Knowing I will face plenty of rain on my autumn tour I decided to examine all my gear and update a couple of items. My Autumn/Spring season primary glove for ten years has been the Held Rainstar. It is incredible to think those gloves were still in good shape externally […]
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Japan is famous for its cherry blossoms, less known is it has a spectacular Autumn display of coloured leaves. Even more than the cherry blossoms timing is difficult as things can happen quickly. Most years I try to do a ride south with mixed success. I saw magnificent displays of […]
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This is a continuation of my previous post on loss of water resistance in Gore-tex style gear (i.e. gear that has inbuilt breathable liner similar to Gore-tex). To recap, I’m trying to fix my Alpinestar Drystar jacket and pants that were fairly waterproof initially then seemed to lose that somewhat. […]
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I like the 360 degree photo format and have enjoyed using my Ricoh Theta SC for a few years. It has one lens scratched which I usually can edit in post but the thing limiting my use of the Theta more is it’s humble low resolution. I switched to using […]
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Suzuki is the only one of the big four motorcycle manufacturers I have not visited. Not because I had not wanted to, when I first checked I did not see any access to public however that is not the case now but you need to obtain a reservation. With that […]
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My local rides from Brisbane have returned to the blog upscaled. These were casual posts never containing anything meaningful yet the blog gained a small following and the photos proved popular prior to people posting everything to social media so I decided to try salvage the images. With software like […]
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Continuing my tour day seven from Saijo I am riding one of my favourite roads in Shikoku the New Hamako Mountain Line. Blast past a couple of couple slow cars then a circle bridge marks the beginning of the ascent. Above is just a small portion. A very long tunnel […]
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I continue my Shikoku tour riding south from Kochi to revisit the Yokonami Kuroshio line, a scenic road that winds along the headland. It is quite a spectacular ride. 9.00 am and it is already steamy hot. Off the bike I am perspiring profusely even in the shade. I limit […]
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Summer in Japan is brief but intense. The temperature might only be mid 30’s but the humidity is 60%. August is the time of many festivals and usually a good chance of some fine days so regardless of the heat I will try ride. There is normally no need to […]
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Examining my DriRider brand mesh summer jacket I noticed it was a bit tired looking. I thought this must be over ten years old then when I counted back realised actually it was 20 years old! I went to Naps motorcycle accessories shop Yokohama where I tried on a number […]
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No, not the 1981 Australian movie, on my recent Hokkaido tour I played a game while on the road of imagining myself riding different bikes. My FJR1300 has done 80,000km. Not much for this model but I have a couple of issues. The engine stall problem I have talked about […]
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Two more motorcycle travel books I have read. One Man Caravan This is an extraordinary adventure, but a book I had difficulty to finish. 1932-33 Robert Edison Fulton at age 23 rode solo from London to Tokyo on a Douglas motorcycle. His feat predates all the more modern overland adventure […]
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