Kawasaki Concours 1400 TPMS Replacement

by Chris Wiltshire | March 2, 2023 | Computing / Electronics, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Today I had first hand success replacing my intermittent TPMS (battery was dying on my 2017 model, it's now 2023)... A few things to note..: The TPMS is programmed using an 8 digit hexadecimal code. You can only programme the bike to a new sensor using KDS -...

How to make the most out of the GPS files provided within the NI1600.

by Chris Wiltshire | November 1, 2022 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

I've put together a YouTube video showing a working session within Basecamp for the NI1600's planned route, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoV-20n1_bs I recommend you watch this in 4K resolution and in full-screen. This walk through is a total of ~55mins long....

Getting ready for the Senior Butt Rally, Sept 2022 – Allen, TX, USA

by Chris Wiltshire | September 1, 2022 | IBR2023, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

It's been a very busy few months. When we entered the Iron Butt Rally (2023) kicking off in June next year, we thought we had a pretty decent amount of time to prepare for it. Being based outside of the USA comes with a fair number of additional challenges above and...

Making a Shoei pinlock fit properly

by Chris Wiltshire | August 19, 2022 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

I’ve had two friends struggle to get their Shoei pinlock anti-fog visors to fit properly. When they don’t fit snugly they can be dangerous as they’ll trap moisture droplets or just condensation between the layers and it’s almost impossible to get it to clear when that...

Further progress with the tank riser.

by Chris Wiltshire | June 27, 2022 | IBR2023, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Further progress: A 7mm brass pipe fitting created with a bent 6mm insert, soldered then inserted through the latest riser design. Measuring how long the brass tubes need to be before they start to interfere with tank bag flange. ~23mm 1/4 inch fuel hose fitted onto...

Concours 1400 fuel cap innards. – Disassembly

by Chris Wiltshire | May 17, 2022 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

To provide a cleaner, better inward pathway for fuel to be sent into the tank via the primary breather tube, and to avoid having to drill the tank, I disassembled the tank's cap and removed the extra bits which normally provide resistance and a valve type of mechanism...

Success! – Fuel pump test into the Concours 1400 tank, without drilling it!

by Chris Wiltshire | May 17, 2022 | IBR2023, Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

For the Senior Butt Rally 2022 and the IBR 2023, I want to fit an Aux Tank to my Concours 1400, and aim for a fuel range of around 400+ miles ~650km. I have some wider plans in terms of what tank, how to mount it etc, and all of these are contained by not wanting to...

TT2000 2022 – a brief report.

by Chris Wiltshire | April 5, 2022 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Having not had much spare time since we returned from the TT, I’ve been remiss and haven’t written a report yet. In brief summary: we had a fantastic time, enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, nailed our goals to the letter. We also used a Garmin Zumo XT GPS and had no...

Hydration system… (2 Up).

by Chris Wiltshire | April 3, 2022 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Jug: $29 https://www.bunnings.co.nz/esky-blue-5l-hybrid-soft-cooler-jug_p0138505 Cap: Chris 3D printed Elbow: $11 https://www.repco.co.nz/en/safety-workshop-consumables/valves-fittings-hoses/fuel-oil-hoses/champion-vacuum-hose-90deg-elbow-6mm-cvc8/p/A1013147 Tee:...

IBR Planning – notes (brain dump)

by Chris Wiltshire | March 29, 2022 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

This will be edited and added to as we get further prepared. Policies and provisions absolutely make sure we've got sorted out before we go: Insurances, especially the MedJet equiv options. Canada Insurance card SpotTracker National Park Pass AAA coverage GPS map...

Our entry for the IBR-2023 has been accepted!

by Chris Wiltshire | March 26, 2022 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 4 Comments

It's been a fairly busy and full on start to the year so far; work was busy through Jan and Feb for both Stella and myself, leading up to leaving for the South Island on the 16th Feb for 2.5 weeks to attend the TT2000 Long Distance Motorcycle...

Introducing ‘IBA-Ride Bonus-Bombing’

by Chris Wiltshire | March 23, 2022 | Motorcycling | 1 Comment

You may never had heard of this, and you'd be forgiven because it's new, we just made it up. Here's what it's all about: Last weekend I was following a friend's (Doug Vance's) IBA Ride on his SpotWalla track as he rode a BBG - Spring Equinox ride in the USA. Having...

Icons which you can use in your GeoJSON files (for SpotWalla)

by Chris Wiltshire | March 15, 2022 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

Credit - the featured image is Ross Calder's recent work for one of his SpotWalla Trips... Within your GeoJSON file, a point can carry an icon attribute: "icon": "https://www.gstatic.com/mapspro/images/stock/503-wht-blank_maps.png" Brief list -...

Thoughts on the Garmin Zumo XT (Jan 2022)

by Chris Wiltshire | January 28, 2022 | Computing / Electronics, Motorcycling | 2 Comments

The first comment I’d have about this is aimed towards people who are already used to operating Garmin GPS units. This unit does not work in exactly the same way which you will be used to, and there will be a number of changes which you’ll need to be willing to get...

Adding in a bug-filter to my upper air-vent on my Shoei Neotec II helmet

by Chris Wiltshire | December 21, 2021 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

I'm sick of bugs getting into my helmet through the upper air-vents on my Neotec II helmet, so it's time to take the vent apart and to fit a screen filter to the air-intakes. This Youtube video shows the process and how I've managed to do it. - It was a success and...

Garmin Zumo XT – Theme file: showing route and tracks overlaid

by Chris Wiltshire | December 21, 2021 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

This theme file can be added to your Zumo XT, and will make your active route line thinner than any track which you might also choose to have actively shown, in this way, the route will be over-laid, and you'll also still be able to see your pre-defined track...

2021 NZDR NI1600 IBA Certification Process.

by Chris Wiltshire | November 3, 2021 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

Thank you for your interest in obtaining IBA certification for your NI1600 ride. This year, 2021 - with the various riding options, either in-person on the day, or as a virtual event there are two pathways to get your certificate. In-person, on the day. If you...

Content to email for an IBA NI1600 certificate

by Chris Wiltshire | November 3, 2021 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THIS INTO AN EMAIL, COMPLETE IT AND THEN SEND TO: support@ibapremier.zohodesk.com Subject: NI1600 Ride Application (**your name**, NZ - SS1600K) For what ride are you applying: SaddleSore 1600K - New Zealand NI1600 Date of ride start: 9-Oct-2021...

Auckland – Super-City Gold – 29 Oct 2021

by Chris Wiltshire | October 29, 2021 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Planning / Background The IBA have an In-State series, and as a sub-part of that, they also list an 'In-City' series too. These tend to be one-offs done by special nut-jobs who are happy to ride around a single city for 24 hours, riding the minimum certifiable...

Getting setup with SpotWalla for the NZDR North Island events (2021)

by Chris Wiltshire | October 1, 2021 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

SCREEN SHOTS IN THIS PAGE SHOW OLD VERSIONS OF APPS, WE HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO GRAB NEW VERSIONS - SORRY! Firstly, it should be pointed out that this is not compulsory in any way. This is entirely optional for most, but also strongly requested for the NI1600...

Flicker lights – C14 – The making of…

by Chris Wiltshire | May 24, 2021 | 3D Printing, Computing / Electronics, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Prompted by earlier night-fall as we go into winter, and the prospect of travelling home in the dark for the next 4 or more months, I felt the need to become more visible on the motorway at dusk. Particularly in the heavy traffic heading north from Albany up to...

IBA ANZAC Day Ride – 2021

by Chris Wiltshire | April 23, 2021 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

So, Stella said she'd like to ride an ANZAC Day Ride - So planning has been made simpler by her being happy to re-do the 2018 ANZAC ride, which was my last IBA ride on the R1... The ANZAC Day Ride is a special IBA ride which can only be done in Australia or New...

New SpotWalla site – should I switch now?

by Chris Wiltshire | April 4, 2021 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

What’s this all about? If you already have a SpotWalla account and if you’ve had it for a while then there’s a solid chance that it was setup using their existing website and used tracking apps which were built to interface with that. Recently at the beginning of 2021...

Register of Top / Bottom Paddock Ride Attempts

by Chris Wiltshire | March 16, 2021 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

To keep track of the efforts made to achieve the Top and Bottom Paddock certificates, we thought we'd maintain a list of known attempts, along with an indication of whether they were successfully verified as finishers or not. Top Paddock 05/01/2021 - Chris Wiltshire...

Julian’s Ride Around the Top Paddock – Attempt #1

by Julian Boyd | March 16, 2021 | Uncategorised | 1 Comment

By guest writer: Julian Boyd (15th March 2021) Track link: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=25b3f604436e67d30b&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes After a good night's sleep in Wellington, I set off just after 10am from the downtown BP and picked up my first...

Getting setup with SpotWalla for the TT2000 event (2021).

by Chris Wiltshire | January 23, 2021 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Firstly, it should be pointed out that this is not compulsory in any way. This is entirely optional. What are we talking about? SpotWalla is a location tracking and sharing service for individuals. It is widely used within the long distance riding community...

My Ride Around the Top Paddock…

by Chris Wiltshire | January 22, 2021 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 6 Comments

Background / Prep There have been other posts about this ride, the thinking behind it and the job of getting the ride approved by the IBA. - I'll not cover that same ground again here, this is intended to be a ride report and to go a little into the preparation...

Riding the Bottom Paddock

by Julian Boyd | January 19, 2021 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

By guest writer: Julian Boyd This is my first attempt at writing a ride report so bear with me. I have only been distance riding for about 2 years. My first attempt at an event was the 2019 TT2000 and it was at the Kaikoura checkpoint where I met Chris and Stella...

Ride Around the Top and Bottom Paddocks – They’re official! 🙂

by Chris Wiltshire | January 18, 2021 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

I would like to start by thanking both Howard Entman, and Mike Kneebone of the IBA for their support through this process and their virtually unending patience with me. 🙂 - Also to Julian Boyd for his amazing die hard efforts in helping us to get these rides proven....

Getting Tracks to show in SpotWalla with new geoJSON format requirements

by Chris Wiltshire | December 14, 2020 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

When planning a TRIP in SpotWalla to share with people as you ride around your planned route, it's often really nice to be able to show people where your planned route is expected to take you. To do this, you need to be able to put a Track into your Trip page. There's...

Test of links to Google…

by Chris Wiltshire | November 23, 2020 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

http://www.google.com/search?q=solstice http://www.google.com/search?q=equinox

Photos from the iPhone 12 Pro

by Chris Wiltshire | November 15, 2020 | Computing / Electronics | 0 Comments

Here are the full sized photos recently shared on Facebook. Click through to see original photos.

NZDR 1KC – 2020 – Forgotten Highway section.

by Chris Wiltshire | November 8, 2020 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Each year, the NZDR organising group put on two main events, the NI1600 / NI800 event, and their 1KC rides. The 1KC stands for the '1-K Cruise' - It's 1000km long and is intended to be a social event, allowing people to perhaps ride in groups and take a more relaxed...

Lane splitting in NZ

by Chris Wiltshire | November 4, 2020 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

So often in the Facebook groups I subscribe to, there are questions about lane splitting in NZ. So often there are incorrect answers provided in response. Here is a summary booklet provided by RideForever and ACC on the topic. - Read it if you're interested in the...

Julian Boyd’s back-to-back double badger and BB1500 at the NZDR NI1600/NI800 event.

by Chris Wiltshire | October 6, 2020 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

We had 27 starters on the NI1600 this weekend, 2 withdrew, so we had 25, NI1600 finishers. I think there were about 11 who had pre-expressed interest for an IBA cert, I will be working through getting them to apply etc in the next few days... -----------------Julian...

Helping to verify Iron Butt Association rides using SpotWalla.

by Chris Wiltshire | September 24, 2020 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

I have helped to develop a system which takes SpotWalla tracks, analyses them, and turns them back into routed, summarised distances. SpotWalla is a fantastic tracking system, it's live, real time, secure, and easy enough (I believe) to tell if a track has been...

Getting setup with SpotWalla for the NZDR North Island events (2020)

by Chris Wiltshire | September 9, 2020 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Firstly, it should be pointed out that this is not compulsory in any way. This is entirely optional, but also strongly requested for the NI1600 riders. What are we talking about? SpotWalla is a location tracking and sharing service for individuals. It is widely...

Unique IBA opportunity for NZ1600 riders this year (2020).

by Chris Wiltshire | September 6, 2020 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

If you're one of the few NI1600 entered riders (3rd-4th October), then you have a pretty unique opportunity within this year's ride. The IBA's 'Memorial Ride' period falls within the same period as the ride, with their window closing on the 4th October. This comes...

Interesting chat with Kawasaki NZ about a 2021 Concours 14

by Chris Wiltshire | August 24, 2020 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Me: I'm hoping to be able to get a new Concours 14 here in NZ. K-NZ: While we do not stock this model we are able to indent order a Concours 14 from the factory. The next 2021 model year production is scheduled for November for January delivery into New Zealand. You...

TT2000 – 2021 events details are up, and we’re entered.

by Chris Wiltshire | August 16, 2020 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Whoop whoop! - It's a good day. Wayne has posted all of the TT2000 checkpoint and events details up on his site today, and so we're entered and have started planning our route! 🙂 So far so good, but I've got too many checkpoints and too many kms for this to be a...

Covid-19 daily briefing catch-phrase bingo. 13-Aug-2020

by Chris Wiltshire | August 13, 2020 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

Today's daily briefing's newly introduced catch phrase(s): 'It grows before it slows'. Previous specials: 'Going hard and early'. 'Team of 4 million', quickly modified to 'Team of 5 million', then modified to 'Team of 6 million'. 'Be Calm, be kind, continue to stay...

Feeling lost and a little aimless…

by Chris Wiltshire | August 4, 2020 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

I'm sure I'm not alone right now in feeling a little lost and aimless...? Given the COVID-19 stuff which is going on and the associated inability to lay down any solid plans right now, it feels hard to have anything in the pipeline to look forward to, to enjoy...

Our failed attempt at a Twisty Butt – SaddleSore 1600K

by Chris Wiltshire | May 31, 2020 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Our fundraising ride for Aran Animal Rescue Luke and I had set out to complete a planned, 1600km ride in 24hours as a fund-raiser for Aran Animal Rescue. This would have been the 10th of these rides which I would have completed, and Luke's 3rd. We'd like to start this...

Local – Twisty Butt in the making…

by Chris Wiltshire | April 27, 2020 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

This weekend we're planning to ride our 'Local-TwistyButt 1600K' - a SaddleSore 1600K on local, twisty roads.. This is a little insane, but, I'm planning on doing a 1000 mile ride, using our local road: West Coast Rd: From the SH16 and West Coast Rd junction on the...

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by Chris Wiltshire | April 11, 2020 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

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Autumnal SaddleSore 1600K and NI1600 (Double Badger) ride – 20 Mar 2020

by Chris Wiltshire | March 24, 2020 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Planning Our Ride We hatched a plan back in October 2019, to use the opportunity created by the NI1600's double badger ride, to do another IBA certified ride. Stella and I have been making good progress through the IBA four season's certificates and knew that we...

Custom building our own NZ based OSM maps…

by Chris Wiltshire | March 12, 2020 | Computing / Electronics, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Download links for the finished windows basecamp file, and garmin map files are at the bottom of this post - you don't need to work through what I had to... By custom building our own, routable OSM based maps for NZ, we can do things like set speed adjustments for...

Getting prep’d to use SpotWalla during the TT.

by Chris Wiltshire | February 18, 2020 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

If you're reading this, then there's a good chance that you're already setup with your SpotWalla account, and that you've managed to join the Location Page for the TT event, if that's the case, well done and thank you for being part of this. If not, then you may need...

Playing with Garmin Tracks – GPX files, counting corners on a SaddleSore.

by Chris Wiltshire | January 5, 2020 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

So today I posted this post up into the NZ Distance Riders Facebook page, and to the Iron Butt Riders group: I was chatting with someone about Twisty SaddleSores, and being in New Zealand, I know that we always have to do a LOT of corners when we go on our LD rides....

Informal use of SpotWalla as a tracking tool for event organisers – a post-mortem.

by Chris Wiltshire | December 6, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Following on from the NZ Distance rider's NI1600 event, held in October 2019, it's worth a bit of a review of the use of SpotWalla during the event, as a tool for the organisers and riders. - I've felt this is necessary as there were a number of things learnt from...

Unboxing and adjusting new Penske 8987 rear shock on the C14

by Chris Wiltshire | October 3, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Unboxing: https://youtu.be/imBAba1oXTQ Initial test ride(s)... https://youtu.be/xJjJQF9CPH4

Spring Equinox – 2Up Saddlesore 1600K ride

by Chris Wiltshire | September 24, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

On the 23rd Sept, Stella and I set out to complete our 3rd, 2-up Saddlesore, as part of our four seasons collection. We now have only our Autumn Equinox ride remaining. This one had been in the planning since we successfully completed our Winter Solstice ride. Having...

Recent comms from Spark Sport

by Chris Wiltshire | September 22, 2019 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

Spring Equinox – Saddlesore 1600k – Planning

by Chris Wiltshire | September 22, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Our third, IBA 'four seasons' 2-up ride is about to happen... For this, we have to be riding on the day of the Spring Equinox, which according to Google is: Countdown to ride departure: So we have the time booked off work, and Stella and I have planned a route which...

Spark Sport – ad-hoc IT support.

by Chris Wiltshire | September 19, 2019 | Computing / Electronics | 0 Comments

So, this just happened:

IBA ride verification processes (updated)…

by Chris Wiltshire | September 17, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

This is an updated version of the original post which is retained for reference here. - Updated Sept, 2019 Let me start by saying that I appreciate what the IBA do, and how they are run. They are a volunteer based organisation who charge the absolute bare minimum to...

SpotWalla tips and tricks – Creating a SpotWalla tracking history, and showing it using a SpotWalla Trip.

by Chris Wiltshire | September 15, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

I've chosen my wording and terminology in the title of this post quite carefully. The word 'Track' can mean different things to different people and in the world of GPS users, a Track is often the trail of breadcrumbs which a GPS creates. That's certainly the case...

RWC 2019 – Rugby game is back online!

by Chris Wiltshire | September 15, 2019 | Computing / Electronics, Major Posts | 0 Comments

Good news if you're a Rugby fan, and if you've enjoyed our RWC game in the past! - It is back! Head on over to http://rugby.wiltshire.net/rugby to join in the fun! 🙂 Time until kick off:

Getting setup with SpotWalla for the NZDR North Island events.

by Chris Wiltshire | September 13, 2019 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Garmin Custom POI file for NZ speed cameras (x81).

by Chris Wiltshire | September 9, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

The following Garmin POI file (zipped) was created on 9th Sept, from a fresh download of speed camera data contained within the Zenbu POI listings on 9/9/2019. Click here to download... Download, unzip then copy the '.gpi' file to the /garmin/poi/ folder on your gps....

Garmin Route Planning – Hints and Tips – (2) Bulk Waypoint import from CSV.

by Chris Wiltshire | September 9, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Have you ever found yourself needing to import a heap of waypoints, say, while you're in a rush, in a noisy environment, with time pressure etc etc..? If you need an easy way to get this done, then don't fret! - There is a way... Rather than add waypoints one by one...

TT2000 – 2019, Yaldhurst Tavern, Christchurch

by Chris Wiltshire | August 29, 2019 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 2 Comments

The TT2000 is a very well-established long-distance riding event held in New Zealand in February each year. The event takes the form of a scavenger-hunt rally with details of checkpoints being released before the start of the event. Riders have plenty of time to...

Renaming multiple video files from Dashcam footage

by Chris Wiltshire | July 26, 2019 | Computing / Electronics | 0 Comments

My new dashcam on my bike creates a heap of 5-minute video files as it records. Depending on whether or not I have hit the 'Save' button on the handlebars, the filename will start with a different pre-fix. Embedded within the middle of the filename is the date-time...

Garmin Route Planning – Hints and Tips – (1) Updating with (free) OSM maps.

by Chris Wiltshire | July 8, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

These tips and hints are for those who want to get the most out of their Garmin GPS for routing their motorcycle trips on highways. The first thing to do is to make sure that you have an autorouting Garmin GPS, and then make sure that your maps are up to date, from a...

Winter Solstice Saddlesore 2019 – Ride report.

by Chris Wiltshire | June 27, 2019 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 1 Comment

Our 2-Up+1 Winter Solstice, Saddlesore 1600K ride for the puppies. Some of you will be aware of the fundraising efforts which we had been putting in alongside the preparation for this ride: another blog post was written about all of that, along with various...

Preparation and links for our SaddleSore fundraiser, 2019

by Chris Wiltshire | June 20, 2019 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

We're at it again... We're hoping to raise a thousand dollars or so for ARAN Animal Rescue, this time Stella will be joining me on the bike as we do a Saddle Sore 1600km endurance ride on the year's shortest day: 22nd Jun 2019. We'll also have our very good friend,...

TT2000- 2019 final prep and links

by Chris Wiltshire | February 19, 2019 | Motorcycling | 2 Comments

It's Tuesday morning, we leave tomorrow morning for the South Island trip (~6,000km all up) which includes the much anticipated TT2000 event. Recent days have been spent doing final preparations on both bikes (Stella is riding the R1 down for the main part of the...

Chris’ Pizza Dough

by Chris Wiltshire | February 7, 2019 | Major Posts, Uncategorised | 2 Comments

For 6-8 medium sized pizzas: 800g strong white bread flour 200g fine ground semolina flour / strong white bread flour 1 level tbsp fine sea salt 2 x 7g sachets dried yeast 1 tbsp golden caster sugar 650ml lukewarm water - Add yeast and sugar to water, mix and leave...

Suspension settings on the C14, rear.

by Chris Wiltshire | February 2, 2019 | Motorcycling | 1 Comment

I'm nearing the end of my set of Michelin Pilot Road 4s which I put onto the C14 after the NI1600. This was my second set of PR4s and I'm still very happy with them. Since we're nearing the end of their life it's a great time to check the wear pattern to see what they...

Saddlemen’s Stealth seat has arrived for the Concours 14

by Chris Wiltshire | February 2, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Revzilla stock Saddlemen's seats and so I was able to order one from them in the hope that it might arrive here in New Zealand within my short timeframe before the TT2000 event which I'll be leaving for on the 20th Feb. The seat arrived in NZ on Monday morning last...

This bike is a pain in the arse.

by Chris Wiltshire | January 17, 2019 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

I'm assuming that I've not developed a medical issue over the past 6 months and that the discomfort I regularly feel from my tailbone has more to do with the long distances which I've regularly ridden. I've never suffered tailbone discomfort in the past on any other...

Summer Solstice Saddle Sore – two up.

by Chris Wiltshire | January 14, 2019 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 1 Comment

Summer Solstice IBA ride, 2019 (Southern Hemisphere).The IBA have a 'Four Seasons' collection of rides, made up of two solstice rides and two equinox rides, the scientific mid-points of the four seasons. Here in NZ, it's summer during December, and so our Dec 22nd...

Hamilton 1KC – 2018, the ride.

by Chris Wiltshire | November 12, 2018 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 2 Comments

There's already been a post about the planning for this ride: Hamilton 1KC - planning. This was quite an intricate route again, with some specific expectations listed in the ride instructions which were missed the very first time I simply threw the check-point...

Fun with haProxy, SSL and CF web services.

by Chris Wiltshire | November 9, 2018 | Computing / Electronics | 0 Comments

Background: We're shifting from an environment which used to use ldirectord for our load balancing to haProxy, predominantly because it can perform SSL termination, layer 7 filtering etc. It's far more flexible in terms of how it can cater for multiple SSL sites...

Hamilton 1KC – planning.

by Chris Wiltshire | November 5, 2018 | Uncategorised | 0 Comments

The NZ LD riders group have released their 1KC rider's pack, including briefing, checkpoint details etc. The checkpoint list is a series of named locations and photos which we'll have to replicate when we ride around in order to prove our ride. - So next step was to...

NI1600 2018 – The main event.

by Chris Wiltshire | October 23, 2018 | Motorcycling | 1 Comment

NI1600 2018 - The main event. We had a great time joining in with the other Long-Distance riders on our first ever NI1600 ride. This ride has been going for some 8 or so years and now hosts the NI800 during the same timeframe. This year there were some ~x50+ NI800...

NI1600 -2018 planning and links

by Chris Wiltshire | October 5, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Had a great ride down to Turangi yesterday. I met up with Luke in Auckland who needed to go to Hamilton for work and we rode down that far together. Since we had a little spare time we chose to go down the very scenic and twisty SH22. 🙂 We got down there about an...

North Island 1600 – 5th Oct 2018

by Chris Wiltshire | October 3, 2018 | Motorcycling | 1 Comment

It feels like it's been a long time in coming but it's almost finally here. The NI1600 event is kicking off this next Friday. My last LD ride was my ANZAC Day ride which qualified me for my third IBA Saddle Sore 1600k certificate. It was a tough solo ride which had me...

LD Riding Checklist

by Chris Wiltshire | September 24, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

IBA SS1600k Start / Checkpoint / End checklist. BEFORE START: - Ready GPS Fresh batteries Clear current track (Track Manager Save, then clear) Load Track of route (Track Manager, choose, Show on Map) Where To? First Waypoint. - Ready phone Close unwanted additional...

Carbon (vinyl) wrapping mirror covers.

by Chris Wiltshire | August 26, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

It's been another weekend of farkling the Concours some more. I'll split the posts out and cover each thing off separately. Phil's farkle's rear luggage rack. Saddle Bag Inners. Carbon Wrapping the mirror covers. With the wider than normal width of the Concours 14,...

Saddle Bag (pannier) inners.

by Chris Wiltshire | August 26, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

It's been another weekend of farkling the Concours some more. I'll split the posts out and cover each thing off separately. Phil's farkle's rear luggage rack. Saddle Bag Inners. Carbon Wrapping the mirror covers. Stella and I spent some time looking on the internet to...

Phil’s farkles – rear luggage rack (strong)

by Chris Wiltshire | August 26, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

It's been another weekend of farkling the Concours some more. I'll split the posts out and cover each thing off separately. Phil's farkle's rear luggage rack. Saddle Bag Inners. Carbon Wrapping the mirror covers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7o3IGG7AAo The video...

Farkles, farkles, farkles – Philips X-tremeUltinon LED bulbs

by Chris Wiltshire | August 23, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

I swapped out my cheap Chinese LED bulbs today, the old ones were bright but the cut off between dipped and full beam bulbs was poor. These are out of this world! https://youtu.be/1mq6UHFm2GA

Playing with the front facing camera mount.

by Chris Wiltshire | August 21, 2018 | 3D Printing, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

I've tried various mounting positions for my front facing camera so far. Most have been around the handlebar areas and have looked through the screen, which is often dirty. Thinking about where it would be best placed, I 3D printed a ram mount bobble which sits under...

Just a few more pieces of fake carbon fibre. 🙂

by Chris Wiltshire | August 11, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Well I've been meaning to protect my tank a little better from wear for a while now. So today I finally got round to it. 🙂

Securing my side bags

by Chris Wiltshire | August 11, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Weekend project: securing my side bags with some stainless steel pins made from a welding rod. Apparently a number of Concours riders have turned up at their destination only to find that they're missing one of their side bags. Determined not to become a...

Luke’s Farkles…

by Luke Mitchell | August 10, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

This page is devoted to the planning, and fitting of Farkles to Luke's new mistress (the one which he's about to go on a first date with, then run away with for a dirty weekend). Here she is A 'farkle' is a mixture of two words: 'function' and 'sparkle'. In...

The joys of bcrypt

by Chris Wiltshire | August 7, 2018 | Computing / Electronics | 0 Comments

I had the joy of coming across Bcrypt the other week, a pretty neat way of storing individually hashed passwords within a single table, each with a differing salt. The salt, algorithm and number of hashing iterations is stored, written within the outputted hash, so...

More farkles for the Concours – LED headlight bulbs

by Chris Wiltshire | August 5, 2018 | Uncategorised | 1 Comment

I've been waiting almost two months for this package to arrive from an AliExpress vendor. They turned up this weekend. These LED bulbs are apparently 4000 lumen bulbs EACH and together draw 75W for the pair. You get heaps more light for your current draw off LED bulbs...

TT2000 – 2019, planning has begun.

by Chris Wiltshire | July 29, 2018 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 0 Comments

So, Friday 22nd Feb, 2019 is the date of the next TT2000 event, details were released online tonight. I got my entry in immediately. Downloaded the waypoints, read this years rules, then set out planning my route. 🙂 Chch to Chch, clockwise. Green stops are mandatory...

2 inch handlebar risers added to the Concours

by Chris Wiltshire | July 28, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Today one of my Birthday presents arrived from the USA. Some 2 inch handlebar risers for the Concours. Fitting them was a pretty straight forward job for me and Dad to do took us about 15 mins to do. Here's some photos of the fitting and the before and after shots. 🙂

Fitting dual air-horns to the Concours 14

by Chris Wiltshire | July 5, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

When I came to try to fit these, I asked for advice from the Concours owners group on Facebook. I got a mixed reaction from the members with little solid information coming back in terms of fitting guidance, so thought I'd just get started and see what I...

Initial thoughts on the Concours 1400

by Chris Wiltshire | June 17, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

For those of you who don’t know, I bought another bike. It’s not intended to replace the R1, it’s to go along side it. For now, anyway. This isn’t something I needed, it’s something I wanted to do. You’ll likely know that one of my current hobbies and focuses is Long...

Anzac Day ride – SS1600 2018

by Chris Wiltshire | April 26, 2018 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 4 Comments

The ANZAC Day Ride Thanks to the very friendly fellas in the IBA Australia, I was given an opportunity to attempt one of the themed IBA rides which is only available to those of us who live in either Australia or New Zealand - the ANZAC Day Ride. The rules for...

IBA ride verification processes…

by Chris Wiltshire | March 20, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

This post has been updated (Sept 2019) with a revised version being posted here. Let me start by saying that I appreciate what the IBA do, and how they are run. They are a volunteer based organisation who charge the absolute bear minimum to cover their fixed operating...

Chris and Nigel’s attempt at far too much

by Chris Wiltshire | February 27, 2018 | Major Posts, Motorcycling | 2 Comments

2018, TT2000 North Island, Chris Wiltshire Our initial plan I have learned a lot from this, about myself, about my resolve, about trying to do too much. Last year we did an IBA SS1600, and combined it with fundraising for Aran Animal Rescue. I wanted to do the same...

Final days of prep before the TT and a weather update.

by Chris Wiltshire | February 20, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Update on the NZ weather: Cyclone Gita is now considered a severe low depression now and is still carrying a lot of rain and high winds with it, but it's cleared the North Island right now, and is heading through the South Island....

TT2000 progress – planning and bike mods.

by Chris Wiltshire | February 1, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

Donate via Givealittle Planning A number of times I've thought that my route planning was finished. So much so that I've ended up laminating the last two versions of the route, #'s 8 and 9. ... But it didn't stop there. After the recce ride on Monday this week...

Nano tips – a solution for your touch screen devices while wearing bike gloves.

by Chris Wiltshire | January 19, 2018 | Motorcycling | 0 Comments

https://www.amazon.com/Nanotips-Texting-Gloves-Leather-Formula/dp/B00R1OSZM8 The Nano Tips solution is like a nail varnish which you can paint onto the outside of your leather gloves to form a capacitive touch pad. This means you can use your glove covered hands with...