffra about 5ish, still with a bit to go to hit dargo which was the first night stop over.....well from here it's just the normal run through through berridale, brialong, and up on to the dargo road...and lets just say not one car, though but the time i hit the up high run it was getting dark and i was starting too wish i had wired up both head lights :whistle:


Rolled into dargo, and it was pitch black, minus the light from my candle headlight, it was cold i was frozen and noticed i had a seriously sore right shoulder (felt like a pulled muscle in my neck) lost a lot of strengh in my right arm.....


Straight to the pub for a beer or 3 a huge roast dinner before deciding i better go setup camp while i still could :whistle:


Day 1 done and dusted :so and what a day
 
Top Bottom