I'll get back to the backstory. Instead, here's what i did today.

[Lupine]
i went shopping today and bought all the plates and cups and cooking gear for the trip.
yesterday i went shopping and bought all the wheel bearings and brake pads for the trip.
here's a picture of the trick collapsing cups, bowls and plates. in this picture are two cups, two bowls, and 2 plates...

MMmmmm, flat. two full sets of plates and bowls and cups fit inside the frying pan i bought, and the folding handle of the frying pan closes and holds it all in nice and tight. cool.

and continuing the unabated excitement, the front of Boo's bike

i managed to get the work on the front of Boo's bike finished today.
pulled the front wheel, took off the dirt tyre that was on it, drove out the old wheel bearings, fitted new wheel bearings, fitted a more road oriented tyre and fitted her new brake pads. i also drained the oil out of the forks on both legs and replaced it with a thicker weight oil at a higher volume to slow the rebound down a bit and reduce the air gap. that should sort the front out for the trip. and then i put it all back together again.

a photo of the shiny wheel bearings. sort of. they are the little red things in the middle of the wheel.


for the run up to Mt Isa we're going straight along the main roads, so we need to run a more road based tyre so that we don't literally melt the tread. we could use the tyres we are running now but they are designed for dirt work and would wear much too quickly. so instead we'll use the tyres that originally came with the bikes. they were pulled off the bikes within hours because they are universally regarded as an abomination in the eyes of the lord, but they'll be fine for the road part of the trip.
we were looking at buying tyres in Mt Isa, or shipping some up, but most likely we'll just strap a set to the top of each bike as we leave here and just swap them when we get to Mt Isa. the plan was always to replace the deathwing (actually branded trailwing, but no-one who's ridden them calls them anything other than deathwings) tyres there and ride the trusted dunlop D606 dirt for the rest of the trip.
we'll also be using a higher gearing because of the more open roads. with a bit of luck it will increase our fuel economy enough to not need the extra fuel cans and we can leave one in Isa. we'll be taking a good reserve, but maybe we won't need to go to +40%.

i'll get back to the backstory tomorrow; for tonight here's a picture from a tale you'll get in a few days.
me slightly bogged in Glasshouse State Forrest.


fuck yeah, i did a whole post without swearing!
told you i could do that shit...
now piss off and let me sleep.