It’s the boys turn to do a trip and write the blog so buckle in for some crude fun and probably a few spelling mistakes.
It was a ways back Michael, Buckets (AKA Steve) and I (AKA Nathan) bought Suzuki DR650’s with the intentions of getting out into some remote locations and seeing some sites camping & trail biking etc. Well Buckets only got his DR a few weeks ago after realizing the DR’s are probably a little more suited to the road trip in our scope than the Honda XR 600.
Between the 3 of us there were a few destinations on the cards, one was the big red rock which got scrapped fairly quickly due to the fact it’s a bloody long way away and the extra distance just could not fit within the time we had plus Mick and I had been their on previous trips. With no real route in mind other than to ride the Birdsville and Finke tracks we set about a plan of attack. The date moved a few times due to work constraints but finally we settled on April 6th and back to work on the 23rd April and allowing a few days for our butts to recover enough to sit back in the office chairs and Buckets to return to spraying concrete.
After pondering over the maps in our spare time, which Mick seems to have more than the rest of us it was not to much of a challenge to determine we would need to double back over our tracks if we didn’t cross the Simpson Desert.. Well that’s it! We will cross the desert without a 4×4 support vehicle on our bikes!! Now we have a challenge and the logistics of carrying food, water, fuel, tents, bedding MORE FUEL and whatever else we deemed needed for the expedition. After watching many adventurers on bikes crossing theSimpson Deserton the net we became more and more excited about the trip and more and more aware of the equipment we would need to achieve this goal.
That said I will not bore you with too much detail only to say there where calculators, beer a front lawn and maps mixed in to come up with the following table of destinations and the costs came after with the estimated fuel usage.
Bike Accessories
All 3 of us are now kitted out with long range safari fuel tanks, pannier racks and bags, back racks, bash plate, MITAS E09 Dakar tyres, tent each & hydration packs.
The Mitas E09 tyre was first considered as these tyres were fitted to Buckets bike when he got it and he loved them. I did some further internet research supporting Buckets thoughts and then came across an email address in one of the online forums allhoursmotorcycletyres@gmail.com got a whole bunch more info from a bloke named Colin Moody to the point of contacting the manufacturer and some previous customers to get their feedback. The E09 “DAKAR” was decided upon, Colin then gave us an extremely competitive price and to top it off says that he would be heading out to western Sydney on the weekend and delivers them to my front door for no extra charge. Although it as very early on a Sunday morning. Good advice and service like that is in short supply these days and suggest anyone looking for tyres gives Colin an email and I am sure he will help you out: allhoursmotorcycletyres@gmail.com
Suspension
Mick and Buckets have heavy duty suspension. Mick had purchased and then installed himself heavy duty front springs with a heavier viscosity fork oil and had the rear shock beefed up. Buckets bike came with heavy duty suspension already done. I have put larger spaces and heavier viscosity oil in the front forks and tightened the rear up using the stock suspension adjustments to remove some sag and firm it up.
The riders
Buckets
Age: 43
Weight: 95
Bike riding Experience: Medium
Bike: Suzuki DR650, 2007, Blue
Michael
Age: 36
Weight: 100kg
Bike riding Experience: Medium
Bike: Suzuki DR650, 2009, White
Nathan
Age: 34
Weight: 83KG
Bike riding Experience: low to Medium
Bike: Suzuki DR650, 2009, White