OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => Foto Forum => Topic started by: Colin Jay on April 15, 2013, 09:44:54 pm
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Sorry for the poor quality, but I left the camera at work and I am having to used my phone which only has a basic camera.
I am participating in the 2013 Tenere Tragic Longrun Long Haul. And thought that I would post a bit of a pictorial ride report.
I am riding solo and unsupported on my faithfull old 1983 XT600ZL Tenere, aka the Bushpig. None of those flashy modern adventure bikes for me.
I took the Bushpig to work (near Jamestown, SA) Friday and headed up to Yunta after work. After a quick fuel stop at Yunta, I made it another 150km and before it got dark and camped on a sandhill near Lake Frome for the night.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-02_zpseba0b2ae.jpg)
Saturday morning: On the road between Yunta and Arkaroola, the GPS direction said 'North to Road and Roundabout". I eventually went throught a roundabout some 3 days and 1500km later as I actually rode into Longreach, which is North of that bit of road, so the GPS was correct.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-03_zpsba8f8b2c.jpg)
Saturday morning: The last bit of the run into Arkaroola, some hills and turns for a change.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-04_zpsc2d3f797.jpg)
Saturday lunchtime: Joining the Strzeleki Track
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-06_zps6d485689.jpg)
Saturday afternoon: The Strzeleki Track is a major outback trucking route and is not a pleasant ride on any bike. It might be 4 lanes wide, but it is sandy, rutted, dusty and badly corrugated. I found that I had to ride at 90 to 100kph to get up and "float" over the corrugations. Not a nice ride.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-05_zpsf2b07389.jpg)
Saturday afternoon: Arrived at Cameron Corner 3:30pm. Tired and sore after 9 1/2 hours (550km)on the road, including some 120 sand hills on the road across from where I left the Strzeleki Track, according to one of the staff at the Corner Store.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-07_zps432a5714.jpg)
Sunday lunchtime: After leaving Cameron Corner at 5:30am, looped out through QLD befor heading back into SA to refuel at Innamicka. From there it was back into QLD for a lunch stop at the Dig Tree. How ironic!
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-08_zpscd00b535.jpg)
Sunday afternoon: After lunch at the Dig Tree, it was up the Arrabury Road to Haddon Corner. See the dust cloud in the middle of the picture?
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-15_zps13110b68.jpg)
This is what was making it. A crappy photo as I didn't get the last trailer into the picture. These things run back and forward on these road carting oil out from the Cooper Basin gas fields.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-09_zps3fea01be.jpg)
Sunday Afternoon: Haddon Corner. The bike is in QLD and I and taking the picture fron SA. I was going to camp here for the night, but the place was desolate and the condition poor. I put the spare fuel I was carrying into the bike and at 3:30pm and decided to press on for Windorah, 215km further on.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-10_zps6aaf3975.jpg)
Sunday afternoon: The biggest of the sand hills on the run out from Haddon Corner.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-11_zps2250c4f8.jpg)
Sunday evening: 17km short of Windorah, "Bullo Born" and Dale come to the recue. I had gone onto reserve about 60km out from Windorah. Unfortunately, reserve holds 2 liters and there was no way I was going to make it. I slowed right down and went into fuel economy mode. The bike stopped and after laying the bike on its left side I got the fuel from the RH side of the tank over the the LH side where the fuel tap is. I made another few km before I saw them coming and stopped to flagged him down. Dale used his sattelite phone to ring the servo in Windorah and get someone to come out with some fuel.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-12_zps222e17d2.jpg)
Sunday evening: 15km short of Windorah, bone dry, 494.9km from last fuel at Innaminka. Trying to take an artistic photo while waiting for fuel. I got in to Windorah after dark at about 6:30pm, I had been on the road for 13hr to cover 725km. I meet up with Gary, another Tragic who was riding a similar route up to Longreach.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-13_zpse971eafe.jpg)
Monday lunchtine: Arrived in Longreach after covering the 320km from Windorah in company with Gary. First stop was the local Yamaha dealer. I though that I was heavily loaded until I meet up with Gary in Windorah Sunday night.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-14_zpse4439751.jpg)
Monday Lunchtime: Proof that I made it to Longreach. 1877km in 3 days through the outback.
CJ
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Well done, one day I hope to do the same....good luck with the rest of the trip.
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Now that's a ride. Good work Col, we're certainly lucky in this country, still having such wilderness for adventures like this. The photos are great by the way.
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Good stuff Col
Keep it coming
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Col, you need to get the Jap tourists to take the photos of you and your bike.
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Col, you need to get the Jap tourists to take the photos of you and your bike.
I think I have found the only place where there aren't any!
If you discount the work 4x4's around the gas fields at Dulligari and Innamincka, from when I left Cameron Corner until I got to Windorah, , I saw 4 tourist 4x4's at Innamincka, 3 more 4x4's out by the Dig Tree, a bus, and 3 more 4x4's on the track from the Arrabury Rd to Haddon corner. So that an average of 1 4x4 per 100km, shit that almost as bad as Pitt St in Sydney!
The road train that I flagged down was the first vehicle of any sort that I had seen in the 200km /3hrs that I rode after leaving Haddon Corner. I was sure that I would be camping by the road that night waiting for some one to come by the next morning.
CJ
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Well done mate great pics, I did a similar trip in 2006 on 950 Adventure best thing I've ever done 13500klms in 5 weeks.... Miss my Adventure riding.....
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Thanks Col it looked like a great ride with good weather
thanks for the photo's.
The Stig
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Top effort Col, should be on that tour as well with my XTZ but don't seem to be able to get away any more. Have to plan it better.
Me too Popeye. Miss it almost as much as swinging.
Plan B is to put a chair on the XTZ and add all my loves together. :D
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I grew up in Jundah/Longreach, did you know the Yamaha dealer was the highest placed Aussie in the Dakar this year ?
Breed 'em tough in CWQ.
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great stuff col, i did a similar ride from Melb to the birdsville races in 1993 along the same path as you took. i had a 1988 KLR650 for that riding along the dog fence to camerons corner from tibooburra far nth west NSW after unloading some gear the vehicle of a bloke we met so we could "turn it on in the sand" was a highlight.
loved that trip. it's a big country.
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Great work Col ;) and I am not jealous........not a bit.... not..... ::) Tim754
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I rode out to the ‘Back-o-Bourke’ once.
It was a ‘shortcut’ to the Sunshine coast so I could check out where the four day was going to be in 88.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/gmcloa/My%20bikes/Back-O-Bourke_zps1a55df83.jpg) (http://s15.photobucket.com/user/gmcloa/media/My%20bikes/Back-O-Bourke_zps1a55df83.jpg.html)
This sign gave me a chuckle, it must have been at least an hour from anything.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/gmcloa/My%20bikes/Back-O-Bourke-2_zps79325596.jpg) (http://s15.photobucket.com/user/gmcloa/media/My%20bikes/Back-O-Bourke-2_zps79325596.jpg.html)
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An update and some more pictures.
On Tuesday, did the rest day things, had a new rear tire fitted, done an oil and filter change, replaced the airfilter, checked the valve clearances etc. Caught up with the other rides as they all rolled into Longreach and at the welcome dinner. 55 teneres made to the event ranging from the original 1983 model through to the latest XTZ660 and XTZ1200. The big name guest for the event are Rod Faggoter and Steve Gall, both of whom will be riding with the sweep riders.
First ride out on Wednsday was a 500km loop down the the south east of Longreach through Isisford and Yaraka with a lunch stop at the lookout on top of Mount Slowcombe.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/Pic_0417_076_zps3f46cfbb.jpg)
Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, Ridding with John from darwin on his 1999 Tenere.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/Pic_0417_079_zps893917dd.jpg)
A collection of the bike at the lunch stop on top of Mount Slowcombe.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/Pic_0417_085_zpsff15e0f1.jpg)
The veiw looking west from Mount Slowcombe
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/Pic_0417_088_zpsb2cc6eb2.jpg)
The "sweep riders" trying to find where the spark has gone. As we went to leave Isisford after a short on the way back to Longreach my bike wouldn't start. Preliminary investigation found no spark. Rod and Steve couldn't find it either.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/Pic_0417_089_zpsab8bbab5.jpg)
Oh, the shame of it. On the trailer behind the support ute for the final 135km back to Longreach. There was an up side to this though. They had cold beer in the back of the ute.
Back at Rods workshop in Longreach, everthing electrical checked out ok and spark magically reappeared. Hopefully it was only a Gremlin and not a major problem. We still suspect that it could be a pickup coil or source coil breaking down due to heat stress, as when the bike stopped out on the road I had just finished a 79km leg (in 32 degree C temps) where we spent most of the time at 100 to 110km running some fast dirt tracks. I will be taking the multimeter with me tomorrow so I can do some checks while the engine is still hot if I have another problem.
Even with my problems it was a great day of riding with a good bunch of people through some great country.
CJ
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That's great really interesting stuff. I'm sure some of our international VMXers would find it as interesting as I have. Excellent.
cheers pancho.
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After not being able to find anything really wrong yeasterday, todays ride was going to be a try and make it break again day.
I left Longreach in company with 3 other riders on ZL's and even though they are 30 years old I knew it wasn't going to be a slow ride.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-21_zps28f2bedc.jpg)
The roads and tracks we rode today were much like yesterday, straight, fast and dusty.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-22_zps4a091f30.jpg)
There were a few interesting feature in the otherwise barren landscape to check out, like these termite mounds.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-23_zps764f7ffd.jpg)
A quick rest stop about 150km into the days ride and the Bushpig is still motoring along strongly, sitting on 100 to 110kph with no signs of stress.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-24_zps01fa76bc.jpg)
261km into the 450km route for the day was our fuel and lunch stop at Stonehenge
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-25_zps81d5090f.jpg)
8km out of Stonehenge, the engine coughed, and that was it. No spark again. I quickly had the seat and tank off and a few checks with the multimeter proved conclusivly what was suspected yesterday. The ignition source coil was faulty. I was quite suprised that it got me this far today. So, it was time for another ride in a support vehicle back to Longreach.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-26_zps732d8dd3.jpg)
The final part of a Tragics Run is always the official group photo session and presentation dinner. This years dinner was held at the QANTAS Founders Museum. Firstly, a picture of the "Truely Tragic", the 8 of us that rode 1983 ZL's.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-27_zps248f0080.jpg)
Then the 2013 Tragics full group.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-28_zps9484579d.jpg)
Finally 3 Yamaha legends.
So, it is not time to get back home. I have organised a lift for the bike and myself down to Orange in NSW with the group that rode up from there. One of these fine gentlemen has a '83 model at home and has offered to lend me the parts from his bike to get me back on the road again. We should be in Orange by Sunday afternoon, and I will be back on the road again on Tuesday.
CJ
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Thats cool Col, Gally rang me when he was on the way out there but never mentioned he was riding XT's....just said he was going for a "trailride" with a magazine...I'm very jealous....but I have just bought an 89 Suzuki 600 Dakar so I will have to learn to ride it.
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I woldn't call what Gally was doing "trail Riding"! When you have the likes of him and Rod Faggoter riding together it is an awful lot faster than trail riding pace.
Both of them rode as our sweep riders. On Wednsday Steve rode a new XTZ1200 and talking with him at at one of the stops, he mentioned how loose it felt in some of the dirt corners at 130kph and that it handled crossing/jumping grids well at 150kph. On Thusday they stopped in at rod parents property to ride some of his Dakar practice loops for a photo shoot for Yamaha on XTZ660 Teneres, before pressing on to the fuel stop at Stonehenge. Some of us were still there having lunch when they rolled in, so they definitly weren't Trail riding.
CJ
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Thanks for sharing this great story and pics Col.
Tex
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Since my last post it has been Road Trip time in the support / back up vehicle for the boys from Orange. As with all road trips, all that can be said about the 2 ½ days from Longreach to Orange is “what happens on the road, stays on the road”, but I can say that it was great fun.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-29_zpsd8437323.jpg)
A quick refreshment break to celebrate our escape from QLD.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-40_zps2cfcb5cf.jpg)
Once we arrived in Orange I wasted no time in taking “Big Rig” up on his offer and we soon had the electrics from his ’83 Tenere transplanted in to the Bushpig. From there it was a quick trip around to the other side of town to my older brother’s place for the night.
This morning was cold and damp in Orange when I left at 7:15am. My intent was to just riding to Hillston, but not finding much in the way of bakeries serving lattes and baguettes on the way, I found myself in Hillston by lunch time, having covered the 400km in just on 5 hours. After a quick meat pie and coffee, I decided to go for broke and get the 450km to Broken Hill out of the way as well.
The 300 odd km of dirt roads between Hillston and Menindee were not in the best of shape, but after all the practice I have had riding at Longreach, it was a breeze running through the sand at 100kph.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/2013-TT-41_zps820be661.jpg)
On the road between Ivanhoe and Menindee
I rolled into the Hill at 5:30pm after another small miscalculation on fuel range. Yes, I ran out of fuel again. I didn't bother refueling at Menindee, thinking I should be able to make it the 330km from Ivanhoe to Broken Hill on the one tank full. I missed out by 3km, luckily I still had the spare 4 litres in the Rotopak, so it wasn't as bad as the last time. My fuel consumption for this leg was 9.3L/100km (10.7km/L). This is by far the worst for the trip; my average has been about 6.5L/100km, (15km/L). There was a bit of a head wind and I was running hard through loose sand for a lot of the distance, plus the air cleaner is quite dirty. However, I will have to look into the carbies when I get home to sort out why my economy has been so bad this trip.
Aside from the appalling fuel consumption, the Bushpig is motoring along fine with the sparks that I borrowed from Big Rig in Orange.
I am going to have a rest day tomorrow (Tuesday) and catch up with family and friends here in the Hill and then ride the last 400km to home on Wednesday.
CJ
aka Tragic #6
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What a terrific stoy Col
Thanks for sharing, found the feul consuption figures and average speeds etc handy.
I plan on being out that way around july~ish on my 93 XT600.
What tyres did you use? And pressures? Any other tips on bike set up etc?
Vandy
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I am currently running a 120/90 x 18 Dunlop D606 on the rear and a MotoOz Tractionator Desert HT on the front. I am running Dunlop heavy duty tubed with slightly higher tire pressure than I would normally with 26psi in the rear and 24psi in the front as a bit of protection against impact puncture. The high tire pressures make the handling a bit skatey in the loose sand and gravel, but I am happy with the trade off.
The poor fuel consumption is a bit of a mystery. On previous rides I have got 17 to 18 km/L which is significantly better than what I have averaged on this trip. As mentioned my average speed has been a bit higher etc but I feel there is still another underlying cuase of the poor economy.
Bike preperation for this trip was pretty much the normal stuff. I fully service the entire bike, including stripping, cleaning and regreasing the rear suspension linkages and steering head bearings, fitted new wheel bearings, new disc pads, new DID O'ring rear chain.
As the air filter elements in the early Tenere's are so small, I carried 4 pre oiled spares sealed in zip lock bags, and have swapped them at regular intervals. this beets having to find somewhere to wash them on the ride. I will be change to my last spare this morning as I could feel the bike becoming more sluggish during the run from Ivanhoe to Menindee yesterday which is a sure sigh of the element starting to clog with dust.
CJ
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Try looking at the emulsion tube....I have heard it's quite common on my XTZ to use heaps of fuel when they are worn. I think that's what they said anyway??
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Well, all good things must come to an end.
On Tuesday, I put about 50km under my wheels riding around the Hill catching up with friends etc. I spent a bit of time out at Silverton and caught up with 'mad' Adrian and had a look through his Mad Max 2 museum.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/teneremax_zpsa8e6d071.jpg)
I Rode the final 400km from Broken Hill down to Clare yesterday morning and was home by lunch time. I stopped off at the Midnight Oil house near Burra for a quick photo opportunity on the way.
(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s120/coljay/OilHouse_zps61e793f1.jpg)
Overall, The Bushpig and I covered 3865km powered by her own spark and about 1800km in the recovery vehicles with no spark. Even with the time spend as a passenger in the ute, it was a great trip, which I would willingly do all over again (once my aching body recovers).
While in the Hill, I also managed to pick up a servicable 2nd hand stator / pickup coil set at a really good 'mates rates' price, so I will now have a spare set and as such never ever have any problem again. (it is the source coil in my stator that is faulty and resulted in the loss of sparks when the engine gets hot).
On the coming weekend, I will start work on the Bushpig to get her ready for the 2014 Tenere Tragics run.
CJ
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Loved the story and all the pics.
Thanks for sharing.