six3seven

Gears Navigator Tail Bag

A few years ago I really wanted to buy a large capacity tail bag for the FZ1N. I thought the ideal product was the BAGS CONNECTION Ballistic Cargobag 50L Tail Bag. It's a good size for touring light for up to a week, it has a tunnel design that helps keep it in place, but at over $300AUD shipped I really wanted to find something more cost effective.

2006 FZ1N Just before leaving Sydney en route to Townsville in 2010

Eventually I found the Gears Navigator tail bag, which is almost identical but at under $100CAD a much more cost effective solution. Not sure who copied who, but the Gears bag is great. I'm on my third sports bike since I bought the bag and I love it. Since then, a third player has released yet another almost identical bag, the AK Companion Cargo Tail Bag 50 L.

Anyway, the point of this post is to point out something I stumbled on today, an Australian eBay seller with the Gears bag running out at under half what I paid for mine.

TOUR PAK TP 52 BIKE PAK MOTORCYCLE LUGGAGE BAG

I am not affiliated with the seller in any way, but $50 for a good tail bag is worth mentioning.

MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 Downloads

In previous years I've caught all three classes of GP bikes on Channel 10 or ONE HD. Unfortunately, this year TEN is covering just the premier class. This would be a completely ridiculous decision any season, but the Australian network dropping Moto2 and Moto3 the year our best Moto3 rider gets a seat with KTM?? Stone the flamin crows. Any Aussie wanting to see Jack Miller race is going to have to look elsewhere.

So for the first year ever, I have to download motorcycle racing. A mate put me onto rojadirecta and it's paying off already.

If you want you can go directly to the MotoGP - 2014 Season Index.

New Goodies for the R6

I make no secret of the fact I like to travel on the bike. I managed to get the R1 quite comfortable and I don't doubt the cheap little R6 can be made just as comfortable. Perhaps even more so. In standard trim I think the 2005 R6 is more comfortable than the 2010 R1. Part one of this is the clip-ons, so I ordered some Speedymoto adjustable clip-ons.

Speedymoto adjustable 50mm clip-ons are almost infinitely adjustable

Ergonomics isn't the only aspect to travelling. Navigation is also something that requires some consideration. On the R1 I had my Garmin Zumo 660 mounted up, I could plan routes from my office and just follow the prompts. I managed to salvage the Zumo cradle from the R1, and I replaced the damaged screen. All I need is a RAM ball mount for the R6 and the navigation is sorted.

RAM Ball mount kit (RAM-B-342U)

I just have to wait until we finalise our move interstate before I can get to my tools and mount clip-ons.

(Follow along as I set up the R6 for touring by using the #touring tag)

Mulholland Hwy, The Snake 12-28-13 FPV Dji Sport Bikes

Givi Tank Ring for 2005 Yamaha YZF-R6

When the insurance company wrote off my R1, I managed to keep my Kappa Tanklock tank bag, but the tank ring that was attached to the bike went to auction with the bike. Too easy, the tank rings aren't expensive...

...except Givi don't list a ring for the 2005 R6.

Application chart for Yamaha motorcycles

I did some digging and ordered the BF05 tank ring. Given that my R6 uses a fairly standard (for Yamaha) 5 bolt tank filler assembly I was confident it would fit. Turns out it does. It would probably fit all modern Yamahas with a 5 bolt filler assembly.

BF05 tank ring fitted to my 2005 R6

EDIT: I thought I should mention that the ring assembly consists of two parts, the universal plastic ZT480F ring that comes with every Givi or Kappa Tanklock bag, and the bike specific metal BF series ring (BF05 in this case), these parts are sold separately. In my case, both the ZT480F and BF05 were lost when the crashed bike went to auction, this would be the same if you owned a second bike you wanted a ring mount for.

2005 Yamaha R6 - The bastard son of the 2004 and 2006?? (also, a flashback to my first R6)

Just before the end of the '90s I bought a brand new Yamaha R6. Manufacturer stamped designation and date on the chassis was 1998 YZF-R6, but in Australia it was sold to me and registered/insured as a 1999 Yamaha YZF600 R.

My first YZF-R6

This bike was brilliant. It was a rocket ship, accelerating almost as quickly as the previous generation of litre bikes, yet out-handling and out-braking them... it was the start of a love affair with the little Yam. It took me a year to work out how to tune the suspension, and another year to work out that Dunlop tyres were terrible.

Roll on several bikes and 14 years later I was looking for a bike that would get me to work and be a bit of fun on the weekends. I had a budget of $5,000 Aussie dollars and it had to be a quality bike that I wouldn't hate after a few weeks. I found a gem of a bike for sale, advertised for $5,200. I would negotiate the price to $4,900.

Instagrammy photo of the new bike the day I took delivery

But what was so attractive about the 2005 R6? It's a strange beast indeed.

The fact the 2005 R6 is a bitsa (bitsa this, bitsa that), is a double edged sword. On one hand it shares ergonomics with the more comfortable earlier R6s* with clip-ons mounted above the triple clamp, and shares many of the performance features of the '06 R6 (USD forks, radial brakes, stiffer chassis, larger throttle bodies). On the other hand, many parts suppliers seem gun shy when it comes to listing the 2005 R6 in their compatibility charts, despite their parts often working perfectly fine on this bike. Buying after market parts requires a little research and planning... an example of this is the Givi/Kappa Tanklock line of tank bags. The 2005 R6 is not listed, but given Yamaha use many of the same parts across multiple bikes, I ordered the BF-05 tank ring for my bike because that ring fits other 5-bolt tank filler assemblies in the Yamaha range. It fits perfectly.

2004 R6

2005 R6

2006 R6

In the USA Yamaha offered the YZF-R6S alongside the YZF-R6 from 2006. Perhaps Yamaha USA considered the 2006+ R6 too track focused, and so they continued the commuter friendly R6S. It could be generalised that the 2006 - 2009 R6S is the continued manufacture of the 2004 R6, since the R6S shares it's parts list with the 2004 R6.

2006 R6S

In any case, I have long considered the 2005 R6 as the best 600 Yamaha ever made. Comfortable enough to be a realistic street bike yet modern enough to offer decent performance.

* Plural of R6, as opposed to R6S.

Nuviz Head Up Display (HUD) for motorcycle helmets

This looks like a really cool project; an add-on HUD for your existing helmet. I could tell you all about it, but you're better off just watching the clip and then heading over to the Nuviz kickstarter project page and pledging your hard earned cash. I pledged, GET ON IT!

Welcome back... Time to catch up.

When this blog started, it was while I was trapped at my parents-in-law's place because of the floods meant we couldn't get home... way back in January 2001.

Well, here we are again. At my parents-in-law's place. Only this time we're not trapped here, we're just taking a holiday while in the process of moving house. Holidays are always a little difficult for me, it means time with the family but also time without access to a bike. Sounds trivial as I write it, but riding resets me. It doesn't matter what is going on around me, all I have to do is go for a ride and every part of me centres. If I don't ride for more than about two weeks 'things' start to build up.

The very last decent photo taken of the R1. It was written off about 5 minutes later.

Middle of November, (excuse me while I swear) some fucktard in a 4WD with a big alloy bullbar was on my side of the road on a blind corner. I managed to avoid a head on collision, but in escaping certain death I ended up running off the road. Onto the gravel. Gravel on an R1. Gravel beside a shear drop to certain death. Drop the bike or bike over a drop. The short of it is, the R1 is no more and I escaped with a broken collar bone, two broken ribs and a seriously busted knee. A further complication are the blood clots in my leg, meaning I'm now taking an anti-coagulant, also meaning no surgery until I'm clear of the blood clots.

Obligatory selfie from hospital

That was just under 6 weeks ago now.

The aftermath of washing out the front end in gravel

Leather torn by the impact

There's a knee in there somewhere

The bike was written off. It was insured and I've been paid out. The finance on the bike has been finalised and with the left over change I was able to buy a good quality 2005 R6. While the R6 is the smallest bike I have owned for several years, it's still quick and I'm sure I can have some fun on it. Because of my injuries, I haven't been able to ride it yet. I had to get my mate to test drive it for me, but it is very clean.