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Murph the surf wrote:Hey Ecks
You have yourself a number 1 Amazon rock crawler.
I still don’t know why I ride a KTM500????
That is untill we are faced with some open trail. :woohoo:
But even then I am only fastest until the first corner :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Love your choice, many may laugh, but I am saying that you will climb many a mountain on that trusty stead
Cheers
MurphCheers mate, hope to get myself to one of your rides with your mate Watto!
Nice work ECKS just one tip the brake line is supposed to go on the inside of the fork leg between it and the wheel. All bikes are between leg and wheel from the factory (ok maybe not Chinese) it prevents a stick or the likes ripping and and you off. Some may have changed it before you but it would have been inside the fork from new
Resto looks good, enjoy mate
TB
Trailboss wrote:Nice work ECKS just one tip the brake line is supposed to go on the inside of the fork leg between it and the wheel. All bikes are between leg and wheel from the factory (ok maybe not Chinese) it prevents a stick or the likes ripping and and you off. Some may have changed it before you but it would have been inside the fork from newResto looks good, enjoy mate
TB
:whistle:
Ollie wrote:Trailboss wrote:Nice work ECKS just one tip the brake line is supposed to go on the inside of the fork leg between it and the wheel. All bikes are between leg and wheel from the factory (ok maybe not Chinese) it prevents a stick or the likes ripping and and you off. Some may have changed it before you but it would have been inside the fork from newResto looks good, enjoy mate
TB
:whistle:
:laugh: :laugh:
Thanks TB, Ollie was all over it!
One more thing Ecks, the seat is supposed to be on top of the bike. Much more comfortable to sit on.
Sorry, that’s just not funny is it.axel wrote:One more thing Ecks, the seat is supposed to be on top of the bike. Much more comfortable to sit on. Sorry, that’s just not funny is it.That depends if you want a low seat height or not :laugh:
Ollie
twobanger wrote:Looks pretty tidy in the pics, you looking at setting it up for the tight stuff? A bloke at work had a ttr250 and considering how bad his road tires where it tractered up some Clarence greasy climbs with ease.Yeah mate, I’m into the tight single stuff, but do a little bit of road work very rarely. My past experience with DR250’s was all good, went everywhere I wanted it to with no fuss. Looking forward to getting this one out and about!
Got to make some time though, I still haven’t got it to the workshop for the blue slip! Bloody renovations taking time, money and filling my trailer with rubbish so that I can’t use it to carry the bike!
G’day Ecks-Man,
Not sure of the legalities of it but if you find a reasonable inspector you will be sweet for any future rego inspections.
I have for the last 2 years taken my XR250 and my DT200 to a local mechanic for their pink slips.
They have never even been off the ute, he has a quick look for an oil leak or whatever he is looking for and writes them up.
I dont start them, no lights, blinkers brake light check – nothing.
They both have had the original speedo’s removed and have push bike ones on, both have full working lights/blinker/brake lights etc but they are never checked. Full knobby “not for highway use” tyres as well.
I just explain to him that they are for bush use only and he is cool with that.
They are probably more stringent on a blue slip but after that you will be sweetTrailraider wrote:G’day Ecks-Man,
Not sure of the legalities of it but if you find a reasonable inspector you will be sweet for any future rego inspections.
I have for the last 2 years taken my XR250 and my DT200 to a local mechanic for their pink slips.
They have never even been off the ute, he has a quick look for an oil leak or whatever he is looking for and writes them up.
I dont start them, no lights, blinkers brake light check – nothing.
They both have had the original speedo’s removed and have push bike ones on, both have full working lights/blinker/brake lights etc but they are never checked. Full knobby “not for highway use” tyres as well.
I just explain to him that they are for bush use only and he is cool with that.
They are probably more stringent on a blue slip but after that you will be sweetThanks mate, I was hoping to hear that! I think my mechanic will be fine for the rego checks, but he doesn’t do blue slips. Once I get the bluey I think I will get the twin-halogen one back on.
Side Note: The legendary weight of the standard headlight is oversold a fair bit. I reckon that thing weighs about 1kg, possibly more, but much less than 2kg. Yes, there is a weight saving to be had by removing it, but nothing like what I’ve heard in the past!
Anyone know about replacing the halogen lights? And the possibility of switching to the LED versions?
So it took a 40th birthday and a surprise from my wife to get my shit sorted and get the bike registered, finally! Mrs ECKS arranged for me to have a weekend riding with a mate, but realised the bike was not registered and that this was beyond her ability to sort out, especially as a surprise. The jig was up, and she came clean, with a week to spare before I had to have the bike registered and trail ready! No pressure eh!
So it was back on with the ADR crap, blinkers, rear guard extender, etc etc. Tracked down a broken wire which was stopping the headlight from working and suddenly had a bike ready for rego. Booked it in with DIY Auto in Dubbo for Monday morning at 9:30. Rex at DIY Auto was great, although admittedly I probably made his job easy by presenting him with a stock bike to inspect. Sailed through inspection and bought some small blinkers as I headed home, paid for rego and got a plate.
It was a busy week, with work, band, kids etc, so didn’t get back to the bike until Friday night. I had a prioritised list which started at the back and worked forward. I made it as far as the seat, but at least the rear guard extender was sitting in a box, the number plate was on and the new small rear blinkers installed and working.
Loaded up Saturday morning and headed off to meet a mate for a riding weekend. We started with Sunny Corner. We had a GPX file of last year’s Rally loop as a guide.
The little DRZ ready to go:
What I had to keep up with!
We headed off and blasted through the northern loop. Bit disappointing how much fire trail was in it all actually. Anyway, a bad day riding beats a good day at work as they say! If nothing else, it was a good shakedown for the DRZ. The suspension is FANTASTIC plush and amazingly tractable with no chance of bottoming out at any point. And as you can see I’m not a little bloke! Can’t recommend Jay Foreman highly enough for Suzuki suspension!
Sunday’s ride to come…
After a night in Wallerawang including several beers
we planned to hit the Ben Bullen area on Sunday. My mate had a loop which he had ridden before and it was supposed to be a tough ride.Here’s a photo that I like from the ride:
We headed into the hills and 4km in I was thinking: “How long is this bloody loop?”
Wow, it was tight single, linked in places by some fire trails. Hills that went up up up and just when you thought you’d need an oxygen tank, they went up some more! Downhills that had drops which were just not suited to the (relatively) low clearance of the DRZ, a couple of them caught me and one case-out had me over the side and into the bracken ferns! Climbs up rock faces (some would say “cliffs”) and over logs (I hate logs, although I am better at them after yesterday’s practice!).
This cliff face was a scary prospect, didn’t help that just before it my mate had stopped on a hill in front of me and I had a hell of a time getting moving again, so by the time this thing appeared in front of me I was shattered!
Still, made it up no prob after I took 2 minutes to catch my breath. Here’s one from the top looking back…
Look over the left handlebar and you can see the track in the background!
And then there was this:
Bugger me, the first part was OK, but at the tree the track had a lot of exposed and slippery roots.. thanks to some assistance, both bikes made it to the top:
Oh, we got one of us with the bikes here too!
And looking back down the track:
This set the scene for the rest of the loop, and both of us were feeling the pinch!
At one stage the track disappeared and we ended up bush-bashing through the scrub on the side of a cliff until we were able to find the track again. Scary stuff, my back wheel dropped into a gully and I had to skull-drag the bike out. That sucked!
When we got back on the track, we went up, up, up, up… then up and onto a hill:
And then followed the track over, around, through and even under some rock formations. Tested out the bash plate on the DRZ multiple times, actually I think it was multiple times per metre! Tough stuff! Finally we had one last climb up a rutted gap between two rock formations before the track led back down and we found our way back to the cars.
It was only 54km, but holy cow, one of the hardest rides I have ever done!
And the little DRZ held it’s own all weekend, the only limitation was the slightly lower clearance and the rider’s lack of ability! This thing went places no DRZ 250 was EVER meant to go! And the day after, I can still walk, which either says something about my fitness or the bike’s rideability!
ECKS rides again! Yeeehaa!!
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