So much for a quiet Christmas eve at Everything Two Wheels this year! I'd planned the day to be a slow one maybe even closing the doors around lunch time for a swift one down the pub before tea and easing into the holiday season. No chance! The Honda Transalp was still not ready for Rob's adventure trip back to the UK. No fault of my own. It was all down to the Hepco & Becker engine bars, crash bars and main stand that only arrived from Germany the day before. Talk about cutting it fine. Rob was planning to leave this Saturday 27 December. Apart from the Hepco & Becker parts we also had to install a power socket with a USB adapter to power Rob's GPS, laptop and camera, fit a set of Continental TKC80 tyres, give it a oil and filter change, run a second cable down the original throttle and clutch cable as spares plus code a third key to the bikes ignition just incase the first two get lost or stolen on the journey.
Rob turned up at the shop around 11 o'clock and as soon as he walked in the door it was on! I knew the doors weren't being locked until Rob's bike was finished. First up was the power socket. After scanning around the bike for ten or fifteen minutes I decided the best location for the socket would be the water proof compartment under the seat. The two reasons I wanted it there was because although the power socket itself was water proof the USB adapter powering all the electronic equipment wasn't an item I thought would like to be filled with water or dirt and what's the point of having a laptop, camera and GPS guidance system on the bike if you have no power to operate them? The second reason was because right along side the storage compartment was a nice big fat 12 volt ignition operated power wire that would be perfect to tap into. After a quick slice, solder and heat shrinking session the power socket was all set up and ready to power any item that ran a USB connector or a standard cigarette lighter type plug.
The next step was a pretty straight forward operation. Coding a third key to Rob's bike was a walk in the park. I whipped off the petrol tank connected my key coding harness and 10 minutes later the bike was now running three keys. The idea is Rob will take two keys with him on the journey but the third key will be posted to his home address in the UK. This is incase the first two keys are lost or stolen. If this is the case the third can be posted to him where ever he happens to be in the world and the trip can continue again. Thank goodness for Honda's key operated anti theft system fitted as standard.
With most of the bodywork now removed it was time to fit the engine, crash bars and main stand. I've fitted other brands of kits in the past and normally they do need a bit of a tweak to get the to fit but boy these bars were so far out of whack that at one point I thought they must have been for a different model bike. I spent most of the afternoon bashing the crap out of them with a mallet and block of wood to try and get them somewhere close to fitting. Even to get the clamp on the top of the frame to fit required grinding out a section of the frame. I really, really wasn't impressed with the fitting of these bars at all and if I could turn back the clock I would have talked Rob into fitting a set of Touratec Bars instead. All up it took over 3 hours to get to a point where the bars fitted nice, but I have to say, once fitted to the bike they were very strong to the point where I could lift the front of the bike up off my bench by them plus they looked the part too. Unfortunately the main stand wasn't that good a fit either and this took a bit of tweaking to make it fit too. I also wasn't impressed by the way the main stand now got caught up in the side stand and to get the main stand to fully retract meant pushing the side stand out of the way first.
The next step was to run some reserve cables down along side the original throttle and clutch cables. The reason you do this is incase a cable snaps. Instead of having to take the bike apart as you do with most modern bikes you just unhook the broken cable, snip off the water proof covers, hook up the new cable and your back on the road again without having to have removed the petrol tank or any bodywork. If you've ever sat at the side of the road with a bike that wont go just down to a broken cable you'll know why this is a good thing to do before any big trip.
It was now early evening and we were on the home straight. All that was left to do was fit the Continental TKC80's and give it quick oil and filter change and Rob would be on his way. With the new main stand fitted it was a breeze getting the back wheel out. Fitting a main stand was definitely a smart move. Could you imagine trying to get the rear wheel off a fully loaded bike in the middle of nowhere on a sandy road with no one to help? As the TKC80 was being fitted the sump plug was already out and the oil was draining away. A new genuine Honda oil filter was fitted the sump plug was back in and the oil filled to the top mark on the dip stick.
It was now close to 8.30pm and at this point Rob had turned up at the shop. After a few final checks the bike was ready to be ridden away to start its adventure of a life time riding all the way back to the UK. After a celebratory beer and wishing him luck I wheeled the bike out to the front of the shop shook his hand and that was it, Rob was on his way.
If you want to follow how Rob goes on his trip click on to his blog at: http://www.melbourne-london.blogspot.com/
