Adventure Rider Issue #14

It’s what we do Tom

Foster - Editor

know stuff, and that’s a problem.

When I was a kid, I didn’t know anything, and I thought that was a problem. Now I wonder if wasn’t better off.

My first real bike was a secondhand 1978 Kawasaki KL250. In many respects it was a boat anchor. It had very little horsepower, drum brakes that only worked sometimes and cock-all suspension. I don’t recall ever servicing anything on it. I just rode it and rode it and rode it. If couldn’t see oil in the sight glass, poured some in. Oil. Not any particular grade or brand. Just ‘oil’. When someone explained an airfilter to me, I was astounded. I’d had no idea that spongy thing even existed, let alone that it was important.

Despite the lack of care, that bike went everywhere, all the time. It was thrown off some shocking hills, dropped in creeks and, as I recall, was never garaged. I don’t recall it ever leaving me stranded.

Now I understand there are specific oils for specific uses, and I try and make an informed decision depending on which bike and terrain I’m riding. The gear I carry for servicing airfilters almost needs to include a white lab coat. And let’s not even get started on tyres – not just brands, but tread patterns, compounds and sizes all have a huge impact on a bike’s behavior.

Now I know that, I want to make sure I have the most suitable equipment.

Well…who wouldn’t?

And I’d rather gouge out my own eyes than use ‘cheap’ lubricants or fittings.

Thanks to me having learned a little about how the internal combustion engine works, I’m forever worrying the damn thing won’t work. What if I can’t get premium unleaded? What if a relay poops itself? What if a solenoid goes? What if the ECU gets weird?

I lose sleep over these things sometimes.

The thing is, how much of that technical knowledge and worry is just me kidding myself?

“It was thrown off some shocking hills, dropped in creeks and, as I recall, was never garaged. I don’t recall it ever leaving me stranded.”

I look back at that old KL250 and I’m pretty sure modern bikes would never cope with the abuse I unknowingly heaped on that bike. Tolerances are too tight and performance levels are too high. And who can afford to treat a modern bike that way?

But every now and then I have something weird happen that makes me wonder if I’ve become way too precious over the years.

The latest incident was an all-tootypical cockup on my part, and it’s left me again wondering about how much the specialisation of some of these things is necessary.

I like a particular brand of oil and accessories that uses the same container and very similar labels on all its products.

I went to the shed looking for some chain lube the other day and couldn’t find any. I knew for certain I’d bought a new can for a race day a few weeks ago, so I knew it was there somewhere.

After ransacking the van, gearbag, toolboxes and all the usual places, came up empty handed.

The short story is – after I checked the receipt from the bike shop – I’d bought foam-filter oil. It was on the shelf next to the chain lube in the store, in a can the same size with the same colour label, and must’ve been in a hurry.

The thing is, I’ve been spraying my chains with foam-filter oil for a few weeks, and couldn’t tell any difference. That led me to thinking maybe I should be a little less fussy about these things. Is it going to damage the bike if I use foam-filter oil to lube the chain? I bet it does a lot less damage than not lubing the chain at all. It’d be a lot easier on big trips if I just took a single container of oil that would do the chain and the air filter, that’s for sure. can’t bring myself to accept that using a less-than-premium grade of oil on my chain for a few days is going to make much difference to the life or performance of that chain or those sprockets. When think of the price on the chain and sprockets I use, the damn things should run fine with no lube at all for years at a time.

It’s high time I bought some common sense to bear on this issue. In my shed at home I’ll stick with the best I can afford of the right product for the intended purpose. But from now on, when I’m away from home, it’ll be catch as catch can and ‘make do’. That will be my philosophy. reckon I’ll drop kilos off my luggage burden, and probably save the cost of a house payment every couple of months.

Adventure Rider Magazine is published bi-monthly by

Publisher Kurt M Quambusch

Editor Tom Foster tom@maynemedia.com.au

Sales Director

Marcus Hucker marcus@maynemedia.com.au

Advertising Sales

Mitch Newell mitch@maynemedia.com.au

Phone: (02) 9452 4517 Mobile: 0402 202 870

Design Danny Bourke art@maynemedia.com.au

Subscriptions (02) 8355 6841

Accounts

Stay dry and comfortable with Touratech’s exclusive breathable seat technology

Your riding gear is designed to allow moisture to escape your body, but it can’t do its job in the most important area unless you have a seat that breathes.

» Anatomically shaped contours

» Available in different heights

» No modifications to bike necessary

» Special contour prevents sliding during acceleration and braking

» Complete and ready for fitting

» Optimal positioning of sealed seams

» Optimised foam core gives high stability

» Groove for relief of coccyx

» Bi-elastic cover material 100% waterproof

» Sealed seams

» Robust and extremely durable

1. Touratech Vapor-Flow™

The technology allows your body’s moisture to pass through your riding gear, down through the seat fabric and into the breathable membrane. The moisture then escapes through the sides of the seat, leaving you dry and comfortable.

2. Rain-Block™

Although the seat is breathable (allowing moisture vapor to pass through the fabric) the tight structure of the Rain-Block™ fabric forces water droplets to bead up and roll off the seat. It’s completely waterproof.

3. Ergo-Response™

Ergo-Response™ technology keeps you on top of the saddle, not sunken down into it. The foam core is sculpted in a way that ensures there’s no pressure on the coccyx (tail-bone) and your weight is supported evenly. The longer you ride, the better if feels.

l Over 200 seats for more than 40 types of motorcycles

Dakar bound

Scott Britnell

He always has life’s throttle wide open. After his recent running of the Canning Stock Route and a crossing of Central Asia, the NSW Southern Highlands rider is hard on the track of his next challenge: Dakar.

We’re still in awe of Scott Britnell’s sprint across the Wide Brown Land from Cape Byron to Steep Point and back in just a whisker under 174 hours. The planning and execution of that ride was astonishing.

Now when Scott, 41, says he’s going to have a crack at something, we pay very close attention to what he’s doing and how he plans to do it.

Dakar’s been on Scott’s radar for a while, and he was on his way to chat to Lee Palmer at Cross Roads Motorcycles in Grafton when he stopped to chat to us. Lee has invaluable experience with KTMs and the world rallye circuit.

On an overcast afternoon we perched on the trailer next to his 640 Adventure, cappuccino in hand, and asked how things were going.

“Right now I’m just trying to focus on getting myself to Dakar,” said Scott, living at the edge, as always (he was looking dangerously like he’d let his coffee go cold).

“I’m still aiming for 2017, so I’m trying to get time on a rallye bike and get overseas for some experience in the rallye scene.”

We had to ask about the financial aspect. That’s a very scary proposition for a privateer.

“I have a couple of sponsors that are on board for the right reasons and are behind me 100 per cent, so now I need to firm things up and do some fundraising to take the next step. It’s going to take a lot of things to line up, but it looks like it’s going to work.”

We wondered out loud whether Mitas was involved.

“Absolutely!” said Scott, very nearly smiling. “The product is what I’m looking for and the people are great.”

We know Scott to be a first-class planner, so we asked how his ‘Get To Dakar’ campaign would run for the next yearand-a-bit.

“The campaign will be a primary focus right now on getting to the Dubai

International Rally for some navigational and rallye experience, and to qualify for Dakar.

“Qualifying isn’t a simple process. People will submit a 45-page resumé just to say, ‘Pretty please, can I come and race your Dakar.’

“Between now and then the plan is to train up for Dubai, have a safe qualifying finish, then come back and hone down on the skills needed and the fundraising.”

With that he drained his coffee cup, crushed it with a manly grimace we’ve been trying to copy ever since, and headed off to continue his journey.

Dakar had better get ready for Scott Britnell’s arrival. If he says he’ll be on the start in 2017, we’re betting he’ll be there. We’ll be barracking for him.

Below: Scott Britnell is aiming at Dakar in 2017.

Equipped with traction control, switchable ABS, 3 Rider Modes, and a second generation 95PS 800cc triple engine with a seamless flow of torque, the new Tiger 800 XCA goes further still. Standard equipment includes heated rider and passenger seats, heated grips, LED fog lamps, and an uprated 650W alternator complete with 3 auxiliary sockets that can power everything you need from heated clothing to GPS systems. It also features aluminium pannier rails making it ready to tour with the optional Expedition luggage set.

Try it today, book a test ride at www.triumphmotorcycles.com.au

Riding for Cancer

Unsupported and out in the badlands.

Get the message!

Meet Bianca Pollard.

Bianca works as a Scope Nurse at Flinders Private Hospital, and says she’s a self-confessed adventure addict. She reckons she’s always out on her bike or dashing about the place on one adventure or another, including the occasional military obstacle course, just to keep an edge.

When she’s not out adventuring Bianca’s at work, helping people who’ve been touched by cancer.

“The strength I see through their journey, or the journey of a loved-one, is priceless,” said the South Australian. “So I dedicated an adventure to them. I headed off to Birdsville via parts of the Simpson Desert and Strzelecki Track on my DRZ400E to raise awareness of bowel cancer.”

To tackle this epic ride Bianca set up a DRZ with a 28-litre Safari Tank, specially made pannier racks, Dunlop 606s, an O-ring chain and lots more. She was completely unsupported, although she had a few mates who joined her along points of the trip.

“It was memorable,” grinned the health

worker, “but what would make it more memorable would be if everyone could get the message out to people: ‘no matter how small the symptoms may be, go see a GP’.”

Words of wisdom, especially as we

adventure riders tend to be a little longer in the tooth than some.

Awesome work by Bianca, we say, and a huge thumbs up from Adventure Rider Magazine

for

If you want to support Bianca, head to http://bcapersonalchallenge.gofundraise.com.au/page/PollardB

Suzuki V-Strom

Bianca Pollard, adventure rider and campaigner

bowel cancer awareness.

TheCongregation

Over 250 riders made their way to Moredun Ponds, near Armidale in NSW, for the first annual Adventure Rider Magazine Congregation. It was the start of something big.

The publisher had this idea:

“Let’s have a big meeting where all adventure riders, on any sort of bike, can get together.” That was it, really. That was the total idea.

Then the folks from the Armidale Adventure Riders Facebook group offered to plan a few loops, a couple of people offered to talk to the riders about various subjects, and with a post on the Adventure Rider Magazine forum and Facebook page, the whole thing began to gather momentum.

The guys at advrider.com jumped on board, and by the time September 19 rolled around, there were somewhere between 260 and 300 riders all roosting their way toward the oasis of Moredun Ponds, a fish/pig/sheep farm near Tingha, about 40km from Armidale in the New England region of NSW.

The reason the final number isn’t clear is because 260 riders registered, but according to Moredun Ponds owners AJ and Jo, 300 people paid for camping on the Saturday night. However many there were, it can only be considered a success of biblical proportions.

Oasis

After a dusty, rocky, dodge through sheep, cattle and kangaroos to ride into Moredun Ponds, riders were stunned to find an unbelievable display of rolling, lush grassland with amenities, fire pits, heaps and heaps of room and blissfully soft ground for the pitching of tents and deep, restful slumber. It just doesn’t get much better than Moredun Ponds for an adventure riders’ gathering.

Group therapy

Bob Bondeson and Julie Luxford of Alpine Adventure Bike Tours bought an enthusiastic group of 15 riders from Victoria and SA. Julie herself was recovering from a crash a few weeks before, but was beaming as she chatted to riders.

“We’ve had a guy from Townsville fly his bike down to Melbourne and he’s with us on his way back home. We’ve got another guy from Adelaide in South Australia, a few from Melbourne and one from NSW,” beamed the bubbly Bright girl. “So we’ve got a great crew!”

Julie gave some more insight into the Alpine Adventure Bike Tours trip, and you’ll find it alongside this story.

Adventure Rider Magazine columnist Karen Ramsay and husband Ramdog Dave also guided over 30 riders in from the north, and, as always, seemed to enjoy the whole atmosphere immensely.

Looped out

Julie Luxford wasn’t the only one carrying a sprain or two. Tony Bennett of the Armidale Adventure Riders Facebook group was instrumental, along with his friendly and helpful crew, in setting the loops and introducing the magazine to

Moredun Ponds in the first place, but he was standing around trying not to breathe, sneeze, or laugh at anyone’s jokes on the sunny Saturday morning.

“We did the right thing last weekend and thought we’d come and ride the loops for you,” grimaced the Armidale local, “but the Old Armidale Road near Inverell was fairly rough. I was probably going too slowly, believe it or not, and I came off and got slammed into the road. I broke a couple of ribs.”

Ouch.

Tony was there, though, helping out and offering advice where he could.

The loops the Armidale guys had set out were around two hours of mixed dirt and bitumen and captured a taste of just how sensational the New England area can be. Riders were free to ride as they pleased. They could ride both loops or none, and there were plenty of service stations and cafés scattered throughout. Sitting around and yarning was encouraged, and Guyra

Above left: With around 300 riders there was still heaps of room.

Above: The first 1500m or so of the Old Armidale Road was the roughest section of either 200km loop. Trudi Selleck of Maschine blasted her way through it.

Below: Sign on was a fairly laid-back affair.

Main: Copeton Dam was a highlight on one of the loops set up by the Armidale guys.

was about 20 minutes away for anyone who fancied a boutique coffee or perhaps needed fuel or mechanical help. It was very cruisey.

As the sun set the tent village stretched out in all directions, fires were lit, dinner served, speeches made, prizes given out and the occasional ale quietly enjoyed.

It was a truly momentous occasion, yet still a quiet and understated celebration of all that’s great about adventure riders and riding.

It’s on again

Such was the success of the first Congregation that the 2016 event has already been booked into Moredun Ponds, and is scheduled to run in September.

Above: The general store at Bundarra was a popular lunch stop. The coffee’s especially good there.

Top right: Not everyone took things easy. Miles Davis says his 1200GS ‘floats like a butterfly’. Outside the image frame is a sloped landing, but still…hoo-aah!

Right: Adventure Rider Magazine regular

Kerli had a quiet chat with BMW’s Miles Davis. Below: Riders stood around in groups yarning and introducing themsleves.

But with the enthusiastic support of the riders, and the obvious pleasure the long-distance people had in just getting to the location, there’ll be a second Congregation in November, based in the Myrtleford/Bright area of Victoria.

If there’s anywhere in Australia that can compete with New England for sensational dualsport riding, it’s Myrtleford in Victoria.

In the heart of the Victorian high country, the scenery and mountains are truly spectacular, the facilities premium, and it’s likely to be one of the best rides of the year.

Lock those dates in:

R Northern Congregation – Moredun Ponds, 17-18 September, 2016

R Southern Congregation – Myrtleford, 19-20 November, 2016

Riders can camp at both venues on the Friday night.

Details will be on the Adventure Rider Magazine forum as they become available. Be there.

Kendo Art. 9482 Protector shirt

Keltor · Art. 9481 Protector waistcoat

Sakari · Art. 9381 Back protector

Highest level of back protection - CE-EN 1621-2

KLR Kongregation

The Australian KLR riders group guys share their Congregation experience.

whipping their cattle into order, then continued back on to Thunderbolts Way and into Uralla for coffee and cake. While sitting at the café we noticed plenty of adventure riders heading in the direction of the Congregation so the decision was made to continue on Thunderbolts Way to Bundarra.

At Bundarra we came across about 20 adventure riders holed up in the shade of the general store’s awning, and we pulled up to find that most of them were on one of the mapped-out loops provided by the organisers.

We decided to purchase some beer and find the nearest dirt road to Tingha and Moredun Ponds, then stop somewhere scenic and cool, have a beer and take in that country feeling.

With that essential taken care of, it was into Moredun Ponds to set up camp and check out all things adventure and chat with like-minded people.

With such a range of people on different brands and styles of machines it goes to show the adventure-riding movement is alive and well in the Wide Brown Land.

We made sure we picked a camping spot with enough room for our fellow Australian KLR riders who would soon be arriving from Queensland, including the founder of this great group, Jared Smith.

On one of the few trips to the bar I bumped into a mate I hadn’t seen in a few years, Mitch, who works for the magazine and who was piloting the magazine’s KLR650 shop bike. So, over a well-prepared dinner a plan was hatched to ride back to Sydney the following day.

Left: Jimmy with a quick fix while Sonny lends a hand.

Above: The author, goin’ for it.

Right: Mini-Ed, Lee and Sonny enjoy a drink (as always).

Bottom: A kollection of KLR’s.

All over

We awoke to clear skies and there had been hardly any dew, which is always nice when you have to pack up your camping gear.

We were provided with fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, gilled tomato, coffee and dinner by the organisers. That was fantastic value for our $30.00 camping fee.

It was a slower start than usual on a dreary Friday morning on September 17, so it was in a bit of a rush that I headed off 30 minutes late to meet my mate, Sonny, in Kulnura.

The trusty KLR made its way through the picturesque countryside of Wollombi, near Singleton, NSW.

The further west we travelled the more the weather improved, and we rolled into Moonan Flat where the real adventure riding would begin.

We arrived at Moonan Flat pub to be greeted by four fellow adventure riders on the way to the Congregation as well, and amid their group was another mighty KLR rider.

Add ons

From Moonan Flat it was on to the dirt of Hunter Road with all its water

crossings and wandering cattle, which was interesting. The water crossings were shin deep, so they were fun. All levels of riders and classes of bikes could handle this road.

We made it into Nundle and the Peel Inn for a counter lunch and a beer, then we topped up the tanks and continued along the very scenic, twisty, gravel roads through Ogunbil, Weabonga, Limbri and Woolbrook to our destination for the night at Walcha.

The Royal Walcha Café was very bike friendly with great food, cold beer and a lock-up shed to keep the KLRs secure while we were at the pub having Chinese.

Not long after Sonny and I got there another mate of ours, Jim, arrived, and over at the pub we

bumped into another Australian KLR Rider, Corin, who’d come up from Sydney with two of his mates. We bolted back to the room to watch the second half of the NRL preliminary final and then headed off to bed, anticipating the next day’s ride to Moredun Ponds and the Congregation.

Chance meeting

We rose early to cloudy skies, packed the bikes and fuelled up.

We made our way to Emu Creek Road and then hit the dirt heading for Uralla. The scenery consisted of tree-lined country roads and wide, open plains with a few derelict farmhouses thrown in for good photo opportunities.

We stopped for a quick chat with some local stockmen who were busy

With a departure time decided all that was left to do was to sit back, have a few beers and listen to our talented mate Jim belt out a few tunes on his blues harp.

After breakfast we took a few photos and said our goodbyes to our Australian KLR rider brothers and off we went. We fuelled at Guyra, then it was back down to Uralla and onto Thunderbolts Way to Walcha for coffee and scones, then to Gingers Creek via Apsley Falls. At Gingers Creek we took Cells River Road – which I’ve done several times and is fantastic ride – and set a quick pace

through the tight corners of the beautiful countryside. We arrived at Gloucester around 2.00pm and said our goodbyes, promising to be at the next Adventure Rider Magazine Congregation. Mitch, Jim and myself did the boring run down the freeway to finish off a fantastic three days of adventure riding. We live in an awesome country.

Words and images: Lee Danswan

Team Alpine Adventure Bike Tours

When we heard about the Congregation down in Victoria we knew we had to get a bunch of riders together to make the trek to the inaugural event. We knew the ride would be great, but we didn’t count on meeting and getting to know such a great group of like-minded people.

Diversity

After throwing our ride out there on various forums, we came up with a group of 14. I’d hoped to be riding too, but after a tumble I was relegated to the backup vehicle. We had a mix of ages, bikes and abilities, and a lady rider, too! There was even a Queenslander in the group. ‘Dicko’ put his bike on a truck in Townsville, then flew down to join us and ride home. What a great bloke – a wealth of riding knowledge, a capable rider and all-round nice guy. Marty joined us from Adelaide, a few came from Melbourne, east Gippsland, Merimbula, and of course we roped in a few Myrtleford locals too.

Slipper

We woke on the Tuesday morning to rain and fog. Our plans to take our

visitors for a bit of sightseeing didn’t quite work out, but still Bob led the group into the pines and tried to show off our magnificent region.

We’d had just enough rain to make the tracks very slippery and it didn’t take long for the first rider to go down. It was nothing serious, just a low-speed slip in the wet clay. It was our only female rider, Sharon, and she saw the lighter side and had a giggle about ‘checking for that gold coin that she dropped on the ground’.

While a few of the group stopped, a very creative line was found nearby. We still haven’t had anyone to own up to what looks like a very near miss.

Wondering

Travelling on mainly dirt tracks, we crossed the Hume Dam via the ferry to then pick up a great winding road with amazing views of green, rolling hills. Another ‘team member’ joined us at Jingelic and stopped for lunch at Walwa. It was clear just a few hours in how well everyone was getting along. There were

friendly slinging matches already in play.

Late that afternoon we all rolled into Jugiong, cleaned up and made our way into the pub. The stories started: did you see? What about when? How did you go through? And the still unanswered question remained: who nearly lost it in the pines and left a very creative line as evidence?

Skipping the skippies

The second day began with a big breakfast followed by more awesome tracks, a few creek crossings, no highways and meeting at Lyndhurst for lunch.

Bob Bondeson and Julie Luxford, from Myrtleford in the Victorian high country, led a happy crew north.

Crossing the Macquarie River west of Hill End. The murky water made it impossible to pick a good line, so teamwork got everyone across without incident.

Team Alpine ready to depart Myrtleford in Victoria. More riders joined as the team travelled north.

Words: Julie Luxford. Images: Julie and The Alpine Adventure Trial Bike Tours crew

At lunch the gang was offered two options – stay off-road or slab it to Bathurst, cut a lap around Mt Panorama then run into Hill End.

We divided up and conquered!

Three riders and the back-up vehicle went to Mt Panorama – and why not? We were so close and the mountain track had to be experienced! Michael and Sharon had a road-riding background and were as keen as mustard to give it a go, as was Steve, aka ‘Fish’.

We took a bunch of happy snaps and imagined going full tilt around the course. Some top-secret intel advised we stick to the speed limits as there were sneaky cameras that could prove costly.

After cutting a lap, I reset the GPS to take us to Hill End. knew I couldn’t get the ute through the Bridle Track so we decided to keep slabbing it. In any event, it was getting late in the day and we were all wary of Skippies.

Crossed up

After a winding, and frankly nerve-wracking, run to Hill End with plenty of wildlife in sight, we pulled into the pub expecting to see the others, but there was no sign of them.

Then James rolled in. Alone.

It turned out James got a bit bushed when we all took off after lunch. He started following us to Bathurst, but realised he wanted to be with the other group. They were well and truly out of sight by the time he turned around to find them. We ran with the cornerman system, and when our

off bikes. Upon joining the Fall Down club riders were presented with a stubby holder kindly donated by Funnelweb Filters. Thankfully everyone saw the light side of this membership and used their stubby holders proudly.

It was a frosty start, but Team Alpine (as we were affectionately named by Sharon), headed off from Hill End destined for Scone, where all arrived feeling a little weary, but still smiling.

We checked in and then ‘opened the workshop’. There was new rubber, new brake pads fitted, fiddley bolts replaced, chain lube and a general check over.

Best is yet to come

On the morning of the final leg to the Congregation we had a bunch of creek crossings to cover and all were completed without incident…although Sharon did mention she thought Bob was trying to kill her at one point.

sweep saw James heading the other way, he assumed he had everyone.

Bob and his crew had a great afternoon. They arrived with boots full of water, but were still grinning. They’d crossed the Macquarie River west of Hill End, and it was quite a bit wider than expected. The murky water made it impossible to pick a good line, so in order to get across without drowning bikes, they elected to work as a team and help each other across. It was a wise and effective move, considering we weren’t even halfway yet.

Bolted

An exclusive club was created along the way which came to be known as the ‘Fall Down club’. Thankfully incidents were only minor, and other than some good bruising there were no serious injuries, but the back of the ute was carrying a fair load of parts

I guess I was expecting a paddock to camp in when we got to the Congregation. I’d been assured by the publisher that we’d be impressed, but I was still a little sceptical. It felt like we were riding into the middle of nowhere, but through the dust and dry surrounds I spotted some green. We’d made it and were welcomed by AJ and his family to his amazing property. After covering quite a bit of ground over four days, most of Team Alpine elected to just chill out on the Saturday, enjoying the surrounds, wandering around, checking out everyone’s bikes and of course enjoying a few drinks and more laughs. What a great adventure, ride and gathering of like-minded people. Alpine Adventure Bike Tours is excited to show everyone the magnificent Victorian alpine region next year in November for the Southern Adventure Riders’ Congregation.

The rider responsible for this creative line was never found.

The Fall Down club.

Dualsport australia

As good

as it gets

The new DualSport Australia navigation disc is out. Adventure Rider Magazine loaded up the files, grabbed DualSport Australia main man Marty Blake, and headed out to see what the third instalment had to offer.

We love the Dualsport Australia discs here at Adventure Rider Magazine. The first disc took us from Moonan Flat up to Woodenbong. We rode our brains out on it in issue #06, then a couple of more times until, exhausted, we slumped back into our office chairs gasping for breath.

Then the second disc – Central NSW – landed on our desks, and we once again loaded the bikes, GPS and route-sheet holder before yelling, “Chasing a story!” to the business manager as we scuttled out the door.

Disc Two joined Disc One at Moonan Flat, and in no time had us up to our ’nads in the amazing scenery of places like Bathurst and the Hunter Valley.

We rode and rode and rode.

We rode until the business manager yelled at us over the phone, demanding to know where we were and reminding us the deadline for issue #09 was only a few days away.

We skulked back to the office, grinning like loons and trying to look apologetic at the same time.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, Disc Three has landed like a cow pat on a country road, and while we’ve only had time for a very brief skip across the top of what the disc has to offer, we’re stinging to get out there and ride it.

All of it.

The sooner the better!

The trequel

The new disc joins the second disc at Barraba and the first disc at Willawarrin and Urbenville.

So while this third disc has over 1800km of loops through the gorgeous New England region, it joins up with the first two to offer over 6500km of GPS routes, printable route sheets and tips on accommodation, fuel, food and camping stops.

This time we quietly sneaked out of the office, trying to look like we were off to get a coffee and would be back shortly. Once in the car park, we turned the phones off and headed for Guyra, going like cut cats.

It’s who you know

We had a real problem: we could only afford two days for this first ride. There was so much clearly on offer that two days was just crazy.

It wasn’t a matter of what to see, but to accept there was so much we couldn’t see. The Condamine River Road with all its creek crossings? Were we happy to do without that one?

No, we frigging weren’t.

The locked back room at Willawarrin?

Hell no! Nobody wants to miss that!

The Old Armidale Road?

Of course not.

Marty HC, owner of the DualSport Australia discs, offered to show us

how to skip back and forth across the loops to pick up a few highlights, but to still leave us wanting more.

And that’s what he did.

All to plan

With Guyra a good central departure point, the short break began, heading along the gorgeous Baldersleigh Road, out past the Congregation site at Moredun Ponds, through Tingha and into Inverell for lunch.

The sun was shining, the sky glowed a deep blue, and the crystalline granite roads were an absolute joy on an adventure bike.

The farms came and went, as did occasional short stretches of winding bitumen, and after a quick chat with Vince Strang, a croissant and coffee at an Inverell snackery and a bit of a look around, the pink line again led the riders into the kind of riding that only happens in dreams…unless you’re in New England on a sunny spring day. No-one was too worried about where we were heading. Between the GPS track and having Marty HC himself on the ride – even though he refused to lead, saying, “It’s easier to follow you than find you,” –there was never any stress about navigation or the next supply stop.

Pindari Dam, across the Severn River near Ashford, was an

u Main: There were a few tighter sections, but no single track.

Above left: Macintyre Falls was a nice stop, even though there wasn’t much water falling while we were there.

Above right: Lemon Tree Flat is a premium campground. There’s coin-operated barbecues, fireplaces, running water, dunnies, swimming, amazingly tame wildlife and soft ground for camping.

unexpected highlight, and the odd cave and waterfall made for a scenic and very enjoyable afternoon.

Camp was at Lemon Tree Flat, a serene and glorious campsite about 30 minutes from Ashford, and after a quick dip in the river and a few bent tent pegs, peace settled on the weary travellers. Sigh.

If only our office could be in a place like this one.

Plan be buggered!

The sun woke everyone with its gentle peeping over the treetops. The kangaroos and possums didn’t seem to care how many campers there were. They just kept on munching away at grass and whatever else they could find as swags were packed and bikes started.

A short run along some really beautiful roads had everyone at Ashford for breakfast and a tank of fuel, and then setting off in a leisurely way for Delungra.

It was on this stretch that the weather began to look just a little threatening.

Although the riders were in solid sunshine, there appeared to be a line drawn with a meteorological ruler up ahead, and everything on the other side of that line was very, very black…except for the lightning that was zapping about the place with remarkable frequency.

After a brief regroup and committee meeting, Marty HC was pushed to the front and told to “get us the hell back to Guyra. Fast!”

Which he did.

A sedate but hurried run along Old

Armidale Road had everyone back on the asphalt just as the rain started, and that meant about 30 minutes of road in what turned out to be just ‘rain’. It wasn’t a violent storm and no-one’s life was threatened. It just made the coffee, chips and gravy at Guyra taste that much better.

Snapshot

So there it was. A very tiny taste of what the third disc had to offer. It was enough. If the riding can be that good, and the scenery that spectacular in just a single day-and-a-bit, we can’t wait to see what DualSport Australia’s third disc has to offer over a few days and a lot more distance. Can

Above left: The limestone cave on the way to Lemon Tree Flat is signposted. It’s a long, deep cavern once you get inside.

Above right: Fuel and food stops are all highlighted on the disc. Tingha is a good example of the pretty country towns scattered along the routes.

all the roads be this crunchy, high-traction granite? Can all the scenery be as almighty as the stark trees around Pindari dam? Can all the native animals be as cute and friendly as the ones at Lemon Tree Flat?

And Condamine River Road is still waiting! These questions will be answered in coming issues…as soon as we can come up with an excuse the business manager will believe.

Great Rides Vol 3-North-west NSW

The new DualSport Australia disc, along with the first two instalments in the Great Rides series, is available from the Adventure Rider Magazine e-store. Log on to www.advridermag.com.au, click on the ADV MAG STORE tab and grab yourself a copy in time for Christmas. Better still, grab the whole set!

Matt Phillpott

Wollongong’s Matt Phillpott, 53, is a quietly spoken and well-presented sort of bloke. He sits at the helm of a company called Rideworx. Does that ring any bells? What if we point out that Rideworx manufactures Barkbusters? Ah. Now there’s a great product everyone knows.

Right: Matt rode the ISDE in Italy in 1986. Most of his racing was done on KTMs, and they’re still his choice of bike. He has an 1190, a 690 and a Freeride 250.

Those with long memories will remember engineer Ted Goddard coming up with the idea for an aluminium hand protector called Barkbusters in the 1980s. Through the ’80s and onwards, Barkbusters became as common as helmets and boots for Australian off-road riders. Ted, a successful engineer with a business to run, produced Barkbusters, virtually by hand, in his spare time with the help of his wife, Ann.

Now, 30 years later, Barkbusters are standard equipment all over the world.

The big leap from a small operation to an international success is largely due to the vision and hard work of Matt Phillpott.

AdvR: What’s your background, Matt? Are you some kind of super-brainbox engineering type?

MP: started out in a motorcycle shop, pretty well straight out of school, when I was about 18.

I worked at Bill Morris Motorcycles here in Wollongong for about 10 years. I started out in spare parts, accessories, doing pre-delivery and assembly of bikes and worked my way up to manager. In 1989 I had a gap year and travelled the world. When I returned I went to work at City Coast Motorcycles, also here in Wollongong, for about three years.

Then I got a job with the Shell Company as a motorcycle lubricant sales rep for NSW. I was with Shell for around five years and it gave me a bit of an idea of the wholesale side of the business and how big business works in the motorcycle industry. It was my university (laughs).

AdvR: Were you always a rider? MP: rode a few mates’ bikes when I was in my teenage years. When I was 17 had my first motorbike

u

Main: Matt designed and developed a lot of the robotics and automation.

Left: Adventure Rider Magazine staffers love the BBZs.

InDustRy playeRs

here in Wollongong. had a variety of different bikes, mostly dirt bikes, and started racing enduros in the early 1980s. I competed in many Australian Four Day Enduros and NSW championships as well as two ISDEs. was a middle-of-the-road sort of rider. I just enjoyed doing it. I tried the best I could, but I was never at the pointy end of the field.

AdvR: How long have you known Ted Goddard?

MP: Since the early ’80s, when Ted first started making Barkbusters. saw them and thought, ‘That’s a great idea! I’d better get some of those.’ wouldn’t ride without them after that.

AdvR: What about the personal connection with Ted?

MP: I developed a close friendship with Ted after I started using his product. I bought many sets off him over the years, and then he sponsored me as a racer. Being in the bike shop, occasionally there’d be different models Ted would want to fit the handguards to, and we’d help him out with that. got to know him very well and developed a good relationship with him.

Other handguard competitors began to come on to the market, and customers especially liked the look of the Acerbis plastic guards. That’s when I approached Ted with the idea to develop the first Barkbusters plastic guard.

AdvR: What did you know about plastics?

Left: The Barkbusters product range has diversified over the years.

Below: The EGO was developed so it could be bent automatically, rather than manually.

Right: He might look like a happy office worker, but Matt Phillpott is probably smiling because he’s imagining his next ride.

right from the start?

MP: When I bought the business most of the manufacturing was done manually. In one bar there could be four holes, and they were all drilled one at a time and the radiussing – the shaping of the bar end – was done manually. I thought, “If we want to ramp things up a bit we’ll need to automate some of this”. That’s when I developed a machine that had automatic drills on it. I looked at the way things were working and thought I’d just use similar principles, but I’d automate them. I also looked at things like the clamp around the handlebar and looked for a way to do that which was simpler and more flexible in the way it mounted. What was your first big breakthrough with the automation?

MP: I didn’t know anything about plastics, but I knew that Ted needed something, and I figured it’d be good to have something that worked specifically for his product. We worked on it together and I made up a prototype out of wood and a bit of bog, and came up with a shape we were happy with. We got an injection-moulding tool made, and that was my first involvement in the manufacturing side.

Eventually Ted wanted to retire, and it was obvious that I was the first person to talk to about purchasing the Barkbusters business.

AdvR: Did Ted just pop up and say, “Hey, mate. Gunna retire. What do you think about taking over the business?”

MP: Yeah. That’s pretty much how it happened.

AdvR: Did you kick off on your own? You have a good team here now.

MP: I had a couple of guys helping me out part time in the early days. I started employing one person, then two, and as it got busier we employed more. Now there’s 12 of us.

AdvR: Robotics and automation plays a big part in your manufacturing process, and you designed and built a lot of the machinery yourself. Was that your plan

We’re able to make a lot more products without having to retool for different models.

Then I developed the VPS. It’s a bit more open and has more room for longer levers.

The VPS has allowed us to develop many bike-specific handguards where the universal product didn’t fit. The bike-specific range of Barkbusters began with adventure bikes and has now expanded to cover street bikes and many other popular models.

AdvR: Did you chase your first export deal?

MP: I certainly thought, ‘Okay. There’s more sales if we can export’. If we could do in other countries what we were doing here, it was going to help the bottom line.

We started in New Zealand, then looked to Europe and the US. We did a private-label deal on EGO handguards for FMF for quite a few years.

The bar bending.

That was all done manually as well, and there might’ve been four bends in a bar. I felt it was time for something new, and that’s when I developed the EGO handguard, and I designed it so it could be done automatically, rather than bending it manually. I used air rams so you could just push a button rather than swing off a lever to put the shape into it. That really transformed the business.

AdvR: You’ve also been diversifying the product range.

MP: It’s come full circle in a way. Ted had a lot of different models for a lot of different bikes, but I developed the EGO and the new mounting clamp in a way to make it so that the one product can fit all those models. Maybe with just a spacer here and there. It’s become almost universal now. One product does all, and that’s great as far as production goes.

I went looking for more export opportunities so went to a trade show called Intermot in 1994 in Munich. That was where met the guys from KTM and we started doing some business with them. It took a little while to get it to work, but it did. Then, as time went on, all the local importers of the Japanese bikes wanted our product on their bikes. Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki use, or have used, our product as OEM fittings. Also KTM uses our product in its Powerparts accessories range.

We private label for SW Motech in Germany as well, and they sell that product all over the world. They’re probably close to one of our biggest customers.

We’re now selling Barkbusters into over 30 countries worldwide.

AdvR: Where’s the business heading?

MP: We’re hoping to get into China.

As that market’s maturing, there’s more and more demand for product like ours. It’s just a matter of getting in there at the right time, and we’re starting some early groundwork.

I think it’s a small motorcycle handguard market, but with the population numbers in China, what’s ‘small’ there would be massive for us.

AdvR: Any hot new product we should know about?

MP: We’ve developed the BBZ for very cold weather conditions, which you guys are familiar with, and it’s been hugely successful, here and overseas. We’re also producing external ’bar-end weights to reduce vibration.

Our latest release are LED indicators and position lights which are an accessory for our plastic guards.

The LEDs are retro-fit only. They’ll fit on the JET, VPS, and STORM guards. They’re supplied with the drilling template, and the owner just drills them in and wires them up.

We’re working on a couple of new off-road handguards, too. One is an evolution of the EGO, our most popular handguard. It’s like nothing else on the market. It’s quite unique and should appeal to quite a broad range of riders.

tips and pointers Armour

The term ‘armour’ means different things to different riders. Here’s a few thoughts to consider when making decisions about your protective apparel.

Armour’s been around motorcycling for a long time. For some it’s a set of plastic or gel inserts in strategically placed pockets on a jacket and pants, and for others it can mean a full ‘pressure suit’, including spine protection and varying plates and padding, some of which can be detached or moved. For motocrossers the term body armour means a hard shell protecting the chest, shoulders and thorax, while other items are called knee guards, elbow guards and so forth. It’s a

bewildering world of choice, and for the purposes of this piece, when we’re talking about ‘armour’ we’ll be talking about the gear adventure riders use to protect themselves from impact injuries.

In the beginning

Like so many innovations in our sport, armour was pioneered by the motocross guys, and to kick off, those guys were concerned with trying to ease the impact shock of rocks and debris thrown from bikes in front. The early examples of what we now call armour were

the anterior or front area of the bicep.

“I think then the company Jofa produced a protector with front and back cover. To me they were the very first examples I used. The Torsten Hallman was a roost protector, and the Jofa, because it protected the back as well, was the first body armour.”

Steve’s talking about roughly 1973, and at that time the protection was based around soft materials like padded leather that would distribute the effect of an impact over a wide area.

After a while the technology of plastics advanced to where very thin, impact-resistant shells could be moulded into curves. Acerbis was at the forefront of the use of plastics in motorcycle apparel and fittings, but there were a lot of companies who saw the potential and jumped in.

Far left: Adventure riders are more likely to fall at lower speeds than racers, and armour integrated into a riding suit offers minimum fuss and maximum comfort with very little compromise in effectiveness.

Left: Held’s Kendo is a good example of a pressure suit that uses smart armour.

Below: Hard armour is the type most often seen in motocross knee guards and body armour. Areas that need to allow movement, like shoulders, knees and elbows, require hinging of some kind. u

called ‘chest protectors’.

Someone who saw the early examples of protective apparel was Australia’s first professional motocrosser, Stephen Gall.

“The first time I used something like that was one of the Torsten Hallman chest protectors,” said Gally (for those who love a little trivia, the apparel brand THOR is in fact an acronym for Torsten Hallman Original Racewear).

“It went from the mid-abdominal area and over the shoulders. Then there was an attachment that went over, and protected,

Anyhoo, over the decades, technology has had a very major impact of its own on the production and design of armour. There’s a big range of materials and designs on offer, and it’s not easy for a mere adventure rider to know which one will suit his needs. As always, opinions differ and each rider will have to decide which of the many alternatives will best fulfil his or her needs. Ray Mustafa of Held Australia sums it up well. “At the end of the day, if you’re out riding, on- or off-road, you need some level of protection, and most riders will have an idea of the type of protection they’re looking for.”

Horses for corsets

There’s no possible argument that the more safety gear a rider wears, the better protected he will be. Take a look at a professional supercross or MotoGP rider to get an idea of how the very top level of the sport does it. But does an adventure rider need that level of protection?

Sometimes different situations will demand different approaches. Adventure Moto’s Steve Smith, importer of Klim, is a good example.

“The simple rule for me is that when I’m doing more technical rides, like some of the special sections of the RideADV rides for example, I’ll be more comfortable wearing knee braces and a pressure suit, primarily because as your body temperature climbs with the hard work, you can peel off layers and remove even your jacket, and still be protected.

“But if I’m just doing a general adventure ride, I’m quite content with the armour that’s in the Klim suit I’m wearing.”

We liked Robin Box’ thoughts on primary and secondary safety and how he assesses his level of protective kit.

Left: Miles Davis has been wearing BMW Rallye suits for a long time, and is happy to demonstrate the effectiveness of the armour.

Below: Armour integrated into a jacket allows fuss-free removal during stops.

Right: A pressure suit offers excellent protection, but holds a lot of body heat. The payback is, when the body’s working hard, all other jackets and jerseys can be removed and the rider can keep his maximum protection level and ride in the pressure suit only. The mesh allows a lot of cooling airflow.

Below right: It’s still common to see an adventure rider unzip a jacket to reveal motocross-style armour.

“Armour is secondary safety,” said the Touratech importer with his usual clear grasp of a situation.

“A rider’s primary safety is not falling off. The question of armour’s effectiveness only arises when the primary safety has failed, so it’s secondary safety.

“A racer will be riding at speeds and on terrain that will mean his primary safety is likely to fail – a fall at high speed is probable. An adventure rider should be riding with a far greater margin of safety. A fall for an adventure rider is less likely, and likely to be at a much lower speed, than a racer.”

Robin’s reasoning is, therefore, that an adventure rider may be justified in accepting a less intrusive level of safety equipment than a professional racer.

BMW’s Miles Davis agrees.

“When it comes to adventure riding, the riding gear you wear is sort of like the tyres you use and the bike you buy and everything else. It’s always going to be a compromise. On an adventure bike you might be doing 150kph on the bitumen one minute, and then next minute you might be in first gear on single track.

“Some people lean toward motocross

gear because that’s what their background is, and that’s great when you’re in the single track. Other people might lean towards leathers because that’s what they’ve worn and that’s what they know. They’re probably the two extremes. Somehow you have to find something you’re comfortable in and that still offers protection when things go pear-shaped.”

Hard versus soft

While ideas on the level of protection required may vary from rider to rider, there’ll be very few adventure riders who aren’t using some degree of protective gear combined with their riding jacket and riding pants, and most of us call it armour. In the bike world armour falls into roughly two categories: soft and hard. Hard armour is the type most often seen in motocross knee guards and body armour. It’s usually inflexible, impact-resistant plastic. Areas that need to allow movement, like knees and elbows, require hinging of some kind, and the material is usually impermeable, so it doesn’t breathe.

It holds a lot of heat, but it does offer excellent protection from impact and puncture incidents.

It’s usually not terribly comfortable,

especially on a hot day or for long rides. Robin Box is a good example of the development route many ex-racer adventure riders follow.

“I used to always wear full armour, both hard and soft,” said the Victorian plastics and composites expert. “But the armour would use for racing was too hot when started adventure riding. My fluid intake went up a hell of a lot as a result, and I think it brought on a bit of early-onset fatigue. The heat fatigue and the water consumption that the race armour caused made me change to lighten the load. I dress myself a lot more comfortably now.

“It’s a bit like adventure-riding boots compared to motocross boots. The adventure boots don’t offer the same level of protection as motocross footwear, but they offer a lot better comfort level. You have to get rid of your heavy gear so you’re nimble, cool and stay alert and don’t fall off. Inbuilt, flexible, smart armour is the most comfortable I’ve found.”

Get smart

Soft armour, especially the new compounds often called ‘smart’ armour which lock up on impact but remain pliable in general use, offer a far higher degree of comfort with very little compromise in protection over hard armour.

The compromise is there, without doubt, but given the less-stressful scenario of adventure riding over racing, it’s usually considered acceptable, especially as the technology of the smart armour races ahead.

Miles Davis again.

“I’ve been wearing the BMW Rallye suit for the last 10 years, and the quality of the armour inserts is probably one of the key factors in the apparel’s safety aspect. There’s a degree of flexibility and there’s a degree of impact absorption. It’s not rigid, so it doesn’t transfer the energy of an impact straight through to the body part, but it’s not too soft and flexible.”

Miles actually gave a very convincing demonstration. He grabbed an empty bottle and smacked himself on the knee with a force that made everyone in sight cringe. Uninjured, he offered the same demonstration on anyone who cared to try, but everyone seemed to suddenly be busy checking their phones and noticing something interesting out the window. There are a few examples of smart armour around these days. Touratech uses its own, Klim has D30 and Held has SAS-TEC. The idea is the same no matter what the brand. The protection is flexible, and therefore very comfortable to wear, until it’s needed as protection. On impact, the armour pad effectively ‘locks up’ and becomes a hard shell in a time so short it can be considered instantaneous.

Comfort zone

body shape and offer very high levels of comfort.

“You want to make sure that, although the armour inserts are convenient, they have to be in the right place to work properly,” he said, just back from a 4000km ride in the US.

“Quite often there’s a little flexibility in the fit of a jacket or pants, because everyone has different limb lengths and body sizes. I can only speak for Klim, but you can actually adjust the positioning of your elbow pads and knee pads. There are little velcro strips that allow you to pocket the armour inside the sleeve or pant to suit your height. So if you have short arms or legs you can adjust

Undoubtedly, the biggest advantage in soft armour is comfort. Until smart armour is hit by something it’s flexible and allows very free movement for a rider, but buyers need to be wary about whether they’re being offered smart armour or just soft armour. Generally the price will be a good indication. If you can buy armour pads for the price of a couple of burger meals, it won’t be smart armour. It’ll be soft armour. Soft armour is definitely way better than no protection at all, but it’s a very far cry from the protection offered by hightech – and more expensive – smart armour. But comfort and convenience is a big consideration for adventure riders. Anyone who’s suited up for a serious motocross or road race will know that fitting high-quality knee braces, neck brace, back protector and various other safety items takes time and requires a bit of fiddling around. Adventure riders stopping for lunches, scenery, chats or any number of reasons would very quickly get jacked off with that ritual. Having armour segments within apparel makes everything so much easier.

“Inserts inside comfortable, all-season gear means you just grab it, put it on, and you know you’ve always got the protection inside it,” said Miles Davis. “You don’t have to mix up and protect things. It’s just straightforward.”

Steve Smith, importer of Klim, agrees, but makes an interesting point.

upper-body protector. There are plenty of seasoned riders who still use hard armour and feel it’s the option that best suits them, but the number changing to high-tech smart compounds seems to be rising fast.

And that’s the crux of the armour decision.

Every rider has to decide what will best suit their needs. Have a good look at yourself and your riding. Try and see where you feel vulnerable and try and find protection to cover that vulnerability. Past injuries are an excellent indicator of areas deserving special attention.

Ray Mustafa said it well: “Some riders don’t like to ride with a chest protector, but then, if one of those riders has a decent shunt and detaches a sternum, he’ll wear a chest protector in future.”

What Ray’s saying is that choosing your armour isn’t an exact science, and what suits one rider may not suit the rider on the bike next to him, but we learn as we go.

“The thing is to spend a bit of time getting the jacket and the pant to fit your body, but also make sure the size is right. Don’t get an extra-large if you’re a large, just because you like a lot of room to move. You want it to be comfortable, but you also want it to fit well so you don’t have the armour moving around. If you take a fall, you don’t want the armour to shift so it’s your elbow or knee that’s scraping on the ground, if you know what I mean.”

Ray Mustafa of Held Australia is another fan of smart armour for adventure riders.

“Obviously comfort is important, and it’s also important that the smart armour moulds to a rider’s body shape. Every rider is completely different, so you want armour that’s universal and can mould to an individual’s needs without expensive or time-consuming modification. It needs to be light and durable, and of course it needs to pass all the CE certifications to make sure it gives true protection.

“The SAS-TEC armour you’ll find in our Carese touring jacket is exactly the same armour as you’ll find in our world-class race suits. The SAS-TEC technology allows that high level of comfort and safety in all situations, and that versatility is important.”

Hard up

What about hard armour?

Strangely, no-one we spoke to had anything to say about hard armour, and by ‘hard’ we mean hard plastics.

Curiously, Adventure Rider Magazine’s editor uses hard-plastic AXO knee guards he’s had since the mid-1990s. And it’s not unusual to see an adventure rider open his jacket at a stop to reveal a motocross

And it’s a situation that can – and should change. As your riding style and type changes, as you age, even with a change of bike, safety requirements need to be constantly assessed and adjusted to suit.

The case for hard armour

All our industry correspondents favoured smart armour for adventure riding, but one very experienced figure was keen to ensure hard armour options weren’t dismissed. Among his other undeniable achievements, Stephen Gall is Australia’s most senior accredited motorcycle coach and pretty much pioneered the way Australian off-road racers train and prepare, including their choices and use of safety apparel. Now happy and comfortable on a Super Ténéré when there’s an adventure ride on offer, Gally’s still a big fan of hard armour.

“We adventure riders are playing with heavy machines over a variety of surfaces at sometimes high speeds,” said the thoughtful Gold Coaster. “After witnessing many crashes by adventure riders I’ll always lean towards the stronger, harder protection.

“The body temperature control can be varied by the careful jacket and pants selection, and correct undergarments.

“Most of us think, ‘It won’t be me that crashes,’ but, as we all know, it catches up with all of us. When it does you’ll be thankful for good personal protection!”

Below: Soft padding and armour, like the smart armour shown on this Touratech hip-and-thigh protector, will fit to a rider’s

hard-pannier hard men

Hard-pannier

Hard men

The Tiger 800 XRx gets its first hit out and Adventure Rider Magazine’s editor embraces the hard-pannier way of life.

A folding table, a couple of folding chairs, a thermos and a sensational view.

That’s what this kind of riding is all about.

Iwas really impressed with Triumph’s Tiger 800XRx and was keen to have a crack at riding for relaxation and pleasure. That sounded like a lot of stress-free fun, and I was bit over the amount of wear-and-tear I was putting on other people’s new bikes. The Triumph guys, as usual, caught the mood and said, “Why don’t you hang on to the XRx for while? You can do some of that kind of riding and see if it’s for you.”

I grabbed the key and bolted.

The team

The first thing I had to do was photograph the bike, so I clipped on the panniers and headed off to a scenic picnic spot I knew. As I shimmied between the bollards someone had put there to stop people driving their cars down to the riverside, had my first hard-pannier experience, snagging one of the bollards and damaging the pannier beyond repair. D’oh. They’re wide buggers, aren’t they?

After another one of those embarrassing phone calls to Triumph a brand-new pannier was supplied, a ‘wide-load’ sticker taped to the underside of my visor so I wouldn’t forget, and I set about trying to find some people to ride with.

Chris Laan, the man who kicked off the Adventure Challenge, is a very gentlemanly rider. He and his BMW F800GSA, complete with hard u

panniers and top box, are experts in the luxurious type of riding I was looking for.

Darren Newbury, electrician and DR650 rider, was also really keen to come for a loop and declared he didn’t mind how much bitumen was involved, he just

wanted to go for a ride. Chris mapped out a two-day route and supplied GPX files, and on a sunny Spring morning we headed west from the coast, looking forward to the first scheduled coffee stop just short of an hour away in Dorrigo.

Priorities sorted

Even though the pace was entirely legal and leisurely, the XRx is a thrill on a mountain road. It’s just so damn nimble and easy to ride. I was chuckling as we cruised up Dorrigo mountain because the Tiger may have been purring, but it was obvious it was ready to roar at any twist of the throttle.

As we pulled into Juan’s quirky café it felt as though we hadn’t even started. But here we were, sitting down for a cappuccino and a look at the phone in case someone from work had sent an email or made a call and might find out what I was up to.

As we sipped our way through that first frothy, milky cup of goodness, Chris expounded on the coffee shops before us. He had tales of historical wonder concerning several of the planned stops, and it was with eager anticipation we stowed the phones, slipped back onto the bikes and headed for the next caffeine hit about 40 minutes away at a place called Wongwabinda.

I could hardly fit my grin inside my helmet. I reached effortlessly into the tankbag, grabbed the new microfibre cloth I had there and dabbed away at my spotless visor. This was the life!

Mountie

We left the bitumen about 80km later, and straight away the lively feel of the Triumph became more noticeable. The smaller front wheel and shorter wheelbase that make it such a delight on tight asphalt result in the bike being a little twitchy on dirt, and it has a very noticeable tendency to follow ruts.

This turned out to be just a matter of getting used to the feel. The bike was still comfortable and very capable on the dusty, hard-packed surface. It just felt different. Thanks to Chris holding a sensible pace, I was able to settle back and take in the glory of the morning. The sky was a deep, bright blue, the paddocks and forest were as green as could be, and the numerous kangaroos and wallabies bouncing between riders from behind rocks and trees kept everyone wide awake.

It was only a few kilometres down this first stretch of dirt that there was a hint something wasn’t right with the Tiger. I pulled over to discover one of the panniers – the larger one, holding the camera gear – had jumped off its mount. In fact, it’d broken a locking tang that should’ve held it in place. I’d messed around with the mounts when I received the new pannier, and I’d clearly upset some delicate balance. A twist of rope

and a strap or two had everything back in place and we set off again, now well and truly ready for a refreshment stop.

The Chris Of Death

The Wongwabinda café was something of an enigma. I’d heard of it, and I’d stopped there a few times, but I’d never found it open. So I wasn’t too upset when we pulled up to find it closed on this occasion.

Okay. Maybe I said a few harsh words, and maybe there’s a photo floating around that looks as though I was having a bit of a sulk, but it was actually shot just as I was sucking on one of those sour lollies the kids like.

Yeah. That was it. A sour lolly.

The strange thing was, as the trip progressed, it seemed every place Chris had recommended was either closed or had gone broke when we got there.

Hmm…

The great outdoors

The ‘no stress’ theme was brilliantly illustrated when Chris pulled the team up about 10km from the Wongwabinda café. The view was spectacular, the temperature moderate, and the setting too good to miss. Chris calmly flipped open his panniers and top box and produced a folding table, two folding chairs, a thermos and some coffee. Darren just as calmly produced a Tupperware container of ANZAC bikkies that would have had Dave ‘Ramdog’ Ramsay drooling with envy, and we sat to enjoy a yarn, a view, and some really excellent baked treats.

The right place

As the day progressed and the coffee and viewing stops continued, we looped back and forth, on and off the bitumen, through the stunning scenery, and I realised something else about this type of riding: I didn’t know where we were going, and it didn’t seem to matter.

We had the GPS route to follow, but Chris was continually throwing up alternatives in case we wanted them. We could do more dirt, he offered, or we could stay on the tar. There were nice lookouts in one direction and great coffee and bakeries in another, he offered from the depths of what looked to be a very comfortable chair indeed.

Somehow we arrived at the end of the day and found ourselves in Barraba – not Manilla, as Chris had originally intended, or Bingara, as I thought we’d decided. And when we pulled up outside a pub, Chris asked, “Where do you guys want to stay?” He didn’t even know!

On any other ride, that might’ve been a drama, but on this one Chris was asking whether we wanted a pub or a motel, and did we want to be in town or out of town?

“Dear, oh dear,” I thought as the sun warmed me to the core and the biscuit crumbs tumbled down my jacket front.

“How long has this type of riding been going on?”

We had a little powwow that involved everyone trying to not make a decision, until we smoothed off to a motel Chris had seen.

As we pulled up at the Barraba Motel we were met by Brian Doran, the owner. I knew us staying there was meant to be, because

Left: Readers might remember Chris Laan (left) as the one who came up with the Adventure Challenge when the mag first kicked off. He’s a handy bloke with a GPX file and a fine exponent of low-stress riding. Darren Newbury (right) turned out to be a top bloke.

Brian was wearing a Triumph belt buckle, and when I asked how much for a room, it was one price for me, but a higher price for Chris because he was on a BMW.

Ha!

Classic.

Brian and his wife, Jo, couldn’t do enough for us, including loading us into the family car and driving us to the RSL club for dinner.

Mate! This hard-pannier riding rocks!

Hard cell

After a very pleasant stay at the Barraba Motel – hot showers, hot meals, coffees galore and a sleep in – we struggled out at the crack of 9.00am the next morning to discover a ‘super storm cell’ was scheduled to hit the area that afternoon.

There’d been a little rumbling thunder overnight and a few spots of rain, but nothing to get excited about. This storm front looked serious though, and had to be taken into consideration.

As we wolfed into a bacon-and-egg breakfast at the motel that would’ve supplied my normal nutritional needs for

week, Chris gave the matter some thought. had road tyres on the Triumph, but I didn’t want to be seen as the wuss who wouldn’t tackle the dirt, so kept munching and slurping to see what the others decided.

“I don’t come out here to ride through shit,” said Chris quietly, sipping his flat white.

“I ride to enjoy it. Let’s head down to Glen

Innes and have a look at things there.”

That meant a run down the bitumen, and while I’m normally pretty comfortable with that, on the XRx that meant a glorious, lazy, vibration-free session of watching the fabulous New England countryside slip by. I couldn’t wait to set the cruise control and take it all in.

I felt a little sorry for Darren because the DR was obviously the most dirt-ready bike of the three, but he seemed as happy about the way the ride was going as any of us. It can be easy to forget just how capable and versatile that Suzuki is sometimes.

Off we went, the sun blazing and the temperature pleasant, but with us looking nervously at the skies and awaiting the predicted cataclysm.

Force 10

As we drained the last dregs from our coffee cups and wiped our weary brows to finish a truly glorious lunch on a footpath café in Glen Innes, Chris offered, almost on a whim, “Let’s go through Wards Mistake.”

“Yeah! Let’s!” We belched and farted our agreement before wobbling across to the bikes and once again settling in for another sector of incredible sightseeing and beautiful unhurried enjoyment of the bikes.

As we rode away from town the storm front was a visible line of cloud drawn across the sky and heading for us, and I wondered how the Triumph would cope with the challenge of a wet clay road.

As it turned out, it didn’t rain. But, in one of those twists that makes you wonder about things, a water truck was drenching the dirt road for a good distance. I had a couple of concerns with the bike that will have to addressed.

The first is the odd rock thrown up by the other two. The XRx doesn’t have a headlight protector, so that’s now on the shopping list (Triumph has a good one), as is a bashplate. I was also a little concerned at the reduced ground clearance compared to what was used to on the XC, but the bike roosted through the wet clay and sludge without any hesitation at all.

This wasn’t challenging trail, but I was mindful of the bike’s intended purpose. I’m guessing it’s something I’ll just have to allow for.

The final concern I had was whether or not the front wheel would pack up with clay and jam under that very low front guard.

Once again it didn’t happen, but it’s something to consider on future rides as well.

Happy ending

The storm never did eventuate.

There were a few minutes of insane winds that made just keeping the bike on the road difficult, and we scurried along the dirt as fast as we dared to try and get back on the bitumen before the rain and hail started. But after just a few minutes the sunshine returned, the hurricane became a gentle breeze and the world was a wonderful place again.

How about that?

To complete Chris’ curse on the coffee shops, we rolled back into Dorrigo in the late afternoon to find Juan’s had closed early. In the style we’d now learned suited this type of riding, we found another coffee shop just up the street and went in there instead.

As we rolled down the mountain I was able to reflect on two really enjoyable days.

No doubt being with the right people was a huge part of it, but so was the bike and the approach to just taking things as they come.

I reckon it’s pretty much spot on the type of riding the XRx was designed for, and that just put the icing on the cake.

As I parked the bike that evening I had a short list of changes to make on the Triumph, but none of them was a necessity…except for repairing that pannier.

After all, didn’t want to be without somewhere to put my thermos and folding chair on the next ride.

Above: None of that camping stuff. Brian Doran, centre, of the Barraba Motel, shared a pre-dinner coldie and a yarn.

Right: That weather front was chasing us.

Front up

Adventure Rider Magazine’s KLR650 headed back to the Teknik Motorsport workshop for a little more suspension work.

It’s been a while since we had a look at the office 2009 KLR.

Last we saw of it was a fading plume of dust as it roosted effortlessly down the Finke Access Road near Alice Springs. The editor and publisher, up to their knees in the talcum-powder dust, held back tears and nursed their bikes –both with clutches destroyed – as the publisher’s brother-in-law kept the throttle pinned and the KLR disappeared into the distance (see issue #12).

It was the boss’ brother-in-law after all, so nobody was too worried when the bike sort of disappeared for a while.

The bike eventually reappeared, none the worse for charging from Alice Springs across to the coast, and settled in to its usual spot in the Adventure Rider Magazine shed.

No one paid it much attention.

It didn’t need a new clutch, or major maintenance, or even minor maintenance.

As usual, the bike looked ready to tackle anything, even though

Left: Adventure Rider Magazine’s newest staffer, Mitch Newell, has been logging time on the KLR. His hard riding style meant the bike would benefit from some more suspension work.

Right: Nick has KLRs completely sorted, and his meticulous record keeping meant he has this specific bike logged from top to bottom.

Below right: This is just one drawer in one tool chest in one of Nick’s work stations. We were only looking for a shifter.

standing start faster with or without traction control, and whether when they climbed up over the front of the bike and hung the back out in corners, all the crash bars and lighting made the powerslide hard to manage.

Poor, friendless, Mitch.

Then the boss had one of his brainwaves.

“Let’s put Mitch on the KLR for while,” he brained. “He can start with a run up to the Congregation,” he said, waving in a generally northern direction.

And so it came about that Mitch, who’s a bit of a boofer size-wise, took charge of the shop bike and set about learning some of the joys of adventure riding.

Miles ahead

The lesser horsepower combined with 100kg or so extra mass compared to his YZ250F soon had the advertising executive reassessing lots of things, but he hit some good luck almost immediately. His first couple of outings were in the company of BMW Motorrad’s Miles Davis. There couldn’t be a better riding partner for a newbie of any age, let alone – let’s be delicate – an ‘aging’ rider who’s only just got his Learners’ permit (snigger). Sure enough, Miles was able to offer some great insight into a sensible adjustment of philosophy and technique. The best facets of Mitch’s motocross background were retained and

sensible things that needed to be dealt with to keep the mighty KLR doing its thing. The bike was rolled back into the Teknik Motorsport workshop and Nick Dole went to work.

Good deal

it’d just finished tackling just about everything.

Value ad

While all this was going on, Adventure Rider Magazine’s newest staffer, ad manager Mitch Newell, was getting stuck into his work routine and, being a motocrosser, wasn’t being invited on any rides. His bike was a motocrosser too, and when he did go out with anyone he spent all his time asking whether they could get away from a

Don’t these guys have homes to go to?

Just to recap, because it’s been a while since this bike had any attention, Nick’s original suspension set-up on the KLR was to suit the publisher, 100kg of happy, sight seeing adventurer. At the same time, the KLR was being prepared for a run at ADVX with the editor, who weighed a little less, but was going to carry a huge lump of fuel and luggage, so it sort of evened out.

Now the rider is 100kg of lithe, lunging, love-muscle – he made us write that – and the bike was copping a bit of a hammering. Nick still had one suspension ace up his sleeve for the Kwaka: V4S valves. With the bike up on the hoist, Nick had the forks out in about five minutes and in a few minutes more had

shop bIke

them dismantled, measured, and ready for some attention.

Bouncer

The aim of the exercise on this occasion was to fit Teknik V4S valves.

The KLR uses a damper-rod fork. The V4S will make the KLR front end more like a cartridge fork, offering better control of the fork-leg oscillation (for those of us without an engineering background, that’s means how fast the fork legs move up and down).

We thought Nick would just pop the fork caps, drop the valves in, then send us on our way, but it proved to be quite an involved process. Nick was happy to share with us the work he’d done, knowing full well we wouldn’t understand any of it.

“I had to machine the four eight-millimetre holes in the bottom of the damper rod,” explained the eternally patient technician. “I drilled them out to 10mm. That’s pretty much a standard procedure when you’re putting any sort of speed-sensitive damping device into a damper-rod fork.

“Seeing as I was doing a bit of work to the damper rods, I welded up the rebound holes because the rebound on that fork was reasonably fast. I also took a small cut off the top of the V4S valve and bored out the top of the damper rod a bit, just so the valve’s a better fit.”

Crikey. We thought it was going to be a simple job.

The result Nick’s aiming for is that the front wheel won’t seem as ‘busy’.

But Nick wasn’t finished yet, and we breathed a sigh of relief at his meticulous record keeping. He knew exactly what had been done to the bike, top to bottom, since we first took it to him.

“Because the valve was 12mm high and I was happy with the spring preload from the first stage of working on this bike, I took 12mm off the preload tube. So the preload stayed the same, we still have the same 7.5-weight oil 130mm from the top, and the we left the same .54-weight fork springs we fitted at the first stage.”

“It won’t feel as though the front wheel is constantly moving, pulling on the rider’s hands and wrists. The feeling I’m talking about is often described by people as ‘harsh’, but what they’re feeling is the front wheel constantly moving around because it’s under-damped. Their perception is that they have too much damping and they feel they need to make it softer, when in fact what’s happening is the wheel is oscillating too fast. The V4S valves will help control that oscillation and the bike will be more stable.”

Above: There seem to be a lot of pics of Mitch leaning on machinery while other people are working.

Left: The forks were removed, serviced and had Teknik V4S valves fitted.

But wait. There’s more!

While the forks were being attended to there were a couple of other concerns that needed looking at, and we’re not so dumb as to be in a workshop like that one, with a technician of that calibre, and not take advantage of the situation.

The needle in the carby had been jamming and piddling fuel out all over the place, so the float bowl was removed, the seat cleaned with valve-grinding paste on the end of a cotton bud, and a new needle and clip put in place. The needle seat on the KLR carby isn’t a replaceable part. The bike had also been going through

a fair amount of oil on long road sections. It’s been a KLR trait in years past, but we thought we’d ask Nick to have a look at the compression and give us his opinion.

He gave us his opinion of compression tests, and it wasn’t high. Instead, he bolted up some technical-looking kit and did a ‘leak-down’ test.

Instead of saying, “Yeah. Compression’s a bit how’s-your-father, eh?” the leak-down test establishes where in the system pressure is being lost.

“We put 100psi of air in the cylinder above the piston, rotate the crank so the inlet and exhaust valves are closed, and then measure the percentage of air that leaks out,” explained Nick. “We can also pinpoint where the pressure is being lost.”

The KLR had about 20 per cent leakage, and Nick felt, given the engine’s age and use, that it was a little high, but no real problem.

He was less impressed with the state of the air filter as we tried to sniggle it away before he saw it, but we don’t need to dwell on things like that.

Moving on

After a fun day in the workshop (for us, at least, and Ernie, Nick’s ball-fetching dog), the KLR’s suspension is now about as good as it can reasonably get without spending an excessive amount.

“What limits those stock forks is their physical size,” said the Grand Poobah of suspension. “I think they’re a 41mm fork leg.

That’s the same as we used to run on XR250s, and they weighed something like 50kg less.

“This is as far as I’d recommend anyone goes with the standard KLR suspension components.”

So there it is.

Let’s see how it shapes up in the real world with Mad Mitch the Motocrosser on board.

We’ll let you know.

info@adventuremotorcycle.com.au

Indochina part 3

Cambodia: Temple central

Ian Bowden’s huge, three-country ride through Indochina with Britton Adventures concludes this issue. It’s been a journey-and-a-half, and he kicks off the final chapter with a flight into Cambodia.

We flew from Pakse in Laos to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see the world-renowned temples, arriving around 4.00pm after the flight was delayed. We lost Terry today. He had to fly back to NZ early to sort out a business matter, so the team was reduced to Scott and Alison, Craig, Greg and myself, plus Mike and Angela. We picked up our bikes and Cambodian crew in Phnom Penh two days after arrival.

We dined well the first night in a small, ordinary-looking restaurant where the food was fantastic, especially the seafood, my favourite. Next we took a look around the centre of town and checked out the nightlife. The place was buzzing with a lot of tourists like us, and we ended up enjoying a few hours in a large, open, upstairs bar with a band.

newchallenge.Hisstorycontinues.

Inissue#12IanBowdenrecountedthefirstlegofhismammoth, three-countryridethroughIndochinawithBrittonAdventures. WelefthimbunkeddowninVietnamandreadytocrosstheborder

Below: The Bayon Temple, also known as the ‘Smiley Face Temple’.

Sole food

Our guide arrived the next morning to take us on a tour of the temples. Everyone’s heard about Angkor Wat, but it’s just one of eight major temples to see. We were keen to see the famous temples but couldn’t handle eight of them. Angela, who’s very familiar with what motorcyclists can tolerate, suggested three, maybe four, would be our tolerance level. She was right. After three of the best we’d seen enough. In fact, one was enough for Craig. Angkor Wat was first and it was impressive. The place is huge. The stonework and detail carved into it was truly amazing, and I’d rate it as more of a must-see than Machu Picchu in Peru, which I’d visited recently. u

Far left: The author, hard at work getting the story. Main: Heavy rain made for big washouts.

Next was what I called the ‘Smiley Face Temple’ – the Bayon Temple. The colloquial name was because all the stone faces were smiling. It also was impressive.

Last was Ta Prohm, the temple featured in the movie Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie. The jungle is reclaiming the ground and there are massive tree roots growing through parts of it.

We passed on a lake visit in the afternoon and instead relaxed by the hotel pool with a mojito or two. also had a very good massage to free up the body after Laos. That night another good meal was followed

by a visit to ‘Mr Feet’ for the works in foot massages.

After an hour-and-a-half it was like walking on clouds. Our feet had never felt so good.

Moving on

We decided on a morning flight to Phnom Penh, as we were told it was flat and not a very interesting ride. It sure looked flat from the plane window.

We had lunch at the famous Foreign Correspondents’ Club overlooking the Mekong, and in the afternoon visited the Killing Fields monument. Cambodia has had a sad, chequered past that has cost the country dearly, the worst being when the Khmer Rouge, led by the fanatical Pol Pot, took over in 1976. Out of a population of seven million, the Khmer Rouge murdered three million. That, plus other instability throughout the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, including being involved with the Vietnam war, put the development of this country back years.

Left: Featured in the Tomb Raider movie, the Ta Prom temple has massive tree roots growing through parts of it.

Above: Human skulls at the Killing Fields monument in Phnom Penh are a reminder of the country’s sad recent history.

Below: Back on the bikes after leaving Phnom Penh. Top right: Rain made sure there was no dust on the road to Sihanoukville.

Once out of town it was onto the dirt, bouncing along a trail next to big pylons. There was water everywhere as it’d rained the night before, and some parts were slick. We continued on good trails to a lunch stop at a roadside food place that had fairly ordinary food. The afternoon trails were very good as we wound into a bit of hill country. I had the poor little XR fair humming as we slid our way along the loamy tracks to the Kirirom National Park and a nice resort with a pool. No guesses as to where we ended up after a hot day in the saddle. We all enjoyed cold beers beside and in the pool, except for Greg, who was feeling a bit off colour.

Scott joined the chicken club on this day in style. Feathers still hung in the air as I sped past the poor chicken’s remains. The count mounted. He was suitably ribbed that night over dinner.

Don’t pay the ferryman

Sealed roads started off our next day on the way to the southern coastal town of Sihanoukville. The bitumen soon turned to damp, red dirt with a few traps for the unwary. A couple of hours later we turned off a busy road on to a great trail past an old quarry, and it was first-rate dirt riding we all enjoyed.

WHY DO SO MANY RIDERS CHOOSE A DRZ400 OR DR650?

On a better note, Cambodia appears to be going ahead now.

On reflection

A short drive to a lock-up the next morning took us to our Cambodian crew of La (lead rider and guide), Pech (mechanic), and Sovan, driver of our back-up vehicle. The show was soon on the road, and for this final leg we were riding XR250 Hondas and doing battle with the chaotic traffic. I thought Hanoi was bad. This place was worse.

We were in battle mode as we forced our way through the congestion. One aggressive lady tried forcing past me in the melee and I just shouldered her out and bent her mirror.

I wasn’t a slow learner. I think every traffic law we knew was broken on the way out of town, and it was a heap of fun.

Playing chicken

La led us through a slum area next to the railway tracks to get past some of the congestion. It was evident a lot of poverty existed there and the smells were interesting.

A while later, with threatening clouds in the surrounding hills, we arrived at a washout with a couple of locals standing around. La had a chat and it turned out a river up ahead was too deep to cross, but one of the lads had a boat that could ferry us over for a small fee.

He jumped on his scooter, in shorts and flip flops with his young son standing behind the ’bars, and raced off up the track to the crossing.

I couldn’t believe how fast he rode off up the track. He led us to his boat, we got the first three bikes on and he putted away downstream. His wife was there helping to load the bikes outside their humble home.

Scott was still feeling a bit guilty about mowing down some poor family’s chicken the day before and tried to right things by offering this lady some money, since it looked like they didn’t have much.

Picture it! She didn’t understand English, and there’s this crazy westerner explaining how he ran over a chicken yesterday and would like to give her some cash.

She had a very puzzled look, for sure.

Below right: Loading our bikes onto a welcome river boat. It was a deep crossing that would’ve been risky to ride across. u

I think she thought he wanted something from her for the money.

↘RELIABILITY AND LONG LIFE

DR’s will get you there and back

↘VERSATILITY

DRs can be personalised for almost any riding

↘EASY AND LOW MAINTENANCE

It’s simple to work on a DR

↘LOW COST

Inexpensive to buy and set up. Retain their value and resale

WHY DO SO MANY ADVENTURERS SHOP WITH VSM?

↘Easy-to-use online store

↘Huge range of DR and DRZ parts and accessories

↘Authorised Suzuki dealer

↘Professional workshop to create your adventure bike

We cracked up, it was so funny. And so did Scott later when he thought about it.

Sihanoukville

After three trips to get us all across the river, the sky opened and it came down in bucketloads. We rode off the boat with still about 20km to go.

The track fast became a river and we got totally soaked, even our boots filled up from above with just the force of the rain. So it was a rather damp team that arrived at the hotel at 2.00pm, tossed all the wet gear into the baths, and walked up the road to an incredibly good restaurant staffed by underprivileged students. The food there was the best we’d had on the tour and I’d rank a couple of the dishes among the best I’ve had anywhere.

A friend and former business partner of Mike’s owned a place close to our hotel, so we all went to say hello to Gary at the Shipwreck Bar, then proceeded to get shipwrecked ourselves.

It was a good bar with pool tables, rugby stuff on the walls and big screens with sport and music playing, friendly staff, and best of all the beer was served very cold in stubby coolers.

Above: Lead rider, La, was happy with the river transport.

Below left: Craig on the beach at Sihanoukville.

Below: The Rusty Keyhole, an English-style establishment. The ribs were excellent.

Right: A beachside dinner at Kep: crabs, prawns and beer.

Crabs in seaside Kep

It was an easy start the next day for the shipwrecked crew. We headed east along the coast, the highlight being a blast into the mountains or supermotard – unfortunately, 250s didn’t quite cut it.

There were a few sights worth stopping for, like an abandoned casino and kings’ summer retreat, although we passed on the waterfall visit since we ODed on waterfalls. Lunch was at The Rusty Keyhole, an English-style establishment that boasted ‘the best ribs in Cambodia.’

From there we continued on the dirt for hours, passing through little villages, before getting back on a busy road heading north towards the chaos of the city. A final sidetrack took us to a lake for lunch on the water, and then it was full on.

Again, every traffic law we’d learnt at home was broken on our mad dash through Phnom Penh. Speeding, overtaking, undertaking, riding on the footpath, riding on the wrong side, running lights, cutting off, lane splitting and only giving way to things bigger – stuff you’d lose your license for back home – was a lot of fun though, and not for the faint-hearted.

It was my final night on the tour. I had to fly out the next morning to meet work commitments, but the others were stopping over for a final farewell in Ho Chi Minh City before returning to New Zealand.

A short time later we arrived at Kep to find a really nice resort tucked into the jungle with beautiful views over the ocean. Three of us rode the short distance to the beach to check it out and take a couple of pictures, and we found the rest of our crew were already there. Dinner invitations were handed out and a couple of beers later a nice lady was serving up fresh crabs caught locally. They were alongside prawns, salad and fish soup, all eaten as the sun set over the beach. It’s a hard life.

Peppered tarantula temptation

Cruising through Kep and along the coast to Kampot on a nice fine morning is how our last day on the bikes started. Our destination was Phnom Penh. We were soon burning along a country dirt road to our first stop, a pepper farm. This area is renowned for growing some of the best pepper in Asia, so we bought vacuum packs of fresh peppercorns to take home.

Another great restaurant, run by the same group that ran the one we visited in Sihanoukville, feautred that night. The food was fantastic until the last dish arrived. Fancy a tantalising spider to titillate your taste buds, anyone?

First they introduced a live tarantula to crawl over us. Yuck! Then out came the dish: crispy tarantula with pepper-sauce dip.

I passed and so did Greg, but Alison didn’t muck about. “Come on, you wimps!” she jeered as she popped one in her mouth – crunch, crunch, munch, munch – as she managed a smile, complete with spider fangs sticking out between the teeth, before swallowing!

The others tried it too. Call me a wimp, I don’t care. I don’t eat spiders.

The chicken count and end game

That was it, 30 days and three countries, all on ’bikes. What an adventure.

We’d ridden just over 4000km, a lot of it on dirt roads and trails, all of it designed to ride the best routes possible. Many of the sights could only have been seen and enjoyed from the seat of a motorcycle. It’s the best way to see and experience a country in my opinion.

There were rest days and time taken to visit special places of interest. The food in the three countries was all different and great. For me Cambodia had some of the

Above: A crab fisherman’s wharf at lovely seaside Kep.

Left: Tarantula for dinner.

Below left: Cooked tarantula with pepper sauce! Mmm…ew.

Below: Alison didn’t muck about. Chomp! Tarantula gone. Check out the fangs.

best dishes I’d ever eaten, closely followed by Laos then Vietnam. The team members were fantastic and everybody got on great. Mike and Angela of Britton Adventures put together a great motorcycle tour package and were with us the whole time to provide that personal touch.

The only thing thought could’ve been better would be more dirt trails in Vietnam. However, the weather did play a part and we probably did alternate routes when it rained. Overall the weather was kind to us. There were a few days of rain in Vietnam, none in Laos and only one afternoon deluge in Cambodia.

For me the highlight was Laos, the riding in this little-known country was fantastic, and as I stated earlier, the best I’ve ridden in Asia. Oh, and the final chicken count was seven confessed.

Trophy hunter

ingenuity tested.

Competing on a bike takes commitment.

There’s a lot to think about, a lot of cost, and a lot of preparation for both bike and rider.

Competing internationally multiplies that commitment by a factor of 10 or more.

Someone who’s recently made the commitment, and earned the reward, is Sydney, NSW, rider Amy Harburg.

Amy’s a well-known face on big rides in Australia. She and her 800GS can found just about anywhere rides are being run in great locations. But recently Amy packed her kit bag and headed for South Africa to try for a spot on a team in the upcoming BMW GS Trophy.

The GS Trophy is an enduro challenge where international teams compete in daily stages and special challenges, both on and off the bike. Having earned her

place in South Africa, Amy will now front the starter in Thailand in 2016.

“Miles Davis sent me an email with a link,” said the vivacious GS rider, now with a 1200 parked alongside the 800, “and asked if I’d consider entering.

“My very quick answer was, ‘Yes!’” Amy had heard of the Trophy, but didn’t know enough. She logged on and started researching, watching videos, reading about past events

and learning all she could about what would be expected. This was to be the first year the event would accommodate an exclusively female team, and Amy wanted to be part of it.

“There were 119 applicants from every country in world,” smiled Amy, “and places at the qualifying event for only 10 girls.”

Dave Darcy of Motorcycle Adventure Dirtbike TV jumped in to produce the video application, and before long Amy was on her way. She was the only Australian accepted, and meeting her counterparts in South Africa was a big thrill.

“We kind of knew each other,” said Amy. “We’d been in touch on Facebook and I’d seen their videos, so we knew who was who. It was like 10 friends who hadn’t seen each other in years arriving together. From the moment it started, that’s what it felt like. Everyone was so fun and like-minded and enthusiastic.”

From the qualifier in South Africa three girls were selected to make up the final team to compete in Thailand in 2016.

There were 13 individual trials for the riders to tackle. The range was wide, from putting up a tent to riding blindfolded to a set point, rocky hillclimbs, and some very severe tests of technique.

“They had this one called Rope The Tree,” remembered Amy.

“You had to hold this big rope in your right hand so you couldn’t use the throttle. The other end of the rope was tied to a tree. You had to ride around and around the tree. Obviously the rope was getting shorter and shorter, and the goal was to hang the end of the rope on a hook in the tree.”

The competition was strong, but so was the camaraderie amongst the riders, and it was a facet of the qualifier Amy particularly enjoyed.

At the end of it all, Amy was one of the chosen three, and will head to Thailand at the end of February, 2016, for the GS Trophy.

She’ll be a member of the first-ever all-female team, and she’s making sure she’ll be competitive.

“I’m training here in Australia as much as I can. We’re not sure if we meet as a team before the Trophy,” she beamed.

Amy’s especially grateful for the support she’s received from BMW Australia and Country Trax Off Road Riding Academy in South Africa.

Now, hopefully, she can enjoy the support of Adventure Rider Magazine readers as well.

Go Amy!

Images: Peter Musch

Above: Riders had their skills and

Main: Amy Harburg will line up for the start of the GS Trophy in Thailand in February, 2016.

Above: Of 119 applicants from around the world, 10 girls were chosen to compete in a qualifier in South Africa. Only three were selected for the team.

Chris Birch

How can such an easy-going and likable bloke be such a fierce competitor?

Most Australians will know Auckland-based Chris Birch, 35, as the rider in that frigging awesome KTM1190 video on YouTube. Those a little better informed will also know the lanky Kiwi has a string of NZ enduro championships, a Roof Of Africa and a Dakar on his resumé, and that he does a

The school we visited, in the Watagans of NSW, was fully subscribed. It was the second school for this visit, and the first had sold out as well, so obviously Chris’ is held in high regard by the adventure-riding community – as he should be.

There’s a lot of industry buzz around Chris and what he might be doing in Australia in 2016, and we tried to cunningly squeeze a little journalistic scoop from the smiling Kiwi.

“Everyone buys these adventure bikes,” he explained, politely sidestepping our enquiry, “but a lot of people are scared to take them too far off road, so we try to help people get the best value from their bikes.

“At the moment we’re just running Level One Schools,” he munched. “Just starting from the basics on how to ride a dirtbike off road, and taking some of the stuff I’ve learned from years of racing and transferring that on to adventure bikes. It’s basic principles of how to create traction, how to be stable on the bike…techniques that’ll allow the riders can take their adventure further.”

Hmm.

It wasn’t the inside scoop we were looking for, but it was good sensible stuff.

Chris was far too wily to fall for our carefully laid investigative traps, and he politely excused himself and went over to the group to begin the session.

It was an interesting coaching session to say the very least, and Chris has some strategies and ideas that will seem a little different to those many of us have been used to. But those strategies and ideas come from a world-class competitor with some very big results to look back on, so we soaked it up.

Watching Chris ride, our jaws hit the floor and our eyes could hardly believe what they were seeing.

If you want to know how Chris Birch can do some of the amazing things seen in his videos, log on to www.chrisbrich.co.nz and book in for some coaching.

June 2016

lot of coaching and training.

When we heard Chris was not only in Australia, but here to do specific adventure-riding courses, we near spilled our coffee in our rush to get out and meet the bloke.

We found the irrepressibly cheerful KTM gun trying to devour a real Aussie burger – not one of those poofy Kiwi ones – and, except for us interrupting him, making it look as easy as he does a high-speed nose-wheelie on an 1190.

We barreled straight in and went after the good info, asking what prompted Chris to offer adventure training here in Australia.

“We’ve been over here for the last two years doing trailbike schools,” he said, trying to chew a wheelbarrow-sized mouthful of Aussie ground beef.

“The YouTube clip’s got a big following. We’ve been doing adventure schools in New Zealand, so we thought we’d give them a try in Australia.”

And if you find out what he’s going to be doing in Australia next year, for crying out loud let us know.

Top left: Chris Birch. The smilingest, happiest Kiwi we can ever remember.

Like all New Zealanders, he can seriously ride.

Left: Both schools were fully subscribed.

Below: The publisher was there to hone a few skills.

lima, peru, to Cali

Cannonball Lima Cali

“No. Not wise. Costly, difficult and time-consuming procedures.”

A postcard to ride through in Peru.

I’d written for information about transporting my 1977 XT500 abroad from Colombia. I wanted to have her flown south as far as possible in Latin America, and from there ride back. My time frame was short. The advice from Mike, of Motolombia Motorcycle Tours, wasn’t encouraging. But then he continued.

“I’ve got a better option for you,” wrote Mike. “A huge tour of mine ends in Lima. I have a spot for one extra rider to bring the bikes home.”

‘Home’ for Mike is Cali, Colombia, where his tour and rentals company is based.

I was dying to get on the road. All kinds of bike problems had kept me seated in Medellín. Everything was okay, but I was busting to ride.

So: Lima in Peru to Cali in Colombia. That meant nearly 3000km, seven days, three countries, and two border crossings. It sounded like fun.

“I’m in,” was all I wrote in reply.

Dress up

I announced myself in a luxury hotel in Limaflores, a nice barrio – municipality or village – near Lima and next to the ocean, late on a Friday afternoon. A few beautiful, exotic women in evening dress left the hotel for, I assumed, a party somewhere. I would have liked to accompany them, but the reality was that in the evening I was to meet my real mistress for the next seven days – a black-and-green Kawasaki KLR650, ready for any road, paved or not.

Andes cap

“We leave tomorrow morning at seven o’clock sharp,” said Chris, our guide. “There’ll be nine bikes, and the daily destinations are planned to make sure we arrive in Cali on the ninth of May.”

I met the other riders at the start. Setting off early Saturday morning meant an easy escape from the huge metropolis of 11 million Peruvians, and as a group we tried to stay together. I had no GPS or map, but the road direction was easy. We’d be heading north for the next week. Still, it was good to know there was someone at the front who did have a route on his GPS.

Outside Lima the desert was there right away. And it was there all over. Huge sand dunes seemed to separate for us like the Red Sea before Moses, allowing the passage of excellent tarmac. Once in a while the road almost touched the ocean. No surfers were to be seen fighting the huge waves and it was lonely on the road. I liked it.

The desert isn’t dull or boring. The road wound around the huge dunes, cut through rock formations and then burst back into the wide-open space of desert and rocks. It was all brown, grey and greyish-yellow in numerous variations as far as I could see in any direction. Further from the ocean the temperature rose and I rode in the same dress I wore into the hotel: jeans, boots and leather jacket. Opposite the ocean the Andes Mountains were visible in the far distance.

Over the limit

There were a variety of bikes to be ridden back to Colombia: a 1200GSA, three F800s, one GS650, one Suzuki V-Strom 650 and three KLRs. The KLRs were the slowest on the bitumen through the desert section. I didn’t like to push the big,

u

Left: Lima, Peru, to Cali in Colombia. Below: Author, Jan Gerben.

Words and images: Jan Gerben

single cylinder above 110kph, and at almost 6000RPM she was vibrating just a bit too much for my liking. I wanted to be sure the bike would go the distance with no problems, and pushing her into her red zone didn’t seem to be the thing to do to make that happen, so I got a bit behind. wasn’t alone, though. I was with the other two KLRs ridden by Esteban and Carlos, two Colombian guys who were especially into off-road riding. Later I would see why they were on this tour. We stopped to fuel up and drink water. The huge BMWs zoomed off right away.

Above: The coastal highway made for a fast run through Peru.

Below: Typical traditional dress in Ecuador includes a hat and shawl.

Below right: A fuel stop along the Carretera Panamericana – the Panamericana Highway.

“This ain’t a tour. It’s like being on a mission,” I thought.

All riders liked the speed. The desert was just an excuse to ride well above any kind of normal limit.

Local knowledge

After lunch we turned inland and I began to see the ride wouldn’t be a straight sprint along the coast. We hit a sidetrack to go through Cañón del Pato, a canyon from which a road had been carved out recently. This byway took us high up into the Andes for two days before returning to the coast. It was dry and hot as the road wound up higher and higher. It was much easier for the KLR to keep up with the brute horsepower of the BMWs in this section, and an hour later the road suddenly became dirt. We rode on, and after a while it became obvious it wasn’t a road under construction. Chris, the one with the GPS, was sure we

were on the right track, but said we still had 160km to our destination for the night.

A local farmer, an old-timer, reassured us.

“Yes, yes,” he grinned. “All unpaved!” He also offered the good news that it was six hours to our overnight stop, Huancas.

‘Six hours?’ I thought. ‘It’s 2.30pm. That’ll take us well into the dark before reaching our destination’.

Weary

Riding off-road in the dark isn’t an advisable thing to do anywhere, and certainly not in the Andes.

“No. Not any village or lodging possible before that,” assured the old-timer.

A decision had to be made. Did we go back or ride on through?

Everybody was pretty adventure-minded so we pushed on.

The track became rougher as we negotiated the mountain passes. From

sand with rocks we slid on to more slippery mud and grass, and at the highest points we were bumping over just plain rocks and were well spread out.

It’d been quite a while since I’d done any off-road riding. It took time for me to relax, but it all came back. I eventually dared to speed up and give it the gas instead of always thinking, ‘Slowly, slowly’. I even managed to drift a bit in corners and enjoy it once in while.

After one sharp curve hemmed in with bushes and trees I gassed up the KLR, only to suddenly brake with everything the bike had. A small black snake, about 1.4m long, slithered hastily from the road back into the bushes.

At five o’clock that afternoon we reached the highest point at 4800m, and it was cold up there. Although we were still on the desert side, it was already green all over and it was clear the rain zone started at this point.

Above: Glorious, colourful Ecuador.

Below: Dinnertime meant mobile-phone time.

Below right: Waiting for a truck to pass in Ecuador.

It was a mining area, and we arrived about an hour before dark. The group was together as we started the descent, but we were soon spread out again. I was tired and my off-road competence seemed to have vanished. I found my way down, slipping and sliding, and after the rocks it became muddy again. Grey skies turned into darkgrey skies and a tiny spat of rain began.

At six o’clock I stopped the bike at an asphalt road which Chris confirmed was the road to Huancas.

Cracker

At 7.00pm we ran into town, wet, cold and hungry, but very content about this first day’s riding.

Inside the hotel a gas heater warmed us up, and, being Saturday night, there was a

religious festival with a brass band and loud fireworks in the main square in front of the church. The square was filled. Almost all the women wore traditional contrasting skirts and black hats and had brightly colored blankets wrapped around their shoulders. It was cool to see. This was the Peruvian Andes! The fireworks continued until at least 1.00am. I was tired but could hardly sleep. Free of charge

Early next morning my bike wouldn’t start. We push-started it on a downhill road, and in daylight saw the amazing Andes mountains in full glory. White snowcapped peaks surrounded the city and I gazed in amazement. This was like waking up in a totally new environment.

I’d hoped the battery would’ve charged during the ride, but it didn’t. We took off the seat and found to my surprise the battery was completely out of water. All the cells were dry. The hard riding day, hefty speed in the first half and some real off-road riding in the second half must have taken its toll on the battery fluids. We filled it up with plain water and I was a bit anxious that wouldn’t work. The cells had run dry and all the acid had disappeared. There was no alternative, so we push-started the Kawa again, and at the

Stand-up guy

The canyon was 32km long and no more than 100m wide, and the road was carved into the rocks. It was no more than onecar wide and went through 40 tunnels to reach a hydroelectric plant. The road surface was paved, but with a lot of sand and little stones on it, and to me it was scary. The surface was sometimes firm and then suddenly slippery again. It was a new construction,

Green light

From Cuenca to Quito we stayed in the higher-altitude part of Ecuador. There were no straight roads to be found there!

In Quito we found all the luxury stuff a capital could offer: good cappuccino, Mexican food and a lively night scene that all of us passed by because we were just too tired.

Another day brought another border.

and until recently the plant could only be reached from a dead-end road 100km long. This was the road we had to take to get to Chimbote, and from there north again on Carretera Panamericana – the Panamericana Highway. Those 100km were all rock and sand. Dave from Chicago gave me some tips and they made a difference. When faced a huge rockwall it seemed as if was drifting towards it instead of rounding the curve.

“You need to focus on where you want to go,” said Dave. “If you focus on a hazard you’ll go towards it.”

It helped, just as did positioning my weight on the ’pegs when standing. The bike steered more easily.

Focus

As night fell we were definitely out of the cold. Blasting through the desert we lost track of one another and reached Mancoran in three groups. It turned out to be a tiny, hipster, fisherman’s place, and we had an excellent dinner…of fish. What else?

Mike had prepared a lot of the customs facilities, so we easily crossed the border from Peru into Ecuador and straight away the riding felt different. It all seemed better organised, with more road signs and less trash along the roads. We passed banana field after banana field for kilometres, then climbed into the mountains again. The beautiful, winding roads had little traffic and I tried to pick out the best rider and follow him, keeping in mind Dave’s focus lesson. It was tiresome but rewarding.

As we entered Cuenca I was more than happy with a slice of pizza and my bed.

From Ecuador to Colombia we had to fulfill some departure formalities before we could deal with Colombian red tape.

Again, it felt different. For a start the roads were more narrow and there was less visibility through the curves. There were also lots of tiny shops and vendors along the road, and the country was all green. There was no more just sand or rocks.

We reached Pasto well before dark.

High calibre

On the last day I managed to scrape one foot-peg over the asphalt. The footpeg of a KLR scraping the asphalt? I couldn’t stop grinning all the way through the mountains into the wide, flat and very hot valley of the river Cauca and into Cali.

We’d done it. Nearly 3000km in seven days. No accident, no serious bike or other problems, and just heavenly scenery and a lot of fun.

So, why did I call it a cannonball run? It wasn’t set up as one. It just turned out that way. Every day we rode hard over paved and unpaved roads. We did big distance and had to work at arriving on time, and still on the bike.

It was definitely a cannonball run.

next stop it started as normal on her electric starter. Who would’ve thought that?

Left: The Andes in Peru.

Above: A bridge in Peru.

Below: Catching a breath at altitude.

Right: The weather could change quickly in Peru.

Below right: “Six hours to go,” said the local farmer.

The

Bight Gulf

to the

On little motorbikes

Sharp-eyed readers will note the column from Touratech importer Robin Box is missing this issue. That’s because he’s been a tad busy. To help celebrate Yahama’s 60th anniversary in Australia, and as a test for Safari Tanks’ new Yamaha WR250R rear tank, four riders set off on a south-to-north crossing of Australia, riding the shortest possible route. Here’s the story of their very direct trip.

How did it come about?

While Ross Runnalls was purchasing a couple of Safari H2O kayaks from Robin Box, the subject of long-distance rides came up. As a recent retiree, Ross was conscious that time left for such activities was running out.

The APC Rally from the extreme west to the extreme east of Australia sounded interesting, but neither were keen on riding in large groups. Maybe they could do the same trip, but at a different time in a smaller group?

Ross went home and studied the APC route and figured a lot of it would be not-so-attractive riding, and so came up with a shorter alternative challenge of going from the south to the north of Australia by the shortest possible route. That meant going from the head of The Great Australian Bight to the lowest point of the Gulf Of Carpentaria.

Approvals and permits

Unfortunately it’s no longer possible to go north from the head of the Bight near the Nullabor Roadhouse and follow the Trans Pacific railway line. The line is now leased to a private operator, and there’s no public access to the rail line easement as too many 4WD tourists were having vehicle problems and flagging down trains.

As the next opportunity to go north was at Ceduna, that seemed a logical start point.

It’s not possible to drive to the edge of the Gulf at its most southerly point, Burketown, due to the extensive tidal salt flats. The boat ramp on the Albert River, six kilometres out of Burketown, is the closest point to ride to, so that was the obvious finish point. Ross has a travel habit. When start and end points aren’t directly linked by major roads, he draws a line on the map between them and then selects a route that sticks as close to that line as possible. He adopted the same approach to this trip, then examined where approvals and permits would be required to traverse private, leasehold, government and aboriginal-controlled lands.

Ariels up

The highlight of the 36-hour trip trailering the bikes from the Victorian home base was lunch bought from the CWA ladies’ stall in the middle of the main street of Orroroo, and the chat with their eldest member, 87-year-old Edna.

We were greeted by a wild, wet and windy Ceduna. After a meal of local whiting and a cool night’s sleep, our first

day emerged as overcast, threatening, and not very inviting.

After the obligatory bacon-and-eggs breakfast, we grabbed the ceremonial vial of Southern Ocean water and headed north for 40km through cropping country, weaving our way along good straight roads, sitting back, gripping the tank firmly with the knees and gripping the throttle firmly and the clutch loosely to achieve a rigid body and bike frame.

Once in the mallee scrub on Googs Track, the relentless sand hills were similar to the Sunset Country in Victoria, but the damp, firm sand wasn’t as favourable as expected, or it may just have been rusty riders getting used to heavy loads. The scrub was catching Barkbusters and mirrors and there were a few early, low-speed spills.

UHF radio headsets within helmets had seemed a good idea until the three elderly riders managed to rip the wire out of the plugs when distance of dislodged rider from bike exceeded cable length. We followed camel tracks and eventually caught up with a camel that disappeared before anyone could snap a photo.

Time was running short when we

emerged after 184km onto the accessible part of the rail line near Malbooma and entered the Woomera Prohibited Area, where permits are required, and took the main station access road to Mulgathing, then minor station tracks past Muckanippie Outstation onto Commonwealth Hill Station. It was dark by the time we found Ingomar Station.

Exiting homesteads is often the most challenging navigation, and despite the directions from the young stationhand − “go over two grids then turn left” – we got it wrong. Fortunately, one of the jackaroos chased us down and sent us on the correct path along the old Stuart Highway into Coober Pedy.

Geoff had a fuel issue, limiting speed to around 70kph, but we encountered very few ’roos, and arrived just before 9.00pm.

So, after booking into the underground Radeka Backpackers, we enjoyed pizzas and beers while chatting to a group of 10 riders from the Adelaide Ariel Motorcycle Club. They were about to start a trip across the Simpson and down the Hay River – not on Ariels, though.

accom rig was

u

Words and Images: Ross Runnalls

Big hearts. Little bikes. Ross’

basic.

Ears were burning

The second day dawned fine and sunny, and after more roadhouse bacon and eggs we headed off at about 10.00am for 190km across the gibber plains towards Oodnadatta. The gibber stones sparkled in the sun like broken glass, which was not the case.

We were able to obtain a fuel-cap seal

at the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta to replace one that had become dislodged the previous night, and we were all surviving well on our fruit and nut bags, so a coffee was all that was needed.

A sign in the roadhouse specified hours that school kids would be served and added “No school, no service”.

We went north towards Eringa.

Dalhousie Springs, the traditional destination in this area, was not on the shortest route. The Old Ghan rail line was crossed and a sandy creek and some very old shot lines across the gibber negotiated before an enjoyable sweeping run into Mt Dare, where we found we were to share the campground with 160 Kidney Kar Rally participants, as well as the normal tourists.

We broke out the camping gear with Robin in a two-man tent, Mick in a oneman tent, Ross under a three-metre by three-metre fly, and Geoff under the stars. An immense flock of budgerigars circled camp on dusk.

Ross celebrated his 60th birthday in the bar that night, while Geoff reflected that when he used to come to this hotel about 20 years ago, it was in a different, smaller timber building that had collapsed with white ants. The rally people didn’t feel the need to go to bed as early as we did, so we were subject to their scintillating fireside conversation for quite a while.

Stock tips

Our next day was heralded by rally alarms at 0600.

We got away at about 9.30am and went north along the Old Andado Track, where all the cars had come through the day before, so the bulldust holes were wide and deep. Open country running north between sand dunes replaced acacia forest with lush understorey. We stopped at Old Andado homestead for a late-morning cup of tea and coffee prepared by Quentin, the very muscly volunteer caretaker who worked in police search and rescue as his day job. We stayed too long, chatting to Quentin about Molly Clark, the lady who lived alone out here for many years, surviving droughts, floods and bureaucracy, so there was no time to make the nine-kilometre deviation to the Mac Clark Rare Acacia Peuce Reserve.

The rest of Old Andado track was an enjoyable, sweeping ride parallel with, but occasionally crossing, the big, red sand dunes. We stopped and chatted with the young stationhand operating the grader so trucks could get cattle out from yards further south.

Eventually the MacDonnell Ranges emerged from the horizon. From there

we roughly followed the Phillipson Stock Route, which had a similar intention to us, but in the opposite direction, of getting stock from eastern Northern Territory and western Queensland south to the Ghan rail line, while avoiding the rugged MacDonnell Ranges and Alice Springs.

Second hand

Before reaching aboriginal lands we

encountered a large sign on a minor station track warning of no alcohol or pornography beyond that point. At the shock of this sign, Geoff took a slow tumble in bulldust ruts, damaging his ankle and wrist, making the rest of the day pretty challenging for him. The station track’s sharp-edged bulldust ruts were particularly vicious from there on. Although all signs of the mapped track had disappeared, the cattle had

u

Below: There was plenty of red desert around the East MacDonnell Ranges.

Some very old shot lines were negotiated across the gibber.

A fuel-cap seal was replaced at the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta.

not forgotten where the road used to be, so there were their meandering tracks to follow. We lost the track and a bit of cross-country work was required at one point to find our way out between the hills and on to a reasonable road.

We’d arranged some weeks beforehand for a five-litre-each fuel top-up at a station along the way. Nightfall was looming, so we went only about 10km further out the road, halfway between bores, so we wouldn’t bother, or be bothered by, cattle.

We quickly set up our beds and got a fire going for dinner.

Geoff needed a hand, seeing as he was lacking one. He took a painkiller cocktail, which must have been a potent mix, as he fainted on us, but avoided falling in the fire. He lay down and chatted gaily about his current misfortunes, such was the cocktail mix.

Feed lot

We were joined for breakfast on day four by a huge flock of curious finches. Geoff’s wrist had swollen and locked up, so he decided that he’d head to Alice Springs and get checked out.

Soon after the rest of us headed off, we interrupted a flock of seven wedge-tailed eagles that must have been tucking into a good lump of carrion.

We crossed the border into NT and the Tropic of Capricorn, not that we had any reason to know at the time. Along there we ran into a station owner loading cattle to take the long trip to the abattoirs at Roma in Queensland. He was wearing thongs as he scrambled about the yards among the stock.

When he stopped to chat to us he unfurled a tin of tobacco and rolled his own, another thing you don’t see much

down south these days. This was the guy who, when Ross rang him a month or so beforehand about our south-to-north plans, responded with, “Whatever floats your boat, mate”. They wouldn’t see many floating boats out there.

We passed the loaded road train on the Plenty Highway. It was stopped in the middle of the road with the driver sprawled on the ground underneath. We didn’t figure we would be of any help to him, so we topped up with fuel at Jervois and continued on another 200km past lots of red anthills and empty moselle casks on towards Tobermorey on the Queensland border.

We arrived at Urandangie pub just after dark to be greeted by a loud argument between two of the local ladies who turned out to be sisters. A herd of kids were shuffled away from the blue into the pub, so the TV was switched from the football to some animated movie!

After the publican, Pam, arrived back from a supply run to Mt Isa, a meal and beds became a possibility, and we were fed in her own dining room. The back yard was full of a dozen of her pet kangaroos, so you had to dodge their droppings on the way to the shower, and keep your door closed to avoid retrieving ’roos, not reds, from under the bed.

Pam was a real character. She’d had the pub for seven years, and she was determined to spend the rest of her days there and be buried on the hill out the back. We couldn’t see a hill anywhere, but the cemetery is apparently located on a slight rise on the edge of town. The local kids called her ‘Nan’ and loved helping her feed her menagerie of pets.

and couldn’t help notice that the HARD Kit 690’s had a very heavy presence and were the weapon of choice for many riders.”

Leigh Ainsworth: “First dirt adventure ride for me on the ADVX. KTM690 + 700RR HARD Kit + Dalby Moto assembly and know how made for a perfect setup. Trouble free with great fuel range, it’s the machine!!!”

Chris Boyle: “After completing 2 APC rallies on DR650’s, we moved to the HARD Kits 700RR. The HARD Kits carried the fuel and luggage so well that it proved no real burden in tight deep sand or rocky sections. Good work Darren and Craig on both an exceptional kit and set up.”

Above: The ‘No pornography’ sign left Geoff with a sore wrist when he crashed soon after.

Below left: Mick and Robin with Pam, publican of the Urandangie Pub.

Below: There aren’t many landmarks between Urandangie and Camooweal.

Success

Pam cooked us great bacon and eggs to start day five and chatted easily about the joys of living and working in the outback. It was another notso-early start, and then we were off across the black-soil plains for 35km past the homestead of Headingly Station which surrounds Urandangie. About there we encountered a couple walking, with a long way to go to reach civilisation. A few kilometres later was their abandoned car. Apparently this road has the highest frequency of abandoned cars in Australia. It accesses the Lake Nash community. The road shrunk to a single vehicle track, at times flanked by grass all the way to the horizon, in all directions, with no shrubs or trees in sight.

We dropped into the oasis that was the sprawling Barkly Downs Station homestead to see if we could shortcut across to the Thorntonia Road. The station manager informed us the gates were locked into the adjoining station, Flora Downs. This seemed odd, but being part of a large stock company, a policy of ‘no tourists’ would be understandable.

So it was on to Camooweal, past more wrecks, for fuel and mobile connection with home for those whose phones worked.

The good-quality gravel roads continued to Gregory Downs, through low hills and anthills. Beyond Thortonia, the road became more interesting, winding through the rocky hills and increasingly savannah-type vegetation.

The final 120km to Burketown was sealed, and we could sense we’d hit the north by the sightings of palm trees on the banks of the creek we were following. On arrival in the very neat Burketown, after discovering it was the Barramundi capital of the north, we headed out to the wharf on the Albert River.

In the fading daylight, we celebrated completing our task by emptying a vial of Southern Ocean seawater from the Great Australian Bight into the waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria. We’d covered the length of Australia in only 2228km by road.

As we tucked into our barramundi counter meal at the Burketown pub that night, we reflected that we’d achieved our stated goal with the minimum of fuss on new bikes with a range of untested modifications, which is another story in itself.

Ross’s research into station country and his navigation interest certainly spiced up the journey, with the odd detour or shortcut off the more major outback roads with the aim of minimising distance travelled from north to south.

So what’s next? South-east to north-west via Lambeth’s geographical centre of Australia, near Finke, has been mentioned.

The next day, after a quick check over of the bikes and some laundry, Robin and Mick headed off in the afternoon with the aim of getting to Cape York and back to Cairns in three days. Ross waited a day for Geoff to catch up after getting the all-clear in Alice Springs that his wrist wasn’t fractured, then both headed to Townsville, via Forsayth and Paluma, for a few days recovery on Magnetic Island.

A week after flying home, Geoff flew back to make a slow 20-day solo journey home, taking in the length of the Diamantina River from Kynuna in Queensland to its junction with Eyre Creek, south of Birdsville, where it becomes the Warburton Creek and flows into Lake Eyre.

Main: Low hills and savannah-type vegetation appeared as the riders worked their way north.

Right: The author celebrated completing the task by emptying a vial of Southern Ocean seawater from the Great Australian Bight into the waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The Group

Ross Runnalls: two-time Australian Rally Champion navigator, and widely regarded as Australia’s most talented map reader.

A former Australian Safari rider, member of the Australian Rally Commission and Clerk Of Course of many state and national championship rallies. Now retired, Ross put the course together and was an integral part in getting the ride off the ground.

Geoff Portman: 1981 and 1982 Australian Rally Champion driver (with Ross as navigator) for the factory Datsun team, and the operator of tag-along outback 4WD and motorbike trips in the ’80s and ’90s. Geoff is vastly experienced in

outback conditions. He’s currently dealing with Neuro-Endocrine Tumour Syndrome cancer.

Robin Box: the owner and founder of Safari Tanks, and the Australian distributor for Touratech adventure riding equipment, Robin is well known in the industry. He was the brains behind the new WR250R rallye tank. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a talented rider as well.

Mick Hamilton: A diesel mechanic, earthmoving contractor and pilot, Mick assisted Robin in building the Yamahas for the ride, and was an integral part of keeping the bikes running well.

From left: Author Ross Runnalls, Geoff Portman, Mick Hamilton and Robin Box.

Picture this

Tasmania can be a place of meteorological extremes, but there’s plenty of times when the weather in the Apple Isle is nearly as good as the adventure-riding terrain. Andrew Brodribb found a window of weather opportunity.

Picture the depths of a Tasmanian winter in August. Imagine two weeks worth of high-latitude wind, snow and rain.

Now forget all your preconceived ideas. Storms like those were over a fortnight prior to the ride dates, and the August weekend of the ride saw a group of Tasmanian stalwarts gather for the North East Safari, and the final leg of the inaugural event was blessed with glorious riding weather… blue skies, reasonably firm tracks and no wind.

A good Paddock

A dozen riders, including two ladies, turned up for the start on Saturday morning, and half the fleet consisted of GSAs. The ride travelled from Perth through Evandale and White Hills’ hedgerows and lanes, then east across the northern side of the spectacular Ben Lomond National Park to Upper Esk, where fortunately someone had cleared some fallen trees off the track.

That was where Chris Wharmby’s GSA had a bit of a wallow in a mudhole he’d fixated on.

From Upper Esk it was into the Mathinna Forests and some fast, gravel, transit stages, where Andreas Gretchsmann managed to get intimate with the gravel. Lunch, after a descent from the mountains, was at the famous Pub In The Paddock at Pyengana.

Scotch missed

After the riders were refuelled –with schnitzel and beers for your correspondent – the ride continued east, winding through the Blue Tier Forest Reserve and on to the worldfamous Bay Of Fires. Sandy trails saw some of the big bikes squirming around and the lighter bikes dominating.

The fishing village of St Helens was the destination for the overnight stop. Tim Ritchie sorted comfortable accommodation at less than $50 per person, and scotch fillets with mushroom sauce was the almost unanimous order at the RSL.

DuAlsport AustrAliA Discs one, two AnD three

Thousands of kilometres of premium dualsport and adventure riding on route sheet and as GPX files.

Disc Three is out now. Check the e-store for availability.

DVDs

Above: The hole was so big we’re not sure if he’s still sitting on his bike.

Words and images: Andrew Brodribb

Mind in the gutter

Sunday morning started with a huge $10 cooked breakfast and coffee at a local café before the riders then plunged into the east-coast forests behind St Helens.

One of the early challenges of the day was avoiding a bike-swallowing hole right in the middle of the track. A couple of decent hill climbs provided some photo opportunities, challenges, and skill displays.

Riders progressed through Upper Scamander to the Avenue River area.

Visualise riding along the crest of a ridgeline with towering gumtrees either side of the track and you’ll see why it’s called The Avenue – just don’t look at the sheer drops on either side.

My personal highlight was riding this track at a fair pace, and at an inadvertent moment launching a quarter-ton of GSA off a gutter across the track while accelerating in third gear.

Fortunately I landed it!

Saw point

A recce run a few weeks earlier identified a couple of large trees across the track that needed clearing. Hard panniers on a GSA allow a medium size chainsaw to be carried, and that saw well-and-truly earned its keep.

Top right: Hard panniers on a GSA allow luxuries like chainsaws.

Right: All smiles in perfect weather. Below: Teamwork!

A quick lunch-stop at Mathinna was followed by more trails traversing the southern side of the Ben Lomond National Park as riders headed west towards Rossarden where some riders peeled off and headed home.

The remainder tackled the final track of the ride and finished at Deddington.

Maintaining control when conditions get tricky.

When the going gets S tough

ometimes you see situations where conditions are challenging: slippery, rutted, sandy, rocky, or steep. It’s when you really see who has bike control. Some riders simply have no chance. Some maybe make it through with aggression and speed while others float through in total control and make it look easy without excess revs, speed or fuss. How do they do it? Luck? Tyres? Tyre pressure? Suspension?

Probably not. Usually it’s the fact that they can read the situation, understand what’s required, and execute well without compensating with excess revs or speed. Like most sports or activities, having a solid grasp of the basics is always going to help when it comes to more challenging situations. It doesn’t matter if it’s snow skiing or golf, windsurfing or riding motorcycles. Some riders skip gaining a good feel for the basics and get to an intermediate level on

Below left: A rider’s job is to keep their bike balanced and give appropriate control inputs. Below: It takes practice to be more measured and precise.

many years of ‘survival’ experience and a solid dose of confidence. This can definitely work, but when push comes to shove, sometimes it doesn’t.

Beginners

Some riders are in an ‘ideal’ situation. Maybe they grew up riding on a farm, or ride with experienced friends or family to guide them. Others may have started as young BMX, trials or motocross riders in a club environment with good skillsdevelopment programs. Some might have a surfing background (people who surf well can pretty much do anything well by about the second or third time they try it, I know. Bastards!)

But many riders who’ve taken up adventure riding may not have these ideal backgrounds. They may also be starting out later in life, without the advantages of youth on their side. I see it all the time and totally understand how daunting it can be.

My point is, if you’re getting into adventure riding without a good grasp of the basic skills of off-road riding, you do have the option to invest in developing your skills. It’s as simple as that. Some people understand this from previous experiences in work or play when they got ‘skilled up’ and it made all the difference. Others somehow

u

Words: Miles Davis

MIles DavIs

see through different eyes. They’re the ones that filter out that idea and replace it with the thought that they simply wouldn’t benefit from that sort of thing. They think: ‘It’s for beginners and I’m no beginner’.

Hang ups

Back to my story.

If you see a rider making things look too easy, there’s usually a bit of a story behind it. And almost always that story involved, at some stage, a lot of practice of good basic skills. Maybe hundreds of hours. Combine the practice with many hours of riding and there you have it – a rider who instinctively understands what they’re doing and how to get the best results. And the best part of this whole thing is, you never stop learning! Well, I say ‘never’, but at some point you probably have to hang up your helmet. But I’ve met lots of riders who are in their 70s and 80s and still enjoy riding their bikes and do it very well.

So if you’re reading this, you probably know how to ride a bike, and the majority would probably like to ride their bikes better.

Here are some things to think about that might help. They’re not a substitute for basic training if the basics aren’t completely sorted yet, but it might give you an insight into riding better, easier, safer and probably faster.

Balance point

A rider’s job is to keep their bike balanced and give appropriate control inputs. Nothing more, nothing less.

Bikes only have two wheels and can become unbalanced and fall over very easily. Big adventure bikes in tricky conditions can be a handful, and keeping the big girl balanced sometimes isn’t as easy as some would like. We covered riding position and stance in issue #01, and that’s the first step: the rider being an active element of the balanced bike. But there’s much more.

Think of the bike as a seesaw, and you’re in the middle, gently shifting your weight front-to-back and side-to-side in order to keep the bike in that happy balanced place. But your controls play a big part too. One of the most common things I see is riders who are total throttle jockeys. They work the throttle hard and often. Have a think about it. Every time you add or remove a large amount of throttle you’re potentially throwing balance out the window as the bike drives forward or dives

under deceleration. Smaller, precise inputs can be much better, allowing the bike to glide over bumps or slippery sections while staying balanced and in control. These precise inputs are not so obvious to an observer, but they’re very effective, especially when well-timed with subtle balance inputs.

This, my friends, is how lots of riders seem to make tricky situations look so easy.

Control freak

Everyone has heard of throttle control. It’s very important, especially when grip is low. Then you have brake feel and clutch control also, so when everything is combined at the right level things become much smoother, easier and less fatiguing. Human instinct doesn’t always help. It’s very common for riders to want to grab a fistful of throttle, and it definitely takes practice to be more measured and precise. It’s also very common for a rider to want to chop the throttle when they get anxious. This can unbalance the bike just as easily, especially in slippery or sandy conditions. A constant throttle through these tricky situations can be such a benefit, doing nothing but holding the throttle steady with very gentle power going to the back wheel.

During some of my outback rides I’ve played with cruise control and have been amazed at how stable a bike can be, it’s a real eye opener (WARNING: Don’t try this at home). I’m not saying you should set cruise control off-road, but you can be the cruise control, and simply hold the throttle steady.

Situation A: riding along at 80kph-90kph on a flat, straight road where the gravel has built up a soft hump or pillow in between two clean tyre tracks. Simply moving from one tyre rut to the other can be quite unsettling for many riders. But sometimes you need to cross these sections, so you might as well practice it. I’d say this is one of the first things to do to get comfortable with riding in sand.

Try this: stand up in a good ‘attack’ position, central on the bike, and sweep across the soft gravel without adjusting your throttle (as if in cruise control). The bike will shimmy slightly as it crosses the loose stuff and feel rock-solid when you hit the other tyre track. Keep doing it. Sometimes it might help to add a tiny bit of throttle, especially if the shimmy gets more aggressive.

If you did the same thing but added a lot of throttle or chopped the throttle in the

loose stuff, the bike would get unbalanced very quickly.

Once you feel more relaxed you can actually stay in the loose stuff and ride along between the two tracks. The bike will shimmy, but that’s all it will do. Suddenly this light should go off in your head, flashing, ‘A constant throttle keeps your bike balanced and happy!’

As you continue to feel more relaxed, try adding and reducing throttle very gently and you’ll see how very small inputs can affect the bike.

This is big. This is throttle control and it can help you in so many situations.

You can also practice throttle control by slow riding and doing full-lock slow circles and other discipline work – see issue #02 when we covered throttle and clutch control and exercises.

Riding sand

Like I said, this is the first step to getting your head around riding sand. You don’t just lean back and hold it flat like a lot of people will tell you.

On the recent GS Safari Enduro we rode lots of sand, starting off quite mellow and building up to being very full-on. At one of our rider briefings before the big Hattah Desert day, I talked to a group about how to get their heads around deep sand. In essence, the main things I said were:

R Keep your bike balanced, be relaxed and agile

R Be positive and precise on the throttle, but use only what’s required (be the cruise control)

R Don’t hesitate on adding throttle. You have a small window of time to add precise throttle before the bike starts getting very unbalanced

R Don’t over commit and go too fast. This can end badly as you’ll have to slow down eventually

At the end of this huge day a lot of the riders said this approach worked and gave them the confidence they’d never had in the sand. For sure, at times sand requires a lot of throttle, but not always.

At the end of the trip, some riders also commented, “I really wanted to learn and experience sand, and I did, and now I know prefer my sand on the beach, not on a bike”. It’s a good point, because riding a big bike in sand is pretty full-on, and it’s not for everyone.

The key here is to find that out before you end up going upside-down in a big way.

Top: Keep your bike balanced. Be relaxed and agile and breathe.

Above: If you see a rider making things look too easy, there’s usually been a lot of practice of good basic skills.

Right: Think of the bike as a seesaw, and you’re in the middle, gently shifting your weight front-to-back and side-to-side in order to keep the bike in that happy balanced place.

The Adventure Travel Film Festival

We’re doin’ it again!

Last February we packed our berets and dark glasses and grew funny little moustaches before riding down to Bright in Victoria to attend the Adventure Travel Film Festival.

Geez, we had a great time.

Christophe Barriere-Varju presented his multi-award winning flick Dream Racer, and then spent a heap of time with Adventure Rider Magazine readers answering

questions and just generally being a top bloke.

The publisher led a group on a ride from Sydney…sort of…and a heap of adventure riders rocked in from all over the place.

It was frigging awesome.

So we’re heading down to Bright again for February 12 to 14, 2016, and we’re going to snuggle on down into one of those theatre seats and lose ourselves in a whole swag of

awesome new adventure movies.

Maybe we’ll get all romantic in the back row on Valentine’s Day!

With ourselves…ew.

We haven’t organised a special screening or anything this year, but there’s some great bike movies on the list, and the organisers are offering Adventure Rider Magazine readers a 20 per cent discount on tickets. So what we’re hoping you folks will all do is organise yourselves into groups to ride from your home areas and meet us in Bright. Then we’ll all grab a bag of Jaffas and a cold drink and roll into to the theatre to see fillums like

Top: This 2013 epic will catch the dreams of a lot of riders. In Somewhere Else Tomorrow, a bloke decides to see the world on his BMW, earning the cash to do it as he goes.

Above right: 14 Horsepower Through Africa was made in 1935. Three low-powered twostrokes with sidecars set out from Cape Town and headed for Cairo. That’s some serious adventure riding.

Left: Going The Distance was made in 2015 and tells the story of a couple who punted a Ural to Alaska and headed south.

R 14 Horsepower Through Africa – an overland expedition from Cape Town to Cairo.

Six Austrians embarked in 1935 on a 14,000 km journey through Africa with three 14hp two-stroke motorcycles, each bearing a sidecar and passenger

R Going The Distance - Brit newlyweds

Mike and Alanna bought a 1930s-styled Ural and sidecar, shipped it to Alaska and then set their sights on Ushuaia, 20,000 miles away in Argentina

R Somewhere Else Tomorrow – Daniel Rintz

made his way around the world on his BMW and every now and then was able to earn a few euros with some dongle-based computer wizardry. His route started in Germany, careered over to the UK, took in North Africa and Asia on his way to Nepal before sliding down to Australia

There’s heaps more movies of course, and a few more bike ones especially, but those three had us sitting on the edge of our ergonomically sculptured office chairs.

You can watch trailers for these blockbusters by logging on to www.adventuretravelfilmfestival.com/ category/films/australia/. Just click on the film of your choice and it’ll take you to the vid.

So don’t miss out. Get your trip planned, then log on to www.advridermag.com.au/ forum and let us know where you’re leaving from and when. Let’s see how many riders we can get together in 2016, and how many films we can see. Hit the website to book your tickets, and don’t forget the code to get your discount.

A Miles

of smiles

Main: Near Gulgong, NSW. What a view!

Left: The vinyl handguards were a blessing in the cold.

Below: It was the time of year for wildflowers and wattle, snow-capped mountains and clear days.

Below left (on page 80)

Riding from Tenterfield to Moredon Ponds with about 30 riders was fun.

lthough it means I’m starting way off topic, just need to share something. And before you go saying, “Is it another way you’ve managed to set women’s adventure riding back 10 years?” –

I’ll give you that opportunity a little later – a friend took some riding advice from me which he credits for keeping him upright in the Finke Desert Race.

While he didn’t finish, he reckons without my advice he wouldn’t have made it as far as he did. His only regret was the advice ‘when in doubt, throttle out’, came too late to get painted on the tank of his Kawasaki W650. But it was a mantra he repeated numerous times and he reckons it kept him going.

If he decides to have another go he might consider, in combination with the riding advice, practising beforehand.

Write on

My husband Dave and I decided to take advantage of the Congregation and school holidays to see my sister and nieces in Victoria.

Anyone who knows me knows I hate packing. I leave it to the last minute and end up either horribly over- or under-prepared. This time, a quick trip to the big smoke just before leaving meant I needed to pack the weekend before. I can tell you that was a whole lot more

stressful than the 12-hour train ride with 60 kids that necessitated the early packing.

Riding from Tenterfield to Moredon Ponds with about 30 riders was fun. Jacquie was the only other female with us, and a few of the blokes were going to have a stern word to her about false advertising. She wore L plates, and when she kicked into motocross mode on Carpet Snake fire trail she left them standing. Wazza guessed correctly that we would be the ones rolling into the Congregation just before sunset, and that was a Congregation rookie error. Next time we’ll know to get there the evening before to give us a day to chat to everyone. By the time I’d caught up with people I knew, only actually met a couple of new people (hi, Sharon!). It was a bit humbling to have a few people come up and say they read my column. It makes me think

I should perhaps try a little harder to sound like I’m competent.

Opening

After hightailing it down to near Geelong, the rest of the trip took on a very relaxed note.

Time with family was special, but Dave and I were both itching to get riding around some of the Victorian high country. Catching the ferry across to Sorrento (just because) then buying new boots (because breaking in new boots on short rides is no fun) were all part of the new experiences. Although it was a case of being told over and over, “You should be here in a fortnight – the roads’ll be open then,” everywhere we went was incredible. It was the time of year for wildflowers and wattle, snow-capped mountains and clear days. It didn’t matter we couldn’t do all the other amazing tracks we’d heard about. The stunning scenery more than made up for that.

Point of interest

We took our time to stop and soak up the trip.

better, so we planned to do the obligatory photo at the old servo then be on our way. Fortunately, we decided to look around while we had a cuppa. Behind the old servo are amazing gardens, both new and heritage, with mini golf and river-stone sculptures. Apparently there’s a local lady who maintains it all. It’s worth the time to take a stroll around it.

A grin’s a win

We stopped at little local shops for coffee. We took lots of photos. We read about the history of towns and bridges and mines. We argued about the effectiveness of maps versus GPS, and we saved our marriage by not having intercom for the times after those ‘discussions’.

We found a terrifically helpful bloke in Premer who didn’t laugh when two bikes rolled into town late on a Sunday arvo with their fuel lights on after passing a town with a servo 50km back just as their fuel lights came on. He was so helpful. He used the fuel he had in his jerry can, then siphoned even more out of his bike, possibly to make sure we wouldn’t run out nearby. There were so many interesting places, Woods Point being just one of them. We’d already ridden through snow and didn’t think it could get much

In terms of logistics, we travelled 4500km in 11 days, taking us from the Congregation in NSW through Gulgong, Tocumwal and Lancefield to Steiglitz in Victoria. From there we crossed the bay and headed up through Woods Point to Mansfield, then Myrtleford, where Julie and Bob put us onto a track with incredible views, then onto Mount Hotham, Omeo, Tumbarumba, Wee Jasper, Bathurst for a sedate lap, Wolar, Walcha, through Grafton then back home. There was nothing stressful about the riding other than the regular stream of logging trucks near Noojee – day and night. I even kept the embarrassing moments to a minimum. At the end of the day, regardless of how easy or challenging the riding has been, if you’ve spent most of it with a grin on your face, and looking back it still makes you smile, then you’re doing something right.

R If you’re not carrying extra fuel, never ride past a servo

R Even innocuous bits of ground can reach up and pull you down when you least expect it

R Don’t ask at the bar if they can switch the TV to the rugby league when you’re in Victoria

R Best item I packed: the vinyl handguards

R There’s incredible riding in everyone’s backyard

R There’s no such thing as a sneaky ‘comfort stop’ behind the bike when you’re on a floodlit traffic island on an intersection at night

karen Ramsay

Karen Ramsay finds an unhurried trip a great experience.

Words and images: Karen Ramsay

new products

Checkout

helD

A good option for the summer.

There’s a lot of gear that’d be very well received this Chrissy. You’re gonna need a bigger tree.

aDventuRe

saDDlebag

Get in the saddle with the Ortlieb Adventure Rack-Pack saddle bag.

R Totally waterproof (IP64)

R Large, horizontal roll closure with stiffener

R Sturdy carrying handles

R Compression straps at the sides and tension strap over the roll closure allow size adjustment

R Multiple strap loops and attachment points

R Thickly cushioned detachable shoulder strap

R Large, bright, 3M Scotchlite reflectors

R Easy to clean

R Available in three sizes

RRP: $160

Available from: Touratech Australia Web: www.touratech.com.au

bMW gs oFF-RoaD RIDIng skIll DvD

Drills, skills, tips and techniques for riding the BMW GS motorcycle off-road.

Chapters include:

R Before You Ride

R Ride Standing

R Lifting a Bike

R Slow Speed Balance and Control

R Rear Wheel Skids

R Steep Down Hills

R Heaps more!

RRP: $59.99

Available from: Touratech Australia Web: www.touratech.com.au

altRIDeR synCh

DRy bags

Bags o’ fun.

R Wide-mouth, roll-down

opening with cinching straps

R 18oz waterproof and durable ‘truckers’ tarp’

R Military-spec neoprene on all anchor patches

R Tape-seam sealed construction for water- and dust-proof performance

R Daisy chain(s) for extra gear lash-points

R Nylon D-rings for tie-down and stacking options

R Custom tie-down straps

(can be used as shoulder straps)

R Custom stacking straps (for connecting to other bags and gear)

R Six styles available: 12-litre black or white, 25-litre black or white, 38-litre black or white

R Highly abrasion-resistant and tactile kangaroo leather palm

R Spandex, leather detailed back

R Colourfast and sweat-proof

R Velcro adjustment at cuffs

R Vents on fingers

R Perforated finger side walls

R Hard-plastic knuckle protection

R SUPERFABRIC® reinforcement on edge of hand

R Sizes: 7-12

R Colours: Black, grey-black, black-grey-red, grey-blue

RRP: $130

Available from: www.heldaustralia.com.au

bMW

A comfort off-roader from BMW.

R Waterproof leather enduro boot suitable for everyday wear

R Outer material is full-grained cattle-leather with a water-resistant coating

R Foam-upholstered impact protection for shins and ankles

R Heel caps and reinforced toe tips

R Functionally formed shift-lever protector in TPU on both sides

R Gore-Tex membrane is windtight, watertight and free-breathing

R Robust, high-traction rubber sole

R Anatomically designed, bacteria-resistant inner sole

R Suede on shaft for enhanced grip on the motorcycle

R Velcro surface for infinitely-variable width adjustment

R Sizes: Unisex 38-48

RRP: 12 litre $119.95. 25 litre $139.95. 38 litre 199.95

Available from: AdventureMoto Web: www.adventuremoto.com.au

RRP: $590

Available from: BMW Motorrad dealers Web: www.bmwmotorrad.com.au

InReaCh se anD exploReR

A two-way messaging device that sends SMS and email. It could save your life.

R Total world-wide coverage. Works outside normal mobile phone coverage areas

R Track your journey via your own private web-based user console

R Share your adventure with online maps

R Post to Facebook and Twitter from anywhere

R Trigger an SOS and communicate with the 24/7 emergency response centre

R User can track their journey and communicate with family and friends

R Connect to a monthly plan with no

lock-in contracts and switch plans anytime to suit current needs

Additional features when using the inReach Explorer:

R Navigate to a waypoint or follow a route on the colour screen

R Drop waypoints

R Equipped with a digital compass, baro metric altimeter and accelerometer

RRP: SE $529. Explorer $599

Available from: Overlander Adventure Equipment Phone: (08) 9250 5559 Web: www.overlanderae.com.au

anDy stRapz

aa bagz

A high-quality, tough, frameless seat or rack bag.

R 18-litre capacity

R Designed for universal fitment and ease of use

R Straps directly to the bike with 25mm webbing and double

D-ring system

R All compartments accessible while on the bike

R Storm flap covers the top to protect from the rain

R Includes a cargo net for extra luggage capacity

RRP: $195 plus postage

Available from: Andy Strapz Phone: (03) 9770 2207

Web: www.andystrapz.com

Jonathon Rea Wo ChaM

Celebrate with Kawasaki.

R Limited edition

R Image of WSBK champ Jonathon Rea on the ZX-10R

R Kawasaki race team logo

R 100 per cent cotton

RRP: $44

Available from: Your nearest Kawasaki dealership Web: kawasaki.com.au/ dealers/find-a-dealer

suzukI tank bags

DR650 staRteR-MotoR enD Cap

A must for DR650 owners.

R Eliminates the squawking starter-motor noise

R Billet machined and fitted with a sealed ball bearing

R Black, anodised finish

RRP: $139

Available from: Vince Strang Motorcycles

Phone: (02) 6721 0650

Web: www.vsm.net.au

For convenient storage.

R Large, including tank fixation ring, has capacity of 11 litres, extending to 15 litres, optional map holder

R Small, including tank fixation ring, has capacity five litres, extending to nine litres

R Made of durable nylon material with reflective piping

R Large available for L4-L5 V-Strom 650/1000

R Small available for L4-L5 V-Strom

R Fully covered by Suzuki Warranty

RRP: Large $490. Small $290

Available from: Bike shops

Web: www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au

2016 ktM RaCIng WatCh

Race watch. Makes sure you can watch race.

R Tempered, orange-tinted mineral glass

R Japanese clockwork mechanism with date and seconds display

R IPB plating (ion plating in black), stainless-steel casing with IPB plating and bolted casing base with KTM logo

R Natural-rubber strap with KTM logo, stainless-steel buckle, IPB-plated with KTM logo

R Water-resistant to 10 atmospheres (per DIN standard)

R 80/20 metal/natural rubber

RRP: $179.99

Available from:

Authorised KTM dealers Web: www.ktm.com.au

MItas/sava MC24 InvaDeR

A new tyre from Mitas! Awesome.

R 70/30 road/off-road

R Solid carcass construction

R Directional tread design

R Exceptional grip

R Comfortable ride and a long service life

R Quality European product

RRP: $149

Available from:

Bike shops everywhere Web: www.mitas.com.au

Rally saDDlebags

Great off-road saddlebags that fit most rack types

R Waterproof and dustproof. Fill them with water and try for yourself

R Can be used as eskies

R Each bag has a 20-litre capacity. 40 litres combined

R Designed and manufactured in Australia

R Made from heavy-duty PVC (900gsm)

R All webbing and clips are tough and made in New Zealand

R Two compression straps per bag allow tightly secured loads

R Replaceable rear rub pad

RRP: $335

from:

Motorcycle

1300 883 908

FoRMa aDventuRe loW boots

Waterproof dualsport adventure boots.

R Mid-height design

R Full-grain oiled

leather upper

R DRYTEX lining

R Vintage leather finish

R Double-density, anti-slip sole

R Produced 100 per cent in Europe

R Sizes: 38eu to 49eu

RRP: $339

Available from: Motorcycle dealers everywhere

Phone: (03) 5792 3888

Web: www.formaboots.com.au

MotopRessoR tubeless RepaIR kIt

Includes everything needed to get you back on the road after a tubeless puncture.

R Multi-tool to remove offending object from the tyre and to trim the plug

R A Dynaplug Ultralite repair tool and four plugs

R Three CO2 canisters

R An inflation tool

R All stored in a neoprene bag

R No reaming or glue required

RRP: $69.95 plus postage

Available from: Rocky Creek Designs Web: www.rockycreekdesigns.com.au

helD CaRRy bag

A luggage all-rounder.

R Water- and dust-proof adjustable roll-fastener

R Carrying handle

R Detachable shoulder straps

R Reflective print

R Welded seams

R 100per cent polyethylene

R Colours: Black-white, white-red

RRP: 30 litre $70. 60 litre $95

Available from: www.heldaustralia.com.au

stICk-FIt extenDa Fen

Keep it clean! The editor loves these things.

R Protects your radiator and exhaust manifold from mud, spray and unwanted debris thrown up by the front tyre

R Made from tough, high-quality, vacuum-formed, ABS plastic

R Supplied with the new ‘Stick-Fit’ attachment method.

No drilling needed

R Once fitted and cured your bike will be protected for a lifetime

R Fits a wide range of adventure bikes: R1200GS, Explorer 1200, KTM 1290, 1190, 1050 and many more.

RRP: About AUD$42

Available from: Pyramid Plastics

Email: sales@pyramid-plastics.co.uk

Web: www.pyramid-plastics.co.uk

RaD guaRD ktM 1050 gua

Protect that radiator!

R Guards available for KTM 1050 Adventure 2015-2016

R Made from high-grade 6060 aluminium

R Designed with a robust frame and expanded mesh to allow adequate air flow

R Easy to fit. Written instructions supplied with guard

R Available in polished alloy or powder-coated black

R Guards are lightweight

R Three-year transferable warranty

RRP: On special for $156

Available from: Rad Guard

Phone: (02) 6658 0060

Web: www.radguard.com.au

the gReat oCean RoaD On sale February, 2016

klRs up the khybeR

We have a handful of the very best adventure-bikes, done up to the max by the importers, and we’re going to ride one of the world’s most sought-after routes.

Kawasaki riders show their colours all around the country.

v More on the Triumph XRx v The next step for the Shop Bike v Updates on the Congregations and Adventure Film Festival rides Merry Christmas everyone! See you in February, 2016.

SW-Motech has introduced 8 new designs and sizes to their huge range of dry bags. They’re

Tarpaulin