Issue#69 Apr/May

YAMAHA’S YZ450FX RACE READY + TRAIL FRIENDLY

TWO-STROKE YEARS OF ADVENTURE Recounting a decade of exploration

SHERCOS

BUSTIN’ OUT ON THE OIL BURNERS!

SURVIVING THE PHILIPPINES Heat, traffic and volcanoes

CLUBBY TAKES ON SOUTHERN NSW APR/MAY 2016 ISSUE 69 AUS $9.95* NZ $12.20 (Both incl. GST)

“I really puckered up when they suddenly disappeared straight over the edge of the next section of track down into what looked like the abyss of doom...”

off road imports 02-4577-7022

ISSUE #69/APRIL/MAY 2016

REGULARS 6 SNAP SHOT A frame grab of what we live for

8 BIKE OF THE MONTH A classic piece of steel that’s high on

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drool factor

FEATURES 30 SOUTHERN ADVENTURE TIME Clubby loads up the Ténéré and heads south

40 2016 YAMAHA YZ450FX We head to New Zealand for the launch of the

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awesome YZ450FX

48 10 YEARS OF ADVENTURE Ian Neubauer looks back on 10 years of travel on two wheels

56 KYE ANDERSON An Aussie bloke gets ready for the world’s toughest events

60 SHERCO 250/300 TWO-STROKES On-board two of the most exciting oil burners

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on the planet

66 RIDING THE PHILIPPINES Finding adventure in paradise

74 BMW R 1150 GS You don’t need the latest and greatest to find the sweetest spots

BACK PACK

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80 LEGEND SHOT Shane Watts

82 TECH TIPS We get greasy and play with our tools

84 DESTINATIONS A quick look at a dream ride location

86 RIDE TIPS Tackle the easy to the tough with these

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two-wheel tips

90 WRF PROJECT BIKE The final look at our quarter-litre legend`

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92 READERS’ RIDES Your photos of your bikes in full-colour glory

98 PARTING SHOT The last word — or photo — till we see you again

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MANAGING EDITOR Damien Ashenhurst EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Hayden Gregory STAFF WRITER Shane Booth CONTRIBUTORS Greg Smith, Craig Bernard, Paul Sneddon, Ian Neubauer DESIGNER Shant Safarian NATIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER Kizziah Fieldes: 0449 810 957 ADVERTISING DIRECTORY Ian Cassel: 02 9887 0325 ADVERTISING PRODUCTION Ian Cassel ADVERTISING SENIOR DESIGNER Martha Rubazewicz ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Karen Day

CHAIRMAN/CEO Prema Perera PUBLISHER Janice Williams CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Vicky Mahadeva ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Emma Perera ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Karen Day CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Mark Darton CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kate Podger EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION MANAGER Anastasia Casey MARKETING & ACQUISITIONS MANAGER Chelsea Peters

ON O NT TH HE C CO OV VE ER

Shane Booth moves som e earth on Sherco machinery PHOTO BY MATT BERNAR D

Circulation enquiries to our Sydney head office (02) 9805 0399. TRAILRIDER #69 is published by Australian Publishing Pty Ltd, Unit 5, 6-8 Byfield Street, North Ryde NSW 2113. Phone: (02) 9805 0399, Fax: (02) 9805 0714. Melbourne office, Level 1, 150 Albert Road, South Melbourne Vic 3205. Phone: (03) 9694 6444, Fax: (03) 9699 7890. Printed by KHL Printing Pte Ltd, Singapore, and distributed by Gordon and Gotch. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publishers. The publishers believe all the information supplied in this book to be correct at the time of printing. They are not, however, in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. Prices, addresses and phone numbers were, after investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, up to date at the time of printing, but the shifting sands of time may change them in some cases. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements which appear in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility must therefore be on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertisements for publication. While every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy, the publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. *Recommended retail price ISSN 1323-935X Copyright © Australian Publishing Pty Ltd. ACN 003 609 103. MMXVI www.universalmagazines.com.au Please pass on or recycle this magazine.

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SNAPSHOT TATT’S FINKE DESERT RACE JUNE 10-13

PHOTO — DAMIEN ASHENHURST

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FEATURE

E K I B

BIKE OF THE MONTH

H T F O

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H T N E MO

HONDA CRF450X Let’s just spare a thought for the forgotten 450. Honda’s CFR405X is almost a pariah in some circles, having been left behind in tech and style years ago. Riders rarely give it a second thought when buying a new bike and it seems Honda barely acknowledges its existence.

That’s not entirely fair. Yes, it’s an older design, but it’s a good older design with one of the better stock suspension offerings and a good record of reliability. It’s in need of a little refinement (see feature in this issue) but there’s not much you have to do to improve it straight out of the box and enjoy what really is a fun trailbike.

SPEC CHECK ENGINE ENGINE TYPE: 449cc liquid-cooled 4-stroke 4-valve SOHC single BORE AND STROKE: 96 x 62.1mm COMPRESSION RATIO: 12.0:1 VALVE TRAIN: Unicam; 4-valve CARBURATION: 40mm Keihin FCR flat-slide carburetor with Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) IGNITION: CDI with electronic advance and lighting coil TRANSMISSION: 5-speed STARTER: Electric and kick FINAL DRIVE: #520 T-ring sealed chain FRAME DIMENSIONS: 2179mm x 521mm x 1273mm WHEELBASE: 1480mm RAKE (CASTER ANGLE): 27°3’ TRAIL: 114.7mm SEAT HEIGHT: 963mm GROUND CLEARANCE: 345mm FUEL CAPACITY: 7.2 litres KERB WEIGHT: 122kg SUSPENSION FRONT: 47mm Showa inverted leading-axle twin chamber cartridge-type telescopic fork with 16-step adjustable compression and rebound damping; 315mm stroke REAR: Pro-Link with Showa damper, adjustable low-speed (13 step) and high-speed (3.5 turn) compression and 17-step rebound damping; 313mm travel BRAKES FRONT: 240mm hydraulic disc with dual-piston caliper and sintered metal pads REAR: 240mm hydraulic disc with single-piston caliper and sintered metal pads TYRES FRONT: 80/100 — 21 inch REAR: 110/100 — 18 inch WARRANTY WARRANTY PERIOD: 3 months — parts only

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WHEEL TO WHEEL TWO BIKES GO HEAD TO HEAD IN A SPEC-CHECK SHOWDOWN

YAMAHA TÉNÉRÉ 660 Yamaha’s Ténéré 660 was the first of the Japanese adventure bikes to make the “comeback” after several years of leaving the market to the Europeans. Based on known elements and built to survive, the 660 was well received and has been spotted in the most inhospitable places time and time again.

The Ténéré is a super-tall bike, which excludes riders shorter in stature, but it’s throwing down ludicrous amounts of power and therefore the torquey engine makes it a pretty easy bike to ride.

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In its CC category, the Ténéré’s 260mm ground clearance makes it one of the better adventure bikes to be on when the trails get really rough, while the generous juice from the 23-litre tank is good for all but the epic rides.

There are a heap of aftermarket and genuine parts to bolt onto the 660 and while it arrives as a bit of a soft adventure bike, you can beef it up with some suspension work and protective gear easily enough and set about clocking up big kays for a couple of grand more than the ride-away price tag.

SUZUKI V-STROM 650 XT Another top option for the adventurer after a smaller bike or a LAMS-approved machine is Suzuki’s V-Strom 650 XT, which appeared as an option to the standard 650 not too long ago.

The XT differs from the well-known 650 in that it has handguards, a bashplate and crash bars fitted stock and all of that complements possibly the most comfortable adventure bike available.

Admittedly, the V-Strom isn’t the name that

springs to mind for everyone when it comes to adventure bikes, but we’ve done plenty of rides on the junior Strom and it can take you places that might surprise you — and at a fraction of the price of the more fancied rivals. The recipe is well proven and tested and riders looking for a comfortable, smooth and refined ride without needing to conquer rock shelves and the most nasty of nasties will love the V-Strom.

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SNAPSHOT TAKE A LONG LINE AcƟve8 Yamaha’s Josh Green slots his WR450F into a bush rut. The team has found the WR-F to be everything they’d hoped for in a race bike and Greeny is taking to being back on a 450 like a man possessed.

PHOTO — DAMIEN ASHENHURST

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NEWS TRAIL NOTES

CARDUCCI DUAL SPORT SC3 ADVENTURE Take a Harley-Davidson, Ohlins long-travel suspension and some clever chassis ideas and you could ride anywhere you want. Oh, and it looks shit-hot as well “I built one SC3 Adventure dual-sport motorcycle for myself, which I love riding. I created one SC3 Adventure for someone else to enjoy: the motorcycle shown above. A complete ground-up hand build, starting with a 2003 H-D 883R. The one SC3 Adventure we built for sale is now committed; it is the only one which will be built by CDS. The one-off, build-to-print, handcrafted and handassembled bike is comprised 48 per cent with parts that I design-engineered and had fabricated from premium materials. Forty-six per cent of the bike is top-of-the-line curated aftermarket components. I intentionally kept six per cent of the SC3 Adventure as the original H-D components, which are easily serviced anywhere in the world.” — Jim Carducci

KEY FEATURES: • Aluminium 6.3-gal tank hand-formed

by Evan Wilcox, painted by Old School Customs • Offroad-enabling swingarm pivot gussets added to the stock frame • Powdercoated frame and rear fender • Beringer brakes • Ohlins suspension and Scotts steering stabiliser • 2-into-1 SST hand-built custom header

by BTRmoto • Billet aluminium swingarm • Billet aluminium triple clamps • Vibration damped and positionadjustable bar risers • Corbin custom seat • Excel rims and heavy-gauge spokes, Rad front hub, Billet Boys rear hub • Leo Vince SST muffler with spark arrestor • Acerbis / carbon-fibre hand guards • Melvin brake lines • Pivot Pegz • 1250cc NRHS upgraded H-D Sportster motor with Andrews N4 cams • Re-jetted carburettor with SE K&N high-flow air filter

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SUSTAINABLE DESIGN “Our SC3 Adventure patented designs reinvented the 2003 H-D Sportster motorcycle by transforming it into true on/ offroad dual-sport motorcycles.”

DESIGNED BY FEEL & EXPERIENCE “With 40-plus years of motorcycling experience riding, racing, customising, and 34 years of design engineering experience, I developed the architecture and geometry of the SC3 Adventure dual-sport motorcycle until it met the requirements for function, feel, and only then, aesthetics. No compromises.”

CLOSED-LOOP PRECISION ENGINEERING “The bike was hand-built and tested both on and offroad. Components were precisiondesigned with 3D CAD, stress FEA analysed as required, and CNC machined. As needed, designs were iterated until they met the requirements of fit, function, feel and aesthetics. No compromises.”

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NEWS TRAIL NOTES

SC3 ADVENTURE DUAL SPORT MOTORCYCLE V-TWIN MOTOR The Sportster motor is proven reliable, air-cooled, narrow and loaded with torque.

FRAME Stock Sportster frame with minor modifications.

SUSPENSION Front: Ohlins 48mm USD forks mounted in strong triple clamps.

Integrated Scotts steering damper.

Rear: Ohlins twin shocks on extended billet aluminium swingarm.

WHEELS Offroad: 140/80-18 rear, 90/90-21 front.

Street: 150/70-17 rear, 110/80-19 front.

BRAKES Front: Beringer 6-piston radial caliper and master cylinder lever, 380mm CDS custom rotor.

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Rear: Beringer 4-piston axial caliper, master cylinder and 291mm rotor, CDS billet aluminium brake lever.

LIGHTING Front headlight is a 55-watt halogen beam (an LED version is also available from Trail Tech), and LED brake light and blinkers made to handle the vibrations of off-road riding.

FLYSCREEN The flyscreen frame is made of structurally strong sheet aluminium and supports a tinted polycarbonate wind deflector that reduces wind on the body.

CONTROLS Stock Sportster throttle, speedometer and wire harness.

REAR RACK AND FENDER Structurally strong for strapping down a tool kit, 2x 1/2 gal fluid canisters on the sides, and more.

SKID PLATE Protects the leading edge and underside of the motor from flying debris and from rolling over large objects like rocks, stumps, etc.

CRASH BAR Steel-welded construction crash bar mounts to the frame and protects the leading edge of the gas tank.

KICK STAND Strong chrome moly steel tubing with a large foot area for soft off-road surfaces. Adapts to the stock H-D kickstand mount.

STABILITY Long wheelbase and generous rake and trail make the SC3 Adventure stable at speed and it does well in loose-sand conditions.

RIDING POSITION Foot controls and handlebars are positioned for comfortable dual-sport

off-road riding standing position.

Adjustable handlebar risers are vibration damped. Custom Corbin seat is narrow in the front, wide in the back, good for standing and longerdistance seated riding.

RANGE Hand-formed aluminium 6.3-gallon gas tank provides 200+ miles range before hitting reserve. Option for smaller 2.75-gallon aluminium gas tank.

THE SC3 ADVENTURE RETAINS THESE ORIGINAL SPORTSTER PARTS • stock frame, with minor mods • motor (can be modified to a 1250cc) and carburettor • instruments • oil tank • battery tray • wire harness • throttle and handlebar switches • bearings and pivot bolt for swingarm

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NEWS TRAIL NOTES

AMTRA HIGH COUNTRY RIDE

ENDURISTAN BLIZZARD SADDLEBAGS Swiss manufacturer Enduristan has worked some magic with this clever saddlebag solution. The Blizzard saddlebag is waterproof and rugged with a water bottle holster and comes in three sizes (listed below). Go to motorcycleadventure.com.au to check out all the details and a heap of other top products.

BLIZZARD SADDLEBAGS / Adapt it to your needs Volume: (S) 12 litres Dimensions: approx 30 x 24 x 9cm Volume: (M) 17 litres Dimensions: approx 30 x 24 x 12.5cm Volume: (L) 24 litres Dimensions: approx 30 x 24 x 18cm BOTTLE HOLSTER / Fuel and water Volume: 1 litre Dimensions: approx 20 x 9cm

O

ne of the absolute highlights of the Aussie trailride calendar is the AMTRA Victorian High Country Ride. This year’s ride runs over April 23 and 24 from the amazing AMTRA headquarters at Abbeyard.

The weekend is fully catered and features a licensed bar, plenty of quality

camping spaces and facilities like hot showers and flushing toilets. You can even roll on in with a Victorian rec rego bike to take on the ride.

We’ve done plenty of AMTRA rides and we can assure you it’s well worth the effort. The trails generally suit beginner to intermediate riders with some spectacular

views that you’ll be hardpressed to find anywhere else.

The atmosphere is relaxed and totally non-competitive, with a full-day ride on the Saturday (including fuel top-up) and a shorter ride on the Sunday.

We’ll be there for sure.

Price: $220 $80 — non riders

MCCORMACK LOOKING FOR REVENGE

F

ormer E1 champ Tom McCormack is looking to erase the memory of a horror 2015 and put himself back in contention in the 2016 AORC championships.

“Twenty-fifteen is a year I want to forget as far as racing goes,” McCormack says. “It started out with an injury at the last round of the Enduro-X series where I broke my wrist, which put me on the sidelines for nearly two months and then it was a race against time to be ready for the AORC. I missed the opening four rounds of the AORC but returned for rounds five and six in South Australia, only to have a big crash on the Sunday and end up in hospital with six broken vertebrae, a punctured lung, spleen damage and a whole range of smaller issues in what was a pretty serious accident.

“I had to stay in hospital in Adelaide for some time after the crash before I was able to fly home to Byron Bay and then start my recovery.”

We’ve spent some time with Tom recently and he’s looking like a rider getting back to full strength. His speed isn’t in question so his effort will be put into getting back into racing mode and matching the competitiveness of a stacked field.

2016 AUSTRALIAN OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR Rounds 1&2: March 19-20 — Kilkivan, Qld Rounds 3&4: April 9-10 — Portland, NSW Rounds 5&6: April 23-24 — Murray Bridge, SA Rounds 7&8: July 23-24 — Hedley, Vic Rounds 9&10: August 13-14 — Monkerai, NSW Rounds 11&12: September 10-11 — Penshurst, Vic

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ACERBIS CARBON GLOVE MATERIALS: • Backhand stretch fabric.

• One-piece Clarino palm with anti-slip inserts.

DETAILS: • Rubber patch wrist with Velcro closure.

• Soft rubber patches on fingers.

• ABS knuckle covers to ensure optimal protection from impact.

• TPR logo details in wrist area.

• Pre-curved shaped fingers.

• Refractive piping on the back of the hand and silicone on the finger tip for a better grip.

PRICE: $99.95 CONTACT: mx1australia.com.au

RUSTY DUFFEL BAG

GASSER FINDS A BACKER panish manufacturer Gas Gas has been pulled from oblivion and will continue to trade through the intervention of Spanish company Torrot, which makes electric bikes.

After accumulating around 30 million Euros in debt it looked as though Gas Gas was a goner. There was early talk of a KTM buyout, which didn’t go down well with Gas Gas employees, but it didn’t eventuate and even the Spanish government opted out of propping up Gasser.

It’s been reported that Torrot plans to invest 13 million Euros over the next three years and it was announced in a statement on the factory’s Facebook page that, “In 2016, 2000 bikes will be made, once the Salt

S

factory is established, and the goal is to reach 4000 units per year in 2018.” Twenty-sixteen will see a repeat of the 2015 range while a new bike or at least significant upgrades are expected in 2017.

The company also said: “In terms of production figures, in 2016 it is expected to make a total of 6000 motorcycles, 2000 of which are from trials, 1000 more enduro and 3000 of MUVI-model Torrot, and an electric scooter that is connected at all times to the internet and with a battery life of over 100km.” It looks like Gas Gas has been pulled from the fire by a new owner — let’s hope they can prosper.

New CEO Iván Contreras put it best when he addressed employees, saying, “Gas Gas

from today begins a new stage; a very different stage in the company’s vision is very clear, very direct, still riding. I do not ask you to forget everything you’ve been through — I know it’s been hard, very hard … but we must move forward and learn from the past.”

Also in the returned-toservice category is Marzocchi.

The suspension company was to be liquidated by its American owner, Tenneco, but at the last minute has been bought by Italian automotive manufacturer VRM. It’ll be a tough task to get Marzocchi up and running strong again in the face of stiff competition and years of inconsistent product and, just like Gas Gas, VRM will need to have a solid and longterm game plan.

“I designed the Rusty Duffel Bag for use as airline cabin luggage, an overnight bag, a traditional maritime duffel bag and to strap easily onto your motorcycle,” says Jack Stillman owner Jarrod Stillman.

“And it looks the absolute biz, with fullcircumference leather handles reinforced with rivets in all the right places, leather pull tags, and a leather shoulder pad that bounces this bag out of the amateur league and into the pro division.

“A heavy-duty plastic sport zipper on the sides of the bag is ideal for your wallet or mobile phone. The main opening is zippered with a weather flap. I have lined the bag inside with stain-resistant cotton twill and added a zippered valuables pocket for secret contraband.

“The Rusty Duffel Bag comes with a removable, reversible and adjustable strap that can be configured multiple ways using the custom attachment straps on the top and bottom of the bag. These reinforced attachment loops can also be used to strap the bag down, such as on a motorcycle.”

DIMENSIONS: 30cm (round) x 50cm long PRICE: $189

YELLOW ACERBIS CORP SHOE Seamless upper shoes, mesh interior.

Synthetic leather reinforcements; EVA footbed, midsole and sole. Sole with rubber inserts at points with increased wear.

PRICE: $99.95 CONTACT: mx1australia.com.au

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NEWS TRAIL NOTES

HUSKY OPENS WINNING ACCOUNT

The Husqvarna Enduro racing team got off to a mixed start to the year of racing. The good news is that at the New Holland Enduro Cross Cup, held in conjunction with the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercars event in Adelaide,

Husky boys Mitch Harper and Lachy Stanford picked up first and third respectively, split by Toby Price, who pulled double duty both riding and driving a Trophy Truck to yet another podium finish.

The bad news for the Husqvarna team came during practice, when team manager/rider Glenn Kearney crashed attempting a logdouble and fractured his shoulder in four places.

PHOTO — AARYN MINERDS

NEW HOLLAND ENDURO CROSS CUP 1. Mitch Harper — 75 points 2. Toby Price — 62 points 3. Lachlan Stanford — 56 points 4. Peter Boyle — 56 points 5. Jacob Smith — 47 points

200EXC GETS CHOPPED

MT-09 CROSSED WITH TÉNÉRÉ There’s been a diagram of a Ténéré moving around on the internet for a while that some are thinking could be a replacement for the 660XT. In fact this illustration is just that — an illustration. Done

by Oberdan Bezzi and based on the MT-09, it’s a reimagining of the Ténéré as an 847cc machine and we’ve got to admit, it looks pretty bloody mint.

A mid-sized adventure bike wouldn’t go astray for Yamaha and there are a few more clever ideas on Bezzi’s website, so Google his name and check out some of his scrambler ideas and re-workings of the R1200GS as well.

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If we were to list our top five favourite trailbikes of all time, we’d first have a massive argument in the office, turning over chairs and accusing each other of being stupid and knowing nothing about bikes.

Then we’d take it outside and threaten to shove that KDX up each other’s ... well, you get the point. But there are a few

bikes that get an easy pass onto the list and one of those is KTM’s 200 EXC. We friggin’ love the 200 and it was a sad moment when we heard it would be cut from the model range after 2016.

We aren’t sure why riders have turned away from both the two- and four-stroke small bore but there is a

mountain of fun to be had in them there machines and they ain’t slow either.

So we salute the 200 EXC and all that it’s offered and given. It’s a tireless workhorse that goes like the clappers and requires bugger-all maintenance, but above all it’s more fun than a tornado in a trailer park.

FIVE TALKING TO A TIPS BIKE DEALER Don’t walk into a Kawasaki dealer and start the conversation with, “I hate Kawasakis but…” It doesn’t matter what the brand is, if you shit on the dealer’s stock before you’ve even made your point, nothing will go your way from there on.

Here is an actual conversation a dealer had with a customer who had just bought a rear sprocket only to bring it back in half an hour later to complain that it was the wrong one. He brought the old one with him: “As you can see, on the sprocket you sold me the teeth all stand up straight, but on my original one they bend over, so you’ve sold me the wrong sprocket and you should know better than this.” Don’t be this guy. If you don’t know anything, just listen to the guys that do it day in and day out.

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Clean your air filter before you bring your bike in for a service. Actually, just cleaning your bike would be a good start, but if you say the bike is feeling sluggish but you haven’t cleaned the air filter in three years (this actually happens), red flags go up and the dealer will be wary of the fact that they are dealing with someone who’s not all there.

If you haven’t been served in 10 minutes and the guys behind the counter are discussing swiping left or right Tinder, walk out of the store.

Everything in this sport is expensive and you are a customer that could have anything from $15 to $15,000 to spend on the day. Shit service is unacceptable in 2016.

A good dealer can make the experience of owning a bike even better. Knowing you have the support of a dealer who listens and gives you time and support is kind of like being part of a team. A good mechanic is gold too, so if you find a dealer who values you and can offer quality mechanical assistance, use them and support them.

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PRODUCT OF THE MONTH PIRELLI SCORPION RALLY

PIRELLI SCORPION RALLY Choosing the right adventure tyre can be tricky and bloody expensive. You need to know what sort of riding you do and how that translates into what the best rubber is for your bike. Do you commute a lot on the road? Are you likely to ride on wet road much? How often do you hit the dirt and what sort of tracks or trails do you ride?

We are a little spoiled at the moment with some really good-quality tyres to choose from, but there’s one set in particular that we know very well after endless hours, days and kilometres and several different types of bikes. Pirelli’s Scorpion Rally looks like a straight dirt tyre and to be honest, the only time we’re on the road is to get to dirt, so that initial impression fits our plans well. However, the Rally is

more than adept for road use and highway speeds (tested this on the Barrier Highway) with its clever carcass design that allows the tyre to then turn off the road where you may have been riding twisties at speed, straight into any type of dirt surface you can imagine, and you’ll get no complaints from the Pirellis.

We’ve ridden in bulldust, trail ridden at pace on loose trails and done countless kays on open tracks and fire roads in the wet and dry, and time and again the Rallys gave us no reason to keep pushing further into the ride.

The Pirelli Scorpion Rally is an exceptional tyre and easily our go-to rubber for the big bikes and big rides. And yes, we even run them on our own personal bikes.

THERE’S ONE SET IN PARTICULAR THAT WE KNOW VERY WELL AFTER ENDLESS HOURS, DAYS AND KILOMETRES AND SEVERAL DIFFERENT TYPES OF BIKES

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IN GEAR NEW PRODUCTS

The freshest kit that caught our eye, from adventure to camping to trail bashing ACERBIS ENDURANCE HANDGUARD The Endurance handguard was developed and designed for the needs of an extreme rider. It is very strong and deflects brush, trees, roost and other riders • New black aluminium bar provides cutting-edge looks, while the curved design provides improved fit on the bike and enhanced ergonomics for the rider • Black X-Strong Universal mounting kit included; works on 7/8-inch, 11/8-inch and twin-wall handlebars • Replacement plastic shields available separately • PRICE — $149.95

KLIM ADVENTURE RALLY JACKET The Adventure Rally Jacket is the only GORETEX jacket in the industry designed and built entirely around a fully adjustable upper and lower harness.

• All outer material is GORE-TEX threelayer pro-shell Armacor to make it waterproof and for outstanding abrasion and tear resistance • Guaranteed to keep you dry • Stretch panels at shoulders for full range of motion • Large Superfabric slide zones on shoulders and elbows • 3m Scotchlite industrial-grade reflective material placement engineered on torso and arms for maximum low-light and dark conditions visibility • D30 Xergo shoulder and elbow pieces (meet and exceed newest proposed CE-level two-limb protector standards [prEN1621-1:2011] • D30 Viper Pro — level 2 back piece (exceeds level 2 impact performance standards for CE certification EN1621-2 testing) • Fully ventilated silicone-based integrated chest coverage • Cargo, hydration, comfort and support systems • 10 external pockets: two upper chest, four lower centre front, two side quick-access tool pockets, rear-centre back pouch, left chest spot pocket • One seam-sealed waterproof, removable roll top “dry bag” for delicates/ electronics/wallet etc

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FEATURE: MONARO HIGH PLAINS DISTRICT, SOUTHERN NSW

HIGH PLA

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INS DRIFTING

When you’ve got a pack of mates from NSW and Victoria who want to get together for a summer shakedown ride to start the new ADV season, the perfect plan is to meet in the middle at Bombala on the edge of the Monaro high plains district STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW CLUBB

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FEATURE: MONARO HIGH PLAINS DISTRICT, SOUTHERN NSW

F

irst dates can always be an awkward affair, especially if you met online and all your previous communication has been from behind the veiled secrecy and security of a Hotmail account.

For me, though, I take the attitude of we’re here now and we’re stuck with each other until one of us decides to do the bolt, so I like to get the nervous small talk out of the way and get down to the nitty gritty.

So there we were, me and Craig, and we’d met face-to-face for the first time mere moments earlier, oh-so-romantically beside a fuel bowser at the servo at the end of the main drag in Braidwood, NSW. We were hardly a match made in heaven. I was on my ex-TZ project bike Yamaha Ténéré 250R WR250R, complete with Safari Tanks fairing and long-range tank, and fitted with more farkles than you could ever hope to find in an Adventure Moto catalogue. Meanwhile, Craig was aboard his milemunching XT1200Z Super Ténéré that has long been his trusty steed for Iron Butt Association rides. Talk about an Odd Couple of ADV riding hardware.

It was mid-morning smoko time and I was trail boss. We had a date about five hours and 350km away with a bunch of Mexican mates from Victoria for a lap the next day around the Monaro high plains of southern NSW and down into the high country.

Now, when I’m trail boss and there’s a stack of kilometres on the agenda, I don’t like to dilly-dally.

Especially when it comes to lunch and smoko stops.

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A traveller pie and choc milk from the servo when you fuel up and quicker than you can say “Would you like fries with that?”, I’m on my way again.

So I looked across (and up) to the gentle giant Craig and said: “Now mate, you’re not one of those focaccia-quaffing and latte-sipping ADV riders, are you?”

“Actually, no,” Craig offered. “I’ve got my own snacks, but can I shout you a pie and sauce?” er, Winner! Could this be a Perfect Match? Dexter, ol’ mate, you’re on fire.

WHICH WAY TO BOMBALA? With the slab section from Sydney all done and me dusted by the time we hit Braidwood, it was time for Craig and I to hit the good stuff as I steered us on a looping course generally south-west to ourr base for the next two nights at Bombala on the edge of the Snowy River, where we would meet the rest of the crew for the weekend.

From Braidwood to Nimmitabel there are numerous route options to choose from, ranging from running straight down a good gravel road to Snowball and then the tar via Cooma, or picking from myriad dirt possibilitiess across to Captains Flat and then either down through Peak View on good dirt roads or over the top via South Forest Way and Slap Up Fire Trail. Both options deposit you at Countegany and Tuross, where a ripper dirt-road run drops you straight into Nimmitabel from the north.

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FEATURE: MONARO HIGH PLAINS DISTRICT, SOUTHERN NSW

Given this was Craig’s first real long dirt run, I broke him in gently with the Captain’s Flat/Peak View/Tuross route — and it’s fair to say he loved it.

I’ve been running this route for almost a decade while hosting an annual ADV Ride to the Snowy Ride charity event in Thredbo each November, and it‘s always been a winner.

Keen to hone his riding skills on dirt, Craig was like a sponge as I threw out a few tips to help him and his mighty ST cover the ground more safely and confidently. A few hours later we sat under the verandah of the Nimmitabel Bakery and feasted on fresh fruit pastries and honey-choc milk (how good is that flavour!) and you could barely wipe the smile off Craig’s dial.

I must say it was a rather leisurely stop, which Craig admitted was a concept he’s not used to, as he explained to me the style of the Iron Butt Association endurance rides that have long been his cup of tea.

The Iron Butt rides are aptly named, being all about covering big miles in

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short times, but legally and safely.

They’re not all-out banzai Cannonball Runs, no way. Instead, the rides are all logged with the association, riders have to run Spot Trackers so that officials can follow them, and they have to produce receipts from refuel points along the way to prove times/places etc. And if you exceed the posted speed limits for the route, it doesn’t count.

There are 60,000-plus members of the Iron Butt Association in the USA and there’s an active chapter here in Australia with guys like Craig spend seemingly endless hours romping across the countryside. They do Sydney to Perth and back in five days — check out www.ironbutt.com if you’re intrigued.

MIND THE VIEW Satisfied that the Nimmitabel Bakery had once again excelled itself, we gathered ourselves and climbed back aboard our fine steeds as the afternoon sun started its leisurely daylight saving drop down over the Snowy Mountains to the west.

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FEATURE: MONARO HIGH PLAINS DISTRICT, SOUTHERN NSW

Turning due west from Nimmitabel, the landscape takes an immediate change, going from the thick forests we’d been romping through for the past few hundred kays to the barren, yet stunning in its own way, high plains of the Cooma-Monaro district.

The massive treeless plains stretch west all the way to Lake Jindabyne and the Snowy Mountains and are littered with lonely dirt back roads that offer access to remote rural properties, not to mention fabulous options for ADV exploring.

If you keep trekking basically straight west from Nimmitabel through Bobundara you can eventually pop out at Dalgety, or go north up to Berridale, where local pubs offer a welcome watering hole. Dalgety is not much more than a whistle-stop beside the headwaters of the Snowy River these days.

Knowing there is an absolute feast of ADV goodness to be had on both the north and south sides of the Snowy River Way that cuts east-west across the Monaro high plains, I led Craig on a long loop that eventually deposited us on the Monaro Highway for the final 20km-or-so run down the blacktop at dusk to Bombala.

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It was a mint afternoon and even though I was on a 250 and Craig was on a 1200, we each had an absolute ball with the dirt back roads. We had the roads all to ourselves, save for the occasional flock of sheep on the roadside, errant roos — dopey bloody things!

— and the constant whir of myriad new-age energy-producing windmills that litter parts of the landscape.

After checking into the Maneroo Motel, we de-biked (hey, if de-planed is a word …) and headed across the road to the RSL for a feed, our new-found bromance moving to the next level — only to be brutally interrupted a short time later by my good buddy Ténéré Troy and his mates from Victoria as they rumbled into town.

WATTS HAPPENING? Troy, who is one of the sweeps on our annual Ténéré Tragics Run, was the ringleader for this get-together in Bombala, suggesting that we put it out as a Summer Shakedown Run for Tragics to kick off the new year and catch up before our annual Tragics Run proper in the first week of March.

Half a dozen Tragics — Pete, Rocket Rod,

Cooky, Craig, myself and Troy — took up the invite, plus a few more of Troy’s mates from Vicco tagged along, with none other than enduro legend Norm Watts offering to perform trail boss chores on Saturday’s loop ride from Bombala down into Victoria.

The father of Aussie off-road ace Shane Watts, Norm is one of the gentlemen and true legends of the Aussie enduro scene. Nowadays, at age 74, he still loves riding as much as ever. Norm’s “hell track” enduro rides down near his long-time home in Maffra-Sale, Victoria, are renowned as absolute bike and body breakers, while for ADV riding, his mount is a muchmodified Suzuki SV650 somethingor-other that has had long travel

suspension and a stack of purposeful mods grafted into/onto it — and rest assured you don’t call them farkles!

Resplendent in lace-up boots and wearing his classic green-and-gold Aussie ISDT (note the T, not E!) team helmet, Norm still loves to get out there and do it in the dirt.

So after a big brekky at the Maneroo and refuelling at the servo next door, we all fell in behind Norm as we rolled south out of Bombala for a day exploring the ranges south of the NSW/Victoria border. Perfect.

MUD MAP TECHNOLOGY In this day and age of GPS units, SPOT Trackers, Google Maps and sat phones, it was fabulous to find trail

boss Norm is a man after my own heart: he is paper maps all the way.

On ya, Norm.

Better than that, after checking out the topo maps, Norm then grabs a biro and plots out his own mud map for the day on an A4 sheet of paper, and then casually folds it in half and tucks it down between the screen and speedo on his bike “just in case we need it …”.

Clearly blessed with a photographic memory of every ride he’s ever done — and blokes like Norm have covered a stack of miles — I only ever saw Norm reach for the mud map twice all day long.

Just a handful of kays after leaving Bombala, Norm hit the dirt and we followed his dust all day long, kicking

off with massive pine plantations around Craigie before crossing the border into Vicco at Bendoc, where we regrouped for Norm to get his bearings.

Then we were off and instantly the topography changed into more rugged ranges, with huge forests that the eastern end of the Victorian high country is famous for. Before long, Norm had us exploring little-used forest tracks in the Errinundra forest, which delivered simply sublime ADV riding that even delivered occasional views from on-high all the way south down to the Bass Strait coastline of Victoria.

Blue skies and dry tracks, yet bugger-all dust and a small posse, made for perfect conditions all round … until Norm made a turn-off deep into the forest on a heavily overgrown piece of trail named Tennyson Track.

GROWN TRAGICS REDUCED TO TEARS Knowing Norm’s penchant for going absolutely anywhere a trail takes him — whether it goes anywhere or not, and whether those following him can make it or not! — I instantly started to pucker up real, real tight as the Tennyson Track got tighter, more

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FEATURE: MONARO HIGH PLAINS DISTRICT, SOUTHERN NSW

heavily overgrown and steeper — steeper downhill, that is.

Quickly moving in behind Norm and his mate Dave, who could punt his KTM 990 Adventure real good, I really puckered up when they suddenly disappeared straight over the edge of the next section of track down into what looked like the abyss of doom. Gulp.

The surface was loose and rocky, littered with water bars and steep enough to get close to cooking the brake fluid on my little 250R. When we finally got to the bottom, Norm and Dave were stopped by a huge fallen tree blocking the trail. “Thank heavens for that,” I mumbled.

But the drama now was to stop the rest of the pack on their 1200s and 660s before they plunged over the edge — as the big bangers would never stop until they got to the bottom one way or another!

Spinning the 250R around on its axis, I hit the rev limiter to get back up the hill before anyone else came down.

Thankfully the boys had made p at the top p water bar the call to stop

before things got really interesting.

Phew! Mind you, we still worked up a sweat turning the 1200s around and getting them back out to the fire road, crisis averted.

But let me just say I committed to memory the Tennyson Track and never to bring a Ténéré Tragics Run back along that track!

Meanwhile, Norm came dancing back up the hill on his SV, no doubt wondering what all the fuss was about. Legend.

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN With the temperature climbing and the day starting to get away, a group huddle ensued on options for the afternoon and it didn’t take long before a show of hands confirmed a glass of “Ténéré spirit” at the Delegate Hotel was a most appealing option.

So with that Norm plucked out his mud map again and a scenic run back north into NSW was soon plotted, which included a detour to a lofty mountain-top transmission tower that offered fabulous 360-degree views of the g countryside. y surrounding

Before we knew it, we were taking one (or was it two?) off the wood at the front bar of the pub at Delegate, followed by a burger-with-the-lot chaser fr from the general store across th the road.

Then it was onto our steeds a again to follow Norm on a another romp through the pine p plantations back to Bombala, w where a big feed at the RSL s surely hit the spot. This was fo followed by a stint of platypus s spotting in the Snowy River to c cap off a great day of thoroughly g gentlemanly ADV riding — th thanks Norm.

HHOME, JAMES F the long run home to the For b big smoke, Craig and I planned a dawn start out of Bombala as o once again I led the way. Not e even 15 minutes after rolling out o of the motel car park we were b back in the midst of the Monaro p plains and the early-morning

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light and clear skies were almost overwhelming.

Cresting a rise, the high plains stretched out ahead of us, offering a visual feast for the senses in the golden morning light, so we just had to throw the anchors out and make a Kodak moment of it. Perfect.

An hour later we were back at the Nimmitabel Bakery and the fresh baked tarts were hitting the spot, all washed down with a malt-honey chocolate milk.

Absolutely perfect.

Then came the long run back up to Braidwood, but this time I gave Craig the full enchilada by taking him along Slap Up, South Forest Way and Bombay fire trails, which deposited us on the very western edge of town.

After another quick stop for a dog’s eye, we then made the back-roads run up to Marulan, where we bid each other farewell and hit the Hume Highway home.

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FEATURE: 2016 YAMAHA YZ450FX LAUNCH

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FOREIGN

XPERIMENT Yamaha promised the best of both worlds and they totally delivered

STORY GREG SMITH PHOTOS GEOFF ‘OZZY’ OSBORNE

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FEATURE: 2016 YAMAHA YZ450FX LAUNCH

Y

amaha seems to be the most proactive motorcycle manufacturer in the off-road market at the moment, with a noholds-barred attempt at dominating the competition. Rewind to just over 12 months ago when I was in Queenstown for the launch of the allnew YZ 250 FX, a model that seemingly wouldn’t fit into the market. Well, it did fit, and it sold out quickly due to some

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gh An afternoon trail ride was enou We to seal my thoughts on this bike. untain weaved through valleys and mo out of a tops that looked like they were film set they were so beautiful.

smart research and development on their behalf.

Fast forward to the present and they are launching the YZ 450 F-based FX and FXR, the latter including a recreation registration kit to make it semi-legal for those among us lucky enough to access rec-reg riding areas. These two four-stroke-engined models are joined in 2016 by the tradies’ favourite, the two-stroke YZ 250 X, with its stump-pulling power

and familiar modernised old-school design making it more than capable of winning the odd fire road drag race.

For the launch we were treated to some of the best riding you could imagine — except for a little dust due to the recent drought-like conditions — with local knowledge and guidance from the Dirt Bike Tours crew based in Queenstown. Yamaha gave us the ultimate conditions to test the bike’s capabilities. Lachie Columb, older

brother to multiple NZ MX champion Scott Columb, headed the ride and knew what we needed to ride so we could enjoy all the best aspects of these motorcycles. Not to mention the plethora of exciting experiences along the way that had nothing to do with bikes.

BLUE FAMILY Having ridden the 2016 WR 450 F for a couple of months, it was going to be

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FEATURE: 2016 YAMAHA YZ450FX LAUNCH

ly All of these changes are extreme d important and if you race Off-Roa they’re extremely valuable.

interesting to see how alike they might be. We all know (or have heard) just how good the WR is — surely this can’t be that much better?

Let’s put this model into perspective: it’s a pure sprint Enduro competition bike that has been morphed into its current state from utilising the YZ450F and WR450F, both playing an important role in the bike’s creation. To sum it up I’ll use the YZ450F as the reference bike. Essentially it’s a YZ450F with a wide-ratio five-speed box, electric start, sidestand, bashplate and an 18inch rear wheel. There are lots of other little harder-to-notice modifications, like a larger radiator with auxiliary fan mounts, added wiring and a higheroutput alternator. Then there are the EFI mapping changes and the plusher, more enduro-based suspension and the silver rims. All of these changes are extremely important and if you race Off-Road they’re extremely valuable.

Upon our arrival in Queenstown we were told that Yamaha NZ had a few surprises for us besides launching

44 |

and riding the YZ450FX. They weren’t wrong; with only just enough time to drop my bags into my accommodation, it was then off to one of the most recognisable extreme tourist venues in the world — the Shotover River, where we were going jet boating up and down the local rapids and across shallow pebble estuaries, all while holding on as hard as we could because there was a Kiwi driving!

Once we had pulled the bugs from our teeth and nearly dried our clothes, it was back to the hotel for a presentation featuring the YZ450FX and all of the information that goes with creating such a beast. By this time my stomach was hurting, not just from all the Kiwi jokes, but also from my need to fuel the fire. Oh, we were also staying at the Hilton, so it was a relaxing dinner set in a surrounding that I have only ever seen in magazines. I was truly out of my element but enjoying it nonetheless as tomorrow was going to be a big day of riding.

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FEATURE: 2016 YAMAHA YZ450FX LAUNCH

MULTICULTURAL

ould be high w y it il b ta ic d re p Handling sentials and this s e y m f o t s li e up th in shovel loads. it e v a h to s m e e bike s

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Up just before the sparrows start their daily flatulence and off to breakfast, after which it was onto the bus with Off-Road Adventures — well worth the drive once we saw the lineup of bikes ready to be ridden. You don’t often appreciate just what goes into one of these launches, so let’s not now. Gear on, sign the disclaimer, listen to the ride park boss and then it was time to fire the YZ450FX up and hit the track.

In all honesty, I really enjoy riding the YZ250FX. Up until this day it was my favourite choice of competition bike from Yamaha’s off-road stable — that’s until I had my first ride of the 2016 YZ450FX. One word: versatility! It can be a race animal or a trials-style w weapon just like the 250FX, but with 2 200cc extra packed into the frame.

The bike is ultra-predictable and where we were riding we needed that sure-footedness to keep in control.

Long, shale-based uphills followed by steep, off-camber shale downhills truly brought out the handling prowess that the YZ450FX has retained from the motocross version. The larger 270mm front-brake rotor was a necessity and something else you won’t need to change after you purchase the bike.

The YZ450F has more than enough grunt for the average motocross rider, so that means it’s perfect for the trailriders among us, right? Not really. It needs a fair bit of work with the ECU to create the style of power and delivery that the FX has. Yamaha has done a great job producing controllable amounts of low-end torque for technical slow-

speed single-track riding, with lots in reserve for those fast, straight sections of fire road. If you feel like the mapping needs to be changed, that’s not a problem using the power tuner accessory. The engine’s mapping for me was faultless and the wide-ratio gearbox worked a treat where we tested the bikes. I can’t really imagine needing to change the gearing beyond a rear sprocket unless you’re headed to Finke this year.

Noise from the airbox seems reduced between the FX and WR, with the latter being the noisiest. Maybe it’s because of the YZ exhaust or the fact that there’s no airbox resonator (steel mesh piece behind the element).

I was very surprised to discover the forks had the same spring that the WR does. It felt firmer, with a more planted

feel when riding on the slippery surface. Handling predictability would be high up the list of my essentials and this bike seems to have it in shovel loads. The suspension didn’t beat you up like a true motocross setup would but it didn’t feel anywhere near as plush as the WR does. The initial travel is supple and able to absorb sharp edges or tree roots etc without any excessive feedback through the bars.

The bottoming resistance worked a treat — I only felt it bottom once in the front the entire time I was on the bike.

The FX’s valving setup was created from loads of test sessions with Josh Coppins and Yamaha Australia’s very own Peter Payne — both very knowledgeable when it comes to suspension — and it shows when you ride the bike.

BEAUTY TRAILS An afternoon trail ride was enough to seal my thoughts on this bike.

We weaved through valleys and mountain tops that looked like they were out of a film set they were so beautiful. The twist to this bike is that we can’t ride it or its little brother, the YZ250FX, unless we’re on private land (ride park or MX track). Don’t misunderstand me — there’s nothing wrong with the WR450F or the YZ450F, but if I could get limited rego where I live this would be the one bike I’d be chasing. So creatively thinking, the Queensland government has killed off the demand before it began. Mind you, if I raced motocross, I’d put my

money down quick smart as a button on the racetrack nowadays could be the difference between winning or losing if you stall.

With the bike testing finished, it was out for dinner then back for an early night. Lachie Columb looked after us and got the entire group a private booth for dinner where the meals were that big you had to eat for 20 minutes just to see the edges of your plate. The next day we headed to Skyline MTB park for a few downhill rides before we jetted back to Australia. I never thought that riding downhill could be so fitnesszapping; I slept well that night.

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FEATURE: 10 YEARS OFF THE ROAD

10 YEARS OFF 48 |

WORDS AND PICS IAN NEUBAUER

Australian Trailrider contributor Ian Neubauer waxes lyrical on the good, the bad and the ugly of 10 years on the trails in foreign lands

THE ROAD | 49

FEATURE: 10 YEARS OFF THE ROAD

W

hen most people go on holiday, they like to take it easy. Not me.

For the past decade, I’ve spent my summers deep-knee in mud, ruts and dust in the most exotic and dodgy countries in the AsiaPacific region. If I had a dollar for every time something went wrong I’d have ... well ... I’d have more dollars than I have now. But if I hadn’t done it I would’ve missed out on the amazing friendships, memories, sights and sounds that’ve made my life stand out from the crowd. Here’s a year-byyear, warts-and-all breakdown of my 10 years off the road.

CAMBODIA, 2006 Everything that could go wrong on my first overseas adventure with my best mate Tim did go wrong. A day after departing from the capital

Phnom Penh, I got a rear puncture that went unnoticed and led to a ripped tyre which left my XR 250 dead in the water. That night we slept on the road sans swags and food.

When the sun came up we got a lift on the back of a flatbed truck to a shitty one-horse 10-brothel town on the Vietnamese border, where we wasted four days waiting for a replacement 17-inch knobby to arrive on a steamboat from Phnom Penh.

Ten minutes after we finally got going again, I copped three more punctures before midday. Only then did we discover what was the cause of all our misery — a loose bolt that the clown who changed my tyre had left in the rim. With no more spare tubes, I left Tim in the jungle and rode his bike to the next town to pick up a tube. But I took a wrong turn on the

on my Everything that could go wrong best first overseas adventure with my mate Tim did go wrong way back, got lost and had to spend another night in the jungle by myself — as did Tim. When I finally found him the next day, he was so pissed he called it quits on our trip and never spoke to me again.

KEY LEARNING: Never leave a man behind

LAOS, 2007 Laos offered everything that Cambodia didn’t: epic mountain scenery, delicious food and a network of graded roads that made slaloming thought this landlocked communist country a breeze. The only moderately bad thing that happened was a heavy downpour in the middle of the dry season. I didn’t have any waterproof or warm gear, and by the time I reached the next town I was so cold I couldn’t feel my hands.

But a wood-fired sauna followed by a massage from a strongarmed Laotian mama got my blood pumping again. The highlight had to be hitching a ride on a longboat on the Mekong River crammed with backpackers. My status as a cool-asshit biker meant I was given a seat in the cabin alongside the captain.

When he made an unscheduled stop near an elephant camp to let me

50 |

off, one could almost see the envy steaming out of the backpackers’ ears. Even getting a puncture turned out to be fortuitous in Laos. Instead of attempting to repair it on the road, I coasted downhill to a village where a large wedding was taking place.

I was made honorary best man and ended up shooting an AK-47 at the moon while smashing back shots of rice wine with the groom.

KEY LEARNING: Laos good, Cambodia bad

INDONESIA, 2008 This trip began terribly but ended beautifully. Shortly after landing in Jogjakarta, a city on the island of Java, I contracted dengue fever.

The fever didn’t last too long and I was back on my feet in 48 hours.

But the only dirtbike I could get my hands on was a KLX 150 — basically a scooter with dirtbike fairings, adjustable shocks and a top speed of 70kph. I spent the next two days dodging death on some of the most dangerous roads in the world until I reached the city of Malang near the east coast. My spirits rose the next day when I copped an eyeful of Mount Bromo — my final destination — a 2932m-high active volcano famed

for a surreal lunar-like landscape found in the crater known as the Sea of Sands. There was next to no traffic on the dirt road leading to the top, where I met the cast and crew of an Indonesian travel show armed with quad bikes. The director invited me to do a spot on the show where I pretended to fix a broken quad for the female host, who then pretended to be smitten with me for coming to her rescue. I never did get to see the episode, but the entire experience was bullshit good fun.

KEY LEARNING: Ensure real dirtbikes are available at your destination before booking airfare

PHILIPPINES, 2009 Two things I can tell you straight up about the Philippines: it has the worst food in South East Asia, but the friendliest people. On my first night in Palawan, a large island in the west of the archipelago that is known as “the last frontier” of the Philippines for its dazzling nature, I got a knock on my hotel room door from some dude who told me that Don Butch, Palawan’s Tony Soprano, wanted to meet me. A former Filipino motocross champion, Butch turned out to be my new best friend. Not only did he lend me his trail bike but he also arranged for a guide, another oldschool motocrosser called Ronnie, to

accompany me for the duration of myy two-week ride. Palawan lived up to e its last-frontier status and then some with old-growth rainforests, raging e rivers, bat-filled caves, powder-white d beaches and waterfalls that cascaded right into the sea. Christmas eve was spent at Ronnie’s village, where I was again made guest of honour and offered the most primo part of the baby pig on the spit — the eyes. But the highlight had to be Christmas day, when I saved a man from drowning at Sabang Beach.

Ironically, his favourite TV show was Bondi Rescue and I lived in Bondi at the time.

KEY LEARNING: Saving a person’ss life is the single most rewarding thing one can ever do

EAST TIMOR, 2010 I’d long been fascinated by this tiny half-island state an hour’s flight from Darwin and it didn’t disappoint..

In the month I spent there I had dinner with the president, swam with a mega-pod of dolphins, taught English at a women’s shelter, was adopted by a Timorese family who I d lived with for a few weeks, and found a 100-year-old church bell from Paris buried in the dirt! I also met a mad bunch of Australian Federal coppers who took me on a weekend ride along the border of Indonesian-

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FEATURE: 10 YEARS OFF THE ROAD

controlled West Timor — a rugged, windswept and totally untouched part of the world where villagers looked at us with faces normally reserved for the landing of aliens. We slept in an old Portuguese mansion that’d been converted into a boutique hotel, swam on a deserted beach and refilled our tanks with fuel sold in water bottles. All was well until the last hour of the ride when I had a head-on collision with a kid riding a scooter who came burning around a blind corner — on the wrong side of the road. He got off without a scratch, though I sprained a tendon in my calf and nearly totalled the KLX 650 I’d borrowed from one of my new copper mates.

KEY LEARNING: Australian Federal police officers are cool as fuck.

My bike, a 30-somethingyear-old Enfield Bullet 350, emitted a chilling metallic shriek every time I dragged its entrails over tectonic junk

PAPUA NEW GUINEA, 2011 Without question, this was the most difficult, dangerous and rewarding off-road adventure of my life. After setting off from the highland town of Goroka with a dozen-odd members of the Morobe Motorcycle Club (more of a drinking club with a motorcycle problem), we dove head first into an Enduro run that skirted along a 100m-deep ravine and left no margin for error.

The terrain was so technical and required so much effort to get through that I spent half my time on the dirt and suffered such a bad case of arm-pump that my thumbs kept on locking up. Riding on the sealed Highlands Highway was not much easier thanks to circa-WWII

lorries driven by homicidal maniacs high on homebrew, and notorious “raskol” street gangs that created impromptu roadblocks in order to hold motorists to ransom. We were literally mobbed by thousands of curious highlanders at the town of Kundiawa when we stopped to refuel, and had to ride through a gauntlet of drunk rugby fans later on in the day, one of whom whacked me in the arm with a stick. Crossing bridges was a real doozy as the raskols had pinched all the wood and we had to wheel our bikes over the bridges’ steel skeletons. But despite all that, or perhaps even because of it, PNG got under my skin. I’ve been back twice in the years that’ve passed.

KEY LEARNING: Papua New Guinea is the world’s greatest adventure travel destination

FIJI, 2012 I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t Fiji where the Aussie buffet brigade spend their holidays? That may be the case, but the main island of Viti Levu is basically one big Enduro circuit — a volcanic atoll peppered with dramatic highland scenery, misty ranges, raging rivers and palm-thatch villages frozen in time.

Viti Levu has a sealed ring road that is kind of interesting to ride around if you don’t mind playing frogger with speeding buses. But the real fun is found on the gravel track that cuts through the centre of the island. I made the mistake

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of attempting it at the start of Fiji’s monsoon season in November, and a couple of hours into my ride it started raining so hard that the many creek crossings intersecting the track became flooded. I couldn’t go forward, nor could I go back. But as luck would have it, I was invited to stay the night at the home of a sugar-cane farmer. Before I knew what was what, half the village came over to meet the soaking wet biker from Down Under in their midst and we all got quite drunk. The next morning when the sun came out, my new and severely hungover friends implored me to turn back as the rain was sure to return with a vengeance in the afternoon. But I persevered and made it to the other side — though not before spending yet another night in a village and getting sloshed with friendly villagers yet again!

KEY LEARNING: Don’t plan a motorbike trip in the tropics in the middle of the monsoon season

VIETNAM, 2013 I’d been trying to get to Vietnam for the best part of 20 years. When I finally made it, I discovered I’d left it too late because the country had well and truly been discovered and the capital Hanoi was awash with tourists. So my aim was to get away from the tourist traps and find the Vietnam of old. To that end I headed to Dong Van province near the Chinese border, a mountainous

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frontier district in the north-east corner of the country that was under military control until 2013 and nearly impossible to visit.

During my eight-day round trip from Hanoi to Dong Van I saw only three foreign tourists. But I did see many of Vietnam’s ethnic hill tribe people — the colourfully dressed Hmong — and mountains so epic in size and scale that I dubbed them “Vietnam’s Hidden Himalayas” for a photo essay I put together for the BBC. My guide, Anh Tuan of Mototours Asia, had rented

out all his dirtbikes that week so instead we rode Enfield Bullet 500s. There’s no questioning the bulletproof-ness of this bike, but with its cheap Indian slicks I often found myself losing traction around corners and bends. Disaster struck at the halfway mark when I came off, skidded along a gravel road and tore a ligament in my shoulder that took a year to heal.

KEY LEARNING: The Enfield Bullet is a redundant piece of crap

Disaster struck at the halfway mark when I came off, skidded along a gravel road and tore a ligament in my shoulder

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THAILAND, 2014

NEPAL, 2015

Despite the countless offs I’ve suffered over the years, I’ve never had to go (or bothered to go) to hospital — until this trip. It all started innocently enough: a threeday romp through the Golden Triangle of northern Thailand with Alan Davies of Thai Bike Tours on a couple of souped-up Thai-built CRF 250Ls. The first couple of days were spent blasting along gravel roads, single tracks, rock fields and through six-foot-tall elephant grass. We crossed creeks by the dozen, zoomed around rice paddies and visited hill tribe villages inhabited by the Karen, Hmong and other ethnic groups. At about midday on Day 3, we were burning through cornfields on a loose dirt road covered in bulldust when a pick-up truck came out of nowhere.

I squeezed the rear brake, sliding to an abrupt stop and then tipping to the left. My leg got pinned under the bike on the way down, bending my foot at an ungodly angle that made me scream out in pain. Within a matter of hours my foot had swelled to the size of a football. I was certain it was broken, but after getting it X-rayed at a local hospital I learned it was just a sprain — albeit the mother of all sprains that saw me temporarily straddled to a wheelchair.

KEY LEARNING: Adventure boots are bullshit. Nowadays I swear

by SIDI Motocross boots

I thought I was hard. I thought I knew what it meant to ride offroad. Then I went to Nepal and took on the Himalayan Highway, a 100-mile-long thoroughfare connecting the city of Pokhara and Upper Mustang — a high-altitude desert straddling the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau. The first half of the ride was deceptively easy — a gravel road that cut a path along the edge of the Kali Gandaki, the deepest gorge in the world. But after hitting the town of Beni, the road degenerated into what I can only describe as an out-of-commission motocross track. Beds of jagged slate rose from the dirt at every conceivable angle, concealed at times by river crossings, landslips, washouts and deep pits of warm, grey mud.

My bike, a 30-something-yearold Enfield Bullet 350, emitted a chilling metallic shriek every time I dragged its entrails over tectonic junk. Higher and higher the highway climbed, a stairway to heaven littered with so much crap that both the muffler and my luggage rack — along with a $3000 camera — came off and were lost. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Upper Mustang province is, in this trailrider’s humble opinion, the most beautiful place on earth.

KEY LEARNING: The Enfield Bullet may be redundant, but like I said, it’s bloody bulletproof

FEATURE: KYE ANDERSON

BETWEEN A ROCK AND AN EXTREME PLACE WORDS & PICS JOHN PEARSON MEDIA

WHEN IT COMES TO HARD ENDURO, EVENTS LIKE THE ERZBERG RODEO AND THE RED BULL SEA TO SKY ARE A SAMPLE OF WHAT IS EXPECTED OF RIDERS MAD ENOUGH TO ATTEMPT THEM. MANY A RIDER HAS TRIED AND FAILED, BUT WITH A MILE OF TALENT AND AMBITION TO MATCH, PRIVATEER RACER KYE ANDERSON IS TAKING THE PLUNGE IN 2016, SEEKING OUT THE DEMONS OUR NIGHTMARES ARE MADE OF 56 |

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FEATURE: KYE ANDERSON

E

isenerz, Austria. It’s a long way from the city of Port Macquarie on the NSW north coast. The similarities between the two are virtually non-existent. One is the location of what is known as the hardest single-day enduro event in the world. The other is the birthplace and stomping ground of a new breed of Australian Hard Enduro fanatic.

Kye Anderson has spent the majority of his adult life racing Enduro here in Australia and most notably in our home-grown Australian Off Road Championship, the breeding ground of world-renowned riders like Glenn

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Kearney and Toby Price. As a privateer, the level of commitment needed to sustain this year in, year out goes above and beyond what most of us will ever know. From working a day job to the daily fitness regime that keeps Kye in the shape needed to even consider chasing Hard Enduro events, it is no small feat that he has put himself in a position to give it a shot.

It’s evident to see why he’s chosen this path — the intensity and drive of this guy is amazing. If he’s not cycling, he’s paddle-boarding. If he’s not bushwalking, he’s Geocaching. This activity routine never stops. He has been training for this opportunity for such a long time he can’t remember w when he wasn’t fit enough to round up F Forrest Gump and keep on going.

Many of the photos for this article w were shot around the peak of Bago M Mountain, just inland from Port M Macquarie. The track that leads to the ssummit here is a struggle to climb up o on foot and would be a great prelude tto the intense, energy-sapping tterrain that Hard Enduro events a are famous for. With a minimum of ffuss, Kye picks his way through the rrock crevices and over logs like a sseasoned pro. The balance needed to p pull this stuff off is crazy. To go from a standing start to popping onto a w waist-high rock ledge in the space of

less than a metre is something that takes hours of practice to learn — and when you see it happen in gnarly terrain with little room for error, it’s pretty impressive.

The level of fitness needed to keep up this intensity is immense. His interest in Hard Enduro has been a sleeping desire, always at the back of his mind, and in some form he knew the years previous were all leading to this. Now, when the timing

is right, Kye has made the decision to head overseas and enter himself in the Erzberg Rodeo with a view to also competing in the Red Bull Sea to Sky. We’ve all watched those YouTube videos of the hill climbs leading up the sides of the Iron Mountain and thought how steep they are — just imagine actually riding it! If time and funding permits he will also race at least one round of the G-NET Hard Enduro Championship in Japan after forging

relationships there last year while racing rounds of the JNCC. As a junior, Kye rode when he could afford to but didn’t get serious until he left school and could buy his first bike. He has raced most major brands, spending his recent time on the venerable Husqvarna FE 501 before switching to the ever-popular KTM EXC300 2-stroke for his assault on the world in 2016. The main reasons behind the switch are the weight reduction and the reliability of the KTM brand — two very big considerations in what promises to be a year of extremes.

The cost involved in a venture like this is astronomical and as a privateer, Kye funds a substantial amount of the overall figure. A huge part of his daily work is introducing himself to new people and using his experience to organise support to help him either get to events or prepare his bike. Sponsorship is a massive part of a privateer’s life and has been the make or break factor in so many racing careers. This one is no different. Kye is backed by a supportive group of companies that enable him to concentrate on the racing without having to second guess himself or his machine.

The bike internals are standard and particular attention is only paid to the suspension setup, where Kye gets a helping hand from Axis

Motorsports. The engine and exhaust are stock, which allows for easy parts replacement in the event of a major problem. A mass of bolt-on protection from Zeta and B&B, such as bash plates and radiator braces, keep the fleshy areas protected while accessories such as a ProPower carbon-fibre expansion chamber guard, Barkbusters and frame and swingarm guards all work together to minimise the chance of damage in the brutal conditions.

Simplicity is the key, however, and making the bike easy to work on should the worst happen is a major consideration. Kye has spent countless hours adapting and changing his machine so he can undertake a majority of tasks with a minimum of tools and fuss. For this reason alone the KTM is a great choice.

The chance to attack some of these world-renowned races would be a dream come true for many of us. But the truth is, very few of us will ever make it to the start line. From organising machinery, accommodation, transport and fuel to managing the logistics of flights and entries, there is a pile as high as the Iron Mountain of things that can go wrong, and then you’ve got to make sure you’re in good enough shape to even consider it. For many this is too much, but for some that’s only the start of the challenge.

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FEATURE: SHERCO TWO-STROKE ENDURO

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STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY MATT BERNARD

BLUE

Hitting the trails on the highly exciting Sherco two-stroke range

SMOKE

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FEATURE: SHERCO TWO-STROKE ENDURO

T

he Sherco range has steadily crept its way onto the shopping list of many trail bike riders in the last couple of years. Its European success and steady increase of exposure in Australia has given customers more confidence in the French brand — and rightly so. The Sherco 250 SE-R and 300 SE-R are Sherco’s entrance into the two-stroke enduro market, directly in competition with the European powerhouse of KTM and Husqvarna’s popular models, the 250EXC and 300EXC, along with TM and Beta two-strokes.

ALL THE TRIMMINGS Sitting back and gazing at the Sherco two-stroke will tickle the fancy of just about every dirtbike fan. The blue plastics with fluoro yellow accents will grab your attention, but upon further inspection you’ll be hooked. A chrome FMF exhaust is fitted along with Brembo brakes, electric start, WP suspension and gripper seat cover — with a Sherco, you get a trick machine straight out of the box.

The Sherco range is built for speed. It’s the athlete ready to do battle at the highest level. When sitting on the bike, you’re treated to

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a flat, slim and aggressive-feeling motorcycle. The bike is narrow between the knees and promotes an over-the-front charging style through the trees. You’ll happily trailride for a full day but it’s definitely on the more race end of the ergonomics spectrum.

It’s a spacious cockpit; tall riders will find it comfortable, while a shorter rider could roll the bars back and still find themselves at home.

The hydraulic clutch has a fantastic feel. You will be on the clutch a lot on these bikes, especially on the 250, if you are going to get the most of the powercurve and find the happy place in the rev range, so the inclusion of the hydraulic clutch is definitely welcome.

One of the most impressive parts on both the Shercos is the ignition switch on the handlebars. Combined with the electronically controlled power valve, it’s an effective inclusion on these models.

You can change the power of the bikes dramatically with literally a flick of the switch. Your fire-breathing 300 two-stroke can be turned into a chugging, smooth and easy-tomanage motorcycle. It’s on-the-fly power management and it works. — really, really works.

5 THINGS WE LOVE THE LOOKS The Sherco’s fluoro yellow look gives these bikes a unique and very trick appeal.

THE ENGINE The strong yet easy-to-use engine on both the 250 and 300 SE-R is one of our favourites. Treat the 300 with respect, though!

THE ELECTRIC START It’s a tad worrying not having a kicker on the Sherco, but from all reports it starts flawlessly every time. We never experienced an issue.

THE EXCITEMENT Call us old school, but we think it’s really important to have fun riding a bike — that’s why you ride. The two-strokes certainly slap a smile on your dial.

THE IGNITION SWITCH The ignition switch is bloody awesome. It’s like two bikes in one. One is a mild, easy-to-use hill climber, the other an aggressive berm blaster.

THE COMPETITION There’s some gold in this category!

KTM250EXC HUSQVARNA TE250 KTM300EXC HUSQVARNA TE300 BETA 250RR TM300EN BETA30RR TM250EN

ST? WANT THrcoESixBE Days. If you love your

Check out the She … e the drool off your chin bling, you’ll need to wip

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FEATURE: SHERCO TWO-STROKE ENDURO

AT THE PEAK LEVEL If you’re looking at riding this bike at the absolute highest level, you’ll be chasing the fastest way from point A to point B. We enlisted Wil Ruprecht to give us his take on the two very similar but still different bikes.

“The 250 two-stroke really comes into its own throughout the mid-range of its crispy laced power range,” he says. Wil, who signed with the Sherco Factory Racing team only weeks after testing with TRAILRIDER magazine, came in beaming after burning oil. But most blokes reading this test can only hope to fang through the trees like Wil, so we pressed him to tap into the thoughts of an average trailrider looking to purchase a two-stroke Sherco.

“The engine package on the Sherco 250SE-R would allow the average trailrider to cover long kilometres with less physical input than its brother, the 300 two-stroke. It has smooth but torquey bottom-end power to get traction throughout the

SPECIFICATIONS Engine: 2-stroke single-cylinder with electronically controlled exhaust booster valve Displacement: 249.32cc (250) 293.14cc (300) Bore and stroke: 66.4 x 72mm (250) 72 x 72mm (300) Fuel system: Carburettor Keihin PWK 36 Starter: Unique electric starting system Ignition: Kokusan 220W Transmission: 6-speed sequential gearbox, primary gear drive chain secondary drive Clutch: Hydraulic, multidisc in oil bath Exhaust system: FMF chamber, stainless silencer Frame: Half-perimeter frame Chrome-Molybdenum Front fork: WP telescopic fork, Ø 48mm tubes rebound and compression adjustable Front suspension travel: 300mm of travel Rear shock: WP progressive, multiadjustable rear shock utilising a linkage and rod system Rear suspension travel: 320mm of travel Brakes front: Brembo hydraulically activated Front disc: 260mm diameter Brakes rear: Brembo hydraulically activated Rear disc: 220mm diameter Wheelbase: 1480mm Ground clearance: 355mm Fuel tank: 9.5 litres Dry weight: 105kg

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tight single tracks or up a greasy hill while not having to worry about stalling. The mid-range power of this bike was not quite as versatile as the 300 two-stroke but was definitely more forgiving, which is traditionally the case with 250 two-stroke across the board,” he said.

“Don’t get me wrong — there was plenty there power-wise and it wasn’t super-scary or aggressive, but a 300 would definitely pull away down a long straight. It seemed that when you hit power-band you have seen it all on the 250; it didn’t want to pull the extra rpms which the 300 two-stroke would. The handling seemed very similar to the 300 but it was noticeable that it didn’t carry on through the corners as much due to slightly more engine mass.”

WOULD I OWN ONE? The bikes are both good, there’s absolutely no denying that. The engines are strong, the suspension handles a range of terrain well and the ergonomics are lean and race ready — a lot of the boxes are ticked.

The entie Sherco range is very impressive, not just the two-strokes we tested. However, many riders out there will automatically head for an orange or white bike when searching for a two-stroke enduro machine and rightly so. They’ve got the runs on the board and are extremely good motorcycles.

However, if you wanted to be different to your mates and step outside the square, it’s definitely worth heading to your local Sherco dealer. The dealer network is growing in Australia with 38 dealers so far and more on the way. Spare parts are readily available and the Australian race effort is increasing.

There are more aftermarket accessories available each year to protect, improve and bush-proof your Sherco as well, so the argument for owning a Sherco is continually getting stronger.

Which would we choose? It’s a case of horses for courses and personal preference. For me, the 250 two-stroke comes out ahead; it’s that little bit easier to hang onto when the going gets tough and I had that little bit more fun. Give me an open grass track and the fitness of an 18-yearold, however, and we might have a different ball game.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Head to www.shercomotorcycles.com.au

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ADVENTURE RIDE: THE PHILIPPINES

FILIPINO

BY IAN LLOYD NEUBAUER

Fling

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IAN NEUBAUER’S TOUR OF THE PHILIPPINES WAS AN ADVENTURE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD

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ADVENTURE RIDE: THE PHILIPPINES The hanging coffins of Sagada

T

raffic signs in the Philippines are mostly suggestive.

But the one I see riveted to a pedestrian overpass on a road heading out of Manila takes the cake: “Stay in your lane”. There are five marked lanes yet nearly twice as many rows of cars and buses and trucks fighting for spaces, plus thousands of scooters filtering between them. But with panniers fitted onto my Beemer, my ability to filter is limited. The best I can do is putter along, inhaling all kinds of noxious fumes as sweat runs down my back and pools in my butt crack and my eardrums are hammered by horns.

Suddenly I hear a siren. It’s an ambulance begging to be let through nd the jam. As it passes me I sneak behind it and follow tightly in the path that g clears in its wake, fighting off annoying scooters trying to get into the action as I power towards an expressway thatt will take me far from this traffic- and smog-choked cesspool of a city to the misty mountains of Luzon, the largest of the 7100 islands of the Philippines.

“There are so many beautiful placess to ride in this country,” says Philippe Saubier of PAR Motorrad, the Manilabased motorbike touring company whose Beemer I’m using. “But the mountains are special because they are so unexpected for the Philippines.””

RED LIGHTS AND VOLCANOES I get a good run on the expressway until I reach the city of Angeles, 80km to the north. Angeles is basically one big red-light district that gained notoriety servicing army brats from Clark Air Base down the road since the close of WWII. Clark was once the largest U.S. military facility outside North America. But in 1991, nearby Mt Pinatubo exploded, causing the second-largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century. The Yanks split to Japan but the prostitution trade lived on, attracting men from rich countries and ever-younger sex workers. When I stop for lunch at a steakhouse a girl,

DIY In 2005, Philippe Sauvier, a Frenchman living in the Philippines, suffered a massive heart attack on a plane. The next day while recovering in hospital, he created a bucket list of all the things he wanted to do before he died. Buying a dirtbike topped it.

Philippe travelled to California for an off-road learner’s course and spent many a weekend over the next few years riding a Honda XR200 around the islands of his adopted home. In 2013, he bought a fleet of brand-new BMW adventurers and launched PAR Motorrad, the Philippines’ first professional

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Sea of clouds

He may not know how to brush his teeth but he knows how to dress

maybe 15 years old, saunters up to me in the car park and offers me a massage. I decline the offer and get the hell out of dodge.

Ten minutes later I hit Clark. Now a Special Economic Zone, Clark is a hub for IT, aviation and gambling and is unlike other place I’ve seen in the Philippines. There are sports fields, parks, people jogging and walking dogs and the streets are spotlessly clean. There’s even free city-wide WiFi! It’s the American dream come true in the tropics.

I spend the night at Santa Juliana, the closest remaining village to Mount Pinatubo. The next morning I rise at

motorbike touring company.

PAR Motorrad offers guided tours taking in the highlands, volcanoes, beaches, historical sites and islands of the Philippines. Seven-day tours start at $2095 and climb to $6188 for a 20-day tour. Straight rentals are available for $145 per day. A two-hour brief with Philippe before you set off is $165.

For more info visit parmotorrad. com or call +63 999 993 5166. To ride an ATV into Mount Pinatubo, contact Capas ATV Adventure via their website, capasatvadventure. com. Day trips cost $267 per vehicle (up to two persons per vehicle). Volcano entry fees are $13 per person.

The plan: to ride a crater of the now n ATV into the -dormant volcan o

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ADVENTURE RIDE: THE PHILIPPINES Charging on an ATV into the heart of a volcano

dawn and ride to the office of Capas ATV Adventures, where I swap my Beemer for an ATV. The plan: to ride an ATV into the crater of the nowdormant volcano. My guide, Walter, gives me three rules before we depart: “No overtaking, no exhibitionism and definitely no drifting.” Yet the terrain — a wide, shallow delta riddled with sandbanks — is almost made for drifting. Within a few minutes I’m drifting more than I am not drifting.

Walter acknowledges the fact that I look like I know how to drift (even though it’s my second time on an ATV and I’m learning on the job) and lets the infraction slide.

Onwards we charge through rain and wind into a narrow canyon where the going gets so rough we have to ditch the bikes and walk. Now, if there’s one thing I hate as much as I love riding, it’s trekking. And this trek is 5km long, uphill most of the way and takes two bloody hours in my chunky motocross boots. But when we reach the crater, all is forgotten as I stare in wonder at the sight before my eyes. From where I’m standing, the giant crater walls appear to bend inwards like a giant stone wave, while the lake that has formed in the middle over the past 25 years is so large it produces actual waves. And with a depth of 600m, it’s also the deepest lake in the Philippines.

#ISHOULDBEDEAD That’s the hashtag I use on social media to let my friends and family back home know I’m still alive after

riding 368km from Santa Juliana to Banaue in seven straight hours on Day 3 of my Filipino Fling.

Things begin beautifully as I coast up a near-empty expressway under big blue skies. But when the toll road ends soon after, my GPS reroutes me to the Pan-Philippines Highway, a network of roads, bridges and ferries that connects the country’s major islands and accounts for a fair slug of the Philippines’ 10,000-odd annual road fatalities.

In this part of Luzon, the PanPhilippines Highway is a two-lane road used by pedestrians, bike riders, barnyard animals, tractors and vehicles alike. The most popular vehicles are ‘tricycles’ — a Filipino version of the auto rickshaw — essentially a 150cc Jap motorbike with a large covered sidecar. I see one carrying 10 people — three on the bike, five in the sidecar and two kids on the roof. I see another tricycle lugging a cow. Tricycles are slow, painfully slow, plodding along at 20kph. And because there are only two busy lanes, the rickshaws in their slowness create slow-moving columns of cars, trucks and buses that can’t overtake them and reduce every vehicle’s speed to 20kph.

These columns create a dilemma for me. If I wait patiently for safe overtaking opportunities it’ll take me much more time to reach my destination. The longer I remain on the road, the greater my chances of becoming roadkill. But if I start taking risks and overtaking around semi-blind corners, the risk

Road slip ahead

Dax and his Chinese 150cc dirt-going bike

70 |

increases even further. So I play it safe, riding conservatively without breeze as I cook in my body armour under the tropical sun.

Within 10 minutes I can take no more. Channelling my inner Crusty Demons, I start weaving and bobbing through the traffic like a bat out of hell, aerating my jacket with the hot breeze. But every time I hit a town I get stuck in a mini-Manila traffic jam, sandwiched between buses or railroaded by tricycle drivers who complete u-turns or merge without looking back. The ride isn’t fun; it’s basic instinct and survival.

After three hours on the road the traffic begins to thin and the highway curves up the steep end of a mountain range before dropping like a bomb into a lush, green plain chequered with paddy fields. After five hours I reach the town of Kalusanan, where I exit the Pan-Philippines Highway and begin climbing the Cordillera Central, the highlands of northern Luzon. I ride over steel bridges connecting deep ravines, under towering limestone formations and past villages lined with woodwork shops until, after seven hours on some of the world’s most dangerous roads, I reach Banaue. I’m soaked in my own sweat and #ishouldbedead but I’m not.

Time to party.

IMELDA AND DAX TO THE RESCUE The next day I wake up late and stroll out onto my balcony. Like many buildings in Banaue, my hotel literally

My ride

MY RIDE: 2013 BMW G650GS I have a special bond with BMW’s 650 series as I’ve used one to commute around my home town for the past 10 years. A street version of the 2006 Dakar, my moto is well past its prime and rides like an IKEA on wheels. But the 2013 G650GS I borrowed from PAR Motorrad in the Philippines is an altogether different beast. It cornered beautifully on tarmac and gobbled up whatever it met off-road thanks to modifications including a bashplate, crash bars, headlight grill, Barkbusters, shock guards, windshield, an extra-large baseplate on the foot stand that lets you park in all sorts of terrain, and Touratech panniers and top box. The G650GS’s only shortfall is that it lacks the height and bulk to carry fully loaded panniers. It left me feeling a bit unbalanced at times and wishing I had an 850GS instead. Still, I did not see a better, safer or faster motorbike in my three weeks in the country. rella

umb It’s called a parasol, not an

Babu introduces me to another German hippy called George, wh o lives in a log cabin in the woods Remember the Aussie stun t rider Dale Buggins? There’s a disp lay to honour the guy at the Nabiac Motorcy cle Museum.

hugs a cliff that falls into a ravine with a raging river running below it. I light a cigarette and rub my head.

It hurts.

Last night, after a sensational $2 chicken adobo dinner, I got talking to a couple of Canadian girls. We had a few drinks in the restaurant and then moved on to a reggae bar where the barman poured us Tanduay Rhum and Cokes that were 50 per cent rum and 50 per cent Coke. Ergo the chronic hangover, though it’s nothing some bacon and eggs can’t sort out.

My mission today is to see the Ifugao Rice Terraces, the “eighth wonder of the world” — a 2000-year-old engineering marvel built to maximise the use of farming land in the thickly forested ranges and deep valleys surrounding Banaue. The most picturesque of these terraces surround a village called Batad 20km to the north. The ride is short but magical and when I reach Batad Saddle Point I park my bike at a roadside restaurant for what I’m told is a half-hour hike to Batad. Yet somewhere along the walking trail I take a wrong turn and end up crawling down 200m-high terraces on my hands and knees, cutting through malaria-infested rice paddies and bashing through six-foot-tall elephant grass like a bloody Viet Cong. I march along in 35-degree heat, hating every fucking second of it, drinking from little waterfalls that spring from rock walls so I don’t die of dehydration until, after three hours of walking blindly, I reach the village of Batad.

Indigenous kids on the Mount Pinatubo trail

The rice terraces of Ban aue

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ADVENTURE RIDE: THE PHILIPPINES

But it’s not Batad, the village folk tell me in broken English. It’s a totally different village and Batad is that way, says one dude who reeks of home brew.

No, it’s the other way, says a second dude, who’s also obviously had a few. No, it’s back that way, says a third. Then a pack of dogs start barking so loudly I can’t hear myself think, let alone the villagers talk, so I give up and walk off.

On the village’s outskirts I meet Imelda, an eighthgrade student and suave businesswoman who offers to guide me to a road where I can get a tricycle back to Saddle Point — for $20. I bargain her down to $10 and we set off, but she goes the wrong way. Fifteen minutes later we’re back where we started yet this time Imelda is sure of her bearings. An hour later, we pop out onto a muddy road where we walk another 20 minutes to the home of Imelda’s uncle, who she says has a tricycle.

But her uncle’s not home. Instead, we’re greeted

by Imelda’s 16-year-old cousin, Dax, who offers to take me to Saddle Point on the back of a rusty old Chinese 150cc motorbike held together with spit and glue — for $20. I bargain him down to $10, pay Imelda the $10 I owe her and we head off.

Now Dax knows how to ride but he can’t handle the deep, muddy ruts while carrying a 90kg passenger on the back. Within a minute of taking off, we both end up face down in mud. We try again but with the same result, so I ask Dax to let me to drive. He’s hugely relieved and screams like a Banshee as I carve a line through the ruts. It’s dusk when we get back to the Beemer and dark when I get back to Banaue, where I head straight for the reggae bar, covered in dirt and mud, for a seriously stiff drink.

SEA OF CLOUDS After two nights in Banaue I ride to Sagada, a hillside resort set around a subtropical canyon honeycombed with caves and waterfalls where the locals hang coffins — with corpses inside them — on sheer cliff faces! Sagada was also a hippy hangout back in the ‘70s and ‘80s and there are still a few old hippies hanging around. I meet one called Babu Hanuman, a German national who looks like Gandalf the Wizard except instead of living in a castle he lives in a hut made of cow dung surrounded by vast marijuana fields. Babu introduces me to another German hippy called George, who lives in a log cabin in the woods where he makes his own sausages and gin.

After seeing my Beemer, he tells me of an old Boxer Twin he owned during his former life as a highpowered chef in Hamburg. We swap a few bike stories and he invites me to stay for lunch, which becomes dinner, and I end up staying the weekend — eating, drinking and smoking with Babu Hanuman, George and a permanent stream of smiling, friendly, happy Filipino visitors whose sole aim in life is to party.

The ride back to Manila is much more fun that the ride up. I forgo the Pan-Philippines Highway and instead take a series of back country roads riddled

Dirt is the sign of success

72 |

Cruising through Banaue One moment in time

with twisties and switchbacks. The highland scenery is stunning, with great valleys and towering peaks layered with tropical pines and little villages clinging to cliffs and hills. It looks remarkably like Switzerland, except the cars are a thousand times crapper and nearly every house here is only half-built.

I spend my seventh and last night on the road at a village near the peak of Mount Pulag, which, at 2922m, is Luzon’s highest point. Climbers from all over the world came here for the five-hour trek to the summit. But I have no intention of walking up another bloody mountain — not for five minutes, let alone five bloody hours. I came solely for the cliff-top singletrack road and the views awarded therein. Known for a “sea of clouds” phenomenon, where lower-lying peaks and crags are visible through gaps in the clouds and mist, Mount Pulag is all fluffy and white and green with sturdy little super-friendly mountain people. It’s a little piece of heaven on earth and I would never have found it if I had “stayed in my lane”.

“Some riders come here and want things to run according to their pre-defined plan, but that contradicts what it means to be in the Philippines,” says Philippe of PAR Motorrad. “If you have a spirit of adventure and you love motorbikes, then this is the right place for you.”

Mount Pinatubo

I take a wrong turn and end up crawling down 200m-high terraces on my hands and knees

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FEATURE: 2000 BMW R 1150 GS

D L O R FO E K A S S ’ E TIM s to have the e ik b t s e b e th D o yo u n e e d o, who just m a D s y a s , o n best ride? Hell the past of bought a relicSHENHURST

ON’T GET IT

PLE D ner of a SOME PEO t bike for a w and I’m the ow Strom 1000 tes a Vm st forward to no ki fro Fa zu ht Su a ug d bo I ha I ich few ny people a wh , d ma owne 1150 GS s stunned how looked any of you have 2000-model R while and I wa … then I’d ar me and has it d I’m no ne an th ht e wi rig er tim es th ur liv bo yo I’d bikes in bloke who the clock it’s asked me why South ver owned a th 133,000km on m Newcastle to different. I’ve ne after it well. Wi a pretty keen plain my ride fro e ex re should at I’v it t mo t bu at go t) I t wh es k bu er as rk, road bike (no int a and back and seen some wo is model ali th t str ou don’t and Au ab m le fro ing op s, th pe tbike , some e bike. Some had plenty of dir price and again I expect from th is a fashion on. But is so th d , . an em me Cs th to EX for a KDX to is special n do that?

I will never get it; s out there YZs to ITs and it, how a bike ca this job is that e plenty a bloke It’s weird isn’t t privileges of ow. But there ar I doubt he e sh erage es ar av bik e e one of the grea er ny th th s ma at’ es d so imagine th about all the bik My dad has ha small e — and I like to get to ride just are here for th but there are a them on the o , t all wh pu n — em ca er th t ad we . lis re dly ar so could TRAILRIDER ers well and fon ver other e on or how to ride every ye mb u’r ate yo me wh e re or bik e he at at zin wh ry maga handful th ugh I ride, no matter pages of this ve for at the time. e 1150 and altho it. ght be working For me that’s th t you can go on -model 1200 on Gerty er fas s; lat ar a ye t publication I mi in go e ve bik ha ing landscapes ven’t owned a . History probably could see some amaz me I’ll to would’ve e I h ok s nt sp pe t mo As a result, I ha ca e en on bike jus e same lands en no point wh e if I waited, this lled this and they’ll be th there’s just be I might price. Sure, sh rse that’s trave e er ho th oth rk ple an wo ru d a ad an it’s g qu 200EXC tells us seen on a bike us magic other and lookin rred e nB sti th Ca I could be on a to ic ing e th on sid ctr me e so ele on the -X450. But planet from compared to doesn’t have all , which is be riding an RM unpretentious en on buying a ated handgrips that got me ke at it now, it’s so e does have he sh t ture (not bu ra le. pe ab in me recently ail tem ls av the e myriad mode e won’t tell me th Sh . n. wi ain e won’t a me ag sh e d ho bik ), an rned a bike, though Safari and retu hard to tell on ile I adjust I rode the BMW ’t a wh sn lk mi wa It of t IS it. ou qu arly WHAT IT etty well fitted-out with at wouldn’t n, but tell me we’re ne with an itch th nting a GS touch of a butto se, it was me wa My bike was pr as spension at the ll su e t a great we th s ne as ke er tes int ma venereal disea e at pla wh hit th bash is a tiny part of . It came right now. So I crashbars and ff rs it stu cto ing at ride nt ote th d pr wa d an d ht an e an back d headlig ral here is to lov . The e would set me handguards an bike. So the mo e panniers too uld fit sid to see what a bik o wo tw at d th an x ing th e was some with a top bo ff and an that became th whatcha got. whether there was smaller th t and seeing stu tyres on it and ich I must say bike had road about getting ou e with a set e It’s bik rs e th ive ich un on e my budget, wh d wh th ge of es chan ploration as t and not the lik handle first thing I’ve experiencing ex I’d like to admi . I quickly llys, which can a bike.

Ra life of n e’s ck pio on ba or o e Sc th int i a BMW of Pirell hes to deep intended it — on usually brings l R 1200 GS long road stretc good, late-mode anything from completely. th em wi th realised that a me st sa tru e I d th to happen and bush riding, an at is all I’ve was not going GPS unit and th e either, but I’ve mounted a both and I’d tak the bike I on t er ou ov ab g d the 800. I love din t an the idea of spen to do to get ou d up t ha gh because she ou iet me br I qu na so when t that household went ‘Gerty’. She go d my lle e, ca bik ctive duck a ra on att $20,000 cotton wool. ck — a fairly un a mouse piss on looks like a du . ‘em e . lov I you could hear ss e ele us th er? Well, beca but a duck none er whether So why a Beem ck and forth ov y other reason I sort of went ba the bike for an g mag but e yin th bu in t is no d an t th I’m life that’s mine er writing abou th my bo in I’d e our time on all nt , d than I wa that we spen time to choose d when it came it occurred to me test, which is ea gr an d e an t mine alone, an tim es t rs lat e efi way back to th talking about th want you my brain went have that and I at was on an w my mind. Th , but we can’t all ne ble OK to fi e it’s bik at e th ur e , nt th dy adve time I did don’t alrea e nture, the first to know, if you eI the flavour of th bik e be t th R 1150 GS Adve g no y ein ma se at y remember ride a bike th e while others lov at t th gh ’t mi Safari. I distinctl ldn u ou yo sh , that e and thinking month, a bike e only was going to rid you see in it. Th rt somewhere? ve no idea what cking with a po ha do e out riding be u’r ip yo sh at ro ge is th hu d ze nt factor here to ride and I ha rta e po ibl ss im po im t d It looke e. nutes later I sa ay, about 10 mi on a bike you lov interest. Anyw hit: this bike ty ali re as e bik stunned on the was incredible.

BY STORY AND PICS

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seeing the r e b m e m re y tl I distinc and thinking, e id r to g in o g bike I was be docking ip h s e g u h t a shouldn’t th mewhere? with a port so

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WE GET GREASY AND PLAY WITH OUR TOOLS

NATION STI S E D

84

A QUICK LOOK AT A DREAM RIDE LOCATION

BACK PACK HOW-TO TIPS AND TESTED GOODIES

E TIPS RID

86

TACKLE THE EASY TO THE TOUGH WITH THESE TWOWHEEL TIPS

OJECT BIK PR E

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WE TAKE ON A YAMAHA WR250F

DERS’ RIDE EA

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WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF YOUR VERY OWN RIDING MACHINES

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CAPTURING A GREAT MOMENT IN TRAIL TIME

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LEGEND SHOT SHANE WATTS

SHANE WATTS

We recently found this killer shot of the legendary Shane Watts on the gas in the 2006 Four-day Enduro held in Mogo, NSW. Wattsy was battling with Juha Salminen throughout the event and a young Kawasaki rider by the name of Josh Strang also turned some heads, especially with a brilliant final moto.

PHOTO — STEPHEN TUFF

80 |

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TECH TIPS A TECHNICAL LOOK AT WRITTEN BY CLIVE WARD (AKA THE PROFESSOR) OF MOTORCYCLEBIZ o what’s changed? I feel it’s easier to list what hasn’t changed.

The only parts still used in the 2016 unit from the 2015 unit are the headlight, the speedo, the gearbox and the wheels. Yes, that’s all — everything else is the 2015 YZ450F or specially made for the new WR. YZ450F DNA is the catch cry or build a YZ for the bush — and, my, haven’t they done a good job.

Now don’t think it’s just a YZ450F with a headlight dropped on the front — lots of features of the YZ have been changed to make this the enduro weapon many of us have been looking for. Below is the list of changes made to the YZ450F to make a WR450F enduro beast.

S

Engine mounting brackets: The lightweight control flex aluminium chassis has the engine mounting brackets reduced from 8mm to 6mm in width.

Fuel injection: New 44mm throttle body. Programmable ECU with enduro optimised maps.

It’s 2mm larger than the previous model with a revised spray angle and improved throttle valve.

Offset crank: Yamaha has offset the crank to cylinder — this aligns the piston perfectly for the power downstroke, thereby greatly reducing the friction caused by the piston skirt trying to twist sideways. Reduced friction has two important advantages: less wear, so piston and cylinders will last longer, and also less heat is produced. Heat robs power so there is a power increase and fuel economy saving too.

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Suspension settings: While the WR retains the same KYB suspension units front and rear as the YZ, the valving and spring rates have been set up to suit enduro conditions. Front-wheel travel has also been increased from 300-310mm. The rear suspension travel has increased from 299mm to 318mm.

Steering and triple clamps: The triple clamps have four adjustment positions for the handlebars, plus the forks are now set wider. Trail is shortened to 114mm, caster angle reduced to 26.20 degrees and the offset changed from 25mm to 22mm.

These changes are all designed to sharpen the steering, keep high-speed stability and provide excellent front-wheel feedback

Front brakes: The WR will come standard with a 270mm disc rotor.

Radiators and shrouds: New enduro radiators that feature a different core pitch angle to the YZ-F design. The radiator shrouds are also different to the YZ; the shape has been changed to increase airflow at lower speeds and a thermo fan is fitted standard.

THE ALL-NEW 2016 WR450F Gearbox and drive ratios: The overall primary gear ratio remains the same between the YZ and WR. The wide ratio gearbox from the previous model is retained. Unlike its little brother, the 450 didn’t receive the 6th-gear upgrade but the ratios used provide an excellent spread of power and speed.

Sprockets remain as 13-50.

Enduro gear fitted: WRF bashplate, Barkbusters Jet handguards, 18in rear rim, hubs, wheel axles, side stand, rear fender, battery, fuel tank, starter motor, generator, meter, lights, muffler and radiator fan.

Off-road kit: The Australian model is supplied with full ADR

compliance for road registration and as with the previous model, Yamaha supplies a comprehensive off-road kit which includes the following: 1) Lightweight LED taillight and licence plate holder 2) Braided steel front brake line 3) Competition larger diameter exhaust muffler outlet

4) Full power / full travel throttle stopper screw kit 5) YZ air filter holder guide 6) Wiring connector for headlight 7) Brake snake kit 8) Wiring connector for rear brake light 9) WRF Barkbuster set 10) Front and rear brake line Banjo bolts 11) Taillight undercover 12) Side stand bolt and spring plate 13) Engine stop switch 14) Engine start switch So how does it ride: The reverse head configuration of the motor, together with the compact bilateral-beam, controlled-flex aluminium frame construction allows for the weight of the bike to be centralised more than in previous models. The air intake is at the front and feeds to the air filter mounted where the fuel tank used to be — the fuel tank is now under the seat. The exhaust now comes out at the rear of the cylinder head and wraps all the way around the front of the engine, all of which help to keep the weight of the motorcycle as central and low as possible.

The engine provides lots of torque but not at the cost of losing mid-range and top-end power. It’s very linear through the whole range and the wideratio gearbox lets you hold gears in drifts longer.

The overall feel and confidence you get from the 2016 Yamaha WR450F’s suspension is great whether you’re on rough, rocky and tight single track that we encountered or on the open trail. The bike can be ridden aggressively, as displayed by Green, Milner and Hollis, or it can be ridden smoothly with little effort. Chances are it’ll respond to your requirements with ease, whether racer or trail rider.

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DESTINATION NEW ZEALAND’S SOUTH ISLAND

D N A L A E Z N EW D N A L S I SOUTH

AS YOU WANT OR AS IT CAN BE AS EASY ENERY T IT’S ALWAYS IN SC CHALLENGING, BU E WE JUST CAN’T SE H IC H W OF S KE LI THE A HERE IN AUSTRALI breathtaking There are few more little blue s thi on it vis places to nd’s South ala planet than New Ze quoise tur ar cle alyst Island. Cr ns, tai un waters, endless mo d all the an le op pe ly nd super-frie r hope eve ld epic riding you cou d if you An . nd fi ’ll you at for is wh n, tow ns ee base yourself in Qu od go of nty ple nd fi o you’ll als ll as some food and beers as we up to when t ge to ff stu e awesom Bungee e. bik you’re not on the , jet es bik n tai un mo jumping,

84 |

on it goes. To boating, and on and best out of the t ge you re make su with the ch tou a ride trip, get in Offroad run o wh ily, fam Column what you r tte ma Adventures — no (they ls ee wh o tw on do want to Vs), AT te da can also accommo . en pp ha it ke ma they can world, Riding this part of the e, rid il tra a on it’s whether ATV, really adventure ride or an r bucket list. needs to be on you times now We’ve visited a few ints. It can po ap dis ver and it ne

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TRAIL TIPS RUTS

FIVE TIPS TO NAIL RUTS If you want to ride ruts like this, read through these five tips and get started!

STORY SHANE BOOTH PHOTOGRAPHY DAMIEN ASHENHURST

STEADY IN, FAST OUT Don’t rush the entry to a rut! Give yourself some time to set up. Once you are in the rut and you are sitting down with your leg out of the way, look around to the exit and then roll the power on. If you rush the entry and make a mistake, there’s a good chance you will mess up the whole turn or even crash.

CLUTCH CONTROL Keep a finger or two out over the clutch lever so you can use it to help deliver the power through and out the exit of the rut correctly. You can be quite aggressive with the power delivery on the exit of ruts but you don’t want to wheelie; slipping the clutch slightly will help you avoid that.

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VISION Once you have both wheels in the entry of the rut you should be looking around the turn to the exit. Look all the way around and out past the exit as early as possible, even if the rut continues for 10m out of the turn. Where you look is where you’ll end up, so keep that vision going and look ahead!

BODY POSITION Sit at the front of the seat and keep your elbows bent so your head stays forward over the handlebars. In a rut you should lean with the bike; it has a solid wall of dirt to hold the wheels so it won’t slide out. The more speed you carry, the more you need to lean with the bike.

INSIDE LEG Get your inside leg up high and out of the way before you lean into the rut.

You can see here that my leg is at the top of the radiator shroud and my foot is near the tip of the front fender. Keep your toe pointed so if it hits the ground it will slide and not dig in. If you’re lazy with your leg it will cause you problems.

Keep it up and out of the way.

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TRAIL TIPS JUMPING

TRAIL JUMPING Jumping your dirtbike is great fun and there isn’t much that matches the feeling of a successful jump, just like there isn’t much that matches the feeling of an unsuccessful one.

Here are some tips to keep your trail jumping on track WORDS SHANE BOOTH PHOTOGRAPHY DAMIEN ASHENHURST

GET THE LINE RIGHT This is where it starts: pick the smoothest and straightest line possible on your approach. This minimises the chance of having a problem just before take-off when it may be too late to do anything about it. Your line on the jump is the most important decision you’ll make; avoid holes or sharp edges if possible and stay out of deep ruts that may catch your footpegs as the bike compresses on the up ramp. The smoother the line, the better on the face of the jump and it will give you a better chance of leaving the ground smoothly. Make sure your approach lines you up with a decent line on your landing.

A nasty hole or rut where you land can cause you just as much trouble as one before take-off. It’s common for a hole to form where everyone is landing on a jump, and depending on the surface they can get pretty deep.

ALLOW YOUR BIKE TO CHANGE ANGLE ON THE FACE Allowing the bike to change angle as it climbs the up ramp of the jump is a critical factor. You should be in the central standing position on your approach and, as the bike changes angle, allow it to pivot underneath you. Let the handlebars come closer to you and your head will end up over the front number plate or even the front fender, depending on how steep the jump is. If you freeze and tense up before the jump, your weight will end up being completely over the rear of the bike on the up ramp, causing a front-wheel high takeoff that will most likely end in a crash. Once you’re in the air, let the bike level out, which should result in you resuming the central standing position again, making sure you keep your knees and elbows slightly bent for touchdown. For the landing, it’s important to be strong on the bike and make the

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suspension absorb the landing.

Only when the suspension bottoms out should you start to absorb the majority of impact with your arms and legs. All too often, riders land with no strength and just collapse down on the bike, even on the smallest of jumps. You have all of that suspension underneath you — make use of it before you start to bear the brunt of the landing!

SMOOTH, CONSTANT THROTTLE You need to ride your bike off the top of the jump with some throttle — it’s almost as simple as that.

Nose diving or ending off jumps is a common problem and often stems from incorrect throttle control. If you approach a jump, hesitate at the last minute and roll the throttle off, it will send you into a nosedive. When you roll the throttle off, the bike slows down and weight transfers forward.

Combine that with the fact that it’s about to climb the up ramp of a jump — essentially just a small hill and you lose speed when you go uphill — and there’s going to be a huge transfer of weight forward right before takeoff. This will send you into a nosedive and probably straight over the handlebars. You can avoid this by rolling on some throttle up and off the top of the up ramp. This will keep the bike balanced and, combined with the correct body position, will have you flying balanced and level. In the air, bigger jumps may require a quick blip of the throttle to stop the engine from stalling, but otherwise you can roll the throttle off. A split second before you land, get back on the gas. This will help bring the rear wheel down first and also drive you away from the landing. Landing with no throttle will have you falling out of the sky like a dead weight, resulting in a hard landing. By landing on the gas you will also drive through any holes, bumps or ruts that may otherwise cause you problems.

CONSISTENCY BUILDS CONFIDENCE Jumping is about building some consistency.

Consistency will then allow you to build confidence and that’s what jumping is all about. If on one jump the front wheel is too high, then the next time it’s low and you nearly go over the bars, you’re not going to build any confidence.

Find a small jump and get the below points dialled in: your line selection, body position and throttle control. If you do that, each time you hit the jump the bike will do the same thing — you will build some consistency. Once you have consistency, your confidence will grow and then it’s a matter of building up to bigger and better jumps.

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PROJECT BIKE: YAMAHA WR250F

king We have put on 1200km since ta e delivery of the bike and so far th ur oil maintenance has amounted to fo changes and two sets of tyres.

90 |

TIME’S UP! Alas, our time with the WR250F has come to an end

H

ave you ever noticed how fast time flies when you are having fun?

Well, our time with this bike has been fun. Here’s a summary of what we feel are its most redeeming features.

VERSATILITY: If ever there was a people’s bike, this would be it. For beginners or average trailriders, this bike is instantly comfortable. It’s light, nimble and easy to ride. The suspension is great and will allow you to ride anything from MX tracks to rutted, rocky single tracks without beating you up. The optional power tuner provides the racer with the ability to simply dial in more engine aggression as needed — as was proven in last year’s AORC when Josh Green ran second outright for the Australian title.

He left a lot of much-bigger-capacity

bikes wondering which way he went and of course won every single round of the E1 class.

RELIABILITY: We have put on 1200km since taking delivery of the bike and so far the maintenance has amounted to four oil changes and two sets of tyres. The brake pads, chain and sprockets are still at 50 per cent, valve clearances haven’t moved.

Yamaha’s famed reliability is still bred into this bike. Keeping it on the trails is certainly not going to be a bank breaker.

Extra plus: this is without a doubt the easiest bike to remove and fit an air filter to; no tools and you don’t even have to bend over.

FUEL ECONOMY: I must admit that we were a little concerned about fuel range with only a 7.5-litre tank. Research into

larger tanks was done and we came close to trying to obtain a tank to test. However, even with an aggressive cross-country map installed, the bike easily completed 90km trailrides before the reserve light even came on and calculations prove a range of 125km on a single tank is not only possible, but very likely.

GOOD LOOKS: Let’s face it, we all want a bike that looks great and this bike delivers in bundles. The sharp lines and sleek seat, tank/airfilter cover make it look fast just sitting on the stand. Yamaha offers the regular blue and white and for a short time the 60th Anniversary yellow and black. But as we proved, it’s easy to get a look all of your own. Personalised graphics companies are all around us and can really make you stand out from the crowd or provide great coverage for your sponsors.

EXTRAS: Talking about personalising!

There’s a massive range of accessories available, starting with Yamaha’s own GYTR range, and almost every aftermarket manufacturer makes goodies for this bike. If it’s farkles you want, they are out there.

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FEATURE READERS’ RIDES

READERS’ RIDES Steve Keys

Nathan Bennett

Pete Hickey

Grant Ison

Brent Scha rfe

James A J Arnold ld

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Ben Iacono

Ken Smith

Steve Fleck

Paul Dwyer

Leslie O’Brien

Mal Palmer

Ian Marriott

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