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The 2010 Ulysses Club AGM ran from 8th to 14th March and was held in Albany, Western Australia – each year it is held in a different Australian town or city. As I’ve only been a member for a little over a year, and this AGM was being held in our ‘own backyard’ as such, it was a perfect opportunity to checkout what a Ulysses AGM was all about. It was my first AGM, as well as my brother’s, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ulysses AGM Site - Centennial Oval Albany

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Well after a further couple of weeks persevering with the Samsung after buying a new ‘aftermarket’ battery, I phoned 3 (Three – Vodafone Hutchison Australia) and informed them the 700 ma battery time was better than the factory 880ma battery, but only just and I still couldn’t get more than a day and a half from it on Standby, and only with minimal use.

In the intervening weeks since my last contact with 3, the new Nokia N97 mini had been released and 3 could let me have it ‘free’ on the $49/mth cap plan; all I had to do was send the Samsung back and all cancellation fees would be waived – ok, give me the N97 and I’ll see how things go from there.

The N97 is definitely a better phone in so many ways, but mainly in ‘Standby’ battery life; I’m getting 3 days + with average use. (continue reading…)

Well, I finally had delivery of my new Samsung Ultra Touch mobile phone from 3 on Monday last week, and have spent the past fortnight getting use to it.

It’s certainly not been a trouble-free move from both Nokia and Telstra; the latter being of concern as the 3 network is way behind Telstra in terms of network coverage and reception. I am experiencing regular ‘dropped calls’ and am keeping a log of them for 3, and if they can’t rectify the problem, then I may have to opt out of their contract and return to Telstra.

The Ultra Touch certainly is an interesting piece of technology with its large AMOLED screen and touch navigation. (continue reading…)

Over the period of a few days, a few people from PSB (Perth Street Bikes) organised a charity ride to Toodyay for Sun 3rd Jan ‘10. The purpose of the ride was to raise some funds for immediate expenses by those effected by the bushfires on 29th Dec ‘09 which destroyed 37 homes in the Toodyay  area. As Toodyay is a bit of a ‘Mecca’ for motorcylists, the ride was also to show support  by the motorcycle community for the residents of one of WA’s most popular ride venues.

Well, as it turned out being summer, the official Perth (Mt Lawley) temperature hit 39.9 C, which meant pretty everywhere else was tapping 43 – 44 C, and was a damned hot day for a ride. About 50 motorcyclists met up at the Caltex in Stratton for the ride, although several went on ahead in separate smaller groups (as did we).

Some of the bikes gathered at the Caltex Service Station (Stratton, WA) prior to the ride to Toodyay - photo courtesy 'Hammerhead' @ PSB

On arrival in Toodyay, several small fires could be seen still smouldering, and you could smell/taste the smoke & ash in the air. (continue reading…)

I’ve been a bit busy with things the past few weeks, so thought it was time for some updates.

So just before Christmas, the insurance finally decided to approve the repairs to my bike based on the 3rd quote; originally they wanted to ‘write the bike off’ – I had no intention of that happening, by the time it was finally approved I’d already put in another 2000 + kms. Final result is I’ll be getting new left and right fairing halves, new cowling brace, new headlight, new tank and a new left indicator -  this won’t happen till early in the New Year, but at least it’s sorted.

I’d already replaced the front brake lever and rear brake pedal to get the bike going, plus a mountain of gaffer tape to hold headlight and fairing together, so it’ll be good to have the rest fixed properly. And to help protect against any future ‘offs’, I ‘ve fitted a R& G frame slider (only took a week from the UK). On top of that I’ve also got new anodised levers and pegs (front & rear) on their way – now all I have to do is clean the bike a bit more regularly (… maybe).

Once all is fixed, I’ll be raising my insurance cover so we won’t get into the debate of writing the bike off unless it’s genuinely totalled and un-ridable.

As a prelude to the 2010 Ulysses AGM being held in Albany (WA), the local Ulysses branch was asked to lead the 2009 Albany Christmas Pageant. To help bolster numbers, members from other WA branches made the trip to Albany for the 5th Dec.

Our group left the usual Armadale departure point at 8am on Saturday, making out way down Albany Hwy as far as North Bannister, before taking the Wandering Rd turn-off. From there we made our way to Narrogin, and then via Gt Southern Hwy through to Katannining and Cranbrook. Rejoining Albany Hwy, we made our way to Mt Barker, then Albany itself. After locating ‘Frenchman’s Bay Rifle Club’, where camping had been arranged for those not staying in hotels/motels, I made my way back to my brother’s place in Mt Barker to off-load some of my gear, and for a brief rest before the Pageant. (continue reading…)

Insurance companies and bike shops are both a hassle when getting quotes to fix the bike.

First the bike shop quotes on items not absolutely necessary to repairs -  i.e. the mirror doesn’t need replacing because of a few small scratches on the back, nor does the lower centre fairing section need replacing (I couldn’t see any damage to it), and surely the fuel tank can have a small dent repaired instead of replacing the whole tank @ a cost of $950.00 – but quoting for these items took the repair quote above write-off value despite me advising them of the insured value and that I didn’t want the bike writing off – weren’t they listening? (continue reading…)

I ’spose it was bound to happen sooner or later, momentary lapse in concentration/error in judgement and down I went.

Wednesday was a nice mild looking day, sunny skies with a little cloud cover and temps in mid 20’s, so decided to go for a mid week ride Dwellingup way, but I didn’t even get out of metro area. I was at a giveway sign cnr Lake and Armadale waiting to turn left; there was absolutely no approaching traffic to the right, and the car in front moved off to the left, so I moved forward at 3-4 km/h checking traffic to right (still none), but car in front decided to stop again … quick grab of brakes, but too little too late … bang ! (continue reading…)

After a fortnight of suffering hayfever and having constantly flowing sinuses, things finally dried up enough to venture out on the bike again.

Saturday was a *”fine’ day for a ride, so I just jumped on the bike and headed off with no particular destination in mind. First of the ‘regulation ride’ through the Weir Rd, which is always a good way to clear the head and get the blood pumping. When I got to Mundaring, I decided to continue on along Stoneville Rd through to Toodyay with the intention of heading back through the Sawn Valley and on home. However at Toodyay Rd I turned right instead, and headed to Toodyay, cause the weather was so nice and the road just beckoned.

I grabbed some munchies and a drink at Toodyay, (continue reading…)

Been a bit slack with this site lately; I’ve been busy with bike, and fixing the PC … mainboard fried last weekend (more on that here), as well as other stuff.

On Monday (19th Oct), I took both mufflers into Roo Racing in Welshpool, and met Alex the owner and Roo pipe master craftsman. He explained how the carbon fibre is bonded to the pipe mounting plate and that it had come  adrift due to knocks over the years, and that he would need to shorten the CF to get to clean fibre so he could re-bond it; this meant he would also need to shorten the internal pipe to match, and repack with new e-glass. He said the left one wasn’t so bad and could be done later when I had the extra dollars again (I’d told him I also had to get a new tyre that day as well).

So I left the right muffler with him for repair expecting it to the end of the week before I would have the bike back on the road – c’est la vie. (continue reading…)