home in just under 6000k's

[nerald]

Good read. And who says the Capo is not an adventure bike?

[tomkn]

Day6

Something I forgot to mention about day5. It was the only time I booked accommodation in advance, and I didn't make it. I don't care if I have to sleep under a tree I'm not booking again!! I was able to transfer the booking over to the next night though.

OK I need to be in Penrith tonight one for the accommodation booking and 2 for there to be at least 2 days before the weekend that the bike can be worked on at Moto Italia. So off down the highway cruising along in some good weather quite relaxing after the previous day.
The only difference between these photos and what I saw is how green it is now. Mother Nature has spent last summer and is currently trying to wash eastern Australia into the ocean.


Closer to Sydney I" can see rain clouds but the forecast is for clearing weather and that appears to be the case. I get to Singleton and a decision has to be made on the "Putty Road". This has been on my mind all day as it has a reputation as a twisty road that must be done. The receptionist at the hotel was like "it's a beautiful drive but you have to watch the trucks theirs heaps of them, and the corners are real bad some of them" It is raining lightly and sporadically so I let the monkey have a win and continue on toward Sydney.
I pull into a mcdonalds in Rutherford just north of Maitland and have a coffee ( soy flat white.. wasn't too bad) n junk food meal and peruse the Galaxy tab for routes through the distastefull sprawl that lies in my path. I have a couple of missed calls so I ring them (clients) one knows the deal and they are like "hows it going etc etc stay safe" the other I'm like "nah mate can't come in I'm in , scuse me miss where exactly are we? , Mcdonalds in Rutherford just north of Sydney . He is ok call me when you get back, stay safe etc. Back to the map, I'm looking at the possible routes and a voice in the back of my head pipes up "hey arsehole you said you were going to do the putty road, what's this quittin shit."
I look outside and the weather is "Mostly Sunny " now and I hear the voice "Yep can't hide behind that now can ya". I am aware that to cop out on this will impact my confidence for a long time to come and I refuse to give in to illogical fears, so fuel up do a 40km backtrack with the headhones plugged in the galaxy tab for directions in a pleasant female english accent to get back to putty road in shortest route.

[tomkn]

The route back to Putty Rd.
The only incident here was the chick in my ears tells me to get off the Golden Hwy ( see inset), "turn right now", " make a u turn where possible" , "turn left now". Oh I'm back on the road yo told me to get off, but now it's called Putty Rd.
What? I didn't know where I was, the signage was crap, no mention of putty rd or destination until after the intersection.

Anyway back on Putty Rd.
Monkey " we're going in there?"
Me "yep roads dry, pull yer head in"


The unfortunate thing was that in the valleys the road was still wet in some places and bends so it was a sedate ride as I still had the knobby tyres on. There were a few of straights and gentle curves too through some nice country where the speed limit was 100Kph. Did not see any trucks and only a handful of cars. There were signs in a couple of spots to which my translation is. We know this is a good road to ride and you biker types love it but shit has happened on this road so we are gonna watch you blokes and if you are out of the prescribed envelope we are gonna tear you a new one with the rough end of a pineapple on a stick. It's gonna be the biggest spikiest pineapple we can find too.

did not put any photos of the tight stuff up as all you see is a short bit of road , rocks n trees close up to the edge of the road.
eg. looks tighter when you are there though.

Thanks to the receptionist at the hotel while travelling at sedate speeds in the damp twisties I was half expecting trucks to come barreling up behind me.
Made it into Penrith without incident and booked into the hotel. Another example of lack of research. Both hotels I had a choice of were close to Moto Italia but one was $10 cheaper so took that.
It was like a hostel, no food, had a pool but no real area to sit and relax other than that. For 10 bucks more and a further 100m up the road i could have had river views, bar, bistro, gardens overlooking the river with places to sit. Unfortunately I did not check it out until the second night and spent the day wandering Penrith observing the locals and buying a few things. had to do a big walk to get some gas for my gas soldering iron too as the bike was being worked on.

[tomkn]

Day 7
Rode the capo for the first time without the luggage, the whole 3.7k's to Moto Italia Where I dropped the bike off, had a bit of a yarn with Dave and then he dropped me off back at the Hotel. I mentioned to Dave that I had an internal dark visor for my HJC helmet that was broken and he set about calling his contacts for me trying to source one. I had not been able to get one yet. They dropped what they were working on and concentrated on the Capo due to my needing to be out of there on Friday. As previously mentioned I spent the day wandering around Penrith observing the locals as the shopps were pretty much the same as anywhere else. That night I went to the log cabin bistro was good tucker and reasonably priced. That's one thig about this trip, in the country areas they give you meals that are designed to fatten you up. I usually got twice what I would normally eat and it was usually better quality than similarly priced joints in the city.
The forecast for Friday was Rain storms in the late afternoon. Hmm My luggage now leaks, well one of them anyway. Unpack the luggage and grab the gas soldering iron and head for the corner of the car park. I can only wonder what people that were begining to arrive at the motel thought this bloke sitting on the edge of the carpark LED torch in his gob and gas torch in one hand bent over a black box making a hell of a smell was doing.
First I heated the wound up from the inside with the blow torch attachment and pushed it back out as best I could than I put the hot knife on and started working the plastic to seal it back up.
Worked like a charm.

[tomkn]

Day8
Friday, Ross (rossguzzi) is flying across to Newcastle to pick his Tuono up and ride back to Perth today. I message him around 10:00am to see if he has the bike yet. He replies he is just about to leave Bathurst after doing his laps of mount panorama and getting photo's. I'm like wow this dudes on a mission the only, thing I'll see of him is his fading warp trail as he blasts west. I ring Dave Forsyth to see how it is going and he tells me just need to give it a road test and he has a visor for me also. I check out and wait for him to pick me up. I get to his workshop and it's all good to go. He rings the bloke that supplied the visor and I pay for it with plastic over the phone, I was expecting Dave to add a bit for his trouble but nope. We have a bit of a yarn for a while and I eventually leave and literally "head for the hills". Dave's workshop is superbly located for launching westward and he gives me directions to the best way and I'm gone (12:30 pm). The whole experience with Dave and his people was extremely positive. He is one hell of a good bloke and knows his stuff and went out of his way for me.



Heading for the hills, this road is within 10 mins or so of Dave's workshop.


Again more pleasant travel through the hills and onward to Bathurst. i realised this morning that it has taken me a week to get to the point where I am ready to leave Sydney and I had wanted to punch down into Vic but I'd lost 2 days so far, one to the day of lessons and yesterday to get the bike sorted. ( New tyres, Anakee 2's new chain and sprockets, new battery, new fuel filter fuel lines replaced under the tank, air filter cleaned and oiled, new rear brake pads.) I also need to stop over in Whyalla to see my Parents. and then theres the nullarbor. Hit bathurst 3.5 hrs after Ross has warped out and have some lunch and go on. It is raining lightly and I can see various storm fronts ahead of me. I am going to go through the Adelaide hills though so bear southward a litlle heading for Cowra, west wyalong and somewhere before dark, it's go time.
Fairly uneventful except for another storm, the worst yet, heavy rain and wind. Also As I'm heading for Goolgowi I'm looking at the fuel guage and wondering if the red lines on it are reserve or not. By the time I'm getting close to Goolgowi I'm a little stressed over the fuel situation. I nearly take the turn off to Grifith as this is a big town but nah she'll be right. I make it to Goolgowi and park outside the pub. book a room and a meal and go to move the bike out the back. It won't turn over, gotta wait for the servo to open in the morning so I push the bike around and set it up on it's center stand.
A bit later I text Ross to see where he ended up and he is in Griffith with Family. I am 50Km in a strainght line ahead of him. Muuhahah the Capo has eaten the Tuono for this day.
The Day's travel. I will admit I was out there to be on the road but Ross probably stopped to smell more roses.

[tomkn]

Day9
Morning run

As I said the capo would not turn over the previous night so I was sitting on the bed perusing the circuit diagram on the GTab and I hear what I am pretty sure was Ross going by in the street outside. I went out to the bike and it started straight away so I turn it off and go pack the bags. Loaded up I head out for the servo. I go to the premium pump and it does not work so I go in and ask if it works and the young girl say's I'll turn it on for you. I go back out and pick up the nozzle and look at. The hose is delaminating and there is a couple of bits of debri on it so I brush them off. I am having second thoughts about using it but fill up with it anyway. Chico roll for breakfast and I'm off. I have the Gtab earphones in as I do not want to end up backtracking anymore and I have it in route planning mode. As I head out into the plains I get told "please make a u turn where possible" I think "not bloody likely expecting it to update in a minute. Aaah but it is in route planning mode and I have not crossed the first waypoint so for the next hour or so I have every few minutes "please make a u turn in 300 meters". Well it will keep me awake I suppose as the road and terrain are not real inspiring.


As I cruise along, Capo on 4500 rpm purring nicely I begin to wonder "does she sound annoyed now?" then she pipes up (I'm still at 4500 rpm in top gear) "please make a u turn now" and the thought pops into my mind, "now the bitch is just trying to kill me". I'm thinking also that this is a warm up for the Nullarbor" Temps are in the high 20's at this stage. Eventually I make it to Hay.
Where I filled up and the murrumbigee river


I am planning to go go through the Adelaide hills and Hahndorf so just short of Balranald I stop following in Ross's tracks and turn south for a place called tooleybuc (why does that make me think of hobbits?) At tooleybuc i cross the Murray river and I am in Victoria.
Cross the river head out to a big roundabout and turn west for more of this. Temp got to 35C during this part.

[tomkn]

Somewhere between Tooleybuc and Manangatang The bike started to miss and run intermittently rough. As I was going through Manangatang it was running rough and I had to work the throttle to keep it alive. I hung a u turn and went back to find a servo thinking that I may have copped some bad fuel at Goolgowi ( completely forgetting I had filled up in Hay) I pulled up beside some pumps and a bloke walks out and unlocks the pump for me. He is eying the Capo and mentions that he is thinking of getting a Guzzi adventure tourer, forget which one he said but I tell him about the bike plating up and I think it may be bad fuel. He says we don't keep premium anymore as it sits too long in the tank and goes off. I fill and he mentions that they are not usually open and he was just doing some work in the workshop, so I was lucky he was there.
The servo in Manangatang.


The bike starts and runs ok so I launch again, thinking the bad fuel must be diluted or something. A sign comes up saying 23km of curved road, basically 23k of nice big sweepers. Something more interesting at last.
eg


I get to Ouyen without any more incidents and fill up. I am a little tired as the temps are up and I am getting dehydrated I think so I drink eat and rest in the aircon for about 45 mins until I am feeling better. Slam a gatorade plus water down and a coffee and chips and another chicko roll.

[tomkn]

Day9
Afternoon run

Initially I had big plans, was gonna push on through the Adelaide hills and be close enough to Ross ( he was going to try and make Clare) to ride up to Pt Augusta with him. However, about 70k's out of Pinaroo the bike strated to play up again and got worse. I was managing to hold an average of rought 90Kph but it was cutting in and out abruptly and a quite few times would cut out until I was down to about 3000 rpm. I nursed it to Murray ville nd pulled up in the street near some pumps and was talking to an old guy working on a truck about i playing up and is their any petrol open here. ( it's Saturday arvo) A blke named Leon walks across the road and joins in, nearest petrol is 27k's up the road across the border in Pinnaroo where there are 2 roadhouses side by side with a motel in between them. He gives me his mobile number and says he has a bike trailer ( rides a harley) and will come and get me if I don't make it. I am unlikely to have coverage being on Optus and he tells me of a few houses where the people will definitely help. I start up and take off. The bike runs ok for the first 21k's (I'm watching the mileage like a hawk) and stats to platy up again. I nurse it to Pinnaroo and decide that I gotta look into this. I text Ross where I am and let him know of the issues I m having after I have booked into the motel and eaten etc. Ross rings me and we have a discussion during which he mentions the side stand switch, knowing I have been through some heavy weather in past days, and I say I will check it out. I have about 3.5 to 4 hrs daylight left so rest up a bit and then get to work.
The nights lodgings and workshop

[Caporoberto]

Keep it coming Tom. Makes for some good reading!

[tomkn]

Day9 cont..
Working on the bike. I dragged out the GTab with the circuit diagram pdf and had a look. The diagram indicated that yep the problems could be caused by this switch or the kill switch, the start issue included. I begin to look at the side stand switch and try to remove it but can't get the bolt all the way out due to the center stand. I decide to take a look at the connection and pull the sheath covering the loom back from the switch and a shot glass full of water pours out onto the concrete. I'm thinking that was over 24hrs ago and it has not been cool lately but the side stand switch is now number one suspect. The cct diagram indicates that the brown and black should be joined for the run condition ( this is wrong by the way). So I did this at the small circuit board that was exposed when the sheath was pulled back. Shit photo but you can sorta see


I chose to do it this way as the running issue should be solved and the light may still work. I decided to take a look at the kill switch just in case as it was not feeling right even though it was still working and the RH mirror / switch gear was dislodged during the low side near Tamworth. When I seperated the 2 halves of the switch gear the metal tab, spring and ball bearing fell out. I took a look and could see that there were broken bits of white plastic that were supposed to hold bits in place so I cut the wires and soldered them together also. I also tightened the RH mirror which had come loose and reseated the little metal dowel as it was looking missaligned and put it all back together. So now it should be good to go.
Munchies at the road house (BP) then Text Ross to see how far he managed to go.

Ross: ( referring to my wiring mods)
I hope it works, Tom and Ross race across Australia, Ross winning!

Me: That's one day each so far but now I am 4 hours out of it. Could make it to Adelaide and between there and Whyalla I have done many times even in the dark but I have already paid for my room so I will concede the rest of the legs to you.

I suppose I will have to be content with the fact I did 5 states and he did 3.
Day9 total 553Km.
Front of motel and BP. Talk about frozen in Time this image is 3 yrs old but I could have taken it, it is identical to how it was when I was there.

[Stanleybobly]

what a bike
adventure guaranteed on a Caponord

[tomkn]

Day 10
Fuel up, me and the bike and launch after having to bash the fairing beside the solenoid so she will start. (solenoid is sticky) Heading for Hahndorf for lunch.
The side stand light is permanently on, I figure because the switch is still in cct for that it must be the water leaking some current. I'll fix that later.

Lots of sweepers eg
From here

to there


Easy going and the bike is behaving itself. From Tailem Bend it is dual lane highway and some rolling hills. As I close in on Hahndorf cruising down the highway in a relaxed state of mind, lurch, wtf, slight miss. aahhhh ffs I thought I fixed that. Steadily gets worse but I am only 10k's from lunch. I take the exit to Hahndorf and as I head up through here

and here

The Capo is popping and farting like i filled it with baked beans. I found that keeping it at around 4000rpm seems a little better and it gets up the hills ok.
I get to the main street of Hahndorf and it is busy, people everywhere ( it's Sunday). So I am cruising looking for a servo coz now I'm thinking fuel again as it started at roughly half a tank again.
I spy this and at this pint on the street I pull the clutch to change down and she dies so I hold the clutch and roll to the pump.

I fill er up thinking if it runs ok on the first half a tank as it has since playing up I will get to Whyalla and strip it at my brothers joint.
Go out to start the bike and it won't turn over, bang the fairing, the bike ignores me. Hmm seat off but not in the sun so I push it to the verandah to work on.
These 2 images are 2 years old and that white van was parked there and I bought a german sausage from what looks like the same lady with the same sign, table etc. Man we really are creatures of habit.

While i was parked there I ripped the seat off bashed the solenoid and the bike started. Seat back on but now I am going to stop the side stand switch from being on all the time as I don't want it to over heat or blow the globe.
Out with the soldering iron disconnect the green wire from the pcb on the switch. Put it all back together reload the luggage, get some food and drink and sit down and watch the world go by for a few minutes. There are cars n bikes n people up and down the street and I hear the sound of a rotax v990, look up and there is a Capo the same colour as mine cruising by. As I was a good 10m off the road he did not see me. While in the servo buying drinks, I was behind a young bloke was well spoken but he was wearing a T shirt , shorts that were so low on his hips that they looked like a surge in gravity, earthquake or fart for that matter would drop them around his ankles. Not too odd seen that before but it's warm outside no rain and he's wearing gum boots??? The boots are clean and dry so I don't think he's working and needs them, I figure poor bastard must a lost a bet or something.

Finish up and mount up start the bike ( the beating I gave the solenoid has it intimidated for now.) Rollbackward from under the verandah put it in gear and it shut's down. Now having studied the cct diagram I immediately know what the story is, the wires are around the wrong way on the diagram. push it back under the verandah, out with the tools cut the bastard loom off join the green and black wires bi-seal (self annealing rubber tape) the loom and cable tie it up. pack back up (found out later left my $30 container of glucosamine sitting there somewhere) start up and ride off down the street.

[RossGuzzi]

Good write up Tom.

BUT I have to say, I am not sure you were technicly in front of me at Goolgowli or whatever name it was. I rode on the highway south of you, stopped at Griffith and then headed south in the morning then west. So it wasn`t me that rode through that afternoon.

Perhaps we were even at that point.

If anyone is interested here is my trip report. http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/s...21#post3049321
Sorry there are no stories of breakdowns. It`s a Tuono

[tomkn]

Ross, I watched that youtube video you put up it sounded identical to what I heard that morning (it was around 08:30 I think)

[RossGuzzi]

Wasn`t me, honest.