220,000 km Service

Time for another service. This one has taken quite a while to reach as I'm just not touring like I used to.

Nothing major except for the cost, still it was a major service.

My only gripes where that oil was being pushed out of the oil filler cap and the battery does not have long to go before I need a new one, so I might as well get it now. They're not cheap either. The cold mornings are not kind on batteries and the A.B.S. kept informing me that the battery volts are just not quite high enough by blinking at me. Even after a short ride that wasn't enough to get the A.B.S. going. I can still remember quite clearly how things went when the first battery failed, time for a new one.

I was offered an BMW F800 ST as a loan bike and it pushed along quite well with plenty of power in reserve. There sure are a lot of features wrapped in the console these days. Multiple trip meters, timing, temperature, what next?
I did watch the temperature as I rode home and it bottomed out a six degrees. That hot shower when I arrived home thawed me out in no time. I dressed more warmly on the next day but you still knew it was cold.

I tried out the new (well for me) EastLink and it sure saves you a heap of time getting to Ringwood, but getting into town is a very convoluted affair. I reckon that the time I saved I probably lost getting off EastLink to BM Motorcycles.

I bought an EastLink pass online - $2.49. I discovered that the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer does not work very well with their website, there was just no way I was going to get to the part where you put in your details. I used Mozilla and made it. Another thing that confused me was that where you have to enter the make of the vehicle, do not put BMW, you have to use Motorcycle. I did give up at one point and rang the 13 number and received a happy young female electronic voice who pronounced the registration number in American and then had trouble getting the digits right. I gave up. One of my work collegues found the 'motorcycle' solution for me.

Looking forward to the weekend for a bit of a lazy ride around.