From talking too him, that's Andy's 03 safari bike.. which I think Adrian had repainted orange/ silver. I wonder what happened to Coaks 04 safari bike? I've a feeling it was purchased/ owned by Col Ross, for Coak to ride. Then sold via Desert Edge in Alice, to a bloke in Maffra that @Dr AT knows... I think. If only these things came with log books.
That might be daves 660 , he bought it around 06 , Fozzie rebuilt the motor over a few years and it sat collecting dreams last time I asked. I'll always regret not catching a pic when all 3 x 660's blasted down my dirt road. I heard them coming but thought they would drop in to say g'day.
All 3 in this pic, Rossi's, Hillys and mine furthest from camera. All 3 did Wonongatta, and part of Canning together I think Jason said.
Yea, they were heading up for the" Wonnangatta " when they passed my place - from memory it was a 900 km practice day for the canning , nip up into the wonnangatta the fun way, then up to hotham, out east and back. Most mere mortals struggle with 200 km days in those tracks but those guys are off the skill chart.
Bikes look fantastic,must of been lucky as the old 660 rfrs I had we're good starters on kick or button.Did find the pita issue with the 690 not transferring fuel between rear -front tanks ,breather filter blocked.
Regards the piccys of the KTM's in the sand .Many moons ago I decided to try the whole long distance trip with a large backpack like that. It did not end well and I had a stiff back for about 6 months....not a good way to lug all your stuff around.
Tend to agree... to a point ('cause they look like BIG packs). ... back when younger and fitter I personally preferred (still do) not to clutter a bike up with racks, tanks bags and panniers though... and keep the bike lighter and maneuverable. For that reason I found a backpack was the better alternative for me... but it came with a "clause"; not to carry more that about 5 kg's... absolutely max 8 kgs* in it. Which means being pretty spartan with what you take along on a ride,* including the usual bumbag/tools etc. A concession to that was on longer (camping type) extended trips... in which case the groundsheet/tarp/therma rest/sleeping bag roll got strapped on the back guard and any extra fuel carried in satchel style bag on the rear of the saddle. This set up was easily removed if (not) required at some point during a ride, and by just bumping the pre-load on the rear spring a couple of threads was easy to account for the weight increase - still kept the bike reasonably nimble. But just as david wrote... too much weight and our (ever older) backs are going to pay the "aches and pains" pricetag. These days, if I were to head out on an extended multi-day trip... I probably would fit a bike out with some good fitting soft luggage (I like the look of the GIANT loop style stuff I have see people use on the more enduro/rally style bikes I have seen)... and possibly mount a roto-pack or similar frame to carry an extra (say 10 liters) of fuel somewhere... or even a satchel bag deal and sling it up front by the radiator shrouds... if it were an enduro style bike like an EXC/FE/CRFL/WRF, or one of the slimmer single cylinder adventure bikes - like DR, DRZ, 701*/690 or the PR7. *The Husqvarna 701 LR is an example of the manufacturer doing this on the showroom model. I'm not the "take everything but the kitchen sink" two weeks plus in the outback tour - style of rider... So I have never required the "touratech-nology" type of pannier rack/top box and tank bag luggage solutions that we often see... However, I concede that on the bigger land yacht style of bikes - that are designed and capable for just that purpose... loading the bike - and NOT - your back(pack) with more that 10 kg's of stuff... would be preferable. (my back is getting older too david ). good travels.
Some perspective on that pic - they were doing a trial run as tour guides, the intention being to run an exclusive adv tour with 1 of the bikes rented by a customer and the other 2 carrying the customers gear / emergency equipment etc . Crossing the Simpson was the warm up , I think they did part of the maddigan then took a look at the canning next. When Hilly is up on the pegs, his bum is about 0.5 mm off the seat....he makes wattsy look tall. So that " large" backpack might be about 25 litres and you can be certain his gear is as minimalist as possible! The guy was doing adv before adv existed - rode up blue rag 2 up on a bmw krs ....At the time that pic was taken, he'd been working as a tour guide up the cape for a couple of years, so despite being in his late 50's he was more than capable of riding HARD for weeks on end with that back pack! Dave is normal height, he's in the foreground. Therev must have a good camera to catch him...most pictures he's just a hyperactive blur. It's funny, at the time I told Hilly he was crazy carrying gear on his back, he just chuckled and said something about " if you can't carry it you don't take it"
I did ask about it, and there theory was that when you are sitting the back pack is resting on the seat and they said most of the time is spent sitting, and having everything in the backpack kept the weight off the bike (as in it wasn't static weight attached to the bike). As DR At said above it was part of a tour package, the back pack was supplied as part of the cost so it was one they had picked for the purpose. I still use bike mounted luggage though. I was trying to remember the website, it was www.ktm660.com or www.660rallye.com or something.
You mean people use rally bikes as adventure tourers? Thought about something like an OCR on this... but where would I pack the bourbon?
Works for me. Another advantage is that no matter how many bikes you have you can use the same backpack.
But what if the colour of the backpack clashes with the bike, or if you have a KTM branded backpack and intend to ride a Suzuki or BMW?