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The Things You Find
By George Scarfe
from October 2001

Bob Lovett (NSW TC) and I decided to have a go at getting to the Ghost Town rally at Silverton 30 Km from Broken Hill in one day just to prove we weren't really 52 and past it.

We left Hall at 03:55 am on Friday. As soon as we got under way my rear brakes failed with the pedal staying down after application. I pulled the pedal back up and continued on, as we had to be in Narrandera by 07:30 for breakfast if we were to make Broken Hill in time.

We had stopped at Wagga briefly for fuel. The problem with the brakes didn't appear obvious in the half-light although I suspected the rear master cylinder had seized. This ticked me of because I have a habit of stripping all the brakes every two years to clean them (in metho) and regreasing then with suitable brake rubber grease before re-assembly.

After a too long stop at Narrandera we kept the wheels turning running into rain on the Hay plain. Out through Balranald, more fuel and onto Wentworth where we stopped for lunch at 13:30. With only 300 Km to go we left Wentworth around 14:00 for a leisurely (but at times very fast) run into Broken Hill stopping at the halfway point, Coombah, for more fuel and a chat with the many people going to the rally.

Bob has a new R1150R so he was conscious of running it in so I got ahead of him by a few minutes. On stopping on the outskirts of the Hill I had a quick look at the brakes. The stop screw that operates the brake switch and also prevents the pedal from rising too high had loosened off causing the pin that operates the master cylinder piston to withdraw. A small cupped washer that fits between the piston and pin fell out into the protective rubber boot. When I applied the brakes the pin disappeared into the hollow piston. The bloody thing took two minutes to fix temporarily and five to fix permanently when we arrived in Silverton at 17:30 after 1160 Kilometres.

The rally was fully catered by Apex or Lions or somebody although the food was expensive and the same all weekend. I'm told they sold over 500 badges. The band played we drank and were merry etc etc.

We returned through Wilcannia with John Minogue and Les Smith over-nighting in Nyngan. Bob and Les's bikes required work on them on the Monday morning. Nothing serious so we continued on to Canberra after stopping at Peak Hill for lunch, on through Goolagong Cowra and home by five.

After returning from our trip I decided to remove the diff to inspect the splines. One thing led to another and the bike ended up with only the engine, front end and radiator left installed. I've inspected the three splines, cleaned and re-greased them satisfied that they will last for some time to come. I'm firmly of the view that not cleaning and regreasing them at least every two years shortens their life. This has been reinforced by the fact that mine don't appear to have worn at all since the last inspection.

I also found during my act of mechanical madness that the radiator fan had seized and the frame gussets had cracked on both sides where the shock absorber and seat locks are mounted. I'm led to believe by long term K riders that the cracks are common on bike which operate heavily laden as mine invariably does.

After a quick welding job and respray the rear end was re-assembled (after welding in some nuts to replace those bloody annoying speed clips hold the rear mudguard on.) Spinning the fan appears to have freed it but I'll keep an eye on it. It rarely runs. The only time I've heard it cut in was on the freeway to Newcastle on a 38 degree day when we were stuck in traffic.

The old girl don't look pretty but it seems it will keep going for some years to come.

© ACTBMWMCC 2001 - not to be reproduced in whole or part without permission.

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