[Scott SouthwellMember]

I seen one of the new ones on the road yesterday, they look great. No doubt with time they will develop a strong following and reputation.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Kurraboy no doubt you have riden these areas on weekends and know how busy they can get sometimes. Weekdays they are all but deserted except for the forest workers. Need to keep a good lookout for logging trucks.

As for ya day job, thats why they invented sickies. :laugh:

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Gidday Kurraboy, welcome to the site.

Mate you’ve come to the right place. There’s plenty of guys on here that ride both those area’s. If you look in the ride gathering section there is a ride on up at Clarence this Tuesday. Not sure if you’re a shift worker like a few of us on here so a mid week ride might be no good.

Im from the Penrith area and there are a few others around here. If you plan a ride up that way, or anywhere for that matter post it up on here and your sure to get some takers

[Scott SouthwellMember]

I’m another who will miss this one by a day. I got Wednesday off but not Tuesday.

I just learnt a new guy at work has a WR450. Gunna try and organise a week day ride up there with him soon.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Well I did my weekly weigh in, 97.3.

I was given a big incentive yesterday to get fit and lose weight. I have been offered a spot on the Mountain Bike Course at work in December, but I need to pass the physical within the next 3-4 weeks. This means running a 9.1 on the beep test. This would have been no problem 12 months ago but I did it yesterday, 6.5, kinda embarrassing

Now I can ride a mountain bike all day long but I hate running and the key to the beep test is to be carrying as little weight as possible.

So now it’s getting serious. I’ve cut out the shit food and started back up at the gym. If I gotta run it might as well be on a treadmill so I can watch tele to take my mind of it.

Well wish me luck, as they say no pain no gain.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Depends on the stats you look at, overall bike sales or sales for specific syles of bike. Overall dirtbike is Yamaha then Honda but this would incorporate all there models incuding farm bikes and kids bikes not just WR and CRF.

In the Enduro sector the Banana is top seller for first half of 09 with 841 units.

KTM have 3 models in the top 10 enduro sellers with Honda only having 1. It would be safe to say KTM sales would be up with Honda and Yamaha in true Enduro models not just trail bikes as KTM have a much larger range of Enduro models.

Must be getting pretty frustated by now Mal?

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Just got home from Sutto’s. Tyres are in the shed awaiting a tyre changing session. Two tyres for under 2 hundie, gotta be happy with that.

Now to plan a ride.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

I recon this could be an odds on replacment for the retired pocks dots.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Think im gunna gab a set. Can ya drop em at my place TB.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Sorry guys but iv’e already joined another team.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Finally got the DRZ out to test the suspension work on the Orange to Hillend ride and couldn’t be happier with how Teknik have transformed the bike.

I had the forks done a while back and that made a huge difference. The front would track better over rough rocks and roots and resist bottoming much better. This improved my confidence in the bike when hitting rough stuff at speed.

Having the rear done has improved the bike two fold again. Even though the bike has been stiffened for my weight over rock and roots it feels softer just soaking them up. All weekend I don’t think the suspension bottom out once, and if it did I didn’t feel it.

The biggest improvement is how the bike turns now with the rear up where it should be. I was running a very shagged out M12 yesterday in very slippery conditions and had full confidence in the front end. The bike is so much easier to get into corners, I would have stayed and played in the pine forest dodging trees all day.

Anybody with a DRZ who is thinking about getting the suspension sorted this is the single best thing you can do to the bike. I would also recommend not to just get heavier spring to suit your weight but get it revalved to suit.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Thanks everybody for a great weekend, rides have been too few and far between for me of late.

We certainly had a mix of all conditions. Hot and dusty on Saturday, rain and cold on Sunday with both open dirt road to tight single on both days.

For me the singles in the rain out at Canobolis on day two was the most fun, not much fun getting out there but well worth freezing my nuts of for, I could have stayed out there till the sun went down. The greasy conditions made for some hairy moments and got the heart pumping. This was proved when I witnesses Crash live up to his name on an open fire trail, biggest get off I’ve seen in a while, lucky to get away with only a broken brake lever.

During the weekend the two Mal’s proved themselves kings. Mal5.1 King of the hill by getting to the top of a hill he had no right getting up in the slippery conditions and Mal from Sutto’s the wheelie king. I bet he gets some pretty good mileage out of front tyre on his big KTM, the front wheel never touches the ground.

All up another great weekend, thanks guys.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

No so she can do this on it. :laugh:

[Scott SouthwellMember]

The 17 inch wheels and tyres is the most obvious but there are a few more differences between the DRZ400E and DRZ400SM.

The bikes are basically the same but the SM has a de-tuned version of the E motor, why they de-tune it for the road I don’t know.

The SM has milder cams, a thicker base gasket for less engine compression, a CV carby instead of the flat slide and a smaller header pipe.

The E also gets better suspension. The SM gets an inverted fork which at first would seem better but they are very basic forks with only preload adjustment and NO compression or rebound adjusters.

The SM shock has preload adjustment and low speed compression only and no rebound adjustment. The E has high and low speed compression and rebound. The SM also has less travel front and rear. All up the suspension on the E is far better than the SM.

The rear swing arms are also different, not sure if they are different lengths but the rear wheel adjusters are different.

I personally think if you want a motard DRZ400 your better of converting an E than buying the SM. All you need for the E is the 17 inch wheels and bigger brake then you end up with more power and better suspension then a standard SM.

To get a SM up to E spec would cost a shitload more and the SM is more expensive of the show room floor to start with.

[Scott SouthwellMember]

Well I jumped on the scales today and it’s worse than I thought. 99.2kg. I was expecting mid 90’s.

Seeing I just spent a shitload on the DRZ suspension having it set up for 90kg I will be making this my first target weight. Then down to 85 which is a weight I feel really healthy at.

By the way just got home from MTB ride with some good hill climbs and feel great.

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