Pisshead becomes long term Geelong resident

Hi all,

Those of you at WSB, might remember that pisshead blew a seal on one of
his four shocks. (Yeah, right ... icecream!)

Tuesday Pisshead broke his clutch cable at Peterborough, then made it
up the Great Ocean Road to Geelong (in the company of Clem) and through
to the Geelong Harley shop, with only a few involuntary stops! They'd
phoned previously and ordered a cable which had to come from Melb, but
it wasn't there.

Clem then fanged off on his lamented 12 in 12 effort to Brisbane

Pisshead was installed at a local motel, and the next day was told that
he also had a broken engine mount and a sump plug hanging by a thread.
The engine mount had to be flown in from Adelaide. He spent the day
doing acrobatics in a Tiger Moth over the coastline ...

Today, he informs me that the engine mount isn't here yet, and he has a
cracked header, which they are welding up while he waits for the plane
from Adelaide. It probably comes in at Avalon, then the freight has to
go through the Melbourne depot, so that they can send it back down to
Geelong ...

Cheers
Goaty

 

Maybe so, but a very expensive piece of shit.

 

F'ing hell! Oh, well, hope you're having fun anyway PH Pete!

-----sharks

 

Poor bastard.

Geelong! eh!

If he's that way inclined, and somewhat bored, there's a rather neat
display of WW1 colour photographs at the Geelong Gallery.

Moike

(Just back from three days in the Otways. By Cage.)

 

What did the poor bastard do to deserve to be stuck in Geelong?

 

News Flash, Geelong winaries cant keep up with supply and demand. A single
man pushing a hardly is blamed.

A spokes woman from the winary said "He just asked for a $3 wine tasting
tour but then he hooked him self up to a main line, it was horrable!"

The celler hands stated that "They didnt think it was humanly possable, none
of our pumps could transfer fluids that quickly."

Each 3 million Megaliter tank will have to be replaced. "They just were
never designed to handle a vacume which has crushed its internal supports."

"Its going to take us atleast 3 years to recover from this single incident"
the manager said.

But what ever became of that man, some say that he would have to die of
alcohol poisoning, others say he just never existed. A leading psycologist
opinion was just because he owned a Harly.

- Geelong Times

 

Well done MB, quiet in Griffiths tonight huh?

slej

 

And there's also the fact that pete's harley is pulling a trike not a two
wheeler... lots more weight, lots more stress.

Although... I might mention a certain well used XJ that someone close to
this post used to own ;-)


G-S

 

to right...

I had a ball chasing him in the cage upto Mirboo North on the Sat...
Pete can really make that trike boogie

mh
(8 freaking weeks and still no bike)

 

And what a comedy of errors. I asked them to go ahead and fix the cracked
header, which I'd known about for the last 50,000 k's, but why is it only
stealerships manage to strip threads (which, in all fairness, I new was
still dickie from the last time), break an oil cooler mount (inferior part,
could've happened to me too) and forget to tighten bolts (but wait, there's
more).

After Clem and Goaty helped me into town with minimal kangaroo hopping and
starter motor clutchless starting we bid our farewells to Ironbutt
Bargearse and went in search of accommodation and local brew, which turned
out to be stocked in the motel minibar and not the pub!

The next day dawned with news that the engine mount had gone south too and
there may be a bit of a delay. I agreed for them to fix the things I hadn't
got around to while they were waiting. With the prospect of being stuck
without transportation and ever mounting $118 a night motel bills I
suddenly remembered about my NRMA premium car care cover! Arrangements were
made with Thrifty next door and the motel management. The rest of the day
was taken up with a very enjoyable yarn, look and flight with the Tiger
Moth people. Man, those things are the best invention next to motorcycles!
The one I was in was like a flying inverted four cylinder, oil leaking
version of a Harley with wings! This was the same plane that buzzed us the
day before riding back along the GOR, Clem. It harmonised with my motor
better than your Duck, Smack, and had me looking at the motor thinking,
"What the fucks going on now." That's twice now, you and a Tiger Moth!

The next day dawned with news that the engine mount's stabiliser bar was
shot too and one was being air expressed from Adelaide. NRMA arranged
another day with Thrifty (Lancers are shit, **** I was missing the GTA) and
the motel and before I knew it I was off wine tasting. Living near the
Hunter Valley has probably spoilt me but Geelong wineries seem pretty third
world in comparison. Never the less, I made a good crawl out of it and
arrived back at the motel more than three hundred bucks out of pocket!

The next day saw no sign of the elusive part and the motel was booked solid.
Another call to NRMA and I still had at least the car to camp in. About
three in the arvo I got the call for all systems go. Grabbed a carton for
the mechanic for squeezing me in ahead of the other bookings, loaded up the
Toad, dropped the car back and headed out of town.

By the time I hit the western ring road the electric shifter had gone south
and I was once again using the back up vertical shift lever. I presumed a
short as it's somewhat temperamental but somewhere near Somerton heading up
the Hume everything died. As seems to be par for the course in big cities I
copped some flack for stopping dead at a set of lights. They were probably
thinking, "Why doesn't that silly **** in the wheelchair on the trike just
push it out of the way." A bloke in what looked like a Maserati type thing
eventually pulled up around the corner and was giving me the 'I'll give ya
a hand' type look but I'd managed to get the hazards flashing and a few
inconvenienced motorists moved out the way so I could roll back down the
left turn lane into a lay-by type thing.

The RACV sheila was totally stumped what to do with me. Apparently the
reciprocal agreement they have with the NRMA isn't really and they wouldn't
even send out a van with jumper leads, multimeter and spanners to help get
me going. Just a tow, and less than eight kilometers or you pay, even to
their closest open depot. Slej had managed to get me in touch with Scum who
rang me just as the towie arrived to take me to nowhere. Tony got to ride
the Toad off the back of a tow truck and we set about drinking beer,
eating, charging the battery and drinking more beer (well, those of us who
weren't working or having a sleepless night).

Late the next day with a full charge we set about diagnosing the problem.
Turns out the stealership mechanic had pinched the regulator wires between
the frame and oil cooler causing a direct short to the frame and hence no
charge. Maggles did a mercy dash to the servo for some electrical tape
while me and Tony crawled about the shed floor doing a, better than real,
impersonation of Harley mechanics. Problem solved.

Even later that day I bid farewell and hit the road. It was a warm evening
and by the time I crossed the border I'd decided it was a perfect
opportunity for an overnight ride, besides, it's been a while. The roads
were virtually deserted and the Toad was purring flawlessly. I pretty much
much kept to the limit plus GST, due to visibility and inherent risks, and
had lots of coffee stops, and inherent pisses. The only dramas were a very
dramatic swerve into the emergency kangaroo avoidance lane followed by two
or three hundred k's of paranoia and very sedate speeds through the fog
patches. Very surreal, not seeing another vehicle on my side and only the
occasional one coming the other way. All in all it was a great ride and
made the Hume seem so much more enjoyable!

To top it off, remember the problem I had with the motor cutting out at
inopportune moments on the way down before I disconnected the bank angle
sensor? I asked the stealership about that problem and they had no idea
what it could be. When I got home there was a registered letter waiting.
NF Importers had sent a safety recall on the 4th, which in part reads, "The
recall is in relation to the vapor valve/bank angle switch. Both the vapor
valve and the bank angle switch could malfunction. Either of these
conditions could cause the engine stall/quit whilst riding which could
endanger rider safety."

I've said it before but this time I'm putting a comprehensive, discretely
stashed tool roll together and my bike will never see the inside of a
stealership again!

Thanks to Clem, for tailgunning, waiting patiently by the side of the road
and making phone calls the morning after I drowned my sorrows (oh, and
unlumpy milk too!). Goaty for scouting, guiding and finding me a bed
(sounds like he had a suss Christian school upbringing!). Geoff and Jodie
for trying to find a closer source of parts. gNiecey gNatalie for being
awake and long distance web browsing. Slej, Scum and Maggles (and Mum and
Dad) for the hospitality, food, beer, shed (needs a fridge), tools (AF
too!) and the ever entertaining Piper. BVR and Goaty again for offers of
companionship while stranded, and Conehead, for being Conehead!

 

You blokes show me something else that costs half the price, puts out as
much effortless torque, has two cylinders, pulls 500kg exceeding the design
limitations by far and only breaks engine mounts[1] in 120,000km and I'll
make rash, missconceived statements as well.

 

Yeah, it was fun but you're just a car hoon, Marty, and I was trying to keep
out the way!

 

How the hell did you break an engine mount? It's not a rubberglide is it?...

 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pisshead Pete" <>
Newsgroups: aus.motorcycles
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 12:44 AM
Subject: Re: Pisshead becomes long term Geelong resident (long)

No worries mate, I just hope when I make it up passed the big smoke one day
to enjoy the comforts of chez pisshead that we don't have to open up the
toolbox instead of the fridge.

Scum

 

Yeah, unfortunately, all the FLH's have 'em. It was the front one, didn't
really notice it but it rides a bit better now. I'd say it broke when the
rears collapsed before we beefed 'em up. The arse end moves them from side
to side which they weren't really designed to do.

Any idea if Progressive Suspension shocks are rebuildable? It's a good
excuse to buy a press for the shed and find out anyway!

 

It harmonised with my motor
better than your Duck, Smack, and had me looking at the motor thinking,
"What the fucks going on now." That's twice now, you and a Tiger Moth



hahahaha

I'm gonna have to put the loud pipe back on when you come back next time

 

Who?

-----Clem

 

I doubt there's anything that costs half the price, but a coupla bikes I
think would make excellent trike start points would be a Goldwing 1800,
Valkyrie 1500, Trumpy Rocket 3 (2.2L triple yeah baby),a Kwaka VN2000,
an MT01 or a turbo'd bored out hayabusa (more torque AND more HP .

In the same engine capacity & twins there are a number of jap cruisers
although I doubt there'd really be any great advantge.

JL
my 2c fwiw

 

Ahhh, had it in my head that it'd've been Softy based for some reason...Bit
harder to break an engine mount on them...

Toosmoky
Ride the Penguin...
http://toosmoky.d2.net.au

 

A Spada! - well except for the "effortless torque", and "pulls 500kg"
bits, anyway

big (oh, and they probably only cost 1/8th as much or so...)