the word ‘ WHY ‘

[WayneMember]

Why?
Gotta be one of the most commonly used words in every day life. A word I have had thrown at me a fair bit in the last week or two.
Why step away from the ‘hunge’ (the 2000 model, XR400). The seemly indestructible, ever faithful machine that introduced me to the ways of a tree dodgin’ bush rider. Not to mention enabling the competing in events such as Yellow Mountain Cross Country races, a Condo 750, a A4DE as well as all the ‘Old Bull’ rides over the last 3 or so years. Wow, when you look back and see those words written……….back in a sec…. I need a quiet moment alone!
My answer to the question is quite simple…when you know,….. you know. It was time.
So, what to replaced her with?
Being as I am, loyalty rates big ones with me (bikes & buds)….so it had to be ‘red’. Therefore, from my point of view, the only serious choices for my ‘Old Bull’ application were CRF450 or XR650. Don’t get me wrong, the CRF is a top machine, but for me, she’s too high performance. And as a consequence of all this neck snapping horsepower, I have concerns about longevity and the on going servicing requirements. I guess I’ve been a bit spoilt with the ‘hunge’, because after a rebuild when I first got her, all I did was regularly change the oil and filter. I’d check the valves regularly too but hardly touched them (this was a HRC kitted engine too!).
Which leaves me searching for an XR650R (now referred to as ‘fiddy’). After a few false starts, I finally found ‘the one’. A 2005 model, pretty stock standard machine. I brought her home last week and dropped the bomb on the boys. Neither Guru, Chicken or Chris would believe me. After a photo was emailed, they believed what I’d done. Although I’m sure Guru drove to my joint during the night to sneak a peek to confirm I hadn’t just cut n pasted a picture on a picture. So, the next day, Guru then broke his arse to arrange a quick ride in the Watagans on the Saturday before they went away.
Off we went, You know how when you were a kid, you would do first – think later……..well, for some reason, this gene is prevented from maturing with age in some models of male humans….I’m one.
Things turn to shit from here, so I’ll just speed through it to try and ease my pain (and yours if you’re finding this a little tedious).
Damp rainforest valley, snotty slippery over-grown single line, numerous fallen trees, a dopey apprentice member of club-fiddy who can’t seem to lift a wheel up over a slippery log whilst failing to flick his machine at 90 degrees to the log – result……..(pause again for a moment, remember back when I bought the ‘fiddy’ I said it was ‘pretty stock standard…..well, that means no radiator guards, no radiator braces etc……….back to the story) – result – left radiator used as landing gear on log – steam & water everywhere. Chicken looked at me and said it all with his eyes. The Guru was up ahead and nowhere to be seen. I think he was running late for a mudpack or a manicure or something. So, we huffed & puffed & dragged & rolled for about 2 or so k’s, about 2 hours. Then we happened across the Guru on his way back to find us…however, the fire trail we were heading for was just at the top of this last hill, the hill the Guru was just coming down. I’m sure we’d just woken him up with our noise, so he thought “I’d better make it look like I’m trying to find them!” I started the ‘fiddy’ and rode it up the hill for about 12 seconds, then switched off. Chicken made up a tow line, wrapped it around himself and towed me another 10 k’s or so back to civilization, where Guru met us with our transportation. After that, we did the only sensible thing that can be done in those situations……..we went to the pub, had a couple of ales/rumskys and a counter meal. Then home.
That’s enough for now, I’ll get back to the forum with an update on damage, repairs and how the new bike actually went. If you’re interested?
Crash

[ChrisMember]

crash, the pics massive, will sort out for you, I have nearly finished doing the forum help and this will explain how to get multiple pics uploaded / linked etc, without the need to resize, the biggest problem is we have a limit on our storage and if we had everyone uploading hi-res image, apart from it being slow would use up all our space.

Cheers
Chris.

[Mick DMember]

Hey Chris,
I use a photo hosting site and just paste the URL into my replies but I noticed if the file is a big one, it makes the page too wide so I am having to resize for this forum.Is there a better way I can do it? The way I have been doing it works fine on thumpertalk.The site I us is called http://xs.to/
it is a free site with no registration required.

[GregMember]

Well I for one am looking for a true update as I am sure some others are. What is happening at the XR650 build team?

I have heard wheels?
Dampers?
Una Biker Radiator guards (I know that for a fact because he got mine)

Maybe you could do a story on your damper and setup etc because its new and different to you old style of damper (your WER)

Come on Crash lets here something interesting

[Author]

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