Rear Brake Pad Replacement DL-650

Well it was supposed to be pretty straightforward - just follow the manual (free download) on page 7-69 - until some retaining spring fell out of the caliper housing and the manual didn't mention or show it in order to return it to its proper spot.

My somewhat blurred photo (sorry about that) shows where it is supposed to sit - this took me about an hour of testing different spots to find this but in the end it only goes in one way and works (I think) to stop the pads lifting under braking. I initially reassembled without it and went away and thought about it and then came back and had another go at finding where it goes.
BTW - the manual recommends only undoing the rear caliper bolt and leaning the housing forward to remove and refit the pads but this is how I knocked the retaining spring out in the first place in trying to refit the new pads. I thinks its easier (now that I've stuffed it up and fixed it!) to remove both caliper bolts and lift the whole assembly off, clean everything up, locate the new pads and then drop the caliper over the top of them. I also had to press the piston of the brake back out to accommodate the new pads - easiest way was to fit the outside pad, drop caliper on top and then press on the piston housing (the big circular bit labeled Nissin) until there is enough room to fit both pads).
I fitted EBCFA174HH pads for $55 from Western Motorcycles in Penrith.

The grubby world of politics - Rudd v Gillard

I think it was a very dark day for politics generally in Australia – the female side of things is not relevant except that historically men (who generally run the back rooms and are the power-brokers) put a women up to run the show when they can’t find a credible male. Thatcher, Keneally, Bligh are all examples of this. They are not expected to save the show really but if they do well that’s a bonus.

This seems to me to be more about grubby deals to try to hang on to power rather than an honest attempt to run the country better – if they spent as much time in running the country and consulting with the right people at the right time as they do in plotting to keep power, wouldn’t the world be a wonderful place?

The media has played a disgraceful role in the lead-up to this. The Sydney Morning Herald has seemed to run a hate campaign against the State and Federal Labor and has taken every opportunity to whip up frenzy around leadership speculation and poor performances on selected issues – building education revolution, roof insulation, and completely disregarding amazing achievements like financial management, health reform, tax reform.

I think Kevin Rudd was given a mandate by the people to make change and yet he was thwarted at every turn by the Senate and the procession of opposition leaders (except Malcolm Turnbull – I still fancy him as being a good prime minister). What this does is disenfranchise voters who thought they had done the right thing and said what they wanted and yet are thwarted by an unelected bunch of party power brokers.

Young voters – eg my 17 and 20 year old sons – are completely uninterested in any of this as they see it as being irrelevant to them – just a bunch of old fuddy-duddys who are over-paid and over-empowered (a bit like football players really!).

If we, as a country, are not careful, the federal government will turn into an impotent government because the whole system on which it is based is out-dated, unrepresentative and therefore irrelevant.

So what should happen? I think the representative system is failing our modern way of life and people (male and female) who are in the system are just fighting about power and not fighting for our country and the people who can’t fight for themselves. That’s why you are a politician – to help people who can’t help themselves!

Sorry for the rant but it makes me very angry that all people are focusing on is the female aspect which is completely irrelevant – it is the system that has failed and has been failing for some time.

And lastly – what about the loss of Lindsay Tanner? I have always fancied him as a person of high integrity and extremely well-spoken. I am pleased in some ways to see that he is not involved in any of yesterday’s grubby politics and will walk away but not pleased in other ways that the country has lost the skill and thinking of such a person.

Graham West – State Labor Minister for Jails etc – resigned recently and said that he was so frustrated by politics and that he felt he could achieve way more outside of politics than he could by staying. If that’s not an indictment of how the present government system is failing the people it was put there to support, then I don’t know what is.

Penrith Run today

We were up early watching the England-Algeria World Cup match (why did I bother? Honestly 0-0 is not worth the lack of sleep!) and so headed off soon after sunrise to Penrith for a spot of haircutting, good coffee and bike bits shopping. I test drove the new CellBikes nicks and leg warmers as it was about 3 degrees in Emu Plains as we went through.
The nicks were disappointing I have to say - there are seams in the seat pad where there shouldn't be seams and so ended up being quite uncomfortable. The leg warmers however were excellent once I worked out that the top part of them go underneath the leg-grippers of the nicks. My legs have never been so warm on a cold ride.
The new Continental CitySport tyres were superb - they really do roll quite a bit quicker than the Schwalbe Marathons - about 7km/h down a typical rolling hill so it is significant. I doubt whether they'll be as good on less smooth roads but we'll see.
Went to Anaconda Outdoor shop in Penrith and bought 4x26x1.25 tubes and finally got round to replacing my laces in the Shimano SPD shoes - they were still the originals after 6 years so not bad really. Found some 3mm purple climbing rope and got them to cut it into 2x2metre lengths - perfect laces.
Went on to Blackman's Bicycles and got some EBC green replacement rear brake pads for $35 (resin) - fitted when I got home as the originals were had it. Bought a spare Shimano XTR gear cable (teflon and stainless steel) as well $16.
Mitchell's Pass is a fantastic bike route down the mountain from Glenbrook now that it is closed to all traffic. We use it to go down and back from Emu Plains now - much safer and quicker than the usual Lapstone Hill route.
All up about 52km and with shopping in Springwood on the way home to see Ben at work we were home by 12:30.

Connecting with Uni of Fiji

I've got an opportunity to work with a friend in Fiji who used to work with me at Parramatta a few years back. He is now the Head of the Education Department at the University of Fiji and is keen to get some help with the Master of Teaching degree and the PostGraduate Diploma in Teaching course especially in relation to the Teacher as a Researcher - using Action Research and Technologies to enhance reflection by teachers when they consider their performance.
Still working out the details but it is very exciting to get back into some intellectual activity again. I'm keen to see how a blend of face-to-face and online supports might work to help students work through the course. I'd like to use something like Moodle to plan the program and then make it available to various people to test it as a pedagogy. Any volunteers?

Equipment Update

I've put the CitySport Continentals on and they look fantastic and very thin at 1.3. I need to get narrower tubes now to suit - the current ones are 1.75 and way too big. The Online Store at CellBikes came through with courier delivery of the order in 4 working days - its only coming from around Auburn somewhere so I'm not sure that its terribly swift but as I said before, the price is right.

The Queensland Tour July 2010

Its been a while but we at last have another ride coming. Flying with the bikes up to the Gold Coast - riding to Kingscliff, Hopkins Creek, Beaudesert and then up to Brisbane and fly home from there - about a week all up early in July and about 3-400km with some stiff climbs.
We have booked with VirginBlue and paid for 23kg of luggage (an extra $10 on top of a 'carry-on baggage' fare). I'll pack the bikes into the Ground Effect bags (called a 'Body Bag') we've had for a while - these are good because you can easily fit the bikes in (take off front wheel and turn handlebars) and upon reassembly at the airport, the bag folds up into about an A4 size to fit into the pannier ready for next time.
I've also found some narrower tyres to test out for this trip - we used Schwalbe Marathons for Germany and the Snowies and they were fantastic but slow. Tania's bike is going to use Hutchinson Protect Air Top Slick 2 front and back - they're a 26x1.2 and so quite narrow compared to the Marathons at 1.5. They're dearer though at $58 compared to about $45 for the Marathons. My bike is going to have a set of Continentals (Sport Contact) at 26x1.3 - these look pretty good and a bitter wider to carry my fatness! They are also dear at about $65RRP but through CellBikes they are normally on some sort of special at about $48. CellBikes aren't the quickest mail order mob I've dealt with but the price is right.
We arrive in the Gold Coast at about 10pm so we've looked into some lights for this trip as well. Tania went for the Petzl helmet light from Paddy Pallin in Katoomba for about $100 (become a member and get it cheaper) - she has used it for camping and riding so far and found it to be quite OK. She already has a blinking LED rear light. I went the cheap option from KMart for a headlight - its a Huffy brand white LED device that clips to the handlebar with a variety of flashing and still options as well as 'economy' mode. I haven't really given it a test yet so I'll await that before commenting. I also bought a Tioga rear light (Big Eye) and it is very bright and visible from a much wider angle than other plain LED rear lights I've seen. Lots of the rear LED lights I see on the road are best visible only when you are directly behind the light.
Doing some training in SunValley and the Hawkesbury Bends to get some hill work into the legs and looking forward to getting out on the road again. It is such a great feeling being able to use only leg-power to travel hundreds of kilometres.

Some roady type tyres for the KLX

Getting closer to Ben getting his Learner's Permit for the motorbike and so will get some slightly more roady-type tyres instead of the full knobby tyres on the Kawasaki KLX250. Going for the Dunlop K850A - 3.00x21 front ($97 fitted) and 4.60x18 rear ($105 fitted) from Western Motorcycles in Penrith.

A day's ride at Louee

If you are into trailbike riding and you haven't been to Louee (near Mudgee in NSW - check the web site at http://www.louee.net.au) then you are missing a great day out. On Friday May 29, we made the three hour trip from home to Mudgee to stay at the Ningana Motel on Mortimer St - 2 bedroom apartment for $130 per night. Dinner at Rajarani Indian Restaurant - Tarn had a spinach/beef medium curry, Ben had a medium Butter Chicken and I had the medium Vindaloo - very nice.
Out early next morning for the half hour drive to Louee with Ben (16 years old and riding the KLX250). Tania was going to to spend the day riding the Trek 6500 to Rylstone and back - a round trip of about 110km with some stiff hills and headwinds to deal with.
Ben and I signed in at Louee, paid Tom (the owner) the $60 ($40 for me and $20 for Ben) and away we went. Some photos below - great riding, great day had by all. The Thumpers Track was in the best condition I have ever seen it - 1.4 km of winding race dirt!
Tarn finished just on dark at the motel and Ben and I arrived soon after back at the Ningana for the night. Had a great Italian meal at the Trattoria - Tarn had Osso Bucco, I had Penne pasta with a mushroom sauce and Ben had the Chicken Parmigiana.


At the top of the "Sticks" trail



At the bottom of the "Sticks" trail



At the top of "Tom's Hill" climb



A view of the motocross tracks from the top of "Tom's Hill"



Ben getting air on the "Thumpers" track



Me roosting on "Thumpers"



Ben practising wheelies at the Freestyle track



Ben on the "Thumpers" track.

More bikes in the family!

With Ben nearing the getting of his learner's license, we bought a Kawasaki KLX250F (2006 model) from Paull's of Richmond. Its a hoot to ride and came with Staintune pipe, full knobbies, bashplate and a battery charging plug.



We followed this up with a Honda CRF230F (2007) for me as my old faithful TS185 (1971) paddock basher decided that it had finally had enough. Got the CRF from Mudgee Honda - cracked rear rim and all.

Cooma to Home

Monday 6th April
Cooma to Canberra
Leave: 7:50am
Arrive: 3:15pm
Ride time: 6hr 10min
Total so far: 473.76km
Total today: 119.29km
Maximum speed: 54.2km/h
Average speed: 19.3km/h

Continental breakfast was good at the Sovereign Motel and it set us up for the day. We wore our raincoats to keep the cold at bay as we left Cooma in 7 degrees and overcast but with a good tailwind. The road to Canberra has a very good verge all of the way - a bit rough in parts and lots of broken glass but it at least allowed us to get off the road a bit out of the, at times, heavy truck traffic.
We made good time to Bredbo (34km in under 2 hours) and the "Gourmet Food Store" had some beautiful coffee - lots of good food here too. The road to here was fairly flat. On to Micalago (27km by 11:45am) for an early lunch, but we should have kept going. The only shop around was the petrol station and pies were the only food.
We crossed the border into the ACT and saw Tuggeranong in the distance at the 96km mark. Traffic got heavier as we followed the "City" signs and stopped at Kingston shops soon after 3:00pm for very nice coffee.
We followed Wentworth Ave, then Bowen Drive and then followed a bike path over Kings Ave bridge along the north side of Lake Burley Griffin and then over a footbridge into the back of Rydges Hotel Lakeside - $150 per night in room 411 with a city view. Bikes got stored for free in the luggage room on the ground floor.
Had a drink in the bar (they had Asahi beer on tap) and wandered up toward Civic and found the Jolimont Centre on Northbourne Avenue where we will catch the bus on Wednesday. Had dinner at a Singapore Restaurant ($50 inc. a "Shanghai" beer - roast duck, sweet and sour pork) and back to the hotel. Great day and fairly easy riding overall.

Tuesday 7th April
Around Canberra
We did about 20km around Civic, Parliament House and the Embassies at Yarralumla - BTW there is a bike rack at the new Parliament House in the underground carpark right next to the stairs up to the front door. Went to the Portrait Gallery on the the lake - brand new building and makes for an easy couple of hours of wandering around.



In Civic, "Dobson's Bakery" on Bunda Street was great for almond croissants and the "SupaBarn" supermarket inside the Canberra Centre on Bunda St is great. Called into the Greyhound desk at the Jolimont Centre and got a printout of our tickets for tomorrow - this is important as we couldn't print them out seeing as we were on the road and you need a printed ticket to show the busdriver! The desk is only open 9-5 and we are leaving at 7:15am in the morning. Also bought 5 metres of bubble wrap to help pack the bikes up tomorrow.

Wednesday 8th April
Canberra to Home

Down to the luggage room to pick up bikes at 6:00am - lucky we were early as I had a flat front tyre! So we walked the bikes up to the Jolimont (took about 20 minutes) and packed the bikes ready to put onto the bus (flat tyre and all!) - take front wheel and handlebars off, wrap the handlebars in the bubble wrap and cabletie them to the front fork. Use the climbing tapes I kept from the Albury boxes to tie the front wheel to the frame triangle. This way the bikes fit upright into the luggage bin of the bus balanced on fork ends and back wheel.
Bus to Central station in Sydney took nearly 4 hours - I put the bikes back together again here and fixed the puncture, then caught the Mountains train for Springwood and rode home. Great trip!