Oxley Run Ride report

A brief ride report.

Rob on the Aprilia Falco and myself on Cagiva X Raptor.

Left Balmain at about 8am, a nice run up the Old Rd with a bacon and
egg roll at Mt White. The RTA had two bikes pulled over just past the
cafe, presumably noise, made us a bit nervous given neither of us has
paid our sticker tax and put the appropriate sticker on our staintunes.
Must get that done ASAP !

Pleasant run to the end of the Old Pacific Hwy then drone up the F3
freeway for a 100Km, turn off onto Bucketts way and head for
Gloucester. Had a minor "moment" when I failed to notice a large ripple
in the road which bounced us both in the air while crnaked over halfway
through a 65K corner, fortunately landed before the edge of the road
and just leant a little harder - made my watch the road surface a bit
more closely, that's for sure !

Spotted a matte black VTR on the side of the road at Stroud Road,
thought it might have been Phil but there was nobody around so I
assumed he must have dived off the side of the road for a piss. 30K
more and we got to Gloucester, fuelled up and had a coffee and got the
message that Phil had punctured his tyre and was getting rescued.
Bummer !

Had a quickish run from Gloucester to Walcha, the road wasn't nearly as
windy as I remembered it - either they've widened it or the Raptor is
making light work of the corners. Got very windy about 40K short of
Walcha - quite a bit buffet made us slow down.

Got to Walcha too late to do the 2 laps of the Oxley then back to
Armidale we had intended(didn't want to do the Oxley at night), so went
straight to Armidale.

Sat night Ash piked for the following day's ride.

Left Armidale about 8am Sunday morn, it was drizzling and very cold
don't know for sure but I'd guess it was single digits (1 or 2C), we
got as far as Uralla (20K) before I said "stuff this it's too cold" so
we stopped at a cafe for coffee and food (and to sit near the heater)

Still raining so we headed down to Tamworth to the motorcycle museum,
some cool stuff there, apparently they're only showing a small portion
of the bikes while they construct more space. Nice old guy there showed
us around and told us about some of the bikes.

Weather had cleared so we headed back up the hill to Walcha, great run
from Bendemeer to Walcha - wide open sweepers and little traffic. Was
still miserably cold in Walcha. Fuelled up and went into the servo to
pay, commented to Rob how it was nice and warm inside the servo, then
saw the thermometer was indicated 12C - dunno how cold it was outside
but if it made 12 degrees seem warm I don't think I want to know !

The oxley was heavily littered with broken branches and leaves - there
must have been a heavy storm the previous night, I spent an awful lot
of time picking up the bike mid corner to dodge a branch in the middle
of the road. Was still fun, but had to be taken a lot slower than
normal.

Just before the end the Raptor decided it had done enough work for one
day and developed an oil leak, oil onto the pipes lay a smokescreen
behind me and oil eventually went onto the wheel making the back slide
around a little - nothing too hairy but a heads up there was a problem
(I'd been oblivious to the smoke as I wasn't watching my mirrors !)

To cut a long story short, the banjo bolt from the oil cooler back to
the motor seemed to have vibrated loose (lack of loctite ?) and of
course neither the Cagiva's tool kit nor the Aprilia's had a 14mm
spanner (13 and 17 - no problem, a 14 ? You don't need one of those !
:-( What's worse was initially it seemed like it was properly tight and
hence I didn't think it was fixable..

A 35K run into Long Flat on the Falco and the purchase of a hefty
shifting spanner later and a half turn had torqued it up enough to hold
(and nicely rounded 2 of the flats (christ I hate shifters)). An hour
and a half later and we were underway again.

badly - probably the only crappy bit of the trip - it absolutely poured
down rain, and there was a lot of roadwork going on - so crappy road
surfaces and 70 and 80K zones - was a long 200K in the rain - the
waterproofing on the boots gave up the ghost and my gloves eventually
soaked through as well. Visibility was poor thanks to all the spray
from the oncoming traffic and the fact it was now dark. Not fun !

Weather was mostly clear other than a few spits and spots back down the
F3 so the last 200K wasn't too bad, got back to Sydney at about 10.30pm
- a couple of hours later than planned with 1389Km clocked between Sat
morning and Sunday night.

All up, not bad ! New England is cold in winter (well fancy that !) and
the Oxley highway is always great.

Sorry to the 3 ausmoto guys we had planned to catch up with. Our rain
dodging and change of route meant we missed catching up with Alex
(Emu/Birdy) as well. Maybe next time !

JL

 

<!-- snip -->

hey John ... yeas it was a tad chilly up the mountain on Sunday. I have also
realized that the year (or just over) that i have had without a bike has
made me .... V e r y ... s l o w ... through the twisties.

having said that, i was having a absolute ball on the gsxf even if i was
being overtaken by everyone else. One guy on a CBR1000 went passed me just
before a 25k hairpin and cocked it up rather badly. Fortunatly for him both
there was nothing coming the other way, and i wasnt following his line!

Impressions on the "eff" ... well it certainly has the poke that can make
you grin, gets a bit heavy to throw around in the twisties (but thats as
much me as the bike) and theres no way i could have kept up with the Duc's,
CBR's and other Sportier breeds through the bends. Buts for me, it dam
comfy, and has more than enough "oomph" and i can go from port to Sydney on
one tank without getting a numb bum, and i didnt get to left to far behind.

dam i must be getting old!

next time im down your way, ill drop you a line.
Cheers
Al

 

<snip>

Good report John. Yep I piked, and damn glad I did too, Armidale
topped out at 7 degrees C on Sunday. Heated grips or no heated grips,
I don't enjoy riding *that* much ;-) Plus I was thoroughly sick of
travelling following my Sydney/Friday, home/Saturday (slightly
hungover) effort. I barely moved from the couch/heater/tv.

Come back when it's summer (or at least sunny!)

Cheers,
Ash

 

Maher...You didn't live at Taree a while back?


Last time I rode up Oxley way it snowed (Nowendoc).

Yes, Walcha is a welcome place to end up after a cold ride.

 

Another ride report.

Sounds like I just missed you too. Woke up lunchtime Saturday in Joh country
(mate was playing at the pub Friday night so I had to get pissed twice).
Possible snow was forecast for Armidale on Sunday, so saying, "**** that" I
Mt Meed towards Brissy and the coast road to catch up with some friends.
Missed them too. Even road past Clem's road but figured he'd have no beer
left!

Sunday I kicked off from Woodburn and had a great run south to Kempsey. Even
got a friendly wave from the HWP, while doing an undisclosed speed, before
roadworks, gales and impending rain started to put a dampener on
proceedings.

Started raining at Taree and I even had to resort to wrapping a hanky around
my face and putting a jumper on (I must be getting old). It eased off by
Raymond Terrace where I did a "one more town" and rolled silently up to the
pump at Beresfield. 19.8 litres in a 19 litre tank this time. If I
hadn't've made it I probably would've seen you! Got home at 6:30pm.

 

Naaaahhh ... not me .. im one of them sydney boys that went north ... and
before than immigrant pommi bastard. Must be one the my long lost cousins

Cheers
Al

 

Hah ha; I bet you were wishing you had Leon riding with you!!

 

If you've got Staintunes, they will post the sticker out for free.

Just email Make, Model, Year, Name, Address, Rego No, Vin No to info at
staintune.com.au. I did this for VFR and a few days laters they were in the
letter box.

Skuz
VTEC VFR800
The RTA had two bikes pulled over just past the

 

Quike good, mate, but the ex has been eyeing me nervously from the spare
bed.

 

Glad you're enjoying being back on it, I'll definitely be doing another
Oxley run sometime, probably December when uni is done, sooner if I can

JL
(you've got my number, give me a buzz if you do come this way)

 

If you got home at 630 then you weren't far in front of us - probably an
hour, the rain had blown about 80Km North - we hit it at Wauchope

JL

 

Thanks Skuz, yeah I just haven't filled in the form yet

JL

 

You're right ,Cam, it's not a pretty sight!

Old Road tomorrow? Gazza may have a test ride Rocket 3 for me to back seat
test ride.

 

Well, maybe he thinks the sun shines out of it?

;-)

big

 

Everyone who has has reccomended against it. Even the pillions!

11am at the cafe, but you know my time.

 

I thought it was great, except for the wheel-up-the-arse trick.
Makes you seasick though, it leans the wrong way.

(and Pete muttering "don't fall off" every time I hopped on or off
didn't help!)

-----sharks