TravellingStrom

Friday – New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Well, my original plan was to head to New Smyrna Beach and meet up with Tim and get my tyre sensor installed, then head north. It is lucky I don’t make plans, because I never stick to them.

I had also needed oil for my chain oiler and Johnofchar(VSRI) had mentioned a place in Orlando that sells it. They had none in stock, but the distributer was right there as well, so I now decided to go to Orlando and get the oil, then head to the beach. It was just a short detour of a few hours or so. I had been offered a bed for the night by Jim who also lived at the beach. I was going to have to wait for a phone call about the oil, so I decided to head up that way then see what messages I got at a turning point. So, a late start at 10am but I head off north on relatively clear roads through farmland again.

There were a lot of trees and lantana type vines around here and after an hour or so I found a shady place to park, it was hot and humid and I was sucking back the water.

I could smell wet fire and it looked like a bush fire had been through this area recently, maybe a controlled burn off, it is hard to tell.

I came to the town of Holepaw where the road intersected, this is where I fuelled up and made a few phone calls. The oil distributer had not bothered to call the seller, so he advised me to go east to the beaches, don’t go through Orlando, so that decision was made for me. I called Tim about the tyre, he said just come on down and get it done anyway, I also spoke to Jim about the bed, he said sure come on down as well, so I headed east. There was a lot of turf farms until I hit the highway north, then I hit traffic again, oh and of course road works.

I did get some clearer riding, but not for long, as I got towards Cocoa Beach it became busier again and stop start.

I decided at this stage to get on the I95, the interstate, as I was becoming very hot, it was about 95% humidity and when stopped I was sweltering, not much fun to ride in. The interstate was a lot faster and I soon found a spot to have some lunch.

After about an hour I got off the freeway and went towards the coast and Tim’s shop which I found with no dramas at all.

I met Tim and he said bring the bike in as it looked like rain and I proceeded to remove the rear tyre. Tim and his dad run this shop, it is a Carburettor repair specialist shop, they make them like new and a lot of them get used in custom cars for shows etc.

OK, wheel is off and out the back to the old fashioned tyre remover 🙂 That is Tim on the right.

First break the bead then use this massive rod to get the tyre off, but in the end we just used two small tyre levers as this big one was taking the paint off the rim.

I removed the old tyre watch sensor and installed the new one and the tyre went back on the rim. But of course then it needs balancing, once again an old style gadget, but it works, it just takes a bit more time than the electronic ones.

This is when I found out the tyre that was on the rim, was not the one I had ordered!! I had ordered specifically a V rated tyre for high speed etc and what was on there was a H rated tyre. I guess it is my fault for not double checking, but I had actually been running this tyre over inflated for 4000 miles! It is rated at 42psi cold, I had been running it at 46psi and on the interstate at high speeds of 80mph this went up over 50, so I am not impressed at this moment, but no damage done and I guess I shall have to learn to double check everything unless I do it myself, I left it at 42psi. Of course the rain that had threatened had now hit with a vengeance, lucky I am under cover 🙂

I replaced the wheel and I was going to do an oil change, but Tim did not have mineral oil, just full synth. By this time Jim had finished work and when the rain had nearly cleared rode down to meet me at the shop. He said he had some oil at home, so I could do the oil change there, great stuff so I followed him there after arranging to meet up for a beer with Tim later after work. I did the oil change and it was a bit black, but still OK, this batch had done just over 5300 miles, so I may cut that shorter next time. The oil that Jim had was Motul semi synth with ester, whatever that is? I was a bit concerned at first, but Jim assured me it is good for wet clutches, so I felt better. He would not accept anything for the oil, so thanks for that Jim 🙂

After that, Jim and his wife were heading out to dinner and did not want to go pubbing, so I threw some washing in the washer, had a shower, that was real nice and rode down to the pub for a couple with Tim and his wife Helena.

We had a great dinner and a chat, they are both Moto Guzzi riders and are friends of Jim and Lesley as I mentioned, the same bike club as well. I shouted them a few beers for the use of the workshop, but he wanted to pay for the wings I had for dinner, so OK I let him , thanks Tim 🙂 The pub was nice, it looked like they were setting up for a band on the stage as well, but as we were all riding, we left soon after dinner. Nice meeting you guys, thanks for the help and I hope you can come on down to Oz one day and ride our country.

I bought a couple of large Fosters cans and went back to Jims, where we had a chat and a few beers until about midnight. As I wanted to ride north tomorrow, I did not want to be hungover, so I am glad it was a quiet night, booze wise anyway.

Day – 186 miles and 299 km
Trip – 16,369 miles and 26,343 km

Cheers
TravellingStrom

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