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Went on a little adventure on the weekend. Did an escorted two and half day ride in the Victorian high country near the NSW boarder. There were about 23 other riders of mostly 35 to 50+ year olds and all different makes of bikes (7 or 8 KLX 450’s/ an older 300, 3 Katoom 300’s, 2 Husky 510’s and a number of WR’s, Orange 450’s/525/530, 2 CRF 450’s, and a 6fiddy with its borrowed 16L tank , on ya TB)
It started with one of the best introductions to the high country you could get. A 15+minute 4-5km uphill climb to the highest point you can legally get to in Oz. One fella threw it away around a corner without doing too much damage. As the picture shows, the bike ended up about 3 metres off the track on top of a pile of dead trees.
We did about 240 k’s on the first day. There was all sorts of terrain -a rock covered mountain section that was from another world (the Blue 450 had another off on the stone section and hurt his thumb – he hopped into the support vehicle at lunch) and uphills that go forever, twin trails and a lot of transport sections, a little too much dirt road for my liking, and the dust was its usual irritating best, but we did see some beautiful high country plains and ranges.
As it turned out, it was setting day 2 up – which would prove to be the highlight of the trip. The old green 300 stuffed its chain and front spocket – he hopped on the blue 450 for the day, whilst the support vehicle went to a local town to pick up some parts to get his green machine back on the trails for Day 2, then meet us for lunch.
Day 2 was a day you just didn’t want to end. Heaps of infrequently used twin trail – you know the stuff – leaf covered and loamy. Undulating through low to mid forest areas, around hill edges, following various valleys and creek lines etc. Had a great duel with an orange 450, ‘til he crashed on a corner – he was ok – after that, he chased the fiddy, this went on for what seemed to be 45 – 60 minutes. Brilliant. I gotta say, this sort of stuff is exactly why I got the 650. Its torque from idle to limiter (which I’ve never heard) has to be experienced to be believed! The 400 with a HRC kit I had previously was a torquey little mother, BUT, as Hoffman said to TB when he bought his fiddy “now your dancin’ with the big girls”
Anyhow, when we came out of the forest, I shared some fuel with the lead and some 2 bangers so we could all get to the lunch stop.
The afternoon was just as good. A few more Mother uphills that the fiddy just looks at and starts to salivate. I mean, these uphills are the best you get in this country, because they just keep going. You crest what you think is the top, and you’ll drop down a little spur, change direction and then in front of you again is another uphill that elevates you another few hundred metres – you almost need to stop and have a quiet moment! These uphills and down hills are made even better, because the ground is not badly rutted and rocked like an old battle ground – it’s loamy, firm soil that allows you to just fly up these giants. The final downhill to the track out to the road to our overnight stay was some of the steepest sections of the whole weekend.
Our overnight stay was a ripper, late, but a ripper.
We’d had dinner and in the evening, our lead was talking to some other blokes and learned that they had another bloke meeting them there that afternoon. Here they were drinking their red wine with their BMW’s parked with their covers on them and their mate was stuck about an hour away at the bottom of a track he couldn’t get out of with a damaged ankle! These F wits were happy to just leave him there overnight. Our lead went off at them and tried to contact the missing rider. Luckily, he had a UHF and a sat phone. They called him on the phone and tried to locate him. They went to where he said he was, but he wasn’t there. They zeroed in on him with the UHF. They carried him out, and all his gear, and tried and tried and eventually rode the bike out. They loaded it all up and came back to the Pub. The rescue resulted in them not getting to bed until 3.30am.
There certainly is all types in this world!!!!
The final half day was a unique one. A run up a narrow valley track that hung precariously close to the mountain edge. We then dropped down to the creek and followed in up the valley. The track crosses the creek something like 40 times. A great little run. I swapped rides with a top fella on a husky 510 for the next section. He was a better rider than me and just loved the fiddy. His 510 was so light. I reckon you could set one up really well. I did notice that I was working the gears a lot more to keep the bike in its preferred power range, but once there – it was very punchy. I nice unit, the brakes were very nice too.
We then ended up at a wide stony bottomed river crossing. About 30 metres across and if you stayed on the shallowest line to cross, it’s about 400 – 500mm deep. Fuelled up some 2 bangers and then it was pretty much fire break roads back to our starting point. A Great Weekend.
Notes: 10 flats tyres (6-7 to the tour ops), 2 strokes often run out of fuel around 100k’s, BWM’s aren’t great off the road, 510’s are very light machines, metal rear rim locks seem to cause a lot of punctures, 550 kms covered, tiny bit of snow still in the Snowy Mountains, wet boots suck, knee guards stink, dust gets in too EVERYWHERE, Youngin’s in a pub seem to enjoy the music of the late 70’s / 80’s more than now!, that’ll do donkey.
CrashCrumpet98 wrote:
Quote:BTW Anybody know where i can get a sticker kit that actually looks half decent for my CR 250 98mdl, trying to jazz her up a little so i atleast look the part.Check these Crumpet
Radiator Shrouds
Side panels
Front & Rear guards
Contact Tee n Cee signs and tell them you want an Old Bull Sticker kit
http://www.teencee.com.au/sites/
TB
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