Customizing a XL600R into a Cafe Racer/Street tracker to ride South

Finding it difficult to settle into life back after a year overseas.
I found a window of opportunity in between work to take a coupla weeks off to hit the open road.
Id been on my fair share of road trips with my old vw kombi camper up and down the coast, but they normally revolved around surfing and beaches.
I felt it was time to get a taste of the Old Australian Outback.

So here's an RR on my trip to the Bush...

From Bondi to Broken Hill to Bourke and Byron Bay... sounds great you would like to think...but, Inland NSW is not all fun in the sun and cuddly koalas, i can tell you it was not like your tropical relaxing beach bum holiday in the sun..... those horizon lines you just can never seem to reach become just more repetative landscapes that are interesting for about the first 1/2 hr. They never seem to end and become as interesting and mindnumbing as going to church on sundays .... (sorry mum, i think id rather stick a fork in my eye before that happens again in a hurry.)
....... I rode through red dust twisters, and fields of locusts, 42degree outback sun and even hotter head on Westerly winds that could singe your eyebrows off......the spiders seem to crawl up at you when its toilet time and the bull ants like to bite at your ass when youve just buckled up your belt... If that doesnt sell it to you the aboriginal towns are just as hospitable as the mosquitos that want to suck your body dry as you sleeep.. but hey, after my ears stop ringing and my bones stop rattling, ....i know in my heart,someday i will be saying....hey! what a trip to remember

Saludos Mr Sur Magnetico !!!!!

Este reporte esta cada dia mejor !!!!!!!

Seguimos compartiendo y disfrutando este imprevisible viaje !!!!!!!!!!

Con mucho gusto Emilliano, gracias por siguiente el camino un poco loco

Of course i wasn't going to listen to peoples advice that you shouldn't be doing that sort of trip with a Cafe racer i head off in search for adventure...



Bondi Beach Sydney




First night i arrived in the Blue Mountains a lil late searching for a particular climbing spot called the Pump House. It was only around 110km (70miles) but i was preety tired just getting used to riding a thumper Cafe Style..Eventually i found the unmarked turn off and rode down the dirt track and found the overhang popular with day tripping climbers..I made a giant fire and was able to do some climbing (bouldering) under campfire light...



Strange lizard, i was tempted to pick it up, it crawled almost slithered out from the darkness akwardly as though it was having trouble dragging its stumpy tale around...



First use of the new camp stove


New tent and sleeping mat


the over hang was great coz it was really windy and rained but i was still able to make my campfire and do some climbing :)


the guys that i bought all my new camp equiptment told me about this bouldering wall that i could stop off at, i dont think ppl normally camp down there, i was lucky enough to get my bike down into the little valley and set up in the middle of the night...






Off to another late start, just wanted to take in the view.


Dubbo, thats as far west ive been in the past...




Couldnt find a place to stay outside naromine... found myself riding through locusts in the early evening and was warned about the kangaroos on the road that time of night, not the best time to be looking for a place to camp in the middle of the night.Found a dirt road off the highway to turn off...


Didn't have time to think about snakes, was just happy to find a place to camp.



Heading West


This was the longest stretch of Kangaroo warning that id seen.

So this is where they come from....




1. bogan
A fascinating beast. The majority of the species are hideously repugnant and unintelligent, and yet they manage to breed in ever-increasing numbers and populate an area known as the outer west. It is quite common to find five or six offspring in each family group, often with a different father for each new baby.
Their habitat consists of a weatherboard or brick-veneer dwelling and is characterised by an early-model Holden or Ford in the driveway surrounded by a group of males discussing why the carby is stuffed and the results of last night's footy (a primitive gladiator-like spectator sport enjoyed by most bogans).
The female of the species, while smaller in stature, is far more loud and aggressive than the male. While the males tend to be very friendly and congregate with other males, the females spend most of their time in supermarkets and shopping malls, using a shrill high-pitched call to discipline their children and contact other females.
Males and females rarely interact socially except during breeding season, which is otherwise known as Friday night. During this time, females are allowed to enter the male-dominated area known as "the pub" and display their impressive coloured plumage to a prospective mate.
Herein lies an intersting phenomenon. Males will often fight over a particularly attractive female and she will mate with only one male, while some less attractive females have been known to have several partners simultaneously.

Ahhhh. The wonders of nature. - Urban Dictionary

For more info on this extraordinary sub species

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bogan&defid=703191

From Naromine to Cobar the road straightened out, the sun heated up, the compass tipped to the West and the landscape started to repeat itself..



The heat of the day got soo unbearably hot, the temps were in the 40's (110ish farenheit), and even hotter Westerly winds blew directly into me and my lil 400, it felt like riding into one giant outback hairdryer..
The road was straight and monotonous, my neck was starting to ache, i didn't have an ipod or anything and i started getting bored and losing concentration, the bush was beating me down. .



A couple of hours of this I reached Cobar, i stopped over a pub for relief, and to regather....

I spent some hours in that pub, most of the afternoon. it was just so hot, i couldn't bare the thought of riding further and further into the source of the fire..
I got chatting with some guys, they looked like regulars, and knew every person that walked into the door..They worked in the mines.
They were surprised i had an Australian accent, they thought all asians spoke asian, and innocently admitting that 10years prior they wouldn't have wanted to converse with someone like me cos back then they thought we (foreigners) 'were taking their jobs and taking over the country.'
I was taken back by their brashness, but i took it as a backhanded compliment, almost more honored than offended by their exception to talk to me, and that they had finally come to terms with the progression of multiculturalism..
(Straya is still a bit behind when it comes to that)
They were actually really friendly, and bought me a beer as i asked about the road ahead and listened to their motorcyle stories when they were younger.
Surprisingly, they never drove too much further West from there, only one old guy had rode out to Broken Hill before and that was years ago.

Their advice was to turn around.. They reckoned that it was only gonna get hotter and even more boring from there... :huh


Before i skipped town i stop into a store and buy myself a cheap mp3 player.



When i hear local advice like that i think twice,

but...



With a horizon line like this, It was WEST or BUST.

Australia's poulation - 22,809,773 (2012)

More than 83 percent live within 50km (31miles) of the coast.
(Cobar is more than 700km (435 miles) from Bondi Beach.)

Australia is the sixth largest country in the world.
It's about the same size as the 48 mainland states of the USA
50 per cent larger than Europe,
but has the lowest population density in the world - only two people per square kilometre.

Australia was colonised in 1788 comprising mainly of convicts, marines and the wives of the marines.
The majority of the 165,000 convicts transported to Australia between 1788 - 1868 were poor and illiterate, victims of the Poor Laws and social conditions in Georgian England.
Eight out of ten prisoners were convicted for larceny (theft) of some description.

In 1901, 98% of people living in Australia were of European background, with "white" skin.
The government wanted to keep Australia this way.
'The White Australia Policy' was the name given to a number of laws that stopped non-Europeans from coming to live in Australia.
It wasn't until a change of government in 1975 when Australia started to take more immigrants.
(My family arrived in 1977 from the Philippines)

2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population.
The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%), and Greek (1.4%).
A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual.

More than 20 per cent of Australians are foreign born
More than 40 per cent are of mixed cultural origin
In our homes we speak 226 languages

It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Indigenous Australian languages at the time of first European contact.

Only about 70 of these languages have survived, and many are only spoken by older people;
Only 18 Indigenous languages are still spoken by all age groups.
An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.25%) people.

Orale mr. magnetic !!!!! adelante con eso que uno no sabe y uno ni se imagina que asi sea !!!!!!! siguele que estamos atentos !!!!!!!!

Good info!
I spent three months travelling around Australia.
Such an awesome place!

Great report mate. As you have no doubt found out by now the road from Cobar to Willcania is hotter and more boring than the trip from Naromine. If you get lucky some wildlife will run out and scare the shit out of you so that the resulting adrenilin rush will keep you awake for a few more K's

Keep it comming.

Looking forward to seeing you finish your "plan a-d", but also diggin the current mini report - good luck and safe travels. subscribed!

As i headed out to face the source of this fiery beast..
Surprisingly, it actually got greener and more interesting from there.



I found a place to camp on dusk and it was sooooo hot and humid, i used the headlights for light and i got absolutely raped by a million mosquitos, i threw my gear in the tent, zipped up the fly, and killed a thousand that followed me in.. My clothes were drenched in sweat, it was hotter than any sauna... exhausted hungry and starving i was forced to cook dinner inside due to the even hungrier starving blood thirsty locals taunting me from the outside.
I had to break the rule of no open flames inside a tent... i was desperate.

The morning after.




Apparently the region was experiencing the most rain that anyone had seen in their lifetime.
They described it as the 'tropical desert'



This is supposed to be the desert? :huh


At least there was still signs of the red dirt Australia underneath that i came to see..

There was a small town in between emdale and topar i heard several unsavoury stories about .
Everyone that i came across seemed to have a story about Wilcannia and warned that i stay away.
Im not one to take public warning announcements as gospel, if anything i was more interested and intrigued to see what everyone was on about.
You see, living in Sydney we don't have that many Indigenous Aboriginals happily assimilated into the fabric of society.
I grew up in a very multicultural environment, my friends were kids with all sorts of foreign backgrounds from all continents of this globe.
Mostly first generation kids finding an australian identity but ironically with no idea what it was like to be a real australian.
I don't have any Aboriginal friends, actually i don't think i even know any Aboriginal people. That sucks seeing that I've lived here almost my entire life..
So i rolled into my first aboriginal country town with rose coloured glasses a smile and an open mind..
but, the look on peoples faces when i drove through could freeze ice, i wasn't in kansas no more.
And i could tell i wasn't welcome.
I rode into town, up and down some tired looking back streets, the houses were run down, and the streets littered with trash.
Adults sitting on front porches and lots of kids and dogs running around the streets halting in their tracks to give me a uncomfortable stare..
I didn't stop that day, i just rode through i was seriously too scared.

And so i ran outta petrol in the middle of nowhere..





Vegetation reclaiming the outback..





After about an hour i managed to flag down the first campervan heading west, well they couldnt have not seen me, people a lil far and between out there...
Luckily they had some petrol to help me get to a gas station.





I met them at the next petrol stop and refilled their jerry, they were headed to SA for a 6wk fishing trip...
oh the joys of getting old.



Topar the next (only) fuel stop between Wilcannia and broken hill.

Enjoying the RR...

Tagged.


(Really I try to stay out of the RR forum!)


Also if you do end up unloading your L.A. projects make sure to post up here with plenty of warning, I know I'll put the word out when you do. (I"d consider the 750 but I have a KLR, therefore I'm a poor, cheap bastard).

Magnetic,

Love the whole thing. Fixing up a bike on the sly in the parking lot, flying all over the world to get a ride done (and the upgrade to Business Class... kinda jealously pissed off about that actually, but would prefer my airplanes to not have bits chipping off en route), and the "make do" with a great ride in OZ. Now you have me considering converting my XR400 into a Cafe Racer when my life as an off-roader comes to an end... kind of a sinful thought, but there's something in it for sure. Now I'm on the Deus ex Machina website all the time drooling...

Subscribed.

Its not a matter or if its when, I'm having a lil problem selling my bikes here (winter time) and one of the coldest and wettest i can remember.
i'll definitely be needing the extra $$$ to get this trip rolling

Thanks, for coming back on board guys .

Its cool to have my first comment from Africa! When you come from Australia you have to fly all over the world to get 'anywhere' , one of the cons of living on an island continent. I yearn to have the freedom to be able to cross international borders by land.

You know my pain, brother from another mother - land



From Topar the Westerlies from the day before gave way to a cool Easterly breeze and with the wind in my back a full tank, and my head down I finally made it!






I rode up off the road to the top of this small windy hill..
And walked over to the edge to survey the scenery.
I remember feeling a sense of joy and accomplishment and took a moment to enjoy this vast quiet landscape..

All of sudden a cloud of dust appeared in the distance and broke the moment. These wild horses came charging through the landscape just like a dramatic scene from a nature documentary.
In awe i watch them, as they made their way towards me.

They actually charged straight at me and on closer view they looked pretty pissed off,
giving me the evil eye and a look of terror as if to say...
'piss off mate! your not f.....n welcomed!'


a familiar local reception I've had on this trip.

My horse whispering FAIL was immenent as they stared me down until i slithered back to the bike and down the other side of the hill with my tail between my legs.



If looks could kill.





Broken Hill Welcoming party? - wild



On my way to Broken Hill i had to ride through various red dust twisters, They were small but found a very impressive video to give you an idea of how crazy they can get.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/95tmYmeHf84" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95tmYmeHf84


I head for Silverton an old mining town West of Broken Hill. I turn off onto a dirt track and found a place to camp that overlook the view of what supposed to be the red desert...







ing





i wish i didnt get so drunk on cask wine and cigarettes the night before.... the mornin was perfect.