Vic High Country Help!

[David ThorntonMember]

Hi to all at OBT,

I am currently planning a 12 Day Adv Bike ride from Canberra down to Vic High Country and back for a group of 4 to 6 experienced riders in March 2012 and would greatly appreciate any advise from those that have knowledge of the area.

I am using OziExplorer with Hema and Geoscience Australia digital maps for planning the routes for transfer to our Garmin Montana and Oregon GPS units.

So far I have put together the first 4 days from Canberra into Dargo without any major concerns.

After looking at some videos on You Tube of tracks in the area I could use some advise as I am now a bit stuck on suitable tracks from Dargo to Licola and Jamieson that ADV bikes loaded with gear will easily manage in most weather conditions.

Any advise on appropriate tracks and the area in general would be greatly appreciated.

The bikes will mostly be well kitted Tenere’s, 1 KTM 690 & 1 KLR

If anyone would like advise or assistance with Digital Mapping and Software feel free to PM me as I have a few years experience with this stuff and am happy to help out.

Cheers from the newbie.

[GregMember]

Welcome Dave. I have done a few rides in the high country now and taking another group around next month. Will have a look through some stuff tomorrow maybe in time permits

TB

[Nick JacksonMember]

Hi Dave and welcome to Old Bulls, their seems to be a heap of options around the High Country for loaded bikes and now TB is looking into it I’m sure you’ll have some good suggestions coming your way soon !!

Thanks for the offer of help with GPSs too I’ve only been using one for 18 months and still don’t feel I completely know it. I have a Garmin CSX60 which I use with Shonky on Mac via Basecamp and a Go Cruise road GPS both mounted to my Tenere.

The Go Cruise has saved us a lot of times but as a cheap unit comes unreliability , I’m in the market for a new road GPS , any suggestions ?
The Zumo seems popular and I’ve tried the Strike ( 3 units all faulty !)
So any advice on a tough unit with decent software would be good

Post up some pics of your bike too , it’s always good to see how riders set up their Teneres

Enjoy the site

Nick

[David ThorntonMember]

Thanks to both TB & Nick for the warm welcome and to TB for the offer of assistance.

TB, no rush, my schedule was to try and have the proposed routes and ride details sorted by mid Jan.

Nick the unit I recommend is the new Garmin Montana – It is a touch screen handheld but also is 100% car navigation capable. The Montana comes standard with Garmin Topo Aust mapping pre-installed (IMO the best Nav software avail) and the car windshield mount which incorporates the speaker and wring setup.

Garmin specially designed a Rugged Mount ($49 extra) for this unit that was designed for use in Snowmobiles, Buggys and Dirtbikes. The Rugged Mount is a quick connect, semi lockable bracket that can easily be fitted to Ram Mounts and also comes with its own wiring harness for permanent connection to any 12V source. The Montana unit slots and locks into the rugged mount power with brass connecters at the bottom of the unit.

The brightness and clarity of the display, memory capacity, features, design and ease of use of the Montana are amazing and after using the unit on a 2600klm ride in Oct, I believe some one at Garmin rides ADV bikes.

The unit aint cheap, I paid $758 (JA GPS) with rugged mount & some new RAM mount pieces, but I reckon worth every cent.

BTW – I dont work for Garmin – Just love stuff that gives me more riding options.

I’ll post some info & pics on my Tenere in the next week – I have an interesting story to share about an engine problem that has had the bike in the dealership for the last 8 weeks.

BTW guys – Love the site and the quality of the info.

Dave

[Nick JacksonMember]

Thanks for the info on the Garmin Montana Dave , I’ll check them out for sure 1 gps to do the lot would be great !!

Are you going on The Haunted Stream trail to get to Dargo ?? We did it in April and it was a real High country Highlight , I counted 54 creek crossings in about 40 minutes of riding !!!!

Nick

[scott bockingMember]

Welcome to the site Dave.
You have contributed more information to the site in one thread than some of the dribblers on here do in a year :laugh:
I have pasted a link here for you which shows you how to use photobucket on this site so that your pics display in full.
http://www.obtrailriders.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=2&id=12006&Itemid=75#79894

Enjoy OBT

STM

[damien turnourMember]

That HURT

[David ThorntonMember]

Thanks STM, I wondered how to get them to load in the message.

Dave

[David ThorntonMember]

No probs Nick – I also have a Garmin Oregon 450T as well as the Montana and rate it highly as well.

The Oregon has been used for 18 months and 13000klms of riding with no problems. It is a smaller unit, has a much smaller screen and the display is not as bright or clear as the Montana – I now mainly use the Oregon on my 530EXCR or loan it to others in my riding group on long rides so we can split up a bit.

One of my mates that bought the Oregon commented he has trouble reading it when riding as he normally wears glasses to read.

Haunted Stream Trail – now thats the type of info I am chasing. I’ll try to find it on the maps.

Dave

[GregMember]

Dave I am sorting my GPX files at the moment (and loading photos of Coffs Boony) I have the haunted strean etc for you mate. I am digging out the ride from Hotham to Dargo, Mt Pinnabar and another cracker which the name fails me now because I was with Honda not our ride. Please PM me your email address

TB

[Angus StainlayMember]

Great work guys,
Keep the tips coming for the high country highlights, I might just know someone who will benefit from GPSDaves hard work…..

Cheers
Angus

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