Taming The Elephant

[owen426]

Deifnitely the same screen as your link.

[owen426]

Oh and please excuse the mess in the shed, I'm reorganizing... slowly...

[Mick_J]

It's your shed, keep it a shitty as you like 

[owen426]

Well life's been busy but time for an update on the last couple of months.

Pros  - Took the wife on her last bike trip for a while. Just a quick one out to a nice Thai restaurant, but Fatty Guts no longer fits in her jacket 
        - I finally got around to getting my open class licence shhhhhh
        - I got a new helmet and jacket AND boots. Spoilt. Helmet is butt ugly but fits spot on so I don't care.

Cons - It's bloody cold on the bike.
        - Short days limit riding. I'm not afraid of the dark but neither is skippy.
        - I tore my hamstring. That slows down your riding...
        - ... as does 4 months of nightshift.

How's the bike going?

Great as expected but I've only done about 1000km since last report. I'm slowly changing my riding style to suit, and I'm starting to see which modifications would suit the bike. There's nothing wrong with it as is, but it is also a blank canvas which could be taken in different directions. I have no plans for it at this stage except maybe winterizing it a bit. Pic from my latest excursion, waited two hours after sunrise and still some ice on the grass!

[Andre]

Learned something - it can freeze in Australia. Always thought there were just two types of temperatures your place: hot and hotter. 

[owen426]

Yep, and we even have ski resorts!

[Tony Nitrous]

Learned something - it can freeze in Australia. Always thought there were just two types of temperatures your place: hot and hotter. 

It's actually a genuine mistake folk overseas do make.

Australia is BIG.

The temps and weather at the bottom are nothing like those at the top or middle.
I haven't seen a frost in 13 years, but Perisher Ski resorts had 50mm+ of snow everywhere this week. It's a bit like thinking Norway is like the Mediterranean coast line.

[owen426]

It's actually a genuine mistake folk overseas do make.

Australia is BIG.

Two funny (to me) stories:
- Indian guy and his friend flying in to Perth for two weeks. They have 80 bucks between them and no accommodation. Want to know where to catch the bus to Sydney.

- I was at some roadhouse on the Nullarbor and this German couple pulls up. They are looking at the map painted on the side of the dunny, she couldn't believe they had been driving for 3 days and STILL had over 1500km to go! Boy did he cop it!

[Andre]

Learned something - it can freeze in Australia. Always thought there were just two types of temperatures your place: hot and hotter. 

It's actually a genuine mistake folk overseas do make.

Australia is BIG.

The temps and weather at the bottom are nothing like those at the top or middle.
I haven't seen a frost in 13 years, but Perisher Ski resorts had 50mm+ of snow everywhere this week. It's a bit like thinking Norway is like the Mediterranean coast line.

At least you are measuring your snow in mm instead of feet or meters 

[owen426]

Well folks my first update in a while due to a heavy work load - good for the bank account but terrible for motorcycle riding. So it's been a long time but not a lot of miles on the GSX. After being reminded by the missus how much she enjoys bike rides (yep I've got a good one!) I've been told to start taking her more places. She's all for long distance trips so I'm thinking I need to work on the following

• Heated grips - some wide ones due to my large hands
• Hand guards - stopping the wind is half the battle
• Seat - so far so good but haven't done huge distances on this one
• Gearing - drop the revs at highway speeds, use 6th as an overdrive gear?
• Wind protection - I'm tall so I really feel it. This one requires the most research.

It's all about high speed cruising with reduced fatigue and having the wife get off happy. As usual I'm open to anyone's advice.




Oh and this happened, no stalks required for me!

[Hooli]

I can't see the need to change the gearing, I have done a lot of long distance riding on mine & it's spot on in my opinion. as long as the throttles have been balanced (exactly like balancing carbs) then they are silky smooth up to uncomfy crusing speeds.

I got come cheapo universal bark busters to keep the wind off, they needed the holes redrilling to move them out a bit but work great. If you want posh DL1000 guards fit, but try finding them for sensible money.

I've never found the seat an issue either, although I'm now looking for my third as the cover has split again. Although I might try recovering it myself.

No idea what makes you get over there but Oxford heated grips seem the best up here, the others are all copies of older Oxford designs anyway.

As for wind protection, meh grow a neck :D

[gsxbarmy]

On 2 of those:
- fit some BarkBuster Storms for handguards - really good and you'll probably find you don't need heated grips
- get Gel pads inserted into your seat to save your butt on long trips - or as I have recently discovered a sheepskin cover

[Tony Nitrous]

I never try and "fix" a bike until my mind, my arse and my old bones are very familiar with it.

[seth]

hand guards would be from a DL1000 vstrom straight fit in sure there's info on here somewhere with part numbers as barmy had this set up on his 14 and i borrowed them one season to try not got yet but on the list to fit to my bike.
with heated grips were great in the winter or heavy rain.

[Mick_J]

1000 vstrom hand guards fit, I have them and they work a treat.  I will track the part number down if you want it.