Saturday, February 13, 2010

Water in Lake George!


Lake George with water in it!, originally uploaded by indigoid.

Yesterday evening a friend and I drove back from Sydney to Canberra in his Isuzu County. While he was driving around Lake George I snapped a couple of pics and some video of the visible standing water. Google hints that this is the first time since 2001 that Lake George has had water in it.

The Bureau of Meteorology says Canberra has had about 56mm rain in the last 72 hours. Hopefully a change for the better. Our passionfruit plants noticed and have started fruiting. Yay!

One thing's for sure --- I sure wouldn't want to be one of those sheep on Lake George right now!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Big props for BMW Roadside Assistance


Warning!, originally uploaded by indigoid.

After yesterday's puncture I called BMW Roadside Assistance to see if I could get the bike and I transported to Procycles today for new tyres. They organised it and early today I got a call from a transport company saying they'd picking us up at 1100-1130. Sure enough, they turned up on time and delivered us to Procycles. This was a thoroughly satisfactory and painless experience. Much better than I've had in the past with other roadside assistance services.

Hopefully the new tyres will last as long as the old ones. Odometer when I picked up the bike with new tyres fitted was 36465 km. Hopefully the next set will be on the far side of 60000 km!

Monday, February 1, 2010

My first motorcycle tyre puncture


K1200GT rear puncture, originally uploaded by indigoid.

Today I booked the K1200GT in for two new tyres at ProCycles in St. Peters. Michelin Pilot Road2 again. The current set have lasted about 26000 kilometres. I am pretty happy with them.

On the way home from work this evening I had to weave between a few bits of glass and other debris on the road, especially in the tunnel that goes under the runway at Sydney Airport. Clearly I didn't miss everything, as the GT's tyre pressure monitoring told me that I was slowly losing pressure in the rear tyre. I am very glad that the leak was slow enough for me to get home. Normally I run about 2.9 bar in the rear, but by the time I made home to Mortdale the display was reading 2.3 bar.

I cannot overstate just how useful the pressure monitoring is. Without it, despite best intentions, I probably wouldn't have noticed the puncture at all until tomorrow morning or until the bike really started handling badly. By that time there could have been damage to the wheel as well as the tyre, and repairs would be far more expensive. Instead, I was able to keep an eye on the pressure and feel confident that I could ride safely home. The system gives you far more than just relief from wielding a tyre pressure gauge. Highly recommended.