just back from a ride from bris to sydney on as much dirt as possible. surprised by the amount of bitumen from sydney to dungog so i've just cecked out the satellite images and tried to get more dirt and forestry roads for adventure bikes. if anyone has the time to check it out and see if it all looks legit feel free. it's called "EAST COAST AUSTRALIA - Cape York, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne 13000km 4 weeks" on the trans australia tracks site. heading north i've got mooney mooney creek, deadmans point, jillby, watagans, heaton state forest, wallaroo nature reserve. it looks okay on the satellite images, and using the google car piccies all the entrances and exits have no gates or restricted entry signs. here's the vid of the trip if you have a spare 8 minutes. <iframe width="720" height="490" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fWiTZABzfUo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Nice vid B1, makes me want to buy a DR and head in to the bush. Maybe I will have to get serious about fitting some sort of big tank to my KLE500, 15 litres is just nowhere near enough to get serious about avoiding towns.
Barry Your best estimation / memory what the longest stretch between fuel refills would be? I'm now Back on the dirt after tooooo many years out.... and this is what I want to do with my 350 EXC-F So I'll have to upgrade fuel range ....so your reconaissance will be a good guide any comments appreciated Cheers ps I'll use my GS for Road / Dirt Road rides but I dont dream for even a second ATTIML I could do single/fire trails on a GS yeah plenty can but I wont be
Yep, it makes me want to go out and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
longest stretch was gingers creek roadhouse on the oxley highway north to ebor.... around 280km. and she's twisty mountainous terrain so don't plan on great fuel economy. the rest are much shorter stretches, plenty of towns to pull into. here's the vid of the return leg from sydney to brisbane. <iframe width="720" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/6r_v10T37h4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> me too! had to work three days but heading out again on the DR tomorrow.
Great stuff Barry. Will the ride route be going up on the trans Australia site? Planning a trip to Barrington Tops in May and would like to use some of those awesome tracks from the videos. Won't be riding the TDM! Setting up the DR350 for lightweight (and slow) adventure riding.
yup, already posted it. did a bit of research and got rid of much of the slab we hit into and out of sydney. lincoln and i are already talking about a return trip when it's a bit cooler, do it the other way around and add in some new bits guys told us about on the way.
Thanks Barry. Your route should get us to Barrington Tops just nicely. Planning on stopping at Ebor to camp at Native Dog Creek camp ground (good site, includes dingos), on to Tapin Tops then Barrington Tops. When are you planning the next trip to Sydney?
Spot on with the section from Wallaroo SF to Dungog via Black Camp RD there mate. We are doing that in a fortnight enroute to the KRR, it is the way to go and a nice run through there too I couldn`t view your route on trans Australia for some reason but saved the gpx file to Basecamp ok Cheers
OCK. I just added .6kg fork springs to my KLE500 (from Terry hayes - Shock Treatment, $170 ) and it made a positive difference. If I was to be fussy I'd now go for .7kg but as I don't take it over jumps I'll stay with the .6's, I'm v happy. It's firm but plush. As for fuel just carry your Roto-pak, easy! I can easily fit 10 litres of fuel in my top box with room to spare. Back on springs, I'm reasonably sure the new straight wound fork springs are same for the KLR. They are about 160mm shorter than OEM and needed a spacer of around 320mm. It still gives 220mm travel. Nice! The rear shock is a little sad so will scout around for something nice but not too $$$ The KLE is now coming along nicely, it's a keeper.
sounds good. i'd avoid the hotel at ebor, even the camping is overpriced with crap amenities and rude staff. checked their feedback on google maps and they are definitely making a reputation for themselves. no wonder the place was empty. :huh personally i reckon early autumn or late spring would be good. it gets pretty chilly on the talblelands and there are so many good rivers to take a lunchtime swim in. cheers, good to know we got that bit right. i'm keen to know if the bit i've got going from sydney through the watagans to dungog is going to work, especially for loaded up adventure bikes... met a rider at bellbrook who reckons that heading north from there to dorrigo through all the forests is way better than going to ebor. hard to believe as that was such a great section through there but will take his advice next time. a lot of my longer trips dont show on the TAT map for some reason but will download fine and work in basecamp or mapsource. yes, i'm only now realising that the gsxr pipe and carbie mods cause too many issues in terms of rear punctures, spoke breaking, roosting of other riders, trench digging of tracks, no steering due to non-stop wheelies etc. i may have to take it back to stock trim.
Hey B1 aka Barry, Watched both of the videos B1 and yes unfortunately us Sydney folk have a lot of slab to get through to find dirt but it can be found. I have to say for a single camera shoot and edit it was very engaging to watch and I will be straight over to trans Australia to find the box file. Thanks for sharing.
get yourself a fuel bladder ( 12L?) and you are set. on TAUT I got the recent posting to show on the map ( SEqriders' posting)
