Off Road Explorer Enews #15
January/February Edition
Welcome to the Off Road Explorer Enews #15. It was great to a get a long break after pumping out editorial for Trail Zone issue #28. After Christmas, and using up my entire can of 'Super Tenere - Start Ya Bastard' I, like everybody else, settled in to my daily fix of the Dakar. Awesome scenery and some killer sand dunes that took no prisoners.
The next issue of Trail Zone is now on the newsstands and it contains plenty of Adventure bike related stories from a Dakar pictorial, Ron Grants longest day ride on his new Tenere, Clubbys Vegas desert ride and my latest adventure on the TE610 project bike which didn't quite go to plan. And of course there is Clubby's next installment on Trail Zones Tenere Project Bike. But don't think we're complete Tenere Tragics, read on...
Suzuki DR650SE Project Bike
Our first Trail Zone/Off Road Explorer Project Bike for 2010 will be a Suzuki DR650SE... finally! We rode the DR650SE on our first ORE ride back in TZ issue 14 on our Bridle Track ride. We found it to be a great allrounder and excellent value for money and it's no wonder that it leads the sales race as the most popular choice for adventure riders. After featuring Suzuki team boss Jay Foremans trick DR the pressure is on to come up with the trickess DR on the road. We'll be test the DR650SE in TZ#29 and featuring our project bike mods in TZ #29, 30, 31.
Hunter Valley Adventure Rally
On the return from my Highland Fling Ride featured in TZ#28 I got a chance to ride part of the Hunter Valley Adventure Rally course with Rod Cartwright from Trail Bike Rallies.com and participants are certainly up for an awesome ride. Entry forms are now available so get in early and make sure you don't miss out on accommodation at the Crowne Plaza in the Hunter Valley.
You can download the event info sheet here or download the event entry form here. It's suitable for all dual sport bikes from 200-1200cc and pillions are welcome with riders of appropriate skill level. Rider entry of $300. Held on 20th to 21st March 2010 it includes a Gala Dinner on the Saturday night, north and south adventure loops and prize giveaways. For more information go to www.trailbikerallys.com.au or phone 0427 277 888
ORE Project Super Tenere
Stage One of Project Super Tenere is complete... well almost. Clive Ward of MotorcycleBiz.com.au got the mighty S10 to an acceptable level to make it eligible for rego. We rebuilt the front disk brakes, replaced the steering head bearing, changed the spark plugs, flushed the cooling system and changed the engine oil and oil filter. Then we replaced one indicator lense and made sure all the lights were working. The bike when sold already had a new rear tyre, new battery and when we checked the fork oil it looked like they had recently been serviced and the air filters were clean. Getting all the fairings, tank and bash plate revealed that the bike had been used mostly for road riding and spent a little too much time out in the weather. So to properly finish Stage One I'm going over the bike and checking all the rubbers and other parts that need replacing. Clive of MotorcycleBiz.com.au knows his way around any motorcycle and he is the 'go to' guy when it comes to fuel injection troubleshooting. He did a brilliant job of getting the S10 over the Blue Slip line. There's plenty more to be done and it will feature on ORE in the form of Technical Guides in the near future.
Gold Coast Motorcycle Expo
Just a reminder the the Trail Zone crew will be at the Gold Coast Motorcycle Expo on the 19-21 February 2010. Make sure you drop in and say hello and make sure you ask Popgun how much he likes adventure riding. Rumour has it that he was refusing to fly up as he'd rather make the trip up and back on Clubby's '83 Tenere. Now that's a man of passion. See you at the expo.
Academy Adventure Bike School
The Academy of Off Road Riding have announced their dates for the first schools of 2010. The courses will be held at Bateman’s Bay, NSW on the 27th and 28th February, 1st and 2nd May and 26th and 27th June 2010. For those in Victoria lock in Merton on the 20 and 21st of March 2010. The Academy course is the longest running off road rider training in the country founded by MX legend Stephen Gall in 1977 and I can highly recommend it having completed a number of 2 day courses myself. You can contact the Lyndon Heffernan at the Academy on (02) 4232 4580 or fax: (02) 4232 4581 or email heffo@bigpond.net.au
ORE Forum Upgrade
Graham Whitehead has been doing a brilliant job of looking after the ORE Forum and ridding the site of spammers and undesirable content. But to make his job easier he has upgraded the Forum software with a new look and new features. The main benefit will be better security and less spam.
How To Tech Articles on ORE
One of the things I've thought about is that while we feature project bikes and what we've done, the limited pages in Trail Zone doesn't allow us to show how we did it. In issue #29 of Trail Zone we feature a brief article on fitting the Kouba Lowering Link to our Husky Project Bike. While not everybody has a Husky the article will go a long way to help anybody with any bike when fitting a similar link. Other upcoming tech features will be changing steering head bearings and rebuilding disk brake calipers. Look out for the links in our next ORE Enews.
ORE Site Hacked
Last week our site was down after our service provider servers were hacked by some turkey from Turkey. Our keeper of the ORE forum, Whitey, had just completed an upgrade and had backups of everything. As mentioned before we are working on upgrades to the ORE site and when that's done we'll be moving the site to a more secure server.
NEW PRODUCTS
Solstice S1100 Twin Pod Light Kit
The Solstice S1100 light kit with compact 50mm square lamps house ultra-bright LED's with an incredibly low draw of 0.75 amps each. A two lamp kit provides similar light output as dual 55-watt halogen kits on the market. The Solstice S1100 LED lights are housed in a rugged die-cast aluminum housing for optimum durability and heat dissipation. The housings are IP68 (ingress protection) rated so that they're impenetrable to dust and submersible under water up to 3 meters.
Each two-lamp kit includes a full wiring harness, switch with relay. The kit ships with a universal M10 mount kit that works on most makes and models of bikes without any additional hardware. They can be wired to be triggered by your high beam switch, ignition key, or directly to battery for use when the bike is turned off. The kit is available online for $329.00 from Motorradgarage.com.au or phone 08 9444 6807. Make sure you check out their full range of lighting and electrical accessories.
New Wolfman Dry Duffel
The Wolfman Dry Duffel has been so successful they now offer three sizes and two color combinations. They’ve upgraded the fabric to 22oz vinyl for the body and a heavier 34oz for the Sides. The addition of waterproof webbing for the top opening to prevents water from leaking into the bag.
They are 100% waterproof with radio frequency welded seams, 4 compression straps, two over the body, one at each end, deluxe carry handle, removable shoulder strap and two mounting straps included. They come in three sizes 33 ($145), 40 ($155), and 47 litre capacities ($165). Available from Adventuremoto.com.au or phone 1300 135 286
New Zeus Helmet Models
When it comes to adventure bike helmets with a peak and flip up visor the choice is pretty limited and with its razor sharp pricing it’s no wonder that the Zeus 2100B is the most popular model on the market.
We’ve been using the Zeus 2100B for over a year and it’s hard to fault. It’s aerodynamic shape makes it relatively quiet and the adjustable peak works great. The helmet is very comfortable due to the Cool-Weave Multi materials used in the liner and the cheek pads, which are removable for cleaning after a sweaty dusty ride. The helmet shell is made from a lightweight, thermo, injected alloy and to be honest we can’t complain about this product.
Even though the 2100B is relatively unchanged from the original model, Zeus has released two new models in Australia. One in white gloss finish and the other is Matt Titanium with graphics. Also available in Matt Black, Matt Titanium & Matt Silver. Available in XS-XL. The helmet retails for $249 inc GST. $279 with graphics inc GST. For more information and your closest distributor got to R & R Speedsports or phone 02 9709 4655
Fuze Custom Earphones
One of the latest products we've had the opportunity to try are the Fuze Custom Earphones. They use an easy 3 step system that allows you to create a permanent pair of quality, custom-fitted earphones. In about 10 minutes, you'll go from start-to-finished custom earphone. Everything you need is included in the kit.
We worn the earphones to check the sound quality on an Mp3 player. After 30 minutes of easy listening of ORE favourite tunes we applied the two-part BioFuzion earpiece material till we had a snug fit. It's a pretty simple procedure but make sure you read and follow the instructions precisely. Available from Adventuremoto.com.au or phone 1300 135 286. For more information on the earphones go to www.earfuze.com.
Motorbikin' 3 DVD
Phil Hodgens and the Motorbikin team have been at it again filming 12 months worth of rides and compiled it all onto one DVD. It doesn’t matter where they are the boys they like to push it to the limits and as a result there’s carnage a plenty. Everything from big bike monos to desert birthday parties. The lads travel from the coast to Lake Eyre in the middle of the desert. A must for the adventure bike DVD collection.
Go to www.motorbikin.com.au
