Motu style

[merv]

This was one place the BM's were a pain. No good in tight spots. Lynda will remember his name the guy with the no.1 haircut in the front of this pic who used to punt a big GS and at the Pukemanu he told me he'd changed to a DRZ400. Well I missed getting a pic of him and his bike here because we were too bloody busy lifting the damn cylinder heads of the 1100GS over the top of the bars at the end of this bridge on the 1995 Horowhenua Adventure tour. i.e. we had to stand the thing on its back wheel and ease it through. I was on my XR then and had whipped through there without assistance and then we stopped to help those following. Problem was we all got along the beach a bit early and the tide was still too high at the river mouth so resorted to using the footbridge. All part of the fun of adventuring. Does that sound like you Jackrat or are you going to stick to gravel roads?

[Motu]

We need Oscar to show us those pics of the GS in the sand,and 4skins riding it out,just to show why big bikes are not much fun in soft stuff.

[Oscar]

We need Oscar to show us those pics of the GS in the sand,and 4skins riding it out,just to show why big bikes are not much fun in soft stuff.

Johnny Boy and me could go intae the rescue business, GSPD's and XLV's a speciality...

This guy dropped this thing four or five times in 20 minutes and I missed the pic, every feckin' time..





Johnny seemed to enjoy hisself, I had no idea these things would rev that high...

[Drew]

I have never owned, a road/trail bike, but it is in my nature to always have an opinion.
I used to flat with a guy, who had a Cagiva Elephant, after riding it, I had to agree, that it handled, really well on the road, and was great fun on gravell roads.
He said, "it isn't that handy, on off road goat tracks, but it was good fun in an open padock."
Mind you, a 750 ducati engine, shoe horned into a lightweight Dakar frame, should loads of fun.
The thing wasn't that expensive either, cos he was broke.

[Oscar]

I have never owned, a road/trail bike, but it is in my nature to always have an opinion.
I used to flat with a guy, who had a Cagiva Elephant, after riding it, I had to agree, that it handled, really well on the road, and was great fun on gravell roads.
He said, "it isn't that handy, on off road goat tracks, but it was good fun in an open padock."
Mind you, a 750 ducati engine, shoe horned into a lightweight Dakar frame, should loads of fun.
The thing wasn't that expensive either, cos he was broke.

After years of riding around Raglan/Kawhia, I'd have to say that Johnny Boy and Me were fairly fast on our big singles in the gravel(not that I'm big headed or nuthin'), but Stretch & Col their Cagivas, and Vege on his GSPD, are downright impressive. On the way back from Whanga, I passed Motu at 120km/h on the gravel, only to have Stretch stroll by me on his Cagiva....

[Motu]

Yeah,I couldn't believe the speeds Stretch was getting out of the Cagiva,it's a bloody street bike after all! It has a low centre of gravity which would help.He would come past me on the outside entering a corner tail out in a brake slide like he was on an XR600 with knobs,he was on a different level altogether.

[spudchucka]

Ok who rides dirt and gravel back roads like Motu does??
I'm pretty sure my next bike is going to be a big bore trail bike so I can get me some of this.To those that do,What do you ride and what do you recommend??.I have been looking at TT600Rs in Bike Trader,,Any comments on these bikes.

Jackrat,

Are you still looking at a TTR600?? I'm taking the TL off the road for the winter to do a few jobs on it and will look to change to something else in the spring time. I see that you can pick up a TTR600 at the moment for under 10K brand new, seems like good value to me. They look like they would be a real fun bike but I can't find much in the way of reviews on the net so would be interested in your thoughts if you have in fact taken one for a ride.

[Jackrat]

No mate,I still havn't ridden one.
We are going through a change in living arangments at the mo' so all spending has been put on hold.
Will be moving to Tokoroa in a few months,after that I will be back to looking.
I definatly will be getting a big road trail bike tho' as all that central NI desert country just can't be ignored.

[spudchucka]

Thanks for that. I can see myself getting on a TTR600 in the spring time so I might bump into you, (not literally) on some central plateau trails over summer.