[Lakes]

well back home loved my ride saw lot of old friends , meet new ones road for seven days straight but could have done trip in three, just was visiting a lot. managed to dodge QLD toll's went to Toowoomba by riding past Australia Zoo and a back way with great riding roads. not one problem with the bike ran faultless , never had anything come loose. Virgin good to fly with!
love this bike!
also thanks to the Kenworth for a quick flash of his lights in FNQ there was a blue commo just having a rest?
the last night i stopped in Tamworth but got there late in day otherwise i would have tried to meet Tim was a quick easy trip tam worth to Sydney so Sydney members could have there cars serviced there! hunter freeway is a beauty cuts a lot of time off that trip! i loved Cairns! loved everywhere for that matter love our country!!

[Doggie 1]

 

That's great to hear.

[CraigB]

Glad you enjoyed your ride John some pic's of the new bike would be nice

[mickd]

Onya lakes ,
Glad all went well,  👍👍

[cruiserfied]

Sounds like a good run. Love taking 7 days to do a 3 day trip.

[John B]

Sounds like  a good holiday. You did not mention the weather so I take it that it was good. You will have to plan another trip to Qld on your bike especially now you know its reliable. Good on you John, so pleased it all went well for you. Did you take a camera ?

[Lakes]

Thank's all, The weather was all over the place.
started in tropical FNQ the weather was warm up there, the locals thought it was cold tourists thought it was warm  . was fine day of arrival & sunny. then day of departure (next day ) was still sunny but could see rain in mountains, all of Cairns surrounded by mountains, but township mostly level. well i had leather saddle bags came with bike but had a lot of gear , as i'm an old rider i have never had a bike with hard bags so know how to tie everything down. got everything on and got on my way, just out of town filled tank up, Bridget the Owner mentioned she never went over 130k before refill, but i have had a bike like this before and knew it would go further. i finished up covering 250k and did not need to turn on the reserve. got down road further and it started raining bike had a windscreen but i told Bridget to keep it as have never owned a bike with one and did not think it was that good something to give me trouble on the trip. so i got hit with rain the whole day, till just before Townsville was on and off type rain and the water was warm so was weather so not too bad. had a Mud Crab Burger town before Townsville. had been lot of hold ups with roadwork i think because of floods they had up there few months back , so was taking a lot longer than expected plus i was going easy to get feel of the bike, townsville was industrial looking so road through was going to try for Mackay but thought could be getting close to sunset before i got there, not wanting to see a roo or other wild animal on road i went into Bowen found a motel for the night, was too pubs to choose from to eat , first one i walked too was popular with families by look but long que to order a meal ( not my style )
i walked back past motel down the road to Larikin's Pub, went in mostly drinkers found where i could eat got a great meal and some Prawns they were great! good service . i looked over to one side and saw two doors, one with a big sign,
"MANGOES" the other door " NO MANGOES"  i had a laugh would not last long on Oxford Street LOL.
the Bruce Highway should follow the coastline but it just goes down through the bush mostly straight so not real exciting, weather was cloudy and on cool side from about Rocky down stayed inn Rocky next night nice town. then meet an old mate at the KFC Gympie followed him to his place on 100ac beef cattle loved it, one night there his son is a fisherman so we had a good feed of fresh fish. then short ride to Eumundi had to ride through beautiful country about 20 k out of that town, mate said leave bike in garage near the gate and use his 4x4 SUV to drive up the mountain to his beautiful home. had a great time there they had a lot of work going on landscaping so had lunch with the tradesmen who were also mates of my mate so was great got a huge room with spar bath and a view over a beautiful ?? beautiful mountains was bloody cold , they told me it was coldest they have had ever. next day easy and easily the best riding roads on the trip so far to Toowoomba to another mates i like the Township of Toowoomba! it was cold but did not rain, then down New England Hwy to Tamworth nice clear blue sky's & nice country town! Country Music capital of Australia, woke to a clear sky fresh crisp air had mac D breakfast ( hate mac D's ) but at least better than a ringers breakfast at all that is is a "Piss & a look around" then real easy run to Sydney and was even easy for me to go across sydney not using a toll way to Liverpool stayed with friends would have stayed at fathers but mate has a mc workshop he took bike for a ride said good stock bike. then up next morning got on my way only one fuel stop at Milton long enough to fill the tank then home easy trip. now have to detail the bike get a blue slip so can send QLD plates back to owner change rego to NSW warm down here on south coast in day but cool night. was expecting Queensland to be hotter. where is our warming we are paying for?
cheers

[Dazzler]

Thanks John, Enjoyed that report (always entertaining) Who needs a camera when you can paint a picture with words!

Glad you had a safe, fun trip and that the bike was sound.

If you have a few photos you can send me a half a dozen to post on your behalf or if you have more I might just explain how to use Imgur.com (it is super easy) 

[Lakes]

Thanks Dazz, my new toy.
just been detailing has a bit of oxidation on front fork sliders ( Alloy ) they have hard anodising so you can clean off oxidising and keep the hard anodising , or you can carefully rub it back & polish just hard work , but as the casting has sparkle in the mix, you can polish like chrome. i have a close friend who is a metallurgist . he explained it too me years ago, some ally does not have a sparkle in the casting so waist of time trying to polish it up. also bike has chrome rims cad plated spokes so more polishing but i know how to do it, ( no easy trick it's hard work ) but labour of love. but only a person who has experienced riding & servicing a motor Bike would understand. next job is setting bike up, will have front forks custom tuned to my weight guy in sydney i have used is an expert, changes damping and spring rate, when he does it you sure know it! will get him to custom build me rear shocks too ( most important ) & i'll fit a fork brace.
cheers
i also got time to drive my Fathers ( i think 2016 or could be 15? has the newest straight bars grill but not the new 2017 model ) it's 1.8 auto and with me driving in sudney traffic i got the trip pc to show 7.9L 100k, with father driving shows 9.7 to 10, he seems to be a bit of a tail gater, i'm more relaxed and sit back more, he seems to be frightened another car will jump in the gap in front  tippical sydney amiture driver. i got to see how driving that style a waist of time and fuel.
anyway the petrol ok but i still prefer the CRDi as can feel the torque at low rev the petrol has no torque.
i'll explaine how Torque can be checked. in auto i could feel the gear box shift down a gear to mask lack of low end Torque, and backing off on a hill the petrol just keeps going you need the brake a lot of slow the speed  ( that indicates lack of Torque ) a high torque motor will have strong engine braking when you back off.
if your still reading well done 

[Dazzler]

I read it all! 

You cover a lot of ground in your posts! Who needs punctuation and paragraphs... 

Do those suspension mods cost much? 

[Lakes]

 hi Dazz , well i look at keyboard to type .

they use my stock fork tubes and damping and add springs to suit weight the forks support. change the damping. i could do the work myself & have on other bikes, but for me to do it i need to try the test then try again. on another bike i spent one year setting up the forks. then latter got this guy to do it. he got it perfect straight off. i would never get it as good as him. and it add's safety to the ride. i have to price it not cheap but not that expensive but could save my skin!!
this bike worth doing as can make them handle , some Harleys can never get them perfect. this model they raced in a road race series . but the rider important too.
rear shocks still have to work out what i want can get Ohlans, i think White power, & this guy can custom order Race Tech from USA. a lot of people lower Harleys but ride quality goes down the drain. i want it stock hight. if i get longer than stock rear shocks will change the front end rake. it seems good how it is if i make rake steeper would need a steering damper. don't want to go to those lengths.
been working on the cave bathroom kitchen and painted down stairs. might sell buy or build a house. just i hate this type of thing!

[Lakes]

Here is a pic of Bike, after i had ridden it 3,600k ( few side tracks not a direct , Cairns to Narooma went all over the place visiting took me 7 days.)



Not one bolt came loose. Bridget had a shop fit two new tyres and tubes, on arrival home i found they had only put 20psi in front tyre & 28psi in rear, i would normally run 38F 40R. but i made it just knew tyres were runing in low range for pressure as when i stop i feel how hot or warm tyre is. i gave it a clean too three days removed front wheel to clean properly. but don’t have a bike stand i used a car jack. friend in Sydney giving me a proper stand that lifts the whole bike up to make it easy to service & clean. it is a really nice bike to ride. & bone stock, just Screamin eagle air cleaner and slip on mufflers. carb is stock jetted & a bit lean but ok after i warm it up just need to warm motor before riding. never used a drop of oil so indicated all good. like valve steam seals & so on working. also no oil leaks. it is a ridged motor to frame mount not rubber isolation or counter balanced. this is what i wanted as handle good, feel like a real Harley.

It has a crash bar with highway pegs, i’m not overly keen on crash bars , but it is genuine HD so i’ll just leave it. it came with leather saddle bags and chrome bag mounts but i’ll keep them , but remove as i personally hate saddle bags. i will get a sheet metal worker friend to make a stainless, quick remove rack that will cover rear seat and go as far back as number plate. hard to explain but if i had one on trip would have been much easier. i have ridden it every day since arriving home!

[John B]

Looks great, pleased it has all worked out well. Nice when you get a win.

[Lakes]

Got my Blue slip guy said was a good bike, change from QLD to NSW rego. so happy

[Dazzler]