Just a quick add-on....
Traffic was sparse to absent, holiday crowds, particularly in the Snowies, were just about non-exist (and that during the 2. week after Xmas!!). It's hurting the local economy badly, from the accomodation places right down the line.
We stayed conciesly away from the bush-fire areas, but most roads were open. Closed at that stage was the Dargo High Plains Rd. Dargo-Mt. Hotham and some other roads towards Gippsland.
Many roads have copped damage from the fires, either by heavy vehicles or burning trees dropping onto the bitumen, melting feep scars into it, now the gravel comes out by the bucketfull.
Due top the long dry and the fires, visibility has increased a lot, many stretches are easier to ride, oncoming traffic can often be seen from quite a distance away.
BMW must be making profits hand over fist, the R12GS seems to have become the new bling-mobil , shitloads of them around.
Wildlife/ farm animals are a problem, the only moisture runs off road-surfaces into the trenches/ drainage ditches, the only source of "green stuff" for the critters...never seen that much wildlife/ cows/sheep/ goats along the roads as on this trip.
The oil-dripping postie eventually dropped that habit....after enough dirt the whole rear end was greasily caked in some brown/grey/whitish muck
Posties as Tourers?
Well....yeah...not bad at all, actually.
2000km of thrashing the little things pretty much constantly around redline produced some blown globes, a shonky kickstart-lever, some broken cable-ties around the Michelangelo-plywood-rack
and showed up that oil-leak, no other probs whatsoever. Thanks to Nev here for the tip on the Valve-saver additive to prevent the valves from sticking after prolonged stretches at top revs, the stuff seems to work brilliantly.
The butchered Ventura racks proved invaluable, the self-inflating mattress squeezed between seat and rack made the seat even more comfortable and supportive, no issues there with numb-bums or such after days of riding.
Another appreciated feature is the "handbrake" a small lever locking the front brake lever into the locked position, keeping it from rolling backwards on steep hill starts....
The fresh clutch plates and re-packing the clutch-springs with washers have cured the sometimes slipping clutches for good.
The little thing is amazingly capable, even on dirt....and there's no hesitation left to take it to Cape York next year, a good deal of trust has been built over the last week.
Apart from that....it's a shitload of fun...
Traffic was sparse to absent, holiday crowds, particularly in the Snowies, were just about non-exist (and that during the 2. week after Xmas!!). It's hurting the local economy badly, from the accomodation places right down the line.
We stayed conciesly away from the bush-fire areas, but most roads were open. Closed at that stage was the Dargo High Plains Rd. Dargo-Mt. Hotham and some other roads towards Gippsland.
Many roads have copped damage from the fires, either by heavy vehicles or burning trees dropping onto the bitumen, melting feep scars into it, now the gravel comes out by the bucketfull.
Due top the long dry and the fires, visibility has increased a lot, many stretches are easier to ride, oncoming traffic can often be seen from quite a distance away.
BMW must be making profits hand over fist, the R12GS seems to have become the new bling-mobil , shitloads of them around.
Wildlife/ farm animals are a problem, the only moisture runs off road-surfaces into the trenches/ drainage ditches, the only source of "green stuff" for the critters...never seen that much wildlife/ cows/sheep/ goats along the roads as on this trip.
The oil-dripping postie eventually dropped that habit....after enough dirt the whole rear end was greasily caked in some brown/grey/whitish muck
Posties as Tourers?
Well....yeah...not bad at all, actually.
2000km of thrashing the little things pretty much constantly around redline produced some blown globes, a shonky kickstart-lever, some broken cable-ties around the Michelangelo-plywood-rack
and showed up that oil-leak, no other probs whatsoever. Thanks to Nev here for the tip on the Valve-saver additive to prevent the valves from sticking after prolonged stretches at top revs, the stuff seems to work brilliantly.
The butchered Ventura racks proved invaluable, the self-inflating mattress squeezed between seat and rack made the seat even more comfortable and supportive, no issues there with numb-bums or such after days of riding.
Another appreciated feature is the "handbrake" a small lever locking the front brake lever into the locked position, keeping it from rolling backwards on steep hill starts....
The fresh clutch plates and re-packing the clutch-springs with washers have cured the sometimes slipping clutches for good.
The little thing is amazingly capable, even on dirt....and there's no hesitation left to take it to Cape York next year, a good deal of trust has been built over the last week.
Apart from that....it's a shitload of fun...