I’ve always loved the design and look of Yamaha motorcycles, I’ve always wanted an FJR1300 for touring purposes but now at 66, I think if I get one now I might have issues with their weight however all is not lost, my 2nd favourite bike is totally different but similar in a way, both built and designed for touring yet one is not too afraid of verging off the beaten track so this is the 2nd model of Suzuki 650 V-Stroms I’ve had, the first I bought in 2012, a slightly used 2007 model,it was a great bike untill I was destined for a hip replacement back in very early 2020 just before the pandemic hit.
After 3 years without a motorcycle, I thought before my hip replacement that I’d probably never ride again but a later move to Albury NSW, just besides the awesome playground of the Snowy Mountains, the urge returned…so…I bought my 2nd V-strom to see how I’d go riding again and last May it took me 3200kms without even leaving NSW on a 2 week trip from Albury, Parkes, Inverell, grafton, Gunnedah, Gulgong, Newcastle and back to Albury…the bike loved it, I loved it and at no time in the trip that I wished for a bigger more powerful motorcycle, the only thing that would top off the V-strom would be a Cruise Control but not a biggie…I’ve done 7-9hour trips before without my hand dropping off lol.
My motorcycles went when my partner was pregnant with our first who is now 26. About 27 years ago.
Occasionally I miss them but pretty infrequently. I am happier riding bicycles now.
RG250, 1100 wire wheeled katana (the one I miss the most), RZ350, GSXR750, DR500, GSX1100, postie bikes x2, YZ250, CBR900 was the last. 100kmh in first and on the back wheel just on the power. Probably a good thing they are gone.
Down the straight and into turn 1 at Eastern Creek was probably the fastest and most scared ive been, mind boggling to know the pros do that throttle wide open!
Looks like youve had a good mix of bikes there warty! 2 strokers, singles, crotch rockets!
Ive been looking at building something a little slower pace, specifically an older 600 shadow, im thinking rigid frame, suicide shift, mini apes!
Only blemish is one small scratch on the top of the seat cowl which I’ll look at getting fixed once registered..
I’ll be putting it on Club Plates - once 25 years old a 45 day logbook is only ~ $90 and a 90 day logbook ~$176 plus stamp duty exempt. Insurance is cheaper too due to limited use.
It came with 3 more exhausts including a stock muffler so should be simple to get the RWC.
Don’t suppose there’s anyone in Sydney who wants to do a job on their motorcycle and could do with someone to help and gasbag and motivate?
Cos I need to replace the instrument cluster on my elderly Guzzi and remove and clean the tank and carbies. While I can do all that on my own I keep finding other things to do… So someone who would like to meet up at my place (I have a bike lifting stand and a fair few tools including carby balancer if that’s an incentive) or theirs and spend time helping each other, maybe we can get the damn jobs done?
If I was still living in the Sydney region, I’d probably take you up on that although my hands are not the best for getting into tight places lol…
Since leaving Sydney, I was bikeless from mid 2019 as It was too painful to sit on any bike for a time so I sold it. That was a 2007 Suzuki 650 V-strom…loved that bike too.
So after a hip replacement in early 2020 just before Covid hit, I resigned myself to the fact I’d probably never ride a Motorcycle again…Until lol
I moved down to the Murray river town of Albury with the Snowy Mountains in my backyard just to the east of us…and it had been 3years since the hip replacement and I thought…I wonder…so I bought another V-Strom, a 3rd generation model as apposed to the first gen I had before…same bike really, just a few little electronic goodies difference, motor the same plus ABS.
So I’m often cruising around the snowies…it may not be the quickest thing on 2 wheels and probably just as well…and you’d be surprised how far you can ride in amongst the Mountains during Winter before you even see snow, it’s more on the east side of the alps than the west side.
Hope you get your Guzzi going again Zebee…I remember you talking about it many years ago on BNA
Glad you can still enjoy slinging a leg over your motorbike Brumby33, as you have some amazing roads up your way. I went quite a few years running to LuftWasser, a national Porsche meet held in Wodonga so have been able to carve on quite a few including some lesser known stretches.
The Guzzi is going, just not as well as it might be.
It got a belly full of bad fuel at Coff’s Harbour and has been generally under the weather since then. Not wanting to rev out.
I emptied the fuel tank and cleaned the carbies but I think there’s still something in the tank so have to remove it and give it a thorough going over.
The new instrument cluster is not that hard a job but rejigging the electrics to suit might be!
As you would know you don’t have to travel far out of Wodonga to get a taste of what’s the come, one of my favourite places to go is Corryong, the heart of the High Country where the Man from Snowy River is reknown. Lovely town too and I plan to go back soon. From there it;'s not far to explore the Khancoban and Jindabyne or shoot down to Omeo. Good pub in Mitta Mitta and Jingellic or closer to Bright you have Shane Jacobson’s pub in Dederang. I haven’t eaten there yet, I rode there when it was first opened but it was a Monday and were closed for business as they were still in the process of renovating.
Just had a V-Strom gathering and weekend in Junee, an old Railway town that I discovered was far nicer than I first thought. The RSL club makes an awesome parma lol. Nice parks, I think the Council there works hard to make the old town look presentable. They also have an old railway museum with steam locos and old Diesel electric loco’s too, in the Roundhouse museum…a 45 minute ride up to Temora for the Aviation Museum is worth a look too…you can have a go at an old Spitfire simulator.
Our group said they’d like to return again one day.
About 20 odd years ago on a tour through Glen Innes heading to Grafton on the Gwyder Highway, I had a little 500cc Kawasaki twin set up with a gear sack rack, great little bike to get the license on and it was a great little bike for touring as well, well as I was about to leave GI I stopped for fuel at a shell servo, there was a fuel available at the time that I always put in my car, more like a mid high octane…it had a name but forgot it now but it was quite popular but not for motorcycles I found out a bit later.
The bike went really well all the way to grafton but when I was riding around the township, the bike cut out on my three times, it wasn’t like an electric power cut but a fuel type cutout as if it was starving for fuel or something. After the 3rd time I headed around to the kawasaki dealer whom I happened to know as I lived in Grafton back in the late 70’s and 80’s and told him about what was going on and he asked me where I filled up last and with what and I told him about the fuel from Shell and that I always used it in my car and his eyes widened in horror and I’m thinking wtf had I done lol.
He said don’t put that stuff in your tank, it works well with cars but it fouls the plugs on motorcycles and that might’ve been why the bike cut out…oh…ok I said…never expected that…he said to put in 98 for 1 tank then just use 91 afterwards and I did and I hadn’t had any issue since.
Another thing to look at is if the bike has been standing a long time without use and if the tank is only partially full, it will have been polluted with condensation and often water will sit right at the bottom of the tank and guess where it goes when you start it…in through your carbies/fuel injected system. I learnt that in my aviation days about checking fuel for water at the bottom of the aircraft tanks with a little drainage port under the wing with a glass jar to check if water is sitting in the bottom…you gotta drain it then till no more water shows up and as oil is lighter than water, water will sink to the bottom often where the outlet to your engine lies. Condensation builds up if the fuel level is under full sitting for some time…also if there’s a servo with a fuel tanker in there, don’t go anywhere near it for at least hald a day.
AVGAS was a favorite of mine in my TS 250 Suzuki. 1Ltr into the tank and fill it up with normal petrol. Then when a mate and myself bought a Short Circuit sidecar, then changed the carbies so that we could run straight AVGAS in it. Oh the good old days with motor bikes.
Then when a mate and myself bought a Short Circuit sidecar, then changed the carbies so that we could run straight AVGAS in it. 
Oh the good old days with motor bikes.