Jump to content

rode to broken hill, vfr caught fire


Recommended Posts

 

[MEDIA=youtube]nW_ldJtdrME[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA=youtube]1geV9PeSkMg[/MEDIA]

one of my long trips ended in disaster and the loss of my beloved stormshadow vfr that i had brought brand new in 2011, and put about 10k into modifications over the years my self,


after a surprize seperation from my wife of 19 years, not by my choice, i found my self alone a week later in a small 1 bedroom apartment, i was loanly  and decided to do something spontanious, it was snowing in all the usual mountains i ride, so thought why not go west inland into the middle of australia. i took 2 weeks off work, jumped on my 2011 vfr800 the next day, threw my camping gear on.  i didnt have much preperation. ive done many of these trips, so have all the gear, even have a stock pile of 24 hour ration packs from outback cuisine i loaded up with.

first day i rode south to Yass, where i couldnt find the MyASS sign its famous for.  then to the dog on a tucker box which was recently vantalised, but had been just restored.

69812445_2080645318702920_21426001456303

the 2nd night i got to wagga wagga where i found a nice little camp ground thanks to wiki camps. this has saved me so much and always discover something new.

69276035_2080746792026106_5244374914906969285158_2080747195359399_85470878393413

i passed by griffith, a town, some 20 years earlier, i was posted to when i first joined the armed services. i found this air irigation tower, to get the smell out of the boar water in town, i had taken a photo of with my bikes at the time still there.

69624346_2082117238555728_39404107234436

i took this photo in 2001, 70211023_2106402072793911_69789642054833
rode along the sturt highway, now into desert country, hot and straight flat roads now, camping at mildura at this nice little river.  although the road to get in was a bull dust road, so soft and slippery.
69088227_2082481935185925_7494353606624169297694_2082455631855222_84827960529806

as i rode from mildura to broken hill, theirs a 320km stretch, i was told there was a road  house with fuel half way along, so didnt need to take any fuel cans as my range is about 280km on the vfr. of course i got to the roadhouse, and their pumps were broken. a passing caravanner sold me 10l of petrol to get me by.

there were lots of feral goats, that were smart and ran off the road. the odd Emu and Kangaroo.  but otherwise, very remote, in the high 30s temp wise. see the odd 3 trailer road train and a few caravans plodding along. not much out there at all.

i did find this tree, covered in bra's in the middle of no where.
69263287_2084088761691909_83679217495803


 night 3 onto  broken hill.
69872700_2084083358359116_72567036129134

and then onto a town called silverton, where they filmed mad max 2.
69336416_2084085568358895_77088465797838

stayed at the silverton pub for the night, as i needed a shower,

69200826_2084120195022099_50089471974047

the next day, to the mad max 2 museam. apsolutly great.

69252544_2085829378184514_17415711464630


unfortunately the bike wouldnt start, i had 12v, but no charging,

madmax him self, helped charge my battery up, and it was enough to ride back into broken hill. i went to the only bike shop in town, to be told our mechanic is on holidays, why dont you freight it back to sydney.

so i unloaded, and found a cheap motel for the night. as i was looking around for freight companys, i was approached by a little dirtbike shop who said they could fix it.

they gave me a little cb125 loan bike, so i checked out the town and surrounds,

69525041_2089237741177011_70728626788840
they air freighted in the parts, which unfortunetly, took 5 days as i stayed in the motel.  they put in a lead acid battery, a electro sport stator, and a new r6 regulator kit.

as i needed to get back to work, as it was almost 2 weeks now. i wanted to go. so i left late in the after noon.

. 3 hours later, the dash went blank, i pulled over, and then smoke billowed out from under the seat where the battery was, and eventually fire came out from under the seat.

 i used every bit of water i had, but in a desert with nothing to stop the fire. i had to step back and watch it burn.
69457059_2093983277369124_1867327587026469559560_2089109664523152_36570501229460

about 30 minutes after it started, a guy passed by, who didnt have a fire extinguisher, but could call the 000, unfortunetly, it was a 3 hour drive for the firebrigade, and they said they wouldnt come as nothing out there could burn.
the guy, luckily for me owned the white cliffs hotel. and said he could take me there and i could get a room for the night. loaded up my panniers and top box, and tank bag. and off we went.

the next day one of his staff members was heading back to broken hill air port, so took me there. i hopped on a plane and flew out. at a very expencive rate.

life is full of adventures, they say bad luck comes in threes. when i came back home i discovered my electricity to my unit had been shut off, even though i had arranged to get an account with AGL - energex said there was no account listed and disconnected it. turns out, a hand written didget was written wrong on my meter. so they didnt corespond.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Well, that sorted out your portion of bad luck for a while (I hope)......

 

You are alive in good health; priceless!!!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Very, very sorry you had to go through all that, its quite a bit to swallow in such a short time.

 

Certainly hope its all up from there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Wow - that had to be heartwrenching to watch your prized ride in its funeral pyre . . . and on top of the other bad news.  So sorry to see that.  On the brighter side, out of the ashes come new beginnings - not always easy to see in the moment.  The ending of "Castaway" comes to mind - standing at the crossroads.  Hang in there for better things ahead. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afiuJ2tsoVA

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow!   That escalated quickly.

I think I would have camped one night under the tree with bras,.... just to see what happened out there.

 

It takes a brave person to take off and ride into that desolate of an landscape where there is no fall-back plan.   Our equivalent would be western Nebraska or the inter-mountain west.  Good on you for doing it.  It is unfortunate it didn't turn out well.    "Adventures suck when you're having them."~Peart

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Mercy for StromShadow and his Flambeau VFR... however I've seen this problem before...

 

Fire can happen when corrosion builds up over time between the
quick disconnect pins generating resistance enough to melt the plastic
and insulation and it may go as far to cause a fire... Everyone should
perform a one time inspection of their QD and take appropriate action
like replace the QD or just solder the wires together...

 

As the RC45 Club's tech advisor I received this urgent photo and a
request as to the reason why fire almost claimed this members RC45 ...

TcvPjD3.jpg

 

Story goes that Bob and Pam Solloway of Coventry UK... a couple of RC
freaks... were on the way to Misano WSB... Pam's RC45 caught fire
while stopped at a light... the flames were beat back by bottle water
from a passing van... they were lucky the incident did not happen out
in the middle of nowhere for it would have spread rapidly to the fuel
lines and then the tank... nothing is worst as watching bike
flambeau...

 

First call was to check the alternator quick disconnect at the
transformer rectifier... I was positive that the QD had suffered
enough resistance to heat and melt the insulation on the wires... the
wires got enough to start a fire which all most consumed her prize...

 

As I prepared my case for Pam I pulled the seat cowl off my RC45 to
send her a pic of the quick disconnect in question... Mercy was I ever
in for a shock... my quick disconnect was bad and about to turn my
bike into a crispy critter...

TUwDVzA.jpg

 

Apparently corrosion builds up between the quick disconnect pins
generating resistance enough to melt the plastic and insulation...

Cleaning the pins with a wire brush and coating them in dielectric
grease can prevent this danger from becoming a problem...

My quick disconnect was toast... I decided to cut and solder the wires
directly and seal with heat shrink tubing...

I've solder the wires directly to eliminate the possibility of fire...

 

Mr.RC45 dark but 100% functional stator... engine oil causes the
insulation to darken... notice the part of the insulation that doesn’t
rest in the oil is unchanged... so don't toss your stator just because its
dark... test it to determine serviceability...
gallery_3131_51_34036.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
18 hours ago, StormShadow3 said:

 

StromShadow3:

 

Comm check . . . are you still logging in here?

If you are, please post up and update us on how you're doing. 

 

Over

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Holy Socks! What a run of bad luck to spoil a get-away. I hope your insurance comes through for you. I can sympathize with your broken heart watching your steed immolate. And it's great that you yourself did not get burned.

 

The terrain you videoed is quite stark. The state of Montana is called Big Sky Country. Your Terra Australis Incognita puts that name to shame.

 

11 hours ago, Cogswell said:

StromShadow3:

 

Comm check . . . are you still logging in here?

If you are, please post up and update us on how you're doing. 

 

Over

 

 

Yes please.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/4/2019 at 6:41 AM, Lee 2002 said:

Wow!   That escalated quickly.

I think I would have camped one night under the tree with bras,.... just to see what happened out there.

 

It takes a brave person to take off and ride into that desolate of an landscape where there is no fall-back plan.   Our equivalent would be western Nebraska or the inter-mountain west.  Good on you for doing it.  It is unfortunate it didn't turn out well.    "Adventures suck when you're having them."~Peart

i had never thought of that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/5/2019 at 2:40 AM, MaxSwell said:

Holy Socks! What a run of bad luck to spoil a get-away. I hope your insurance comes through for you. I can sympathize with your broken heart watching your steed immolate. And it's great that you yourself did not get burned.

 

The terrain you videoed is quite stark. The state of Montana is called Big Sky Country. Your Terra Australis Incognita puts that name to shame.

 

Yes please.

 

yes insurance paid me out a few weeks ago, didnt get what the bike was worth to me, i was toying up the idea of a vfr1200, or a gen 8 vfr800 but the insurance just didnt pay me enough money, and decided not to get a bike loan at this stage, but i ended up finding low km immaculate a limited matt black 2004 cbr1100xx that i had always wanted, so got it for a good price.  i still have a 1998 vfr800 gen 5 i rebuild for the track in the garage. 

72729783_470512793540878_3529346357095563264_n.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/4/2019 at 3:49 AM, Cogswell said:

Wow - that had to be heartwrenching to watch your prized ride in its funeral pyre . . . and on top of the other bad news.  So sorry to see that.  On the brighter side, out of the ashes come new beginnings - not always easy to see in the moment.  The ending of "Castaway" comes to mind - standing at the crossroads.  Hang in there for better things ahead. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afiuJ2tsoVA

 

i do remember that scene and always wonder what path he took.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/4/2019 at 3:16 PM, Cogswell said:

StromShadow3:

 

Comm check . . . are you still logging in here?

If you are, please post up and update us on how you're doing. 

 

Over

 

 

im doing ok i guess. taking life one foot step at a time. unforunetly, this is my 2nd divorce in my life time, im now 40 years old. i have riden bikes my entire life, so thats my therapy, tinkering, and riding. i think my bike letting me down hurt more than my wife letting me down. 

 

just having fun in the garage rebuilding the cbr1100xx, going over her. i think ill stick in a fh20aa into her straight away. 

 

as above, im well aware of hondas shit plugs and corosion, and every service i go over every plug, disconnect, clean with contact spray, and re apply dialectic greese. ive done this for 20 + years on many bikes. and i have to say the only problem ive had was with the 2011 vfr800. and  more so random electrical faults since i low sided it after hitting a roo, 2 years before. i had replaced a fair few plugs and fuse sockets and a new oem stator, oem regulator went over all teh loom and could never find a fault. yet i had regular melted fuses, not blown, just insulation melted, on the main fuse, even with teh vfrness i had installed. i even had the starter relay melt on me. i had multi meters, and onboard voltage guages, just never found out the problem. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
54 minutes ago, StormShadow3 said:

im doing ok i guess. taking life one foot step at a time. unforunetly, this is my 2nd divorce in my life time, im now 40 years old. i have riden bikes my entire life, so thats my therapy, tinkering, and riding. i think my bike letting me down hurt more than my wife letting me down. 

 

just having fun in the garage rebuilding the cbr1100xx, going over her. i think ill stick in a fh20aa into her straight away. 

 

as above, im well aware of hondas shit plugs and corosion, and every service i go over every plug, disconnect, clean with contact spray, and re apply dialectic greese. ive done this for 20 + years on many bikes. and i have to say the only problem ive had was with the 2011 vfr800. and  more so random electrical faults since i low sided it after hitting a roo, 2 years before. i had replaced a fair few plugs and fuse sockets and a new oem stator, oem regulator went over all teh loom and could never find a fault. yet i had regular melted fuses, not blown, just insulation melted, on the main fuse, even with teh vfrness i had installed. i even had the starter relay melt on me. i had multi meters, and onboard voltage guages, just never found out the problem. 

Could we possibly see a photo of the Blackbird? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Feel for you m8.

 

Got divorced myself a few years ago, met a beautiful women who, for some reason, married me and I've never been happier. You never know what is around the next corner....could be a Roo, could be the best thing that ever happened to you.

 

Nice 1100 btw.

 

Was watching a tv prog last night over here about a rail journey from Sydney to Broken Hill. Looked epic.....and very isolated!

 

Best wishes.  :beer:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Skids said:

Feel for you m8.

 

Got divorced myself a few years ago, met a beautiful women who, for some reason, married me and I've never been happier. You never know what is around the next corner....could be a Roo, could be the best thing that ever happened to you.

 

Nice 1100 btw.

 

Was watching a tv prog last night over here about a rail journey from Sydney to Broken Hill. Looked epic.....and very isolated!

 

Best wishes.  :beer:

 

yeah, they say everything happens for a reason, i dont know that reason, and i cant see that reason right now. but ive come to realize that maybe our relationship wasnt that great for a few years, and maybe it was time to end things. i dont like how she did it, but maybe it should of ended a few years ago. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.