With less than a month to go, it's about time I got off my lazy arse and did an update.
Supplies have been coming in at a steady pace, and with the final few weeks, the last nuts and bolts before departure are next on the checklist.
As it stands, the Beast is raring to go. Just this afternoon, I paid a visit to the wizards of Hyperpro, who took it upon themselves to swap out the tired old rear shock with a brand new one.
Here's the two together. As a spring ages, it (very much like my ass) sags a bit, so upon putting the new one in the Beast's ride height was raised as well.
The guys at Hyperpro are teeming with expertise on the subject of suspension, and everything was taken into consideration - my own weight, the weight of my luggage.. no detail was missed. Paul (the guy doing all the dirty work here whilst I was busy drinking tea) did a sterling job in explaining my halfwit self how the inner workings of the shock did their job.
As it turned out, he was happy with the way The Beast had been maintained - even the front forks were still working to his liking. The front brakes seemed to be a bit rough though, so I'll have a look at them next week.
There we go. A fresh new part eagerly awaiting to get as filthy as the tube beside it!
Job done.
It felt quite strange riding back home after this - it was almost as if I had done something in return for the Beast's indefatigable loyalty.
Next week, I've got another weekend's worth of greasemonkeying ahead when I'll put in a new airfilter, chain, sprockets, spark plugs and throttlecables. The week after that it's time for the traditional pre-flight garage check-up (along with fresh rubber and wheel bearings) and then, the ferry to Iceland awaits.
T Minus three weeks. Rock 'n roll!
Oh by the way, while I'm at it (proactivity huzzah!) I've also taken the time to redo the pages on both the Hekla Project and the Iceland Trip. I also fixed the link to the photo gallery (which now has a new hipster moniker), just so that you can visit the album again. Have a look-see!
