DB1k 2010 - Official Thread

[cold comfort]

Difficult to know where to begin. Firstly the most obvious is huge appreciation to Ryan for the time and meticulous planning involved in this trip. It was great to once again put more faces to names and share good times with some awesome people. I've seen more of the SI back country in 2 days than in 10 yrs!. I'm already enjoying the photos comin up of the stunning scenery and the adventure crew. As this has only been my second trip off seal since getting the DR its been a fantastic learning curve! (I know for sure after 2 days on that seat there is no way my butt could take 24hrs of it!)

[MotoRad-ical]

Wow!
What an awsome ride!

Congrats to Cooneyr and team you guys have done an awsome job and and I'm sure most don't appreciate just how much time and effort you have put in to making an awsome trip.
The scenery and tracks were great and at times we were laughing to each other cause we both had no idea where in NZ we were which makes it that much more fun.
Me and Josh (Yamaha ttr650) completed the 2 dayer sucessfully with no punctures and no real problems apart from a wee nose to tail.
It was great to meet a heap of like minded people and when the going gets tuff help appears.
I must say the 2 dayer is great socially as you get to meet and talk to alot more people but the 1 dayer is definatly the challenge for next year.
Also big ups to the north island guys who put the effort to come down.

P.S What happend R-Dave???

[thepom]

Well what can I say,.....the most memorable ride I have done since coming to NZ...I,d like to thank Ryan and friends for the organisation without which it would not have been possible ( sounds like the oscars) .

All the men who helped me through my baptism of fire thay call the Orari Gorge ( I think thats what its called....I called it hell on earth ). I sadly never grew up in NZ and did not have the luxury of having a playground like this in the UK or Holland. My skills are sadly lacking as I am relatively new to adventure riding and am still in awe of the fun a bloke can have on a trail ride.

I had a crowd of blokes help me along every inch of the way to Fairlie through the Gorge and gave me top advice and encouragement when needed and of course the good Kiwi piss take which comes with it. I learned so much in that one day that I put down to riding the whole Dusty Butt without once dropping the bike! Friends I take my hat off to you!

A special mention to cynna (col) for looking after me every time I went through a ford or a rough bit to make sure I made it through and for the tireless effort of helping me pick up my bike every time I dropped it ( also on the previous rides I have done with him)

I hope to be doing more rides and increasing my skill level as I go and meeting new people along the way like Helen and Debbie who gave great support and always a happy face. Also to all the guy,s like Matt ,Nigel ,Alan,John Chris ( oooh my cocktail dress) and Alfie for feathering the clutch ...and the lift...Ahem....( we will never speak of this again)....and to any one else I may have missed.

I hope to see and meet many of you again on future rides and look forward to exploring this amazing country I call home.....sniff sniff....ps my ankles are so painful from falling off and my tits hurt too......

[bishxt]

Originally Posted by bishxt
...Unfortunately the 15 hours of mainly high speed caning resulted in me DNF'ing at Cromwell with a blown motor, so it's RIP XT600 or at least that particular engine. To add insult to injury, the rear wheel bearings shot themselves on Jacko's GS so we enjoyed a rental car ride back to Chch on Sunday and the bikes went on a truck - thanks to the AA!...

Mate that sucks. Good luck getting the XT repaired or replaced! Whats with the F800GS wheel bearings going - use or something more sinister?

Thanks for the commiserations - At least the XT went out with a bang! The engine is going to very expensive to fix and it's generally well thrashed, so I might go the way of the DR650 which seems to be very popular in NZ... I'll have a look at some of the threads to get an idea.

The GS800 bearings must be a lack of Vorspung durch technic on a Friday afternoon in Bavaria or something, as it's only a year old - hopefully a warranty job!

Cheers
Bish

[javahead]

That was a ride to remember. Huge thanks to Ryan and the others that spent so many hours and days planning, checking, pre-riding etc. It was a treat to be able to just ride and leave the directions to someone else. A couple of times we thought we were lost but in the end we were just confused - we were usually in the correct place after all.

It felt like the right mix of fast and tight roads for a long day. I can only compare with last year's but I'd say this one had more rocky terrain, and less seal - none of which seemed overly long. Good to be able to finish with long straight gravel runs as the light was fading and the temperature was dropping.

It was my first time over all those routes, so my head is full of a mash of spectacular scenery and excellent riding tracks. I loved the rocky bits and the long downhills - just wish I could remember which bit was what. Guess that means coming back for more.

We were fortunate to do it in the dry. And thankfully good sense prevailed and we didn't choose 125s. It was a blast on the 530. topo's 640 didn't miss a beat and we travelled at the same pace with pretty much the same level of comfort.

Definitely a ride that was better shared. It made gates much easier when the one that opens it closes it, so that the other guy rides on thru to open & shut the next gate. We caught up with only three others and they were all riding alone. That would have been hard work. Having someone to push the pace along, and correct the occasional bad navigation choice made it easier.

Other than a posse of 4WDs on the Nevis (?) we hardly saw a soul off the seal. If you organised that Ryan - well done!

It was slightly surreal to find a guy on a near new postie bike, quite well dressed, trundling along up a hill in the middle of absolutely nowhere at a very sedate pace, grinning ear to ear. We ended up opening two gates for him. His pace was perfect - never needing to slow, never able to speed. I think we both felt inadequate being passed by him twice, so we tried much harder from then on.

Both topo and I used Michelin Deserts which had already been well run in (approx 1000 km of sand for each). We had them at 26-28 psi and rode at a pace that would preserve them as far as possible. They were great until around 800 km when it was hard to get enough traction into a headwind to keep accelerating. Next time I think starting with new ones will do it - assuming similar terrain. If it was wet we might not have found them quite as good.

Other than an errant headlight of mine, no problems for either of us. Sore hands and generally tired, but that's it. No crashes (OK I fell over twice getting off and on at gates, but if it doesn't hurt or break anything then its not a crash, right). Surprisingly the seat was comfortable right to the finish. I think the mix of terrain had a lot to do with it - never sitting for too long at a time.

No photos to share but a head full of great memories to keep.

Roll on DB 2011.

[reofix]

java .. lovely summation of a spectacular bunch of places ... I was supposed to be there but a pack of gremlins and a few "complications" ended that... 2011 is for me

[Racing Dave]

... riding the whole Dusty Butt without once dropping the bike! ......

Kenny - is this really you?

On a different note, I've been in touch with John Sinclair, whose DR650 suffered gearbox failure on the Hakataramea Pass, to say that on disassembly part of the gear was found imbedded in the piston, and the barrell is split. Proper job! He's now bought a new Yamaha XT660R.

Thanks for the various messages of supprt, I'm off work for at least two weeks, but am hoping for a full recovery. My doctor brother kindly suggested that at my advanced age (!) such improvement will be slow, but we'll see.

Cheers,
Dave B

[cooneyr]

....On a different note, I've been in touch with John Sinclair, whose DR650 suffered gearbox failure on the Hakataramea Pass, to say that on disassembly part of the gear was found imbedded in the piston, and the barrell is split. Proper job! He's now bought a new Yamaha XT660R....

Nordie - are you catching this? Another one to add to your list. Not sure what year or how many KM's but maybe you could try contacting John - his handle is Helicopter.

The Dusty is not nice to DR's thats two now (one last year and one this year) that have suffered major gearbox failures.

....Thanks for the various messages of supprt, I'm off work for at least two weeks, but am hoping for a full recovery. My doctor brother kindly suggested that at my advanced age (!) such improvement will be slow, but we'll see.

Cheers,
Dave B

Good luck with the recovery RD. Still, two weeks RnR is better than 6 weeks due to a broken collar bone - trying to be optimistic

Cheers R

[NordieBoy]

Nordie - are you catching this? Another one to add to your list. Not sure what year or how many KM's but maybe you could try contacting John - his handle is Helicopter.

2002 model...

Mine went a couple of days before last years. If I hadn't ridden to Mangarakau it would have gone on the Dusty.

[Woodman]

Brilliant,fantastic, marvellous, Ryan, you deserve a medal.

Got home last night via greymouth, Coast road , Buller gorge etc and a few gravel excursions. 725 ks and my ass is sore.

The dusty butt was just fantastic and i can not think of a negative. Roll on the next one.

Everyone was great to ride with and was good to meet yous. kenny, I wouldn't have blamed you if you went home after Fridays ride, I still wince when I think of that tankslapper. Musta been a great learning curve for ya?

The klr went like a charm, and except for a puncture on day one and using about 2 litres of oil (mmmm 685 kit) it ran like a dream.

Will try and post up some pics later.

[JATZ]

That was spectacular, perfect mix of roads/tracks/seal and awsome scenery, I've only got lots of pics of tussock really with a Big parked in the foreground, I'll find another one and post it.
Well done to CooneyR and helpers for organising and running a fantastic event.
Only one small navigational error on our part which meant a wee detour of just over 100k on the saturday.It was interesting riding along with no map, knowing only where I needed to go, not knowing where I was or where I'd been
Shame I missed your pit stop Ruralman, could've done with a coffee about the Mahingarangi area
Came home via Lake Coleridge, Arthurs, Reefton, Rahu.
Brilliant !

Black Forest station

[Piglit]

That was a great ride. Heaps of fun and Im already looking forward to next years one.
Favorite part was definitly the farm track from day one, apart from my wrong turn it was great with heaps of different bits of terrain.

I only fell off 6 time for the whole two days so that was good

And i would like to thank the people that organised it, and the people that "looked after me" on the first day, They were great guys

[thepom]

Hi there to Racing Dave and glad you got out ok,I remember once we talked about the emergency beacon and I,m glad you had it within easy reach.You never know when you need it and hope to see you soon and your recovery is swift. And to woodsman thanks for helping me out the ford haha and for not laughing too hard after my 100 meter tank slapper.It hurts like hell but I,m not one to give up and with all the help and good advice that was given to me I think it helped me get through the dusty without a spill ( honest dave not one drop or fall but a few close ones.) cant wait for the next one .

[thepom]

just a quick note to the boy ,you rode most outstanding for some one so young and new to the adventure riding and its never a problem to help or look after some one ,it was a pleasure......

[Waihou Thumper]

I am sure there is going to be a lot of posts when we all finally touch the ground! The scenery was ....I am gob smacked! Every road I took I said to myself this is the best road I have ridden, then along came another...There was fast, fast sections, you just stood up and caned it until the straight ran out.... Then there was rough, first gear, second gear sections, plus water... It was all there! People pay thousands of dollars for the priviledge of riding this sort of countryside and we hit the best there has to be offered for a smidgeon! All I can say is many thanks to Ryan, the guys for organising this. The GPS route worked flawlessly! I only took a wrong turn because of the glare on the screen, other than that it was perfect. I had the route map in my bag and never used it...
I have a ton of photos and videos, these will be edited and posted real soon!
Well done all, fantastic bunch of people and it was well worth the effort coming south.....Many thanks guys!

and as a final edit....21 year old DRBig performed well.....I was astounded....I threw all the luggage on, hit the trails hard and rode it like it should! I lost a gear shift lever (more later) I cracked the luggage rack (more later) BUT, the bike was reliable and the pedigree showed it is more than capable for the rough stuff! I was impressed, truly...