The "Official" Oz Monster Say Anything Thread...

[Spider]

Report from Berlin:

Well I'm happy to say that the autobahn is not a myth, 200 kph with no problems what so ever. Everyone drives well and is considerate. Why won't this work with us? The Hume should seriously be raised. We just did 500 in 4 hours with city exit, rest stops and city entry. We feel fresh and the speed really did make for attentive driving and road scanning

glad I experienced it!

Off to dinner

[Mr.S2R]

Report from Berlin:

Well I'm happy to say that the autobahn is not a myth, 200 kph with no problems what so ever. Everyone drives well and is considerate. Why won't this work with us? The Hume should seriously be raised. We just did 500 in 4 hours with city exit, rest stops and city entry. We feel fresh and the speed really did make for attentive driving and road scanning

glad I experienced it!

Off to dinner

In the words of Monty Python - "you lucky lucky bas#@%d!" 

[Spider]

car stories:

the Porsche were passing us at 230-250kph on the autobahn (we were in the middle lane doing 170 - 190kph) but the real speed freaks: Audi drivers, we never passed a single one in 5 hours, but got passed by hundreds, they just barrel along or maybe they have alarms if the driver goes below 200kph! seriously fast drivers....what about the Porsche 911 carrera 4s in Frankfurt....with 2 baby seats in the back.....or the Carrera GT that howled by we in the city centre, lot's of great stories (compared to my first Italian trip where I saw NOTHING!). One very wet, cold night in Munich there was a RUF Porsche in the city doing laps, the thing howling into the bitter night like a hunting animal, the back wheels scrambling for grip every corner, spray going everywhere; the driver obviously using the awful conditions as drifting and driving practise.

girl stories:

well, it started with her dress, it was fluorescent orange and slightly transparent; showing both the intricacy of her


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[FIFO]

car stories:

the Porsche were passing us at 230-250kph on the autobahn (we were in the middle lane doing 170 - 190kph) but the real speed freaks:

girl stories:

well, it started with her dress, it was fluorescent orange and slightly transparent; showing both the intricacy of her


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Hey Spider can you finish the girl story in your next post

Mark Skafe was a current affair last week.
He was in germany comparing our driving habits to germany.
He basicly said we should take a leaf out of there book.
The low speed limits in Aus are a joke on the new roads we have.
And slow people don't hog the fast lane in germany.

[Spider]

it's interesting to watch the slow lane and middle lanes have a responsibility to go right unless they are overtaking, and everyone does this IMMEDIATELY....but the left 'speed-freak' lane also has a responsibility, it must:

a) be overtaking everyone else and never hold anyone up
b) be prepared to break at any time for the anyone from a slower lane that needs to overtake a slower car

you can't just sit in the left and blast away mindlessly at 230kph because if the guy in the middle is travelling at 180 and somone travelling in the slow lane at 140 needs to get past a truck at 110....then the slow car goes left (and has right of way to change the lane) causing Mr 180 to go left to give him that room (mr middle has 2 lanes to watch at 180kph)....and mr 230kph has to see all of this happening, drop to 180, cruise in behind 'middle man' then everyone moves one to the right and then Mr Audi plants his foot once again. so the faster you go the more lanes you have to watch and you have greater speed AND responsibility.

it is amazing to watch

[Mr.S2R]

it's interesting to watch the slow lane and middle lanes have a responsibility to go right unless they are overtaking, and everyone does this IMMEDIATELY....but the left 'speed-freak' lane also has a responsibility, it must:

a) be overtaking everyone else and never hold anyone up
b) be prepared to break at any time for the anyone from a slower lane that needs to overtake a slower car

you can't just sit in the left and blast away mindlessly at 230kph because if the guy in the middle is travelling at 180 and somone travelling in the slow lane at 140 needs to get past a truck at 110....then the slow car goes left (and has right of way to change the lane) causing Mr 180 to go left to give him that room (mr middle has 2 lanes to watch at 180kph)....and mr 230kph has to see all of this happening, drop to 180, cruise in behind 'middle man' then everyone moves one to the right and then Mr Audi plants his foot once again. so the faster you go the more lanes you have to watch and you have greater speed AND responsibility.

it is amazing to watch

any subsonic bikes?

[suzyj]

Can I just say the whole superbike forks on a monster gig is bewilderlingly complicated.

So first I get the forks.  I choose 998 ones, both because they'll mount my stock fender, and because they have just the right amount of shiny titanium nitride.  The ones I buy are a little scuffed around the caliper mounts, so I work out how to do a satin black finish with 2-pack paint and make them suitable satin black.

After some stuffing around, I make a wonderbubble tool that makes swapping the springs out a snap, and go to it.  Shiny 998 forks with 0.9 n/mm springs (Ohlins part # 4744-90, if anyone actually cares), and satin black ends, all put together with nice new 10 wt fork oil.  Oh, with new Showa stickers, courtesy of ebay.  Just because.

So now for getting the rest of the bits together to put them on the bike.  I've got time on a mill teed up, complete with high zoot-factor boring tool, for when I'm ready to bore my top triple.  I have a couple of bits of 0.5mm shim stock ready to roll for the bottom triple.

Now, the length.  From axle centre to cap, the 998 Showa forks measure 718mm unloaded.  The stock Marzocchis measure 695.  That means I'll have an extra 23mm of fork tube poking out the top of the triple.  On top of that, there's up to 40 odd mm of preload/damping adjuster sticking out of the cap.  The long and short of it is that the new forks will hit my bars, unless I either drop the forks much further through the triples than they should be, upsetting the handling, raise the bars (ummm, no thanks), or else replace the bars with clipons.

Okay...  Going with clip-ons...  So my coffin reservoirs are very close to the bars - not a problem on ordinary bars, but they'll hit the bar clamp on clip ons.  Monster parts sell spacers for US$40.  Except they have no stock, and even if they did, postage from the US would double that.  Oh, and adding spacers under the reservoir mounts will just push the levers even further away, exacerbating the problems I have with reach on the clutch lever.  But I can carefully choose clip ons (driven and woodcraft appear to be fairly svelte in this regard), and fab my own thinner spacer, making it not as much of a problem...  Or else I can replace my masters and go with pee-cups, or else I can bling my levers...  Or I can do it all!

As well as that, of course, is the problem of over or under the triple.  My extra 23mm of fork leg isn't quite enough to mount the clip-ons above the triple - I really need 30-35mm of fork leg.  But hang on, if by replacing my forks I reduce my front sag from 55mm to 35mm, that buys me an extra 20mm without adversely altering the geometry, so I can happily drop the triples down the legs the 10-15mm or so needed to make it work.

Life just wasn't meant to be easy.

Not that I'm complaining, mind.  If I wasn't obsessing about this I'd only be obsessing over something else.

[vossy]

or there could be some 998 superbike forks on fleabay soon

[vossy]

dont forget to watch MotoGP qualifying tonight kids.

It's on ONEHD at about 10.30 i think.

[ungeheuer]

Report from Berlin:

Well I'm happy to say that the autobahn is not a myth, 200 kph with no problems what so ever. Everyone drives well and is considerate. Why won't this work with us? The Hume should seriously be raised.

Speed kills. Its total bollocks isnt it?!!  In Germany humanity can travel on good roads, in high traffic volumes at high speed (compared to the grovelling were legally constrained to) precisely because they pay great attention to both the (non-speed related) road rules, and consideration of other road users.  German lane discipline is, as you've discovered far superior to anything you'll ever see on an Australian "free"way.  

"Keep left unless overtaking" I pissed myself laughing when I first drove in Australia (yeah, yeah... I learned to drive elsewhere). You really need a sign to TELL you that???  Of course I now realise that even with the sign, people still dont get it.  Especially if they have suspiciously too many aerials on their vehicles.

Driver training standards in Germany are high, driver competency is high. They have the skills and understanding to enable 'em to drive quickly.

We dont. And we dont need to. After all, speed kills  

Sorry. You touched a sore point. Here endeth the rant.

[suzyj]

Surely it's all about jobs.  If we had well trained drivers driving quickly, then what would the panel beating industry do?

Instead we have crap drivers, driving slowly, so we have plenty of low-speed panel benders, and the panel beating industry does very well, thankyou.

So what do you propose we do with all these people if they lift the limit and enforce road rules other than speeding?  Hmmm?

[Betty]

There is one thing that people tend to forget (not necessarily saying anyone here) when they talk about 'slow-moving' (this is a relative term) traffic in the right hand lane ... and it has been mentioned above "unless overtaking".

Personally I feel no pressure to speed in the right hand lane so long as I am travelling faster than the traffic to my left. Just because you choose to exceed the limit (read: break the law) by say 20km/h does not obligate me to do the same ... especially if it risks my funds, licence or freedom.

For me the greater frustration lies in the people that drive in the middle lane at 20km/h below the limit when they are NOT overtaking ... predictably they are soon travelling 20km/h over the limit.

[Spider]

yeah, I'm the same Betty, as long as the right hand is moving faster than the left (by let's say 5kph) then it's all good.....it all gets messed when the middle is flying though! (hello Monash!). quite often from work I find the left hand lane of the 4 lane highway is fastest...

[Betty]

Well wasn't that a good weekend!

Out riding on the Old Road both days, bit chilly in parts but perfect weather for riding actually (not too hot all kitted up) ... clear blue skies and no sky blues .

Thanks to Hambo (and Jukie of course) for keeping me company ... and I apologise again for my constant ramblings

[Jukie]

Ohh betty what that red bit near the ohlins on your avatar.  hhmm matty what could this be