A chatwithSpannermanover
thephonehadhimsuggesting
I checkthecarburettor
diaphragmsandresealthem.
Ofcourse,I couldn’tgetthe
carbtopsoff,asthescrewswere
stuckfast,soI soakedthemin
penetratingfluidandleftthem
overnight.
Bymorningwewereabletoget
in,andthenewswasn’tgood.Both
diaphragmswerebadlytornon
thehotside,closesttotheengine.
Theyhadsimplyperishedovertime,andthe
yearsofinactivityprobablydidn’thelp.With
thenearestBMWdealerseveralhundred
kilometresaway,thiswasgoingtohavetobe
jury-rigged.
Asluckwouldhaveit,I’dboughta rollof
vinylracetapethepreviousday,tostrapa
brokenindicatortotherearrack.It hada
particularlystrongadhesiveandseemed
wortha try.Sotearingoffandtrimming
patcheswithmyteeth,I kindafixedthe
diaphragms.Theresultwasnooilpainting,
andtherewasnoguaranteetheywouldwork
atall,orlastlongerthantheforecourtofthe
Marlaroadhouse.
A cautiousrolloutontotheStuartHighway
andlet’sseewhathappens.Surprise,
surprise,wehadsomethingresemblinga
normalthrottle,theenginerevvedandwe
hadmuch-improvedperformance.Betterstill,Our
BikesABOVE A quick call to the
Lord of the Bings, aka
Spannerman, revealed
perished diaphragms.
The Macgyver-style
fix with vinyl tape
lasted the remaining
1800km home.
BELOW The giant 35-litre
tank is made of a
polyamide plastic,
not rotationally
moulded like most
aftermarket tanks, to
meet strict German
TUV requirements.
Even with the dodgy
diaphragms in Guy’s
carbs, that’s good for a
range of nearly 500km
... it’s much lighter
than the ones in the
background.the fuel consumption was more like
13 or 14km/L – still not great, but a
huge improvement.
The best part was the dodgy repair
lasted for the remaining 1800km
home. If I was really slack, it would
probably go on for months more.THE BIKE AND THE SOUL
One diversion I can recommend
is to turn off the Stuart Highway
andheadeast from Crystal Brook. On
previous trips I’ve ducked further down and
turned east at Adelaide, but the less-used
B-route was a lot more interesting. There was
bugger-all traffic and a host of interesting
places to poke around in. It brings you in to
Mildura.
Rather than tempt fate any longer than
necessary, I ordered the parts on the second-
last day of the trip – a Friday – and they
arrived in my office on the Monday. That
was through WA-based retailer Munich
Motorcycles and included diaphragms and
a sorely needed front brake master cylinder
rebuild kit.
Mechanical frustrations aside, it was a
fantastic ride. There’s something special
about being out there somewhere on your
own, just ambling along and taking in the
scenery. One correspondent on Faceplant
reckoned it wasgood for the soul and that’s
probably right.112 MOTORCYCLE TRADER
There was no
guarantee they
would work at all,
or last longer than
the forecourt of the
Marla roadhouse