Nordkapp

[PaulB]

Well, me and a mate (him on his ZZR1400) made it there and back unscathed. 400+ mile days (two 500+ mile days in the stretch from Odense, Denmark to Stockholm).

Experienced everything, weather-wise: from torrential rain (of biblical proportions) whilst sat in nightmare congestion round Antwerp (a downpour with no warning so no chance to get the one-piece suits on), to glorious sunshine with serious humidity so sweat pouring off us even at 75mph. Even had a hailstorm on the final ride back from the Chunnel to home.

The bike behaved perfectly except when we were at Nordkapp itself, as far from "civilisation" as you can get, the KIPASS microswitch (under the cooker knob) decided to fail. After spending an hour or so trying to persuade it with ever increasing force, eventually a serious blow from a disc-lock made it work. After that I had to shut the bike down by disconnecting the battery earth strap. Fortunately, when you reconnect the battery with the cooker knob in the "ON" position, the system springs to life.

So, an epic journey done. 4930 miles in 13 days including 1 "rest day" in Nordkapp.

Just got to clean the bike and see about the switch issue now.

Cheers

Paul B.

[virginiajim]

That's interesting about the ignition issue happening in the rain.  The second time it happened to me, I had just washed the bike.   The water may have dislodged some debris and with the weakish spring caused an issue.  You may want to pull the knobby out and use some spray around the 9 o'clock position to clean it out.  I wouldn't spray anything in it that lubes it as well as it will attract dirt.

[O.C.]

Excellent and glad that you weren't let down by the bike   

Any pictures ? 

[PaulB]

Still sorting the photos and video clips, OC

Oh, and I discovered the GTR has a "sauna" mode. It only kicks in in torrential rain (and I do mean torrential) in standing traffic. When the cooling fans fire up, you get a nice steam bath from the front of the bike. So much so, you can't even see through the screen!

I did get some amused looks from motorists.

Cheers

Paul B.

[O.C.]

Still sorting the photos and video clips, OC

Oh, and I discovered the GTR has a "sauna" mode. It only kicks in in torrential rain (and I do mean torrential) in standing traffic. When the cooling fans fire up, you get a nice steam bath from the front of the bike. So much so, you can't even see through the screen!

I did get some amused looks from motorists.

Cheers

Paul B.

a bike with many talents   

[PaulB]

Result!

This morning I cleaned the bike to within an inch of its life (5000 miles of rain grit had to be removed) during which I gave the ignition switch a blast with the pressure washer; as it was already broke I couldn't break it any more.

After I'd finished cleaning the bike I blew out round the switch with a can of compressed air, squirted some isopropyl alcohol based cleaner around the 9 o'clock position and I now have a working ignition switch (when you press it in).

Happy days!

Cheers

Paul B.