I ordered an EBC supermoto disc kit from this ebay seller for my XT600 three months ago. So far all I’ve gotten is frustration and irritation. After a three month wait for manufacture and delivery of the disc, it finally arrives. Yay, I thought initially, but upon closer inspection, there’s a problem with the caliper bracket.

The included bracket, to put it bluntly, is completely wrong. It has a pair of holes with the correct size and spacing to mount on the fork legs, then it has another two holes that some nut dreamed up. They aren’t the same spacing, one is the right size and not threaded, but the other is smaller and threaded. It is made from 8mm stainless plate rather than machined aluminium alloy, and spacers/mounting bolts are not included.

EBC are saying that they don’t make the bracket, but rather source it from another manufacturer, who swears that it is correct, despite the above description and the below photos. Considering there aren’t even two pairs of matching holes, I can’t imagine any possible way this could be a caliper relocating bracket.

So, after three months and AU$425, I still have nothing. Quite frankly, it would have been nearly as cheap and a lot easier to just buy myself a small lathe/mill and learn how to make a bracket myself to go with a YZF-1000 disc. I can in no way recommend dealing with either EBC or the ebay seller, since EBC’s got a shoddy product, and the ebay seller is not being helpful at all. Apparently they will be getting back to me with their solution soon, but I’m not holding my breath.

An acquaintance recently suffered a bout of angina after driving 15 hours straight, as the last leg of a drive from perth to brisbane. a pretty manly feat, if you ask me. I do, however, hesitate to name this in my usual manner, “Mangina”.

I’ve managed to set up 3G tethering of my Nokia 5800 via Bluetooth, which uses the Virgin mobile network in Australia.

Here’s the details:

• probed, then bound the phone as a modem as per the instructions here
• then, created a wvdial config file (.wvdialrc) as per here again, with ISP details for virgin taken from this page, with a few mods after experimentation.

This is the .wvdialrc that I use:

What tricked me was the username and password – don’t need them according to this, however wvdial refused to work without them.

sadly, this is no exageration

My Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT) folding knifes would have to be my favourite and most used knifes. I got the M16-13LE first. I then got an M21-02G as i liked the look of the blade shape. Initially I thought it was a bit small, so then ordered an M21-04G. Having used the 02 for a month or so, I actually now quite like the size. When the 04 arrived I was actually a bit shocked – it is quite large for a folder.

I originally bought the M16 on the recommendation of a friend. At the time, I only knew of the M16′s, and the available range in Australia was fairly limited. I settled for a M16-13LE – AUS-8, spear point, partially serrated. I didn’t want the serrations, however all the plain edge M16′s I could find were AUS-4 steel, which I didn’t like the sound of. I’ve had it for over a year now and it has been great – very sturdy, opens easily. Serrations I’m not a fan of – i find that for whittling and fine cutting tasks the base of the blade is the most used section – right where the serrations are. I am slowly grinding these back and will eventually have it converted to a plain edge. The black blade coating has held up to a lot of abuse.

While I had set out to convert the M16 to a plain edge, I decided that that would take a while, and I still didn’t like the spear point – I prefer a deeper curve on the blade for slicing. So I decided to buy an M21. I searched ebay and got the cheapest one I could – an M21-02G. AUS-8 blade, G10 scales, plain edge. When it arrived I was a bit disappointed – it is noticeably smaller than the M16, and just felt like it was a bit small (I do have largish hands, and the M16 fits perfectly). The blade shape is great, and the knife just as sturdy as the M16, however I have noticed that the linerlock is a bit harder to close than on the M16. I did notice that the blade coating on the 02 (Titanium nitride) wore in spots pretty quickly. Not that big a deal since I prefer the used look on all my things.

After a few week I decided to just order a bigger 04 too. The fact that customs is getting crazy with knives and who knows how much longer we’ll be able to get them in from other countries also helped the decision. It took a few weeks to arrive, in which I actually grew to really like the compact size of the 02.  When the 04 did arrive, I was actually quite shocked – the 04 is actually quite a bit bigger than the M16 – actually too large for a “pocket knife”. I haven’t actually used this one much, however it seems just as good as the others – sturdy hinge, solid locking mechanism, easy to open with the carson flipper.

Overall, the M16s and M21s are great knives – solid pivots, reliable locks, easy opening, all for a pretty low price (US$40 for an M21-02G shipped to au). I would have to say that the M21-02G is my favourite – nice blade shape and very good size for a pocket knife, and very cheap. The M16′s come second, although it seems very hard to get a plain edge blade in AUS-8 steel. The M21-04G is just a bit too big – might be good as a camp knife, but not good for my use as an everyday pocket knife.

Since I usually carry around a pocket knife (as a utility tool), I thought it would be worthwhile researching the relevant laws to know where I stand. Basically, it seems that you cannot carry a knife for the purposes of self defence, however if you have a reasonable excuse (such as utility tasks, work or other lawful activity requirements) then you are allowed to carry a knife – no size restrictions. However, you must not carry/use/act with the knife in such a way that a “reasonable person” would be scared/concerned.

Here’s the two relevant acts/regulations that I found:

Weapons Categories Regulation 1997

Page 8, Section 7A Category M weapons (c),
any knife so designed or constructed so as to be used as
a weapon that while the knife is held in 1 hand, the blade
may be released by that hand;

The weapons category regulation, defines what is considered to be a category M weapon. My reading of this is that a knife is only a category M weapon if it is a knife that is designed as a weapon. If not for requirement for intended use as a weapon, then I believe a stanley knife would fall under this category. In the case of a linerlock type knife with opening studs, it is probably a bit grey, however if it was argued in court they’d need to show that it was designed or constructed as a weapon – something which I think would be pretty hard to do. (this is not for assisted openers or other such banned knives)

Weapons Act 1990
Page 74, Section 51 Possession of a knife in a public place or school

(1) A person must not physically possess a knife in a public place
or a school, unless the person has a reasonable excuse.
(2) It is a reasonable excuse for subsection (1) to physically
possess a knife—
(a) to perform a lawful activity, duty or employment; or
(b) to participate in a lawful entertainment, recreation or
sport; or
(c) for exhibiting the knife; or
(d) for use for a lawful purpose.

The weapons act, covers when it is allowable to carry a knife. Points 2a, b and d i believe are the relevant parts. So, a reasonable excuse would be if you use it for your work (stripping wires, cutting rope, opening packages etc) or, as per the example, for “normal utility purposes”. Note that this says nothing about knife types – as long as the  knife doesn’t fall into a weapons category (which, if used for lawful purposes as above, it doesn’t), then it says nothing about what is or isn’t covered. So, no limits on blade length, or limits on fixed blade knives or their size. Point 4 however, does mean that if you carry around a scary looking knife you could be in trouble.

Riding my bike through Jindalee this afternoon and spotted these guys out of the corner of my eye. In a little pocket of behind a golf course. Six motherfucking deer! Four of them had antlers, one looked like a doe, and there was one motherfucking bambii! I managed to get within around 10-12 metres of them.

Lately I’ve gone through a few headlight bulbs on the XT6 – the low beam (which is permanently on) filament has been blowing, but highbeam is ok. I thought it might be a dodgy reg/rect over-volting things, especially since my battery recently died. On checking, the reg/rect is putting out around 15.5V at idle and at 4k RPM. I also checked the output of the stator by disconnecting the reg/rect and measuring the three phase wires (white) coming into the reg/rect. At idle I was getting around 25VAC, and at 3-4k RPM about 60VAC. I’m not sure about the low voltage output at idle, but 60VAC is a good sign at 3-4k RPM.

Reading various troubleshooting guides, the general consensus is that around 14.5V out of the reg/rect is health, but anything above 15V is a worry. I tested my SRX6 and it sat nicely on 14.5V. The reg/rect it uses looks different so I didn’t want to just swap it to try.

On the suggestion of a mate, I tested DC voltage under heavy electrical load – high beam, brake light and indicator – bingo! 14.0V – 14.5V between 3k and 5k RPM. My previous testing had all been done without the headlight running (blown low beam), meaning the reg/rect had hardly any load at all. My guess is that the low load gave something almost like an open circuit voltage which is a bit higher than ideal. With a decent load (80W or so of lights) it brought the voltage down to the normal level.

Above mate also suggested that the blown lightbulbs could be to do with insufficient vibration dampening of the headlight assembly. I will have to look into improving this and see if it makes a difference.

So, I guess the morals of this story are:

• check reg/rect output voltage under load conditions (highbeam, brake light, indicators etc) at around 5k RPM and see what you get.
• to check coils, rather than measuring resistance, measure open circuit voltage between phases. Resistance will vary depending on power output, whereas voltage range is a functional measure. around 60VAC is good.

Here’s a good electrical troubleshooting guide http://www.offwidth.co.uk/bike/general/electrical_fault_finding.pdf

The dash on the XT has been bodgy ever since i got it – the tacho was damaged, the backlights only worked after a shoddy wiring repair, and the turn signals light doesn’t work. After putting on the motard wheels, the speedo is out too, so I decided it was time to upgrade to a Trail Tech Vapor speedo.

I got the kit from an Australian eBay seller, BigPigMCA, who sells them for AU$170 delivered. Pretty competitive with sellers in the US, and it arrived in around three days, much quicker than getting it from the US.

The first part of the installation was fabricating a mount. I made this mounting plate from 2mm aluminium checkerplate. Pretty rough, but does the job and is fairly hidden. I made the bends by hand and annealed them with a butane blowtorch. Shaping was done freehand with a die grinder and files. Probably the trickiest parts was shaping the top to fit the underside of the headlight cowl, and making the spacers for the mounting bolts – since I don’t have a lathe I had to roughly cut them to length then file them down till they fit.

Mr Dash is happy to accept your Vapor

I pulled the speedo cable off and covered the drive output in tape. I plan on machining up a spacer to replace it at some point in the future. With the tacho cable, i’ve just covered up the cable end. I intend to remove the tacho drive and install a blanking plate. The previous model XT6 (1990-1995) doesn’t have a tacho, and apparently it will fit mine (1996) no issue. If I had a lathe I’d make one myself, but again, sadly I don’t.

Here’s a picture of the tacho drive:

Below is a parts diagram of the cylinder head from a 1990-1995 XT600. Part 24 is the blanking plate I intend to use (so long as it isn’t ridiculously expensive, which there is a fair chance it is)

I wired up the tacho sensor inductively, using five wraps of the positive lead around the spark plug lead, and the negative tied to ground on the chassis.

The speedo pick was a bit of a bodge – I’ll be getting an EBC oversized disc (hopefully!) in a few weeks. Doing a proper mount would have been a pain in the arse, so I figured i’d do a bodgy mount until then.

I didn’t install the temp sensor, as it is unfortunately the wrong size – DR650′s must use a smaller spark plug. I am going to try to find another spot to mount it (oil tank?)

Here’s the finished product:

Still to do:

• Replace speedo drive with spacer
• replace tacho drive with blanking plate
• wire up dash lights (high beam, neutral, turn) using LEDs and mount on dash.
• proper speedo pickup mount once new 320mm disc is installed

I recently bought some adapters off ebay to convert the screw mount adapter of lightweight hiking stoves which run off the squat butane mix cannisters to the butane cartridge gas canisters used by cheap portable stoves. Turns out it is workable, but probably not the most practical.

The idea is that butane cartridges cost around AU$6 for a pack of 4 250g cartridges, while the squat butane mix cannisters cost around AU$10 for a single 220g cannister.

The two applications I had in mind were a lightweight kovea stove, and a small gas mantle lantern. The lantern is more intended for car-camping use, but the stove is a for hiking. Whenever I’m car camping I’ll bring the big cartridge stove along as it’s easier to cook on.

Before getting into the adapters themselves, it is worth noting the differences between the cheap gas cartridges and the more expensive hiking cannisters. The cheap cartridges usually contain 100% butane, while the cannisters usually contain something like 80% butane, 20% propane. The key difference here is the 20% propane in the more expensive squat cannisters. Butane, it seems, boils at -0.5 degrees Celsius. Fine if you live in Queensland (which I do), however if you’re in in a cooler climate (or up a mountain or somewhere it gets to close to zero degrees Celsius) you’ll run into problems. This is the same reason cheap butane cigarette lighters won’t work if it’s too cold. The more expensive squat cannisters address this by containing 20% propane, which happens to have a boiling point of around -42.09 degrees Celsius. Why not just use 100% propane? Well, seems as it has a lower boiling point, the vapour pressures in a container of 100% propane can get much higher than that of butane. This is why butane cartridges are essentially aerosol cans, whereas BBQ gas cylinder are heavy steel. I guess the manufacturers worked out that 20% propane, 80% butane was a sweet spot in terms of boiling point and container weight/cost.

So, the moral of this is that at low temperatures, the cheaper cartridges won’t perform as well/at all compared with the more expensive butane/propane mix cannisters.

I bought two different adapters to trial. The first is a small cylindrical adapter that sits directly on top of a cartridge and couples to the screw mount.

I’ve found this one works really well for the lantern. As the lantern isn’t top heavy there’s no worry of tipping, and the lantern can even be hung from its chain quite nicely. It works well for the stove, but is a little unstable since you’ve got your cooking pot/cup up so high on a cylinder with such a narrow base. The cartridge coupling is a plastic job, with an expanding collar to secure it to the cartridge.

The second adapter has the screw coupling on a wide tripod base, and a hose running off to the cartridge coupling This coupling is a simple pressed steel job, which is functional, but it can be a bit difficult to get on and off. I much prefer the expanding collar design of the smaller adapter. I noticed that using the stove on this (which is the logical option, since it provides a nice stable base) give a bit of an uneven flame. It kind of pulsates in size. In addition, it does not pack down very small unless you unscrew the steel adapter plate – kind of irritating.

So for me, the compact inline converter is a winner for use with the gas lantern, which i’ll use when car camping. As for stoves, if I’m car camping then I’m going to be using a bigger stove which uses the cartridges directly anyway. If i’m hiking, then i don’t want the extra weight and space of a converter, and the gas issue clinches it.

Some background reading on gas mixtures and stoves:

http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Mixtures.htm

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/canister_stove_faq.html