Went into the bike shop yesterday asking about new clutch plates, and was talking to the fellow there about how the clutch doesn't fully release when you pull it in, and doesn't fully grip when you let it out, and how the gears are really tricky, and he suggested i might be using the wrong type of oil in the engine.

When I mentioned I was running the Shell Helix that I used to use in the car, he pointed out that apparently you're supposed to use a special oil in bike engines, because they share the oil between the engine, gearbox, and (in the case of my bike with a 'wet' clutch) the clutch..

So i did a full oil+filter change last night with this new Shell Advance motorcycle oil. As I was pouring the stuff in, I knew it was different - it was sticky, like honey, rather than being 'just oil' that the Helix stuff is..

Took he bike for a spin afterwards, and all I can say is HOLY CRAP! I can rev the bike out to the redline without a drop in power, there's a LOT more compression there, and the gearbox is a lot smoother (much 'tighter' to change, but it doesn't do its annoying kick-back thing as you try to change gear, just slides right in).

Yes, definitely a success.. - Arrived at work this morning with a huge grin on my face - there's something extremely satisfying about passing cars while screaming along at 8500 rpm ;)

Today was supposed to be my day off! Popped into the office to do a bit of pottering, and heard this strange bang noise.. went to investigate and found the whole server room offline.. - turns out our UPS exploded!

Ended up running power cables all over the office to get things back up - Piller weren't answering the phone (what use is a support contract if they're not open outside of work hour?), so I'll have to hassle them out tomorrow to get the thing fixed..

Had a BBQ over at Josh's place last night.. - Raz, Saf, and some other bloke came down from sydney, Josh's brother was up from Wodonga, and kel and some other fellow from canberra rocked up, along with Josh's neighbour.. - Had a damned good time, though i obviously need to take more notice of music, as most of the conversation for the night revolved around whether x metal band was better than y metal band..

Made my exit when everyone headed up the road to a pub.. Sounded like too many people for me, but all up it was a great night :)

Ok well that was a mammoth effort! In the office till 7 oclock both nights, but got it all cleaned up quite nicely :)

The NRI guys left today - holy crap their office area is a mess! Might come in on the weekend and clean it up a bit..

Headed down the bay with kel, Ollie, jono and Simeon. Was a fantaaaastic ride! Start of the long weekend, the roads were packed with cars heading to the bay.. BUT!! - NO CARS COMING BACK! We spent most of the trip down in the right hand lane (i.e. westbound), overtaking long strings of cars.. - I've gotta say, there's nothing more satisfying than sitting on 150-160, out overtaking cars for 2-3 km at a time! - Managed to make it down the bay in about an hour and a half (yes, it's 180km), just in time to have a nice lunch and let my nerves unwind ;)
Off to auto italia tomorrow, looks to be a pretty good weekend :)

The Board announced today that they're shutting our sister company, NRI, down at the end of next week.. Wow, talk about short notice!
I know they've been losing money pretty much since we bought them (a mixture of an under-experienced over-paid manager-person wasting lots of money, and the previous owners doing everything they could to sabotage said person, god I hate corporate politics), but still it was rather sudden..

Plus we've all become fairly tight-knit between NSI and NRI, so it'll be sad to see the NRI guys go!

Went for another ride with the OCAU folks - Met up with Kel, Simeon, Josh, Tony, and someone I can't remember, then headed up to meet up with the sydney folks at robertson. Don't think I've EVER ridden that hard and fast!

Was a pretty good day though - Had a close brush with Mr.Plod - Kel was somewhat ahead of the pack, didn't notice the coppa, and went past him at some ungodly speed.. he puts his indicator on and starts looking for a place to do a u-ie, then sees another 15 bikes all doing equally ungodly speeds, and decides not to bother.

Finished off the day with Kel's housewarming party, had a coupla vodkas early in the night, then headed home around midnight. Was pretty mad fun, and I actually managed to have a good time - making friends and keeping up a conversation is getting easier :) (But hey, don't expect to see me out in a pub on a friday night just yet...)

Took a cruise up the coast to Wyong to see Sharree for her Birthday. Fantastic ride, except for one stretch through sydney where some smart cookie has decided to resurface the highway 2" above where it used to be.. - but haven't raised the drain covers in the middle of the road! Dislocated my shoulder and twisted the front forks! ARGH, oh well guess I know what I'm working on one night this week..

Was a great trip other than that though :)

Went for a ride with the OCAU folks yesterday (Only one other Canberra peep, kel, but we met up with plenty of sydney-siders) - was pretty terrible weather (fog so heavy we were getting soaked), but was a pretty fantastic day all up..