Hello all. My name is Cameron and I've just signed up as a new member (having been lurking around the IBA for a year or so now). Been riding only a couple of years but looking to attempt my first Iron Butt ride (SS1600K) this weekend (Sunday) with a couple of riding buddies. All will be on small-ish bikes (I'm on a HD Street 500, another on a Honda Rebel 500 and the third on a Honda CB400). Route is Sydney, Goulburn, Wagga Wagga, Hay, Balranald, then return). Hopefully the first of many. Hope to catch some of you on the road in the future.
New Member Intro
- Thread starter cjmckay
- Start date
@HACKLE - It will be an 'interesting' ride. Expecting temps around 10deg at sunrise climbing to a top of 36deg in the late afternoon. Hydration is definitely part of the ride plan. The three of us will definitely be looking our for each other - if we don't make it in the time (due to rest) - so be it... the roads will always be there for another attempt.
best wishes Cameron. Welcome to the Forum. I was in the car with family this past two weeks and we drove the Newcastle - Mildura - Canberra- Newcastle route both ways. The Sturt Highway has a mixture of road surfaces ... we have a new windscreen on order after passing a truck near Gillenbah. Lots of loose rocks and road damage from the previous months of flooding. Overall, not too bad. Stacks of emus on the Hay plain, but no worries if you are turning at Balranald. School holidays has increased traffic considerably. A lot of vans/trailers about. Take care and enjoy your ride!
@Tele - I took the family back to Adelaide (they are still there visiting family) the night of Boxing Day (Sydney to Adelaide straight through). Did the drive as my reccy collecting receipts at each of the stop points to check them. Didn't see many roos (never can pick when we'll see them). Roads - all things considered aren't too bad. There is a section which has reduced speed limits. Chipped a windscreen on the way back from SA this time last year in a similar location in the middle of the night. Thanks for the well wishes.
"Well - That didn't go as planned" (a.k.a. The best laid plans of mice and men)....
So, what happened you ask? (possibly)...
1. None of us slept well. You'd think for a bunch of grown men an initial Iron Butt Ride wouldn't stop us from sleeping - well it definitely tried. So, one of the team decided not to risk it and pulled out before we started.
2. We meet for the start, technology is all good, start receipt obtained and we are off - of so we thought until my old irish mate Murphy decides to pay us a visit.... barely out of Sydney and the voltmeter I have on the auxillary power circuit (the fuse isolated, relay control addition that gives me power to a) The Spot Tracker via USB, b) The iphone running Relive, c) The iphone that is on the handbars for directions and music and d) the video recorder (I've got 'dashcams' forward and rear facing) starts bouncing around, down to 8V then back up to 14.5V. Then it settles, then it starts again. Things shut down, some reset. Is it the battery developing a shorted cell? It the relay chattering? Is the stator cooking itself to death? Is it the regulator? Is it a dodgy connection somewhere? Who knows - but it is enough to say "I don't want to be worrying about this for the next 19 hours and many of the about could result in me being stuck by the side of the road motionless and I don't what to be standing on the side of the road trying to fix this in the dark running down my 'fatigue clock'. So, at Picton Road (35minutes and 55km for our start location) we call it - we are turning around, going to try to get the bike home and abort the attempt. A few minutes from home I suggest to my riding buddy "Hey, we've got today to ride and it isn't a bad day - How about I grab my new bike which I'm still running in the engine on and do a Tin Butt instead? Sydney-Goulburn-Wagga Wagga return - about the right about of kms I need to do before the new bike goes in for its first service. And so it was.... The Iron Butt it wasn't and the Tin Butt it was!
3. Mother Nature and her daughter La Nina - When I did the reccy on the night of Boxing Day minimum night time temperatures were 21-22degC. "Great!", we thought. "No need for cold or wet weather gear." Now, any one that has followed the Sydney weather (or tried to watch a 5 day test match in the last week) knows that Mother Nature and her daughter La Nina have been visiting this week - outcome, forecast low of 10deg, so on with the thermals and wet gear (to break the wind more than anything) - and still we measured down to 8degC (which given the planning was at least bearable).
Now home feeling reasonable about it all. Time to go lift the seat on the HD Street 500 and track down and fix this fault. Who knows, we might even attempt the Iron Butt again in a couple of weeks time.
Cameron (not quite yet an IBA Member...
)
So, what happened you ask? (possibly)...
1. None of us slept well. You'd think for a bunch of grown men an initial Iron Butt Ride wouldn't stop us from sleeping - well it definitely tried. So, one of the team decided not to risk it and pulled out before we started.
2. We meet for the start, technology is all good, start receipt obtained and we are off - of so we thought until my old irish mate Murphy decides to pay us a visit.... barely out of Sydney and the voltmeter I have on the auxillary power circuit (the fuse isolated, relay control addition that gives me power to a) The Spot Tracker via USB, b) The iphone running Relive, c) The iphone that is on the handbars for directions and music and d) the video recorder (I've got 'dashcams' forward and rear facing) starts bouncing around, down to 8V then back up to 14.5V. Then it settles, then it starts again. Things shut down, some reset. Is it the battery developing a shorted cell? It the relay chattering? Is the stator cooking itself to death? Is it the regulator? Is it a dodgy connection somewhere? Who knows - but it is enough to say "I don't want to be worrying about this for the next 19 hours and many of the about could result in me being stuck by the side of the road motionless and I don't what to be standing on the side of the road trying to fix this in the dark running down my 'fatigue clock'. So, at Picton Road (35minutes and 55km for our start location) we call it - we are turning around, going to try to get the bike home and abort the attempt. A few minutes from home I suggest to my riding buddy "Hey, we've got today to ride and it isn't a bad day - How about I grab my new bike which I'm still running in the engine on and do a Tin Butt instead? Sydney-Goulburn-Wagga Wagga return - about the right about of kms I need to do before the new bike goes in for its first service. And so it was.... The Iron Butt it wasn't and the Tin Butt it was!
3. Mother Nature and her daughter La Nina - When I did the reccy on the night of Boxing Day minimum night time temperatures were 21-22degC. "Great!", we thought. "No need for cold or wet weather gear." Now, any one that has followed the Sydney weather (or tried to watch a 5 day test match in the last week) knows that Mother Nature and her daughter La Nina have been visiting this week - outcome, forecast low of 10deg, so on with the thermals and wet gear (to break the wind more than anything) - and still we measured down to 8degC (which given the planning was at least bearable).
Now home feeling reasonable about it all. Time to go lift the seat on the HD Street 500 and track down and fix this fault. Who knows, we might even attempt the Iron Butt again in a couple of weeks time.
Cameron (not quite yet an IBA Member...
)
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Most definitely. Gremlins jump out of pot-holes in the road, make their way along the bike's frame to the battery's negative terminal and then find the weakest point in your electrical system. They then go into a kind of hibernation, just waiting for the most opportune time to cause maximum havoc.
Gremlin Bells ward off these terrible creatures (they hate the sound of the bell ringing), but remember (1) the bell needs to be placed as close to the road as possible, and (2) you can't buy yourself a bell, as it must be a gift to you from a friend.
Gremlin Bells ward off these terrible creatures (they hate the sound of the bell ringing), but remember (1) the bell needs to be placed as close to the road as possible, and (2) you can't buy yourself a bell, as it must be a gift to you from a friend.
An unfortunate set of circumstances there Cameron. Good decision to pull the plug: gut feelings are valuable at times and if "things" don't look right then they probably aren't. Home safely is the best rule and you achieved that one. Fingers crossed for the next effort.
As a F-grade IBA rider, I keep the technology to the minimum. My SpotX runs for days on one charge, so that sits in an unpowered cradle. My Motorrad GPS has it's own inbuilt power cradle. I have a phone plugged into the dash power socket. Only runs music to my Sena. I usually turn off the data when on the bike to avoid message distractions. Only check messages at stops. No cameras or other tracking apps. Reminds me I need to get off my tired lazy arse and do another IBA ride. Caravanning, bad golf and latte rides with mates seems to take the time. I thought retirement would give me heaps of time to ride, but not so. Even talk here today suggesting that I need to spend considerable time with a paint brush.
As a F-grade IBA rider, I keep the technology to the minimum. My SpotX runs for days on one charge, so that sits in an unpowered cradle. My Motorrad GPS has it's own inbuilt power cradle. I have a phone plugged into the dash power socket. Only runs music to my Sena. I usually turn off the data when on the bike to avoid message distractions. Only check messages at stops. No cameras or other tracking apps. Reminds me I need to get off my tired lazy arse and do another IBA ride. Caravanning, bad golf and latte rides with mates seems to take the time. I thought retirement would give me heaps of time to ride, but not so. Even talk here today suggesting that I need to spend considerable time with a paint brush.
@Tele - It is what it is. Went over the bike yesterday evening - gremlins have disappeared (of course - because we all love hunting what might be an intermittent electrical issue....). The Street 500 comes with nowhere to plug anything in - hence the additional circuit (separately fused, relay controlled off the accessories circuit so it is only on when the key is in and turned on and this also ensures that the cameras start recording automatically). I really was in two minds but I'd rather have the bike home in the garage if something was wrong with it than stuck on the side of the road 1-2 hour into the ride. I've done over 10000km with the setup as it was (the only change is the introduction of the SPOT but even that was simply plugged into existing infrastructure and I've done a couple of 1000 kms with that setup (so was confident all was good). Not going to complain with a 1000km day in the end (wasn't about to waste a riding day!). There were benefits too - the other rider had a smaller tank (11L on the Honda Rebel 500) and we weren't sure of his range (ride plan has us pushing multiple 260+km legs) so it gave us a chance to check that out (while carrying 5L of fuel just in case) - turns out 260km on the way back had 0.5L left in his tank and we got to ride half the route with both of us feeling ok at the end of that ride. If anything, it has got us more motivated to do it and now there are a few others in our riding group having a good think about joining us for the ride. I was wondering how long a SPOT (I've got a Gen 3) would last on batteries pushing out spots every 5 minutes and a message every couple of hours (I didn't want to get 1/2 through the ride and have to fail due to flat batteries). Anyway, I've decided there is a simple and cheap fix in case it happens again (I'm going to wire in another voltmeter onto my DRLs (STEDI MC5s) - which are separately relay switched but get their power off the headlight circuit which is always on when the bike is running - that will allow me to know if it an isolated issue with the auxiliary circuit (in which case we will ride on) or a stator/reg/battery issue).
"I was wondering how long a SPOT (I've got a Gen 3) would last on batteries pushing out spots every 5 minutes and a message every couple of hours (I didn't want to get 1/2 through the ride and have to fail due to flat batteries)"
I ran an 11 day rally on one set of batteries on my Gen 3 spot. Really no need to have it wired into the bike. Just use good quality batteries.
Good luck with your next attempt, I am sure with what you learnt from your last attempt the next will be successful.
Looking forward to the ride report.
I ran an 11 day rally on one set of batteries on my Gen 3 spot. Really no need to have it wired into the bike. Just use good quality batteries.
Good luck with your next attempt, I am sure with what you learnt from your last attempt the next will be successful.
Looking forward to the ride report.