Another excellent trip...

[tfb]

G'day all,

Thought you might like to read about our latest trip through the South West of Western Australia... http://www.theflyingbanana.com/biketrip7.htm

It was an absolute HOOT and we all had a great time. Except for the kangaroo.

Cheers,
Mike.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like a hoot indeed Mike! Nice scenery you have over that way for sure.

I'll get to WA one of these days... a place that brews Little Creatures can't be too bad

 

[Leigh]

Pete, it also made Emu Dry...
Be careful.

WA is on my list of places to return.
I ran to Perth once in the truck just to say I did it.
Hot, sweaty and very far away.

You are right about that scenery though.
Looks like a good run, Mike.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Great story and pictures. Makes me wish I had taken the time to visit way back when I was stationed in Guam in from 89 to 91.

 

[Guest]

Pete, it also made Emu Dry...
Be careful.

WA is on my list of places to return.
I ran to Perth once in the truck just to say I did it.
Hot, sweaty and very far away.

You are right about that scenery though.
Looks like a good run, Mike.

Haven't tried Emu Dry... I'm guessing that's one to miss?

 

[Redman]

QUOTE:
the super-fettled Katana


END QUOTE.

Translation please.
That a reference to the recent suspension improvements?

.

 

[Leigh]

Haven't tried Emu Dry... I'm guessing that's one to miss?

Yeah. Put it the same bin as Southwark and Fosters.

 

[Guest]

uummm.....what language was that?

 

[Guest]

Yeah. Put it the same bin as Southwark and Fosters.

Never tried Southwark but I get the picture with Fosters

uummm.....what language was that?

It's Aussie beer language

 

[tfb]

QUOTE:
the super-fettled Katana
END QUOTE.

Translation please.
That a reference to the recent suspension improvements?

G'day Redman,

Yes, a reference to all the work I did on the machine since the previous ride along the Manjimup-Walpole road -- approx. 100kms of magnificent winding but f-a-s-t road which will show up the shortcomings of any motorcycle.

In my case, the Katana would wallow hopelessly whenever I hit pretty-much any bump at all mid-bend. It was getting very scary and after that I vowed to myself that I was going to go through EVERYTHING when I got back home.

1. First thing I found were loose/worn front wheel bearings.
2. Then I replaced the borderline front tyre with a new hoop.
3. Next were the swingarm pivot bearings; they didn't have any discernible freeplay but just a tad more flex in the swingarm system than I suspected it should have. Whipped it all apart and found that the needle rollers had left marks on the bushes they house; if you can *see* wear, there *is* wear... so a fresh set of needle roller bearings and bushes went in.
4. The rear wheel bearings were fine; didn't touch them.
5. Rear IKON shockies had oil that was over two years old; put fresh synthetic 15W fork oil in them.
6. Leaking rear seal on one rear shockie saw meant a fresh pair of seals into the bargain.
7. The old antidive units on the front forks were starting to leak fork oil. Couldn't obtain new seals, so blanked off the units.
8. This called for stiffer fork springs, as the old ones had too much sag anyway. Article on the antidive blanking-off and forkspring upgrade here.
9. Finally, fresh 20W oil in the front forks.

This time around, the bike was as steady as a rock. Ultimate test was a couple fast 140-160kph bends with heaps of bumps and lumpy tarmac; the bike just held its line, not a twitch from the 'bars, and not a sniff of a wallow, either. Victory!

 

[Leigh]

uummm.....what language was that?

Yeah, sorry AZR.. They are the beers from here that are atrocious swill. The locals call Southwark 'The Green Death'.
That should give some insight to how bad it is.


TFB..
Nice touch ups.
Have you changed the fork valves?

 

[tfb]

Have you changed the fork valves?

Hmm... I didn't know we could do that on GS/X Suzukis -- is that a poss., is it?

There is a damper rod there in the front forks, of course, but I'm not aware it can be further fiddled with.

 

[Carter Turk]

It's nice to see some truly old bikes on a proper road trip. How many total miles/kilometers did you guys cover?

 

[tfb]

I think we did about 1200kms for the weekend; left Saturday morning, got back on Monday afternoon. So we gave the machines a proper workout. It was nice to get back home and see that now I need a new back tyre!

 

[DanTheMan]

I made it to WA and Perth back in '92-'93, it was one of our perks after we left Desert Storm. I was on the ship USS Niagara Falls, AFS-3. Unfortunately for me, I was the "Oil King", in charge of the liquid load aboard ship and I spent the first three days in port filling the big beast with fuel. We took on about 600k gal of fuel at a very slow rate, so I only got out on the town 2 days and one night before we left for Guam (homeport). I did have my bicycle on board, so I rode quite a ways around the Perth area and did some good sightseeing. It was fun, met some good people there. Riding a motorcycle around there would've been a blast.

 

[Chris]

Thanks for posting the story and photos

Thanks for posting the story and photos

That looked like a great ride! Your bike looks great and your post has me thinking I need to go through the suspension on my old GS too. Sorry to hear about your friend's encounter with the wildlife. Dusk can be a scary time to ride in Tennessee too with suicidal deer waiting by the roadside. Thanks for posting.