Lobbing from the grim Melbourne winter into the equatorial dry season and back again has been quite a shock. As we odd, over-brained mammals do, I was struck at just how much I was 'Goldilocksing' (it is a word, I just made it up). Bloody hell, it was too cold at home, too hot in Bali and bloody freezing when we got back.
If you missed last month's newsletter, Mrs Strapz and I headed to Bali for a mate's wedding. Neither of us had any inclination to go there in the past but decided to do the wedding and head off for a little 'scooter touring' afterwards to see some of the 'proper' country.
A little after midnight, we'd negotiated visas, customs and the taxi rank, the fact that we were back in Asia loomed starkly in the taxi's headlights. Two blokes up to their chests in a hole each, tunnelling toward one another in the gutter at a T intersection. No lights, no barriers, no hi-viz, no stop-go lolly pops.
After another hair-raising three-quarter-hour flying dodge through the dark and narrow streets, somehow we made it to our 'resort'.
After a long lazy morning and breakfast we negotiated a taxi for the Friday afternoon. The plan was to 'knock-over' the must do tourist sights while getting a handle on how the traffic err... 'worked' before the bike turned up.
The wedding venue was a stunning complex perched on the most southerly edge of the island, next stop Antarctica! You could very easily convince me that the gob-smacking infinity pool was surrounded by Russian oligarchs and drug kingpins. Martini, shaken, not stirred!
Another couple of hectic taxi rides, a wedding knees-up and a free-grog hangover saw a 155 Yamaha NMAX delivered around 10am 'Bali time'. After a few Hail Marys, emails to St Christopher and genuflections to any and all of the Hindu Gods we could find, we headed out for a sighting lap of the lump on the bottom of the island.
It became pretty obvious, pretty quickly that the bike's suspension and seating position was not going to suit the pillion in a million's crook back. I'd decided to hire the bike from a bigger firm (read – a little more expensive) to try and ensure we got the best experience, in the limited time available. It paid off. Scooter rental is offered on almost every street corner but some of the mounts look to be in pretty rough shape.
Bikego responded to a Whats app message really quickly, we dropped around to one of their depots and simply swapped to a 160 PCX Honda. The bike proved to be roomier with better (less worn out) suspension, albeit extremely soft for a couple of well-padded round eyes.
Helmets were another story altogether. After much too-ing and fro-ing, we decided to go with what they had rather than transport our own helmets... Bzzzz, wrong. The helmets on offer were little more than ill-fitting, ice cream containers with chin straps. I could have taken the shittiest old piece of crap I have in my shed and still be better protected. Having said that, a helmet with a peak for sun protection would be high on my list of must-haves next time.
We bought two caps from one of the seemingly millions of roadside stalls and got the usual "I have friends in Australia" rada rada... Price bickering, ripped off and promptly lost mine... same day!
Speeds aren't high enough to bother with a full-face helmet, only on a single brief blast on the deserted 'resort' road did we top seventy klicks. We could have bought helmets over there for seven-tenths of bugger all, but, as they'd have no standards labelling, we'd get no use out of them at home.
The whole concept of protection seems totally foreign to most riders over there, westerners wear as little as possible (often not even a pair of thongs!) – it seems to be a form of sunbathing. And locals... well.... We tried to wear long sleeves, pants, gloves and proper shoes but it was too hot for much else. Hey, the locals barely even look before pulling out into traffic!
Next month
I'll tell the story of our adventure into the wilds, on our half lap of Bali. The video should be ready to go as well!
Hmmm from frying pans to fire.
The day after I got back, I needed to travel across Mudbourne to do a bunch of tradie's earplugs and drive straight into this ....Doh
This July, I'll be raising a non-alcoholic glass to a better life for people affected by cancer, because I've signed up for Dry July! This is a big effort for me as I love a beer or five.
By taking part in Dry July, I'll be going alcohol-free and raising funds to help make a difficult time a little easier for cancer patients, their families and carers, and I'd love for you to donate.
Your donation will help fund services such as a lift to a life-saving appointment, guidance from a specialist nurse, connection to an informative voice, access to therapy programs or a bed close to treatment.
Thank you in advance for your sponsorship. Now to the onerous task of clearing out the drinks cupboard before the first of July. The Aldi no-name brand Baileys is gonna be a tough task.
There's been a stuff up in the supply of our long-standing long sock offering. They are usually 60mm longer than the garden variety work socks but... the supplier had fkd up.
Following up on this, your order was knitted with one of our new machines. Because your customisation is unique, the programming for the extra 60mm has not worked. I'm perplexed as to why this wasn't checked during or at the completion of the knitting process, something for us to follow up on!
We will begin a fresh batch for you by re-scheduling the machine queue, please expect your new order in 2-3 weeks. Thanks and apologies.
For the next few weeks if your are in need of a pair of socks that's all we can offer. They are still great socks and might suit you as a general duties item.
Going Up
The prices of all our inputs, especially paying the great crew who make our gear seems to be rising daily. To remain viable we have to increase our prices on the gear we make.
So from July 1st all Andy Strapz branded gear will be increasing in price.
I thought it only fair to allow you to grab something you might have been thinking about at the old prices.
More Hat Chat
We've got a couple of interesting helmets for you this month. An oldie and a relatively newie.
This grubby Arai RX7 Corsair Helmet came to grief at turn four at Phillip Island during a World Superbike race.
Gary McCoy handed this over the Marcus as he grabbed a new hat for race two. It's only been signed. It's still caked in PI Mud.
An Ago Cromwell 'Pudding Bowl' helmet looks so small and frail.
Ago signed this one a few years ago while he swanned about the Phillip Island Classic. He apparently got quite a surprise when he was handed a set of leathers to sign as well. He bristled up a touch and asked "Where did you get those?"
Not a trace of plastic or polystyrene. However... it looks safer that the friggin' things we wore in Bali!
To Infinium and Beyond
On a couple of rides before our Bali trip I trialled the new Held Goretex Windstopper, Infinium inner gloves and came away quite impressed.
GORE-TEX INFINIUM™️ garments receive a durable, water-repellent treatment that is resistant to light rain and snow.
While not fully waterproof like full-on Goretex, they are more breathable but still provide some protection. And, like all Held gloves, they are really well cut.
Last month I was bangin' on about the deplorable state of rego service in Victoria since it got privatised.
One of the first things I noticed in Bali was that number plates are dated with an expiry date stamped into the plate. From my limited knowledge, many jurisdictions have 'tags'/stickers on the plates themselves.
How hard or costly could this be?
I'd better keep my big mouth shut regarding the Indonesian approach as they demand front plates too and that's ridiculous and the powers that want-to-be should not be encouraged!
V2 Pocket Pump
The new compact pump from MotoPressor has arrived at Strapz HQ.
Essentially, it replaces two older models of this mob's robust little pumps. As you can see it's shrunk in size, is fully enclosed and has a gauge port. What you can't see is that it now packs 130 psi of grunt that will inflate most rim protectors from flat to 30 psi in around 3 minutes.
Used it to blow up the old Ducati's tyres the other day, what struck me was that it was significantly quicker than previous models. The gauge outlet is a great feature. I reckon I only lost about 2 psi as I unscrewed the inflation hose.
