Ovens Hotel

Another Weekend away, i am well and truly out of credits now with my wife. Anyway where all off the Happy Valley Hotel Ovens, couple of new starters and the few of the old, Terry and i on the bandits, Shawn on the Audi oops did say that out loud, Ducati, his mate from WA on the Aprillia Something something, Tony on the Guzzi and eric on his CBR1100,

Meet up at the Shell in Pambula off to bombala under a laden skies but luckily no rain, which is good cause i have the new Cuppa Soup Road attack 2 on the back all green and all, bombala is in sight , Mount Darragh is in good shape for a change and the scala G4 is working great. Bombala we meet up with some of tonys guzzi mates, then onto ando, delgety, berridale for fuel then to adaminby for lunch had a awesome chick roll from the bakers.

We group up again though i might chuck the camera on the bloody thing keeps turning it self off, get to the kiandra turn off the camera says my full charge battery is flat NO WAY ok no vision of this trip onto elliot way awesome bit of road, out to tumbrumba for fuel zip on down to Jinjellic leave tony and his mates there for some bizarre guzzi ritual onto ovens.

just out of tallangatta a heap of loose gravel is all over the road from the recent heavy rain whilst trying to dodge that i ended up on the shoulder then into a muddy ditch with me getting turfed over that handle bars and from what i am told the bike doing 1 and half cartwheels, with me landing ever so sweetly on this big soft grass patch. we drag the bike out of the mud Damn it looks like an adventure bike' mud bloody every where assess the damage top box shagged top box rack bent to buggery, fairing a little scewey, Mirrors all over the place lots of scratches and a broken clutch lever.

into the tools on with the spare clutch lever turn the key all the lights turn on fire it up alls good, now i cannot believe that i left the road ended up in ditch did a superman and did not even sport a bruise well fuck me how lucky am i !!

into tallangatta to find at least a hose, shit that mud stinks, have chat with the guy from the BP tells me there is a pressure washer down the road hey hey things are looking up, 4 bucks later me poor old bandit is looking ok considering, its riding ok gauges are rattling around a bit, seems to ride ok ,top box is held on with a tie down strap, some duct tape for the blinker and the gauges right gunya gap he we come.

Into ovens on dark find the pub book in. shower time cause geezus i stink something musta died in that water as i hadn't shit my self, a quick wash in the gear in the shower then hang it out to dry then me, and it was a very nice shower all half and hour off it.

1 Double bourbon and Coke
3 Schooners of some beer
3 big glasses of red and the best chicken parmy ever
and i'm feeling better joke all round yup best make the most of this

Next morning i awake to rain bloody rain, chuck on some cloths better check out the bike now I'm in a better frame of mood.
1 blinker
fairing scratch to buggery down the left side and all popped out
gauges flopping around
tank all scratched
left mirror scratched
left side casing scratched
givi just plain fucked
mud still arsehole to breakfast
but she still rides

terry and i leave the others as there off to the blue duck, we head over to hotham i have to say that would have been a great road if i could have seen it damn cloud less than 5 meters visibility geezus it was scary and slow going plus when we got to what think was hotham it was sleeting does it get any better.

yup a pie from the Omeo bakery and a hot banana milk yep that just made me smile.

Now the road from Omeo to bruthen was just so nice why can't they built roads like that in NSW. then up the highway to home, from cann river we caught up with a couple on a spyder towing a damn camper trailer and some guy on a harley but i won't go there.

get home get the usual lecture from my wife, and quietly thank god keely wasn't on the back give it a decent wash then decide if to claim on insurance or not, yep $400 bucks excess is cheaper than a new rack some cheap bits plus i not sure what is and what isn't bent whilst i probably only hit the ditch at about 50ks thats enough to bend shit so its off to bob at mick coles and get it assessed and see if i am still a bandit owner, hope so

i was having a chat with tony today some guy on a guzzi came off on elliot way and land right on a dead roo man i was so lucky

Some Piccys
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Adaminaby for lunch

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Tumburumba for fuel


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Entry and Exit

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Defiantly got some adventure bike qualities there

Man, your are lucky to be still living let alone not even scratched. Sounds like a hell of a trip but a nice write up! Would have loved some piccies of the bikes, the rescue effort and the damage.

Bad luck James. That's a shit off. Sounds like it didn't dampen the spirit much.
There are plenty of bikes around if the Bandit doesn't make it.
What's the new hoop like anyway?

The cuppa soup is fine, a bit nervous in the wet on the way home I think I might have a bit to much pressure in it, so if it makes the repair I'll see, if the bandit is a right off then I might think of the fz I quite like the look of them

Jimcoleman wrote:The cuppa soup is fine, a bit nervous in the wet on the way home I think I might have a bit to much pressure in it, so if it makes the repair I'll see, if the bandit is a right off then I might think of the fz I quite like the look of them

They would be a good choice if you have the cash for buying new.
There is a whole host of bikes I'd test in the 15 - 17k range though.
Don't discount the value in a generation 1 FZ like mine though if funds are tighter.
If you're serious on a FZ sign up on the fz1oa forum. Filter out the yank BS and you'll find some Aussies there

Thats a real bummer James. Best thing is YOUR ok. Thanks for the report. Best of luck.

2wheelsagain wrote:Bad luck James. That's a shit off. Sounds like it didn't dampen the spirit much.
There are plenty of bikes around if the Bandit doesn't make it.
What's the new hoop like anyway?

yeah it did dampen the spirit a bit but some spirits help bring it back up. but thats what insurance is for and the premium only goes up about 80 bucks a year for two years so an extra $560 dollar over two year to have my bike fully repaired (hopefully or paid out ) is good value in my book.

the thing i think shook me the most was what if Keely my daughter was on the back, she wasn't but shit thats put the wind up me a bit

i still cannot believe that i didn't get hurt

Glad you're alright, Jim. That's the main thing, but how many times did you replay what you should have done in your head, that night, I know I always do, human nature I'm guessing.

Sorry to hear that Jim. There's a few roads around that area that have worry beads on them. The road up through Bethanga is a bad one. Especially if there's light rain.

Kaupy as a local of that area could tell me what it was that kept hitting me in the legs it was something solid as i riding along the road , i asked the others i was with and they said the same it wasn't rocks and there was no bug splatter on me boots have you experienced that .

The only thing that I've had hit me along there was bits of road flicked up by the front wheel as went into turns. Oh, and the occasional Wren. The little suckers are all of 25mm high and sit on the road here and there. I only realised what they were when I pulled up and saw a few on the road.