G'day from the Sunshine State

G'day everyone.

Joined a few weeks back but this is the first chance I've had to introduce myself.

Based in Brisbane Queensland. Previous to that was living in South Korea where I was riding a Honda Magna 750; I so miss that bike...sigh. Also had a Hyosung Comet 250, cheaper for repairs; do not miss that bike as it made me think I was a better rider than I am and didn't have the brakes to back up the nippiness. Gave up on the search for a fair priced Magna here (owner imports only) and by various random events a few months ago ended up on a Bandit 08 ABS. We are still getting to know one another but given time I think she'll win me over.

Only mods I have made so far.

* Speedo Healer - brilliant!
* Madstad Screen - don't care if some think they're ugly, I'd rather be comfortable thanks...grin.
* Radiator Guard from the UK - perfect fit and good kit. 
* Pilot Road Power III tires - have requested the establishment of a special place reserved in hell for the OEM Dunlops.

Currently in the process of fitting an Alu frame from Motorad Garage for a 52 liter Givi Topbox. To be frank pain in the neck so far; little self-tapping screws that won't go the last bit of distance into the plate because the heads burr.

Will be doing more over time. Some of those things will be:

* Panniers
* Braided brake cable - swear by them as it made an unbelievable difference on the Manga; from death grip to one finger.
* Headlight modulator
* Handle bar risers - have them but need to extend cables before I can install them.
* Bracket for phone from UK - when I finally get around to upgrading from Galaxy 2 to 3.
* Replace exhaust - probably a Yoshi.

Have seen lists of some brilliant modifications on this site so the above is just my priority list.

Been riding on and off for about 20 years. All weather rider; in Korea took on the snow and ice every year. One Saturday we had a blizzard, took me over an hour to do a journey that normally takes 15 minutes; fell over 6 times! Took a taxi the following Saturday...grin. Not so great on the twisties - yes I still have my Chicken strips, only peg I ever scrapped was on the Magna - better with the slow riding skills. However, finally after years of wanting to do it - was overseas for over 20 years in various countries so never had opportunity previously - I am booked in for an advanced riding course end of this month with Stay Upright at Mt. Cotton. So looking forward to it; heard it is excellent.

Started in Japan as an ESL teacher on the JET program for 3 years, then went to Korea intending to stay for 1 year but was there for almost 10! Love Korea! Academic Director at a private language school, then started up and ran an import/export support company with a Korean partner for about 3 years working with the shopping networks such as LG, remaining time returned to one of my major passions which is education operating a one man training company. Now I am a Learning Development Facilitator - who the heck comes up with these titles? - for a religious non-profit and my current/new focus is developing e-Learning courses.

If you want to know more you will have to at least buy me a drink if not a meal.

Will do my best to post some reviews as soon as I can and looking forward to contributing to the forum wherever and whenever possible.

Stay upright!

Solomon Kane.

Hi Sol, great intro. I feel like we have known each other for years.  
Hence the name shortening. hope you don't mind. Which part of Brissy are you ? I live over on Macleay "Alcatraz" Island.  Great spot.   Your work sounds very interesting.  Enjoy the Bandit.

Welcome to the club! Sounds like life has been full on. Bike in the snow/ice....not for me, although I do ride all year round to work and back. Have fun tinkering with the Bandit and riding it

SolomanKane, Yay another QLDer.
As already said - well done on the intro. 
And welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum Solomon.

Wow what an intro .....................being a language teacher ,I hope  you aren't going to mark my posts LOL .
 Welcome to the forum

Welcome!  Be careful with a 52 litre top box and the alu racks, as there's a lot of unbraced load on the rear subframe and some have been known to break if overloaded.  The Givi and OEM racks are far more robust and braced on multiple points.

You should be OK if you don't overload it, but keep an eye on the weight!

Lots of good stuff on this site and I reckon the best in the world and I should know as I am on them all.

G'day Ham:

Thanks mate.

I'm on the Southside around the Graceville, Oxley area. Just looked up Macleay Island; had no knowledge of the place; is it worth a day trip?

Personally if I didn't have to go into the office I'd be living in the mountains, Mt. Nebo, or at least a place like Samford.

The work can be great, organization not so much.

Thanks again mate,

Sol.

G'day Kewwig:

Thanks for the warning mate. Came across a site where a rider had posted photos of exactly that issue. He did admit he'd overloaded the top box but I agree with him that the load limit is way too low. If I had read that before ordering I would have gone with the Givi. Such is life. I'll watch the loading and see how it goes. If it does break I won't be buying a replacement bracket like the other guy did more than once, I'll cut my loses and buy the Givi or something else; will do some more research soon. Only went for it so soon because I'd scored the Givi Top Box; brand new mint condition for $250 and I was able to pick it up myself so no shipping. Closest to that was an Italian business who'd have shipped the 52 liter for $290.

I share your view of this site, absolutely brilliant! Already picked up some excellent information and looking forward to contributing some of my own.

Thanks again for the heads up mate.

Solomon Kane.

G'day Truck:

Thanks mate, appreciate the warm welcome.

Solomon Kane.

Solomon, check out a few mods I have done here:
http://kewwibike.blogspot.com

Done most things to it

Hi Kane (im going for something different) So nice to read an intro with no spelling or grammar mistakes!
I officially welcome you as our spelling nazi... Enjoy!

G'day Cal:

Ah...a fellow commuter. I have a car so I could use that on rainy days, but I open the garage door and if it's raining usually convince myself "Ah! It's not that bad." Always happier on the bike than I ever am in a car. However, if we had snow and ice here I'd probably be taking the car...grin.

I guess my life has been a bit the road less traveled but nowhere near some guys I know. One of the more amazing experiences was being invited to visit Kaesong in North Korea. Having an investors' visa and therefore being classed as a CEO the South Korean government thought I might be interested in investing in production; talk about barking up the wrong tree. But no way was I going to pass up the chance to pass through the DMZ and catch a glimpse of life behind the Bamboo Curtain.

Closest I'd gotten previously was riding the Manga to various points on the DMZ just to see how near I could get get to the neutral zone. One of the roads led to a military checkpoint manned by Korean guards. As I approached they both pointed their rifles at me which was pretty wild at the time. I pulled up a respectful distance from them as I didn't want to risk spooking them into firing and took off my helmet. When they saw I was Western they slung their rifles and saluted me! Must have thought I was a US Forces. Wandered over for a chat in broken English and couldn't believe what I was hearing. It sounded like they were saying it was okay for me to ride on through.

Now I knew that just couldn't be right even though they kept smiling at me, pointing over towards North Korea, and nodding. Even if they still thought I was US Forces there is no way they'd be letting me through even with a military ID. A bit more talking, some sign language, and finally worked out that what they were actually trying to tell me was that I couldn't go any further and had to head back, which was cool with me because I couldn't imagine they were going to let me or anyone else cruise into the DMZ on a motorbike no matter how wickedly cool it might look.

But I'm telling you now Cal, if by some weird "What the hell were those guys smoking?" once in a life time mix up they were going to wave me through would definitely have jumped on the bike and ridden on to see what came next...grin...and what a brilliant adventure that would have been I am sure; though based on an experience I had when I did visit North Korea I'm guessing it might have been a few years if ever before I made it back to the 'free' world.

Long story short mate no matter what anyone might say to the contrary North Korea is one very, very, scary, evil place.

Thanks for the welcome Cal!

Solomon Kane.

Thanks for the welcome Madmax - great movie, cool handle mate.

Grin...no worries Paul your okay with me mate. Always telling my students "The goal is communication not perfection".

Thanks for the welcome mate.

kewwig wrote:Solomon, check out a few mods I have done here:
http://kewwibike.blogspot.com

Done most things to it

Hey Kewwig, I thought you were that guy! Was going to check later to make sure. I came across your blog before finding this site and read a lot of your blog. Really good information. 

You have done a brilliant job with your bike mate, it looks fantastic! Been asking around here about OEM pannier frames but they reckon they don't exist. The Alu ones apparently don't require relocating the indicators. Was going to email you at some point to ask for more information about your pannier frames.

For anyone who hasn't yet visited Kewig's blog make sure you do first chance you get, it's a great read!

LOL...now that's funny...spelling Nazi. I am so the wrong one for that role Suzy Suzuki - another excellent handle by the way.

Thing is I was diagnosed with dyslexia in my early 30's so spelling, grammar, and punctuation hit and miss for me depending on which way my brain is firing at the time; for example tried 3 or 4 different ways of spelling "punctuation" till I finally had to look it up - kept leaving out the "t".

Nonetheless, thanks for the compliment and Kane is cool!

Welcome aboard.
Looking forward to hearing more about riding in Asia.

G'day how are you going? Welcome to the site. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures. Happy Ridding

G'day Sol, welcome along. Awesome intro, & like some others have said, looking forward to reading more of your Asian adventures

SolomonKane wrote:

kewwig wrote:Solomon, check out a few mods I have done here:
http://kewwibike.blogspot.com

Done most things to it

Hey Kewwig, I thought you were that guy! Was going to check later to make sure. I came across your blog before finding this site and read a lot of your blog. Really good information. 

You have done a brilliant job with your bike mate, it looks fantastic! Been asking around here about OEM pannier frames but they reckon they don't exist. The Alu ones apparently don't require relocating the indicators. Was going to email you at some point to ask for more information about your pannier frames.

For anyone who hasn't yet visited Kewig's blog make sure you do first chance you get, it's a great read!

 Thanks Solomon.  The racks are available and are still coming out new as a factory accessory for the GSX1250FA touring addition with luggage here in NZ.  There's a few configurations.  Givi make good gear but the PLX side case racks come with an indicator bracket that sits under the number plate light and looks odd and wobbles a bit.  The OEM ones have a much better mounting system and work with the Givi topcase rack.  I have a writeup on my blog at http://kewwibike.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/can-you-fit-givi-topbox-to-gsf1250-oem.html


It all come down to what luggage options you want.  I like the Givi V35 side cases as they work with the lines of the bike and were what Suzuki fitted as OEM.  If you can't get them locally, order from colemans Suzuki in NZ.  There's several options, but this is what I have

Welcome SK......

WOW! No doubt you have plenty of stories to tell.

Enjoy the Bandit. When you do get to know each other, She definitely will win you over & it shouldn't take long...  

Welcome Sol

A lot of good info on this Forum

 Thanks Solomon.  The racks are available and are still coming out new as a factory accessory for the GSX1250FA touring addition with luggage here in NZ.  There's a few configurations.  Givi make good gear but the PLX side case racks come with an indicator bracket that sits under the number plate light and looks odd and wobbles a bit.  The OEM ones have a much better mounting system and work with the Givi topcase rack.  I have a writeup on my blog at http://kewwibike.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/can-you-fit-givi-topbox-to-gsf1250-oem.html

G'day mate:

Just sent you a PM regarding the OEM mounting system.

Regards,

SK.

Welcome aboard Solomon. That was some intro.
 I live close to you in Regents Park.
 If you are after a givi topbox frame, the one of my dearly departed bandit (RIP) may still be at a wreckers in Waranda, I still see bits for sale on ebay.
 I sent you a pm for contact.
 Regards
 Dingo1963