It the holidays again.

With the holidays here I haven’t ridden the bike in the two weeks since classes ended. But just before they did, I took a Sunday and headed off to climb a mountain in Gifu. I’ve taken a notion for hiking recently and I’ve been up a couple of mountains in the last three weeks. I’m very interested in hiking up Mount Ena which is quite close to here, but it’s a serious climb. For a bit of practice I went to Ena and hiked to the summit of an adjoining mountain, Fujimidai. It’s not so tall, about 1,700 meters above sea level, but it’s a good hike. I took a cable car to the trail head and then it took a couple of hours of hard hiking to get to the summit. The bike just got me there and home again. Here are a few pics of the day.

All geared up for the run.

A view from the cable car.

Some guy offered to take my photo en route to the summit. Very kind!

Sportsland Yamanashi (SLY) 3hr Endurance Race, May 13 2012.

The team I was pitting for won the race! There were only four teams that turned out for it, well below the expected 20 or so. Too close to Golden Week was the common guess. Despite this, the competition was really serious and the two riders on the team, Dana and Showtime, put in a seriously tough 3 hours on a very tight circuit. Here’s a video I put together for the boys as a victory present.

Might be doing pit crew

There is a small racing team made of up guys from the Gaijin Riders forum and they’re doing a three-hour endurance race in Sportsland Yamanashi this coming Sunday 13th. They’ve asked for people to help out in pits and I’ve volunteered, but I don’t know what the deal is yet.

 

View Larger Map

If it’s on after all I’ll enjoy the run up to Yamanashi. It’ll be my first time riding on a highway, which is a bit nuts seeing that I’ve been riding for well over two years now. It’s a 230km journey one-way, if I stay on the highway, a lot more if I take the national roads, which I won’t. Two and a half hours will do it, including a stop off for something to drink and a visit to the loo. It’s all about the adventure of riding up the highway at sustained speed, and finally meeting some of the guys from the forum. Even if they don’t need me on the pit crew, my wife is fine with me taking a day out, so I’m heading up regardless.

My first pillion passengers…..

were my kids. I was washing the bike yesterday and they tortured me for a ride, so i took them around the block.

 

サドルバッグサポートを買いました。

でサドルバッグ (Side-bag supports)

今日の朝Ito-KTでサドルバッグサポートを取り付けてもらいました。でもでサドルバッグはまだ付けていません。明日付けリます。黒色のサポートは僕のバイク似合いますね。Ito-KT, ありがとうございます！

I got the soft pannier mounts installed on the bike today. I took a run over to Ito-KT and they installed them in no time. The mounts and the labour costs, altogether was about ￥11,000. That’s a good price in my opinion. The folks at Ito-KT would always have a quick look over the bike while they’re at it, so I always feel confident that the bike’s on good hands.

 

Pannier rack.

サドルバッグサポートスチール製ブラックメッキ CB400SF/SB 04-11
Pannier racks for the CB400SF/SB 2004/11

I found this pannier rack for sale online and I’ve asked the bike shop to order it in and install it. It’ll sort out the paint damage issue nicely.

I went over to the shop to get compound to clean off the grease and oil grime and one of the guys cleaned it off immediately he saw it and charged me nothing. He recommended using clear film covering for the fairing and showed me some from Moto Fizz, which I bought off him for ￥800, partly in thanks for cleaning the fairing. I also ordered a paint touch-up pen to cover two pinhole damage points which formed on either side. Nothing too bad.

There was one problem I had about the pannier rack, and that was if I could mount them on the rear suspension bolt, seeing that there is already a GIVI back-box cradle mounted there, but, according to Ito KT, it shouldn’t be a problem.

That means that I’ll get the panniers back on again. They’ve been sorely missed this last two weeks with the rain we’ve had. Trying to fit rain-gear and a folding umbrella into the GIVI box with my books, bags and lunchbox has not been easy. I’ve also bought a Mac Air for use in class which I also want to get in there. I’ll be able to put the rain-gear, brolly and my hi-viz vest into the panniers again and that’ll be me sorted again for the weekly commute, in good time for the rainy season too.

Got a run out, but not where I wanted to go.

I managed to get out for a wee run today, even though I’ll not get to ride into Gifu before leaving for Ireland this Friday. I had to head over to the university to order books for my students, and en route home I decided to take a detour into the countryside and hills of Toyota city. I’ve posted before about the Green Road that runs from the burbs of Nagoya right into Toyota. It’s a really sweet two-lane road with no oncoming traffic, which runs from Seto to its end at Asuke. From there I hung left past the famous autumn maple viewing forest at Koranke and then through Route 33 back into Seto, the opposite end of the town to which I left. All in all, about 80km.

I’ll have to wait until I get back from Ireland to visit Mount Ena in Gifu. The whole navi rig is in order and I’ve got an Interphone F2 Bluetooth headset as well. I also got a 2nd-hand tank bag from one of the guys on Gaijin Riders, so the whole rig is finished. As soon as I can, after getting back from Ireland, I’ll be off to put it to good use.

New bike ownership fail.

I hung a set of soft panniers over the back of the bike and rode it all winter. At the weekend I removed them to give the bike a wash, and grime had accumulated in there and scraped the paintwork on both sides. One spot is so bad the paint is worn through, albeit a pinprick-sized hole. I’ll be buying a polish to remove the blotches, but I may choose to get a professional to restore the back faring properly. It all depends on cost, but for time being a bottle of polish and some elbow grease will suffice. A painful lesson has been learned.

One down….

One to go. Still waiting on the cradle. I got the Powerlet cable from http://www.easternbeaver.com which is run by Jim Davis who visits Gaijin Riders. He’s based in Japan, but it’s cheaper to buy from him than from Powerlet direct. Arrived in good time and in good order. Nice one Jim.

More on the navi rig.

Well, that’s what it’s becoming, a rig.  Basically I want to power the iPhone for the navi software, and an Aeorstich Unobtainium heated vest. I can’t power the vest off a standard 12v cigarette socket. Those sockets are not powerful enough. Also, the vest has an SAE plug attachment. When I bought the vest off a guy from Gaijin Riders, he gave me an SAE battery cable from Powerlet  to which I can attach the vest:

Battery to SAE cable from Powerlet.

SAE to SAE/Cigarette socket cable from Powerlet.

Now I’ve ordered a new cable, an SAE to SAE/cigarette socket cable, also from Powerlet. I’ll be able to run the first cable from the battery to under the seat and connect a cigarette socket to iPhone charger to the phone on the cradle. In time, I’ll be introducing a tank bag connection to the rig, but that’s for another month.