Port Augusta. 45c and that was in the shade!
So this photo precedes all the others in this thread as this was our failed attempt.
We rode from Melbourne to Mt Gambier on the Great Ocean Road, stayed at Blue Lake then on to Kingston, Adelaide then up to Port Augusta.
Two problems made me decide to call it quits here.
1. The fairing of the R100RS wraps around the cylinders resulting in all the engine heat blowing onto the rider. This is nice in winter but unbearable in 45c.
2. The heat then flared up problem number 2. The bike had its 1st service a few weeks before and the BMW dealer assigned his wet behind the ears apprentice to change the oils. He drained the engine oil and the diff oil, put the plugs back in, then filled the engine oil, then went out for a smoke and moved onto the next bike. I picked it up, rode 50k and noticed a burning smell. The diff with no oil was red hot. I rang the dealer but he said it was probably just some oil spilt during service, so onwards I went. 200km up the Hume it was screaming and when I looked, the diff was actually glowing red now that it was nightime. To cut a long story short, despite many rebuilds and 'blueing' the helical gears to get them to mesh properly, he never got it right. It was still noisy and in this heat I was fearful of being stranded in the desert with a ceased up diff and vultures circling above.
The next day we caught the bus to Ayers Rock leaving the bike in the Port Augusta caravan park.
Arrived back at 2am and couldn't get bike out of the locked storage, so I used my credit card to open the door of an empty cabin, slept a few hours then limped home, sold the bike at a massive loss and bought the R1100RT from BTX in Ferntree Gully. Very good service from the mechanic there. Mick Budd? Is that his name? Long time ago.
We had now learned not to try and do the lap of the map in Summer, so we set off again on the new bike in July.
If at first you don't succeed......
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