I had a four day long weekend available, so headed off to the Alps, staying in Cooma.
Thursday afternoon headed out for a quick loop of Brown Mountain and up the great Cathcart bends to Bombala, then home to Cooma via about 20km or so of dirt.
The dirt was in preparation for the next day's goal: the Bonang Road. From Bombala NSW down to Orbost in Vic. There is a "105km Winding Road" sign near Bonang. Hence the trip. From there I planned to complete a 1000km loop back to Cooma via Omeo and Hotham, Bright and Buffalo, Corryong and Tooma, then back up over the hill to Cabramurra via the Elliots Way and home to Cooma across the top via Adaminaby.
Unfortunately, 95km into those 105km of twisties I hit a bit of bad luck. Wallaby damned. 934am.
Some here may be aware that I'm on the Hayabusa (bought on ebay 16 days ago) because coming home from Tottenham on FarRide East #8 I hit a roo and the BMW K1200R is off the road for a while.
Anyway, tipping in to a right hander I hit the poor little fella and nearly cut him in half. There was blood, liver and his mornings half-digested meal splattered up the underbelly of the bike. There was also no front brakes left! Rolled to a stop. Checked quickly for damage - smashed front mudguard seemed to be about all. A few pumps on the brake lever and I had pressure back. Went back to check on the wallaby - male so no running around the bush chasing a joey this time. As I said, nearly cut him in half. Died quickly at least.
Back to the bike, pulled off the busted muguard and carried on. First bend, no brakes again. A few pumps and it was back. Looked down through the forks to see the left disc wobbling away - hence the no brakes on application. Made it to Orbost, pulled in to the Mower joint (thats as close as it gets in them thar parts). Did a quick "get me home job". Disconnected the left hose at the caliper, disconnected the right piggyback at the calliper, swapped the hose bolts and 2 minutes later had a fully functioning front brake - albeit with only one disc. Rode a couple of kms and thought the brakes were fine so pushed on rather than moping back to Cooma up the Monaro Highway.
West via Omeo, up to Hotham heaven. Still a bit of snow about:
Just short of Bright I had a sinking feeling. Back tyre flat. Heard the pop a k or so back. Squited in some goo from a can, but it kept leaking. Darted for the servo aiming to stall the inevitable and the guy came running out from the servo shop with a mud map to Smiths Tyres and said "I saw you pull up. Mr Smith is waiting for you". Back to Smiths and 2 of those rubber/glue/string repairs weren't enough to stop it - the split was too big. He called ahead to Myrtleford Bike shop and I carefully rode the 28km.
New tyre fitted. 4.57pm. 400km to go. Dark dark by Tooma. Elliots Way on my own - not a soul for 150km over the mountains. A very careful trip along the Snowy Mountains Highway for 90km. I didn't try counting roos - too many. 21 wombats on the road. Plague numbers of rabbits. A brushtail and an echidna.
Cooma by 1030pm. No further incidents.
Shopping for a third bike while the Hayabusa gets sorted.
Thursday afternoon headed out for a quick loop of Brown Mountain and up the great Cathcart bends to Bombala, then home to Cooma via about 20km or so of dirt.
The dirt was in preparation for the next day's goal: the Bonang Road. From Bombala NSW down to Orbost in Vic. There is a "105km Winding Road" sign near Bonang. Hence the trip. From there I planned to complete a 1000km loop back to Cooma via Omeo and Hotham, Bright and Buffalo, Corryong and Tooma, then back up over the hill to Cabramurra via the Elliots Way and home to Cooma across the top via Adaminaby.
Unfortunately, 95km into those 105km of twisties I hit a bit of bad luck. Wallaby damned. 934am.
Some here may be aware that I'm on the Hayabusa (bought on ebay 16 days ago) because coming home from Tottenham on FarRide East #8 I hit a roo and the BMW K1200R is off the road for a while.
Anyway, tipping in to a right hander I hit the poor little fella and nearly cut him in half. There was blood, liver and his mornings half-digested meal splattered up the underbelly of the bike. There was also no front brakes left! Rolled to a stop. Checked quickly for damage - smashed front mudguard seemed to be about all. A few pumps on the brake lever and I had pressure back. Went back to check on the wallaby - male so no running around the bush chasing a joey this time. As I said, nearly cut him in half. Died quickly at least.
Back to the bike, pulled off the busted muguard and carried on. First bend, no brakes again. A few pumps and it was back. Looked down through the forks to see the left disc wobbling away - hence the no brakes on application. Made it to Orbost, pulled in to the Mower joint (thats as close as it gets in them thar parts). Did a quick "get me home job". Disconnected the left hose at the caliper, disconnected the right piggyback at the calliper, swapped the hose bolts and 2 minutes later had a fully functioning front brake - albeit with only one disc. Rode a couple of kms and thought the brakes were fine so pushed on rather than moping back to Cooma up the Monaro Highway.
West via Omeo, up to Hotham heaven. Still a bit of snow about:
Just short of Bright I had a sinking feeling. Back tyre flat. Heard the pop a k or so back. Squited in some goo from a can, but it kept leaking. Darted for the servo aiming to stall the inevitable and the guy came running out from the servo shop with a mud map to Smiths Tyres and said "I saw you pull up. Mr Smith is waiting for you". Back to Smiths and 2 of those rubber/glue/string repairs weren't enough to stop it - the split was too big. He called ahead to Myrtleford Bike shop and I carefully rode the 28km.
New tyre fitted. 4.57pm. 400km to go. Dark dark by Tooma. Elliots Way on my own - not a soul for 150km over the mountains. A very careful trip along the Snowy Mountains Highway for 90km. I didn't try counting roos - too many. 21 wombats on the road. Plague numbers of rabbits. A brushtail and an echidna.
Cooma by 1030pm. No further incidents.
Shopping for a third bike while the Hayabusa gets sorted.
watch out !
