Orongorongo Full-On Adventure Ride, Sunday 12 April

[Paladin]

dave you never told me you fell off on a easy corner for no reason.....
was gen looking for trout.

i want to go and play there....

Haha, yeah, came to tight bend with not enough momentum, went to put foot down and the ground just fell away there so had an oopsie!!!!


That one was Jen's first river crossing - she caned all the others like a pro!


We WILL go back mate - the owners are happy to have us anytime with prior notice and a proper booking to ensure we not clashing with mountain bikes or something, ie they avoid poss danger that might cause liability issues which is how it should be! Anyway seems we can't stay off that place for longer than 2 months max and we are all gagging to go back!

[MyGSXF:Me]

was gen looking for trout

Hey.. be gentle.. that WAS my first ever river crossing.. & I did cane all the others!!!

pic courtesy of eddieb!!

[junkmanjoe]

what ya mean first river crossing, ya got no rivers down there, at least ya got a wet ass, most jet boats go up stream, not little blue bikes....

[NordieBoy]

Hey.. be gentle.. that WAS my first ever river crossing.. & I did cane all the others!!!

pic courtesy of eddieb!!

A little deeper than the fords up Ben Nevis

[MyGSXF:Me]

at least ya got a wet ass

was more my feet I was worried about.. my road boots weren't waterproof, so my feet were sopping wet for a lot of the day.. my poor toes looked like shriveled up prunes by the end of it...

[pete376403]

Here's the video I took of the ride, Its a bit rough but you get the idea
Let me know if its not working.

I missed a bloody good ride. Again. Being on call at the weekend sucks.

[Paladin]

I missed a bloody good ride. Again. Being on call at the weekend sucks.

You need to sort your boss out Pete!

[Woodman]

Happy to see you are ok Dave, you are right when you say you should possibly take it easier but sometimes speed rises with adrenalin or you get caught up in the moment or something.

[warewolf]

This is nice...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...-212255578.htm

but then so is this...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...-213189082.htm

Yebbut you can ride the former more places than you can the latter. They're probably as quick as each other in the twisties.

[Paladin]

Happy to see you are ok Dave, you are right when you say you should possibly take it easier but sometimes speed rises with adrenalin or you get caught up in the moment or something.

So very true - exactly what happened on Sunday! THE thing I must try and keep an eye on! Try to not get TOO carried away in the moment and keep perspective - and as you rightly say its sometimes hard to do!

[warewolf]

I can't believe they are not bent to all hell either! I guess they may be quite good but personally had never heard of them before.

The difference in strength between OEM steel (or cheap alloy) and even the middling-priced alloy bars is amazing. Well worth the spend. First job on all dirty bikes should be new strong bars, hand guards, and crash-worthy indicators and mirrors. All the expensive but fragile OEM stuff goes in a box to re-install when you sell the bike. The stuff you bought gets carried over to the next bike hopefully.

[warewolf]

DT230

Does yours / do they still have that traction control system? Or did that get dropped?

[Paladin]

The difference in strength between OEM steel (or cheap alloy) and even the middling-priced alloy bars is amazing. Well worth the spend. First job on all dirty bikes should be new strong bars, hand guards, and crash-worthy indicators and mirrors. All the expensive but fragile OEM stuff goes in a box to re-install when you sell the bike. The stuff you bought gets carried over to the next bike hopefully.

I also have a theory that the plastic Acerbis hand guards on the DR absorb more impact due to them flexing as they are plastic versus the metal Barkbusters I had on KLX (which got bent bars) that don't flex so much and thus push the torque thru to the bars and bend them!

True? Possible??

[warewolf]

OMG.. what a ferkin AWESOME day out!!!!! (& weekend in general !!!)

Airxcellent! Glad you enjoyed it girl!!

I have well & truly caught the ADV bug.. & it's terminal I'm afraid...

Mwahahahaha, MWAHAHAHAHAHA

my road boots weren't waterproof, so my feet were sopping wet for a lot of the day

Off-road boots are no better, if it's any consolation. In fact I like the way my off-road boots let the water back out, whereas my road/adventure boots are waterproof - at least up to the top of them anyway.

[warewolf]

I also have a theory that the plastic Acerbis hand guards on the DR absorb more impact due to them flexing as they are plastic versus the metal Barkbusters I had on KLX (which got bent bars) that don't flex so much and thus push the torque thru to the bars and bend them!

True? Possible??

Possibly true?

In my experience the plastic Acerbis guards were fairly useless, as they rotate on the bars due to a design flaw (plastic keyed section at the bar ends is weak). I broke heaps of levers with them on (trail rides eg Woodhill), they always twisted around the bars in even a minor fall, exposing the levers.

Solid barkbusters will transfer the energy, but if they transfer it inboard to a thicker (read: stronger) part of the bar - while simultaneously protecting your levers - then I think you are in front.

You can always get lucky or unlucky; however my luck with the barkbusters is consistently good, with the plastic Acerbis' consistently bad.