Mr. Cob, goes for a ride-about, down under.........

There's always some people who have no respect and think they deserve help no matter where you go it seems.

I would have turned around... that was nice of you

Keep the pics coming Cobby.

As they say Mr Cob, "It takes all kinds to make the world go around " .

Great ride report . Thank you for posting .

Cheers Ian

Howdy All,

Sorry for the delay, I have been kinda busy in the garage building skid plates for Ural's to pay for diesel fuel for this winters "Escape from the Nor-Wet", click here to be taken to last years escape and the ride report.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=18423755#post18423755

And now back to the land of Oz. Day eighteen of the rideabout would take us from Bramwell Station the site of the OCR to the "tip", the northern most part of Australia and back to camp, a LONG, HARD ride indeed.

Oh before I forget I want to thank this man, darn it I sure hope I remember his name correctly I think it is Dave, Dave was a great help to me as I setup camp in the dark and helped me repair my cott which had broken, we successfully repaired and it worked well for the rest of the trip.


As I had taken all my gear out of the hack to make room for the rescue and used most of it to setup camp, if I was going to ride at speed whilst going to the tip I had asked for a volunteer to ride as monkey in the hack this would allow for faster travel and much better handling then if the hack were empty. This fellow, if I remember correctly his name is Rosco said he would ride with me, Thanks Rosco I hope you had a good time I know I did.


Because of the many klicks to be covered we didn't stop or take any photos until we got to the ferry that would carry us across the river. Rosco took most of these photos, we got out tickets here.


Here we are taking the ferry across the river, we had to make good time as the ferry's last trip across the river was at 5M or maybe it was 7M so if we didn't want to spend the night in the bush we had to be there to catch the last crossing. In this photo, Jock and Zac are already on the ferry.






Rosco and I headed to Bamagan, where we were to meet up with Jock and Zac before heading to the tip. We arrived in Bamagan and went to a bakery that Rosco knew of for a snack.


We waited for quite a while and still Jock and Zac hadn't shown up. We went to the local gas station to see if they had gone there before going to the bakery, they weren't at the gas station either. I thought it best to stay at the gas station rather then ride around looking for Jock and Zac, they had to fuel up before going to the tip so in time we would see them if we just stayed in place. When Jock and Zac did show up at the station Jock told us about the flat tire he had causing them to be late. This put extra pressure on as it was now about 2m, we had a lot of ground to cover before getting back to the ferry in time to catch if before it stopped running for the day.

Again not many photos taken as we were short of time. One section of the road really brought back some old memories, it was very narrow with "jungle" growing right up to its edge. The red dirt roads made me think of Hwy 13 as it neared Loc Ninh in Vietnam, but this stretch of road to the tip made me think of of area known as the "Iron Triangle" one of the deadliest area my Army unit operated in, we were ambushed many times in roads like this one with dense jungle growing right up to its edge. This was a wide are of the road with building in the back ground, I was told that this was once a very popular resort that folks stayed whilst vacationing in the this area.


The road got narrower beyond the resort, even in early afternoon it was dark because the trees formed a canopy blocking out the sun , not easy to see much further then a few meters into the heavy vegetation on either side of the road, yeah this place was kinda spooky for me.

We reach the parking area at the end of the road, this is as far north as a person can drive in Australia. Jock and Zac after parking their bikes went for a walk to a point with a sing saying this is the most northern tip of the Australian continent.


Me not being much of a hiker decided to again resort to my old ways as I rode the Ural out onto the beach.




Talking to the Ural dealers I had been told that no one had yet ridden a Ural to the tip, we arrived at the OCR a day early as I wanted to be the first person to ride a Ural to the most northern part of Australia. I was to find out the next day that an Australian Ural rider again if I remember correctly his name is Lee had arrived at the OCR a day before we got there and had beat me to the tip by a day. Congratulations Lee

The ride back to camp was a lot of FUN, toward the end Rosco got into shifting his weight so I could ride the corners faster, by the time we got back it was dark, we were tired, a few beers and off to bed. Stay tuned.

Hey, that pic looks familiar.




Great RR Mr. Cob.

What a great read that was.

That was extremely bad form from those blokes that you helped; pity you didn`t have some better photos to put up so we could see who they were.

+1 Yup, gotta agree. To promise ONE beer when it should be a dozen for what you did, THEN renege on it, bad karma.

Howdy All,

Day nineteen of the rideabout, was spent just wondering around the camp ground at the ORC. We pulled maintenance on the bikes, I did an all around bolt tightening on the Ural, also checked the valves had to adjust the right side exhaust it was a tad tight.


The air filter was packed with dirt.


The air filter on the Ural draws air from the INSIDE of the filter NOT from the outside. This is why many folks who are not knowledgeable of their new Ural will complain of poor engine performance and when they are told to check the air filter they mistakenly think its clean. This photo shows the outside of the dirty air filter, it looks clean.


Its the INSIDE that filled with crud.


The air filter cleaned, the valves set, bolts tightened, I do a walkabout of the camp site and check out the many different sidecar rigs, meet and talk to their owners. Oh and this pig just wandered free through out the campground quite a sight.


This is the pub at Bramwell Station, the center of social activity a place to get a beer, a meal and just sit around and swap lies.


Some shots of the campground.






I stop to visit with Lee, he is the Ural rider that was the first to pilot a Ural to the tip. Lee may have beat me to the tip but I think I actually rode further north as I rode a longways out onto the beach, still I congratulate him on his accomplishment.


There were three Ural's at the OCR, from left to right, Tony and his Ural, Cob riding the loaner Ural and Lee with his Ural.


Tony and Lee are both long time Ural riders in Australia, both had come up with interesting ways of copping with the heavy dust on the roads. Here Tony has used a snorkel with a replaceable cloth pre-filter to feed air to the air box from above the opening in the bottom of the stock air box.




Lee has done much the same thing to his rig.




I walked around the camp looking at and taking photos of the many sidecars rigs in attendance. I was amazed at how well thought out these rigs were, how many had complete kitchens built into them, one even had a 12 volt powered refrigerator. Here in no special order where rigs that I thought were really cool.






































And so I wandered the camp ground talking to folks, taking photos and just enjoying the sunshine. That evening had another good meal, some beers and went to bed kinda early, when I am on the road I really don't sleep very well I am usually so wound up I snooze rather then sleep, tomorrow would be another long hard day will many klicks to cover as we started to ride south. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Oz sojourn.

I stop to visit with John, he is the Ural rider that was the first to pilot a Ural to the tip. John may have beat me to the tip but I think I actually rode further north as I rode a longways out onto the beach, still I congratulate him on his accomplishment.





Hi Dave, Super report. Sorry I got to the tip before you.....but an aussie had to be first.....by the way, It is Lee not John.

No idea how you remember half of the people you met......

Lee

Hey "John" , coming to the Fish Holes rally next weekend?

TD. (prick) Perth this weekend, but should be back in time for Coldflame Rally 17 th nov.

John"....aaaah no. Lee.

Howdy Lee,

Sorry mate, I lost my notes where I had written down the names of riders and their machines so I was going on memory which in my case is next to nonexistent. However, I did go back and edit in the proper names.

Howdy All,

Day twenty of the rideabout, would take us from Bramwell Station the site of the OCR to Cooktown. The days ride was to prove to be one filled with a couple of minor inconveniences and one major disaster, the first hold up of the day, just a few miles from the OCR Zac has a flat tire.


This fellow stopped to see if we were OK or needed any assistance.




Take note of the "outback jack".


Another rider stops to see if we are OK.






A new tube in place, the tire and wheel being reinstalled.


Checking the tire pressure before we roll on to our next stop.


We stop for a quick snack and gas.


Whilst at this gas station, our second stop of the day, I look over the rig and can see that the rear tire on the rig is badly worn, I am hoping to make it to Cooktown before having to change it.


I didn't make it more then 20 clicks from where we stopped for gas and the rear tire literally blew out :eek1 I was hauling arse down a good stretch of gravel road doing about 105-110 kph when the rear of the rig started to violently move from side to side. It was a very good thing there was on other traffic on the road as I was from one side of the road to the other a couple of times before being able to get the rig under control and safely off to the side of the road. I have had many flat tires while riding on a Ural but never one that blew out at speed on such a loose surface, this is an experience I do NOT wish onto others.


The tire had worn completely through and the tube had blown, we put the spare tire on and continued the journey.



Many miles later we stop at this ranger station to plan the next leg of our route.


AND THIS, is why I wanted Jock to be able to participate in this ride report, the photo I took while at the ranger station is the last photo I was able to take on this day of the ride. My camera battery went dead and I had no way of recharging it. Later that day we were to ride through a large national park that held THOUSANDS of very large ant or termite mounds that went on for as far as the eye could see, we traveled over dry river beds some covered in rock making passage very difficult, we did three water crossing one quite deep, and to top it off the timing chain broke on Jock's Yamaha which had to be left along side of the road to be recovered the next day.

I don't have any photos of these events and the ride report is much poorer because of it. When the Yamaha broke down we took all of Jock's gear from it and loaded it into and onto the Ural, it was getting dark, the road was nasty. We started out with Jock riding behind me on the bike, this was causing handling problems so we rearranged stuff in the sidecar so that he could sit on top of the loaded gear in the sidecar and so we made it into Cooktown when it was quite dark.

Oh I might add there was a stretch of road covered during the day that was absolutely the WORST I was to ride on during my entire trip in the land of Oz. This road was southeast of the national park, I honestly couldn't tell if the surface was badly broken pavement or super hard packed dark gray clay that was eroded into ruts and bumps that left one feeling like they were driving over sharp edged drop offs more like driving over a curb along side of the road.

The suspension on a Ural heavily loaded as was the one I was riding doesn't have enough travel to soak up such sharp drops by the time we had endured this lenght of road my lower back was killing me. I tried to stand on the pegs for the worst bumps but every now and then I'd miss one and the resulting slam to my tail bone made it feel like someone had hit me in the spine with a sledge hammer. YES, by the time we made it to Cooktown, I was beat, I had had just about all the fun my old body could stand in one day. To be continued..................

Mr. Cob,

I'm loving this ride report. I have an old friend who just moved to Oz a few weeks ago for work. Now I know what I'm gonna do when I go visit.

And you are the first and only American Ural rider to ride to the northern most part of Oz

Dave, you didn't need to go to Oz experience the knife and fork bit, just travel a few miles North into Canada!!

Great report, as usual! Some of those roads and definitely the dust, remind me of the Trans Lab. Thankfully I didn't have the stock airbox installed.

Howdy All,

Please excuse my lack of attention to this ride report, things have been kinda busy around the Casa del Cob and building and shipping Ural skid plates has been occupying much of my time.

Having arrived late in the evening at Cooktown we found and arranged lodging at a hostel. This is where we were to stay for a couple of days.


Day twenty one of the ride about, would be spent arranging recovery of Jock's busted Yamaha, touring Cooktown and catching a bit of a rest. As Jock was finding a tow truck and arranging to retrieve the Yamaha Zac and I set out to see what we could see in Historic Cooktown. The first thing we did was find and ride up to the top of hill on which was built a lighthouse to guide ships into the harbor of Cooktown.


From this hill top the views of the surrounding area were quite spectacular.


Zac and the lighthouse


Cob being a tourist










On the way back down the hill and into Cooktown we came across this little foot trail, I couldn't resist and took a short ride.


Over looking the river that flows from the mountains to the sea.


Me and a Roo.


The tide was out when we visited the harbor.




An interesting story behind the cannon.






Zac and I do a bit of shopping, I got a new hat, some polarized sunglasses and a dog fix.


We stop for lunch.


I had a cold Coke and a really good chiledog.


Zac and I our touristing finished head back to the hostel to see how Jocks recovery mission has progressed. Jock had found a guy to go out and bring the bike back to Cooktown, he then arranged for the bike to be picked up in Cooktown and transported to his home MANY miles to the south. We spent the rest of the day just doing laundry and kickin back. Had a good dinner, some beers and hit the sack.

Day twenty two of the rideabout, started by rearranging the gear on the sidecar so Jock could sit comfortably, we gas up and head south toward Cairns.


Loaded with all of my gear, Jocks gear, Jock and myself the Ural was carrying quite a load, we pulled third gear going up a lot of the hills but we still averaged around 90-100kph. Jock snapped some photos from the tub as we rambled down the road.


















We stop for gas, its getting late in the afternoon.


We ride along the coast for many miles.








Heres Jock.


Cob


That evening we stayed in Cairns, Zac and Jock talked and it was decided that Zac would leave us and continue on his own. Zac wanted to get away from us old coots and spend the last few days he had in Oz chasing girls and having fun in other ways. So this was the last evening the three of us would spent together, Zac would take the train south, Jock would ride the KLR and I would have the Ural to myself. Stay tuned, theres still more of the story to share.

I'm glad to see another chapter of your trip. You are a hell of an ambassador for the brand in spite of your crustiness.
Keep 'em coming!
Maybe Zac will chime in with some pics of his last day there?

Good it's still going on ,so a Ural can maintain 100k cruise?
Depends on who you talk to I suppose but reading various reports there seemed to be some doubt.

Howdy gunnabuild1,

On level ground and not bucking a strong headwind the Ural will easily maintain 90-100kph. Loaded as it was there were times when I climbed hills in third gear but the Ural will run at 75-85kph in third mile after mile if thats whats needed to maintain speed on hills. At other times when needing to pass I would ride in third gear up to speeds of 95-100kph before shifting into forth gear. A properly run in and setup Ural in the hands of a skilled rider is not as slow as some folks think they are.

The Ural I rode on this trip had just over 3,000 klicks on it when I picked it up and a tad over 12,000 klicks when I turned it back over to Jon at the end of the trip. During the ride the Ural continued to run better, get better fuel mileage and gain in speed, in short the rig ran better after the trip then when I picked it up a month earlier. This is common for the Ural's, thats why it is so important to have a competent dealer set the rig up to begin with a competent rider to drive and maintain it until its fully run in, which usually takes about 10-12,000 klicks to accomplish.

Hey!! Nice to run across this RR!!!
It was also nice to get an oportunity to meet Jock at WetFest

Good Story