Photographing motorcycles: A how-to walk-through
Shooting motorcycles is a bit a different to the norm. Unlike portraits, you rarely get a second chance. While that might seem a little more like shooting for weddings, I've never seen a couple zoom past me at 80km/h.
So here's what happens when I shoot for a magazine.
An absence of two wheels
You may be wondering why I haven't posted much about the Spada (or bikes in general for that matter).
The Spada has been a bit hit and miss the past month or so. Basically, I did an oil change a little while back and cross threaded the drain bolt. I've been having a mini-BP everywhere I go. Not only is it embarrassing to have little patches of oil everywhere I park, but as it's just in front of the rear tyre it's downright dangerous to ride on.
So I've been riding quite carefully and it wasn't until a day or two ago that I finally got the darn thing plugged up. I just got my new riding boots also and I haven't had a chance to go up Old Road in the longest time.
Here's the thing - I'm probably going to quit riding for a while. When my rego comes up for renewal, or even earlier, I'm going to try and sell her. When I factor in the cost of insurance and registration, it's more economical to take public transport, and while that is a nightmare for me, time are getting pretty tough. (Incidentally, if you want to help out, I do get paid a tiny fraction of a dollar for each advert that is clicked on this site.)
So all in all I am in a bit of a love/hate relationship with my bike. I need her to work so I can get to work, and of course riding is a lot of fun, but at the same time she's costing me more than I need to. I'd much rather be putting that money towards camera equipment or alleviating debt.
Given that pouring money into a bike (Spada or an upgrade) doesn't generate any income, but photography work does, logically the best thing to do is to invest in something that will actually generate some sort of income rather than being a money sink-hole.
First Bike Accident
So I finally had my first accident on the bike today.
I was turning left from a "turn left at any time with care" lane and was the second vehicle in the queue. I saw a car approaching at a pretty fast speed from the right, followed by no other traffic, so both the car in front and I waited. Then she (the car in front) started to move after it had passed. I did a last check down the road and set off... into the back of the car in front of me.
She'd hit the brakes because the car behind me had suddenly swerved out to overtake us both. I ran into the back of her at low speed, my front tyre bouncing off the back of her bumper and sending my crotch painfully into the tank. Then knowing what happens after you suddenly stop and unsettle a bike, I planted my feet down and caught the bike before it went over.
The bastard behind overtook us both.
As I sat there for a moment, my crotch burning and still slightly in shock that the other car was just driving off, I wondered if the person in front had even realised I'd run into them.
When they got out afterward, she had a look at the damage, sort of shrugged and then grinned, saying don't worry about it. The only damage to her car was a bit of paint that was missing from my tyre having rubbed it off. My bike looked completely fine and neither of us were hurt. I was pretty amazed that she didn't care too much. The car looked almost new and if it were me, I might've demanded some sort of compensation. She didn't take my details and now that I think about it, at no point would she have even seen my plates.
So we both went on our way.
Yamaha FZ6R – Photoshoot Dramas
I rolled out of bed this morning a little groggy, cursing my alarm clock and wondering what could possibly be more important than snoozing on a lazy Sunday. It was cold, it was damp and I was certainly in no mood to leave the warm comfort of my bed.
So when I remembered that today I was shooting the Yamaha FZ6R, you can understand that for me this was important enough to man up, get my gear on and get out the door... into the pouring rain.
I'm not usually one to complain about riding in the rain. In fact, if you ask me, usually I'll tell you that those guys that shed their bikes over the winter and hibernate instead really need to harden up. This morning though, I wimped out and it seems I paid dearly for it. Taking the cage to meet the test rider, my car bombed out in the middle of The Rocks, Sydney. In what turned out to be clearer weather and ideal conditions for shooting, I was stuck by the roadside waiting for NRMA. By the time all was done, the light had all but vanished.
Even then, I still managed to get a few shots off in-between waiting for help, which you can see below.
So what are the lessons learned?
Hopefully these pics make the cut.
Putty Rd
I haven't posted in a while thanks to my computer going belly up. All my data is still intact, but I'm still waiting on a few parts to arrive via mail.
I went around to the Putty yesterday to take a few shots for Chix Motobikes magazine's next edition. The ride itself is long, with a spattering of stops to make on the journey there, but the highlight, 16km of twisty goodness, is more than worth it.
I always seem to get tired on the way home from the Putty, with my bung knees usually the first to start complaining. We had a nice lunch at Colo Heights, which by the looks of things will definitely be a nice rest stop to return to on another day.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines… If You Can.
It's been a while since work began on the CBR, but we got around to messing about with it some more.
After changing the forks out, we'd been trying to (unsuccessfully) start the engine. This meant one very drained (and then recharged) battery, lots of huffing and puffing as we pushed the bike around the garage and quite a bit of swearing and kicking as she failed to fire.
What we should have done was turn the fuel tap off during storage and drain the carbies when she was just sitting around. Unfortunately, in our sheer laziness we didn't, and it turns out we would've had to pull the carbies in order to drain them anyway as the drain screws for the centre two carbies face each other with no way to get a screwdriver in there. Lesson learnt.
So after several failed attempts at getting her to fire (and with a few backfires and the heavy smell of petrol in the garage), we pulled the tank, airbox and carbies to have a look at the jets. Blocked. Full of crap. I took my time with them. Sliders were a bit gunky, and it was apparent that no one had pulled the carbies in a long time.
What was perhaps worrying for me was the presence of a random hose which was connected to another random box (about the size of two matchboxes) and then went, well, nowhere. I looked at it wondering what the hell sort of purpose it could serve.
Turning the engine over a bit to get some vacuum to refill the carbies with fuel sent the battery almost to death, so cutting our losses, we push started it and on the second or third push, she finally coughed back to life. She's pulling a bit to the right, although that may be my imagination since there was no right rear set, and she's running a bit rough. A proper carb balance will need to be done eventually and an oil change is definitely required before she gets any higher revs.
After quite a few weeks, we've reached the next milestone in getting her back on the road. With a bit of care, hopefully that'll be soon!
Wiseman’s Ferry Run
I had a nice afternoon off to check in on some property out west and I thought to myself, why not take the scenic route via Wiseman's Ferry? Then I thought to myself, why not go up the Old Road whilst I'm at it?
A - Berowra Mobil
This is a common meeting place for motorcyclists and a good place to fill up. I have a range of about 150km before reserve and that's enough to get me to Windsor and then some. Unfortunately their air pressure gauge no longer works, otherwise this would be a good place to check your pressures. The highway from here is straight, flat and boring until the Pacific Hwy turn off. A few long sweepers ease you into your surroundings at about 80km/h and then a short 60km/h straight through Cowan is your last chance to stop and fix anything that may be hazardous. From here on the roads go back to their 80km/h limit and the roads start getting more demanding.
Edit: It turns out I was wrong about their air pressure gauge! Have a chat to the guy/girl inside and grab the attachment from them.
B - Pie In The Sky
I rarely ever stop here as it's too soon into my ride. They apparently have some of the best pies in Sydney, but for the most part, I just zoom on by. On my trip I was tipped off by a car as to cops up ahead. The road opens up for a short stretch into a twist of double lanes. There are several blind corners and a few hairpins. For the most part, corners are predictable and don't tighten up on you unexpectedly. Make it over the bridge at Mooney Mooney and take in your surroundings before the twists start again. Shortly after, you pass under the Sydney to Newcastle Freeway and the road flattens out for a short while.
C - Mt White Cafe
Formerly known as the Road Warriors' Cafe, I used to stop here for a bite but lately I've been continuing northward so I don't really know how the new cafe is. Perhaps I ride at the wrong hours, but it seems like there aren't as many riders at the cafe whenever I pass by. The roads here resume their twists, but at a reduced 60km/h limit and later, 50km/h. I unfortunately got stuck behind a police car who seemed to be crawling along even slower. Try not to get stuck behind cars here; the roads are single laned and with very few straights there aren't many opportunities to pass legally or safely.
D - Peat's Ridge Rd
Google maps refuses to join up parts of Peat's Ridge Rd, so you'll have to excuse me here. The Old Road used to be closed from this point onward, so I used to turn left and slab it up Peat's Ridge Rd to the Central Mangrove Intersection. It is a very boring sub 100km/h road and you would do well to go via the Old Road and then take Wiseman's Ferry Rd for a bit of variety. For me, I didn't want to be stuck behind a police car and decided to slab it as I've done in the past.
E - Central Mangrove Intersection
For some reason, this intersection weirds me out. It's pretty large for an intersection, probably for trucks, but it's in the middle of nowhere. I don't think you can miss this intersection at all. From here, take Wiseman's Ferry Rd to the west and you immediately realise that this isn't a road for the new. Corners aren't signposted, the road surface is terrible, the road narrows down to barely enough for 1.5 cars and the limit changes erratically from 60 to 80km/h in places. Whilst you can carve up the Old Road, Wiseman's Ferry Rd is a completely different story. If you're going to travel at any speed, get up on your pegs and be prepared for the rear to break out every now and then, otherwise the signposted limits are sufficient for a quiet scenic ride.
F - Spencer
Wiseman's Ferry Rd can be demanding depending on your particular style of riding. Spencer is one of those nice quiet towns by the water's edge that gives you the chance to grab a pie from the general store and take in the view. Again, I generally don't stop here, but where I have in the past I've never regretted it. The roads here are quite consistent all the way through, except for a short patch where mobile traffic lights restrict traffic (if there is any) down to a shared single lane. As Wiseman's Ferry Rd crosses over several creeks, there will be a few wooden and cement bridges, not all of which are completely flush with the road. Get up on those pegs and grip that tank with your thighs!
G - The Ferry
All I can say is don't get caught out by maintenance! The ferry closes for two hours on the first Thursday of every month. On this side of the river there's not much to actually do so it can be a long, boring wait. Despite what Google Maps says, there's no fee to use the ferry.
H - Wiseman's Ferry
To me, this is the destination, where the ride ends. Go to the pub if that's your thing, but I prefer to grab a burger and a drink and sit outside for a bit. Depending on how far you've got to go, you can fill up here. Typically this is my first stop and I'm pretty knackered after a few hours in the saddle so I usually end up sitting around for quite a while before moving on.
I - Old Northern Rd
Exiting Wiseman's Ferry, there's a hairpin and a few tight corners, but aside from that, Old Northern Rd is quite sedate. Keep this in mind if you're approaching Wiseman's Ferry from the south as more than a few riders have been surprised by the few sudden tight corners after what seems like a relatively leisurely road. If you're the sort that likes to stop every now and then, there are two lookouts shortly after leaving Wiseman's Ferry, but otherwise this stretch is quite boring up to this point. Reaching Maroota, you can take Wiseman's Ferry Rd to head to Winsdor (or Sackville) , or you can continue on Old Northern Rd if you need to head back eastward. A nice way to get back east is through Galston Gorge, but if there is traffic, I'd say forget it.
So that's my little long way out west, borrowed from other routes that I'll some day cover. Wiseman's is a large part of the Three Ferries route and the Old Rd, well, that's a short run that is often taken by itself.
The Cyclist, The Pedestrian and The Cars
All it took was a cyclist to travel down an illegal T-Way in NSW and assault a bus driver to get this long, drawn out issue into the limelight. It's existed for years and years, but the tensions are getting a bit high as of late. In my opinion, it's all a bit of a misunderstanding between everyone due to a lack of proper infrastructure.
The Scenario: At an intersection, the traffic lights turn red, the cars halt and pedestrians start to cross the road. A cyclist filters between cars on the way up to the lights, slows down and makes his way through the pedestrians, then checking there is no more traffic crossing the intersection, crosses the intersection and keeps on going.
The Cars: They see a cyclist squeezing past them, possibly almost scratching their cars. Are they in such a rush that they can't wait in line like everyone else? And they're slower too! Everyone is now going to have to wait behind them and then squeeze past them again.
The Pedestrians: Aren't you using the road? Then obey the road rules. Why are you riding dangerously across pedestrian traffic? If you had a licence and I were a cop, I would have booked you ages ago!
The Cyclist: If I stay amongst the cars, I'm going to be in their blind spot. The cars will all take off around me and at this distance, they're not going to see me. I've got to get out of the way of danger because if there's an accident it's not a dented fender, it's broken bones for me. I've got to be up ahead where people can see me early and think ahead. I'll carefully move around the pedestrians although they're not paying attention to me. I know running the red is illegal, but being legal is dangerous and it doesn't matter if I'm in the right or wrong if I end up dead.
A few facts:
- At intersections, cyclists are often in the blind spot of cars and trucks, leading to a large number of accidents
- Unless under the age of 12, cyclists are not permitted to use footpaths and must, by law, use the road
- Cyclists are permitted to travel in lanes marked as a "Bus Lane", but NOT in lanes marked as "Bus Only"
- In a cyclist-pedestrian collision, the cyclist is more likely to be injured due to a higher fall and the speed of travel. In a cyclist-vehicle collision, the cyclist is more likely to be injured due to little to no protection
- As a general rule, pedestrians have right of way regardless of where or how they ended up on the road
- Motorcycles are considered to have little to negligable impact on greenhouse emissions and road wear, yet this reduction in impact is not recognised during vehicle registration or tolls
- Cyclists have no greenhouse emissions and negligable impact on road wear
A few observations:
- Vehicles on the road often block cycleways
- Pedestrians are often not aware of approaching cyclists, but the cyclist may be aware of them.
- Where cycleways are not available, footpaths are not legal and roads are dangerous, there is no place for cyclists to ride
- Motorcyclists are discouraged from filtering through traffic (and may be booked on technicalities such as "Overtaking on the left of a vehicle"). Being a road user, this discouragement should also apply to cyclists, even though the practice is safer for both cyclists and motorcyclists.
- The practice of filtering to the front of traffic on a motorcycle is a fineable offence. On a bicycle it is generally not.
- Motorcyclists have sustained damage to their vehicles from having to stop from colliding with jay-walking pedestrians. To my knowledge, no legal mechanism exists for enforcing compensation from the pedestrian to the motorcyclist
Coughing Life Back Into the CBR
Well, we went around to try and get the CBR started last night with mixed results.
There was a simple issue of re-routing a choke cable and then we tried starting her... With less than impressive results. With the bike sitting for almost a year, the battery had lost most of its charge and cranking it didn't do much to help it.
To be honest, a lot of the time was spent sitting around waiting for the battery to get some charge, but once it had a few hours in it we decided to try and start her up again. With again, less than impressive results. As the battery started to die, we figured we might as well try to push start her and it was here that she coughed up the faintest bit of life, and then promptly died again. So she ran for a few seconds after we'd been pushing her all over the garage, which is fairly good considering her carbs probably need to be cleaned right out and the fuel drained.
Sitting around a bit out of breath, we were discussing what to do about the rest of her once she was running. She needed to be roadworthy in order to be registered and that meant she'd need at least the front cowling for mirrors and to cover any jagged edges. I'm thinking a front end Tyga conversion, but money is a serious consideration as well.
How to Screw Up a Valve Clearance
I recently checked my valve clearances on the Spada and had the grand opportunity of having to do them twice. It's a screw and locknut setup, which is considerably easier than the old shim and bucket, but despite that here's some of the ways it can go wrong:
1. Not setting the piston to Top Dead Center
This is a no-brainer, but you need to rotate your cam lobes away from the valve before you can check your clearance. If you suddenly find that all your valves are extremely tight, check where your piston is at. There should be markings on the flywheel, but if in doubt, stick a long screwdriver down your spark plug hole being careful to to jam it up or get it stuck. Watch your valves. At some point as you turn the engine over by hand, both intake and exhaust will be open at the same time (or close to it). That's the exhaust leaving the cylinder and a new batch of fuel/air entering the cylinder. You should now know which set of valves are your intake (alternatively, have a look at what your headers are connected to - that's your exhaust port). Once the intake valves shut, compression starts and your screwdriver should be making its way up. Find the highest point it ever reaches and that's Top Dead Center. Simple.
2. Getting your Intake and Exhaust Mixed Up
For some reason, perhaps walking around the other side of the bike, people get their clearance screwed up on the intake and exhaust. On bikes where the clearance for intake and exhaust are the same, this doesn't present itself as a problem, but where the clearances differ, the clearance on the exhaust valves is almost always larger than on the intake. Make sure you note which is IN and which is EX.
3. Setting your Clearances Too Loose
The danger of setting your clearances too loose is that at high RPM, there's a large enough gap between the valve and the cam lobe that can cause the valve not to return to its seat in time before the piston returns on its way up. This is known as valve float and at best results in a poorly running engine (as a complete seal of the cylinder isn't achieved during compression) and worst in bent valves as piston meets valve meets go and get some new expensive parts.
When setting your clearances, check that the next feeler gauge won't fit. Don't rely on advice that gives you a figure and a "medium to light drag" on the gauge. If you're not experienced, you can feel a medium to light drag, but be far out of spec. If you clearance states 0.15mm, ensure that that feeler gauge fits, then try the next largest up and ensure that it doesn't fit, at least not without a lot of convincing. It's true that it's better to set your clearances looser than tighter, but don't settle for what "feels" right - make sure you check that you haven't left her wide open.
When you start your bike up after setting your clearances, she shouldn't tappity tap like crazy. A bit of valve noise should be expected, but not a complete ruckus.
4. Setting your Clearances Too Tight
Always double check your clearances after you've tighten up the locknut. Even then, I triple check the clearances once a set of valves are done. What you'll find is that when tightening the locknuts, you'll turn the adjusting screw slightly which may throw your clearances out. I usually keep a screwdriver in the adjusting screw to stop it from moving, but I haven't the steadiest of hands either. Check, check and then double check. Too tight and the valve will be held slightly open, resulting in valve burn and the opportunity to go and purchase more expensive parts.
If you're in doubt, it is better to have your clearances looser than tighter. What generally happens is that over time, the intake and exhaust ports get worn down. I'm talking tiny fractions of a millimetre here. So your valves are seating a little lower as time goes by. This takes up the clearance that you've set and if you've got no clearance, guess what happens? The valve never completely shuts and all that hot explosive fuel/air during the compression cycle tries to make its way out the tiny gap between the valve and its seat. Compare the hot, blasted, explosive environment of the valves compared to the cooler, lubricated camshaft and you'll see which side wears out faster. This is also why valves usually need to be loosened rather than tightened. If you're finding that your valves need tightening, you could have a lack of lubrication. Check your oil!
5. Not Paying Attention
This last bit is where I think most people fail, even your local mechanic (most probably due to time constraints than anything else). Pay attention to your bike! When you're putting her back together, are there any gaskets that look worn? Perhaps they need replacing or a touch of sealant now. When you took the plugs out, did they look normal? What could they have told you? Did you torque everything back up to spec? Could/Should those bolts you undid be greased (or are you happy to have them seize in the head for the next time you need to adjust your clearances?)
Paying attention to your bike is one of the key things most people don't do. Most people don't inspect their rides before they set off. Most people aren't proactive when it comes to maintenance. Our poor, poor bikes tend to grumble before dying, but unfortunately it's not until after something critical falls off or dies that we pay any attention to it. I would guess that there's not one bike on the road that doesn't have something that should be fixed, filled or checked. Even brand new bikes need to be inspected shortly after purchase. So with that in mind, every time you finish working on your bike, find something that you know you need to keep an eye on. If you don't find anything, you're not paying enough attention to her!
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