Looking good there!
Our day sadly ended at the Rochford Winery, 5k's short of Healesville when I cornermarked and Goodie finally showed up, nursing the Klacka to a stop.
"There's something wrong in the front, are the forks leaking? Can't steer, the thing just goes straight everywhere".
Sounds like a flat and being a tubed tyre is an affair of at least an hour, might as well run home and get the Husky.
Knocking the rubber with my knuckles made a somewhat hollow-ponng sound.
Swapped bikes, went into Lilydale (discovering why Goodie had gone THAT slow into+out of corners) topped up the air (which strangely seemed to be still at its normal 22psi, but servo gauges are always out by a mile, right?) and kept
wallowing home, despite the now 30psi in the front.
Things just didn't make sense, checking air again with my own gauges...compared to the normal both ends were over-inflated (the rear by a couple of pounds, the front by ~50%.
Also, the front Mitas was pretty damn warm-to-hot (and somehow too soft when prodded and squeezed), something maybe expected, under the conditions from a fairly hard-ridden rear... definitely not from a front.
With time slipping away and no hope of making Longwood in time, we peeled the tyre off, checked the tube for leaks in a trough (no bubbles= no leaks) and popped a fresh Mitas 07 on that was still "in stock" under the house.
Pumped to its customary 22psi, it was out for a quick spin (the wind was now blowing the treetops horizontally)...all good and all back to where it belongs.
Things started to become clear when Goodie had a good, long look at the old hoop (~5500km old).
This was the 2. Mitas 07 on that bike and between those as well as any other Mitas we've had/ have on the other bikes, before and now, I've never seen
a) a wearing pattern like this
b) nor cracked rubber at the base of each block/ bar
Looks like we copped a bad one at the time and it had had its time.
Sorry for the no-show
but the bike was impossible to ride for any stretch but home/ workshop.
I also had 2 more little roads around Alexandra to check out on the planned return leg, which we went and had a look at by taking the cage to Alex in the afternoon, seeing Sir Frank and about a dozen others pulling out of Yarck, just as we rolled in (about 2.30 or so).
As for the 2 dirt stretches....
one turned out a true no-through affair (bummer!, went in from both ends to make sure) due to a near-impassable creek-crossing (6ft deep erosion-channel) plus a VERY steep (straight up the hillside) bare-earth climb into a saddle. U
Closed, but unlocked gates either side of the saddle, too...so this could be private property.
https://goo.gl/maps/YdYWRALaCh92
....the other we've done before a few times as "the scenic route" into Alex (incredible views across the Goulburn Flats/Cathedrals/ Alex etc etc)...now starting to deteriorate in the mid-section.
A no-through sign at one end, all signs removed and looking like a private drive at the other end. Give it a few more years and it'll grow a gate here or there and it all becomes a no-go zone....like that little Clarkes Rd. out of Thornton.
Going to get some pics now of that Mitas...
Hope that all got home fine, it sure was a cracker of a day out there....and the 'Bogies should've been fantastic.