been away for a while

[thommo]

well, i've been away for a while, doing this and that, and haven't had much of a chance to drop in.
things have been hectic in my world, and has slowed down a little in the last mth or so.
went to tassie for 2 wks after the world superbikes this year on phillip island.  supers as usaual, was great, had a ball, picked up a girl for a little while after tha, but it didn't work out, apparantly kawasaki owners and their friends on forums have serious attitudes... well some anyhow... apparantly i owned the wrong brands of motorcycle ( suzuki and yammy), so that ended not so well.
tassie was great, first time there and will go back again and again i reckon, but it's a fair hike from my place, the tassie/supers was a 17,000km round trip all up.  and i finally dropped a road bike on teh road after 12 years since i dropped the last one in a driveway.   somwhere in the baconsfield area i binned it going around a corner on some loose gravel.  117,000km i had put on the FJR at that time and it had never been on it's side.  the damage luckily was minor to bike and myself, picked it up, dusted myself off and kept riding the next 2 wks around tassie and back home.

i went north over new year to airlie beach with a mate on his zx12r, so i took the fjr to keep up with the phast prick, and left the bandit parked beside the kitchen window under the verranderra.  a good spot so i thought.  there was a prettty nasty violent storm while i was away and a phucking nice branch hit the verranderra roof and flipped under it, smashing into the bandit and bashing it against the besser block wall...
when i mean branch, it was damn near half the iron bark tree, and took 3 of us to untangle it from the bike.
i've so far fixed all the damage apart from the front end...
i decided since i had to replace so much of the front end i might as well drop a gixxer front end on it.  easy.
so i thought...
i think i've finally brought myself 3/4 of the front end, enough to make a start anyhow.  i'll still need a wheel and the bits that come with it, some calipers, and than i can start plumbing things up.  i'll replace the instrument cluster with an acewell or somthing, the old cluster was smashed, i kept the speedo just for the odo, as the 600 crossed over the 200K mark a few days before xmas.
haven't had to rebuild the motor or box yet!  a few minor replacement parts.

i won't know for a few days yet, when the bloke gets back to me, but this is how much of a new front end i should own by the weekend





i'm hoping to be able to get the bandit back on the road again for around the grand mark all up.  eyeing off a gixxer shock too, since the one in it is getting a bit shagged, and it's a genuine bandit one i found in a wrecker a few yrs back.

i've also brought a postie bike for shits and giggles at an upcoming 2 day enduro,  shoehorned soem clipons on it and fabbed up some rough rearsets, it's a real weapon!  and i might have picked up a 93 xt 600 for peanuts, i shold know if ol mate will sell it over the weekend, he's thinking on it...

[B6mick]

Hey bloke, good to see ya still around, bad to hear about the wee bandit, glad to hear she gonna get a real tart up, wowhoo usd front end. Hey I got a set of Hell braided lines that should fit that. I'll part with them for cost. $66. plus postage.

Mate you should know those bloody kawasaki riders , phew I'd betta shut the F#*# up, now.

[thommo]

Keep those HEL lines on hold mate, just might take em!
Yeah kwaka forums... what can i say...

[B6mick]

Bloody Kawasaki riders, their all f*@*ed, oophs shyte just remembered I have one, so thats meant to read most kawasaki riders.
Consider the lines yours, sitting in the shed locked away with your name on them. Just remember to drop me a line next time ya heading down this way, like for the GP. The front door and the shed is aways open to a fellow rider.

[thommo]

no worries on the lines mate, i'll get in touch with ya in the next week.

not planning on being in melbourne until supers next year, should catch up hey.  i'll be over at scone (nsw) the last weekend of july for a housewarming do and that's about the only other trip i have planned for crossing the border this year.

[B6mick]

Ok before we get to far, grab out ya measuring stick, these Hel lines are for a late model GSXR USD front end, but may not be suitable. Kit contains all banyo bolts and new copper washers, personal warranty card and 2 x Lines 1 the right hand side caliper 630mm centre to centre, the other left hand side 660mm centre to centre. Btw the outer cover is clear

[Red01]

Now, I've seen folks carry all sorts of spare parts and the tools it takes to do roadside/trailside repairs, but bringing along an entire spare bike is carrying it a bit far, isn't it? 

[B6mick]

No Red, not at all mate, Its the only way a Hon, a hond, a honnnnnnddddd, bugger it, one of those things, can make it across this country.

[thommo]

Now, I've seen folks carry all sorts of spare parts and the tools it takes to do roadside/trailside repairs, but bringing along an entire spare bike is carrying it a bit far, isn't it? 

hahahhaha, mate, you should see what else i've done... hahahahaha
i get lots of looks and questions when i'm traveling.

[thommo]

No Red, not at all mate, Its the only way a Hon, a hond, a honnnnnnddddd, bugger it, one of those things, can make it across this country.

yeah mate, this is orstralia maaaaate, have you seen the size of the place?

[Red01]

Only seen the size of it on maps and globes... appears to be just a hair smaller than the 48 contigious states of my country... with a lot fewer folks mucking it up. 

[thommo]

yeah Red, there is an awful lot of nothing out there in oz, i've certainly seen more of it than most people having grown up in far western qld out near the northern terrotory border.