About 2 weeks ago Rob (Hardhead) and me decided to go for a ride on 31<SUP>st</SUP> Dec. What better way to see out the year than to spend the day on the bikes checking out the great South East of Qld. The rough plan was to leave from Dayboro, over Mt. Mee via the dirt, fuel at DAguilar then through Sandy Ck., up Monsildale Rd. (or a parallel track through the Ponderosa if I could find the turn-off) to Kilcoy-Murgon Rd., left on Kandanga Ck. Rd. to find the Western Branch Rd., south through Linville, fuel at Colinton and home through Kilcoy and back over Mt. Mee to Dayboro. Rob rounded up a few others in the lead-up to make it a group of six but early rain saw our group trimmed back to just me and Rob and some slight changes to our route. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> We ended up meeting at Deception Bay and went through Caboolture then on the dirt to Woodforde. The rain hit us within the first ten minutes but it wasnt heavy and being summer it wasnt cold so no dramas. We held up at Woodforde for ten minutes while a heavy patch of rain went over. We gave Sandy Ck. a miss, as that was where most of the rain looked like it was falling, and took off straight to Kilcoy on the bitumen. Fuel at Kilcoy then north to Monsildale Rd. (missed the turn for the Ponderosa ) and the rest of the day worked out as per the planned route. We didnt get rained on again after the first few ks of Monsildale Rd and the rain also meant there was bugger all dust so we werent complaining at all. Kandanga Ck. Rd., Western Branch Rd. and Mt. Mee via the dirt were all new to me so thanks to Rob for the planning (even if we did go around in circles trying to find Kandanga Ck. Rd. it was still heaps good ) <o></o> Enough talk heres the pics Woodforde. Believe it or not there's a mountain range you would normally see through the gap in the trees. That was where we were heading but it was pissing down so we hid out at the butcher's for a little while. We chased the rain to Kilcoy and headed north to Monsildale Rd. The sky looked alittle ominous but we weren't turning back now The farther we went the more it cleared up I held off on the photos for the ride up Kilcoy-Murgon Rd. We went past Kandanga Ck. Rd. and hit Manumbar Rd. afollowed the bitumen for about 5 k's to Porter Rd. which we were pretty sure sure would take us back to hook up with Kandanga Ck. Rd. It did eventually after a few wrong turns and retreats to check out other tracks. Good riding and good scenery though so we weren't too worried Another dead end Looks like a Kandanga Ck. Rd. to us. Let's go Western Branch Rd. Mt. Mee The Gantry at Mt. Mee. From here it was bitumen into Dayboro and a couple of beers at Rob's brother's place. About 400k's all up! I even downloaded a program to make panoramas and came up with these. The lettering in the middle is either because it is a 30 day trial or I wasn't holding my tongue right. I hope these work. Bring on 2010
The area you were riding through looks almost identical to the northern Arkansas area in the spring. Terrific. Great Gantry, I never seen one on wood beams. Mike
Great photos Pete, Shame someone stuck their ugly mug in the middle of a couple.... Thanks for the company. Shame we got a little wet in the beginning but it was still a good day out. Looking forward to the next one. cheers Rob
Cheers to all. It's amazing how green this place gets after some rain. I went down Monsildale Rd. about 6 weeks ago and was thinking how dry and brown it was. I even got those panoramas to work Rob . The second one goes nearly 360°. I just gotta finetune the sizing.
Rob, pity I missed this one. As I said, soft and wet.:huh Looks like you need a harder spring on the rear of the new bike.
Great pics guys, thanks for taking the time to stop and shoot! I especially love this one..... It looks like the perfect track to be having a blat down Cheers, Dan
No worries Bruce... next time... Its going into MPE as soon as I go back to work. Can't cut into the available riding time.... I think Suzuki are interchanging their rear springs with BIC pens.... either that or I ate too much over Christmas...
it was a good year. I just hope 2010 is even better! <object classid="clsid: D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" width="16" height="16" id="movie" align=""><param name="movie" value="http://forumsmiles.com/content/5/mov.swf"><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed allowScriptAccess="always" src="http://forumsmiles.com/content/5/mov.swf" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="16" height="16" name="movie" align="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"</embed></object>
I like the BM. The big attraction was the proven Rotax engine with 10000klm service intervals. I'm actually riding more dirt than I intended when I bought it. The Xcountry is meant more for bitumen than dirt so the suspension is pretty basic (no adjustment on the front). I don't ride real hard so I live with it for now but will get to an expert to see what can be improved. A little bit of air over erosion mounds is OK but it seems to struggle with the potholes at speed. It doesn't use the full travel at the front but the initial compression is harsh so maybe some better springs (progressive?) can improve it. I'm thinking about an ohlins for the rear. A few Xchallenge riders are giving them a thumbs up. As a dirtbike it's no match for KTM's etc. but 130-140 klm/hr on the bitumen is quite comfortable and my riding seems to be 50-50 so it does me well
Looks like a bit of fun Pete Pity you missed the turn off to Mike's. Next time I'm up that way I'll take a note of the K's and let you know. Cheers Dusty.
G'day Hodgo, Yeah Shrek went to a good home. He was sold the day after I advertised it. I found a really nice 650 and everything fell into place from there. I thought it was time to step up in size to something that was more capable of carrying my fat arse.... Cheers Rob
