a motorcycle adventure blog
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Day 1 – 1/03/2015
Start –Sunshine Coast Finish – rest stop on the side of the Burnett hwy - 24 km south of Biloela Distance travelled – 426k Words by - Swells |
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Today Dan, Johnny Bang, and Swells – collectively known as twenty one horses - accelerated into adventure.
Our quest?
To ride our 250cc dual sport bikes 37,000 km's overland from the Sunny Coast in Queensland, Australia to a pub somewhere in Dublin, Ireland. This meant -
After rushing to meet my two adventure comrades at the agreed launch time I was relieved to find one bike disassembled, and the other getting some last minute welds on homemade pannier racks. Grateful for the general disarray around me, I used the time to sort out a stalling issue I had discovered on the ride over.
Dan - the trip mechanic - quickly located a blocked overfill fuel tank hose I had inadvertently squished during the installation of my Kawasaki Super Sherpa's new long range fuel tank. By this time Dan was busy affixing an advanced navigational platform (otherwise known as a modified plastic tub) to the handle bars of his Yamaha WR250; while Johnny Bang continued to weld his home built pannier racks onto the Yamaha TTR 250. At this stage it is worth mentioning we’ve only owned these bikes about five weeks. In that time the Super Sherpa and WR250 have had some adventure mods and the TTR has practically been rebuilt. I have also been taking the opportunity to practice how to use a clutch (my previous adventure bike - the mighty Honda CT110 - had no fancy clutch feature). Our planned 9:00am take-off time quickly blew out to a causally rushed 12:00pm departure - just in time to miss lunch.
With a twisted mess of a stomach and guts we waved good bye to loved ones and hit the open road. Not having tested any of the bikes at speed, nor with any of the adventure modifications, nor with full load meant this first day was as good as time as any for a good test run. It may not have been the optimal day to choose to test our set-ups, but it certainly invoked a rad sense of adventure stoke. We are not the Ewan McGregor and Charley whatever type of adventure riders - we didn't have a warehouse with staff, organising, logistic-ising, and getting-free-stuff-ising. We have cheap, simple, hard working adventure bikes; our modifications have been hand-built, bolted, duck-taped and cabled-tied. We might have hit the road late, but we have hit it. Twenty One Horses aims to prove adventure is for everyone.
With a goal of 800km and a slow start we merged onto the highway to be faced with a B-Double truck barrelling towards us. This gave us the chance to use all the horses we kept under our seats; which in turn completely vindicated a last-minute decision to upgrade our trip from a planned postie bike slog. Easily cruising at 110km/hr we flew into adventure.
Each bike performed well, although adventure bike mods continued throughout the day. Johnny Bang found an old couch pillow which, with the addition of an occy strap, was quickly transformed into an adventure bike seat pad (increasing road comfort by resting his aching butt buns). However the TTR’s speedo was less stoked than the rest of us to be on adventure - failing to report any speed or distance travelled. Dan’s WR had no problems at all, which came as a surprise considering the amount of crap he had managed to awkwardly pile all over it. Finally, I found riding 100km/h on the Super Sherpa somewhat disconcerting - the postie bike never went this fast.
After clearing 426kms and riding into the falling dusk the decision was made to make camp at the next available opportunity. Not quite the 800 or so ks we planned on but enough to get the adventure stoke pumping. Now, lying here in my hammock reflecting on my day - the turmoil of emotions as I said good bye to my special lady friend, to the feeling of pure stoke as I crested a hill to find a vast green vista into a valley whose dam reflected the beauty of the sunset - I can only think next time we make camp we should avoid a hill where trucks are frequently using their exhaust breaks…
Our quest?
To ride our 250cc dual sport bikes 37,000 km's overland from the Sunny Coast in Queensland, Australia to a pub somewhere in Dublin, Ireland. This meant -
- Riding through 20+ countries
- Crossing 3 oceans
- Scoring at least 1 surfs along the way
After rushing to meet my two adventure comrades at the agreed launch time I was relieved to find one bike disassembled, and the other getting some last minute welds on homemade pannier racks. Grateful for the general disarray around me, I used the time to sort out a stalling issue I had discovered on the ride over.
Dan - the trip mechanic - quickly located a blocked overfill fuel tank hose I had inadvertently squished during the installation of my Kawasaki Super Sherpa's new long range fuel tank. By this time Dan was busy affixing an advanced navigational platform (otherwise known as a modified plastic tub) to the handle bars of his Yamaha WR250; while Johnny Bang continued to weld his home built pannier racks onto the Yamaha TTR 250. At this stage it is worth mentioning we’ve only owned these bikes about five weeks. In that time the Super Sherpa and WR250 have had some adventure mods and the TTR has practically been rebuilt. I have also been taking the opportunity to practice how to use a clutch (my previous adventure bike - the mighty Honda CT110 - had no fancy clutch feature). Our planned 9:00am take-off time quickly blew out to a causally rushed 12:00pm departure - just in time to miss lunch.
With a twisted mess of a stomach and guts we waved good bye to loved ones and hit the open road. Not having tested any of the bikes at speed, nor with any of the adventure modifications, nor with full load meant this first day was as good as time as any for a good test run. It may not have been the optimal day to choose to test our set-ups, but it certainly invoked a rad sense of adventure stoke. We are not the Ewan McGregor and Charley whatever type of adventure riders - we didn't have a warehouse with staff, organising, logistic-ising, and getting-free-stuff-ising. We have cheap, simple, hard working adventure bikes; our modifications have been hand-built, bolted, duck-taped and cabled-tied. We might have hit the road late, but we have hit it. Twenty One Horses aims to prove adventure is for everyone.
With a goal of 800km and a slow start we merged onto the highway to be faced with a B-Double truck barrelling towards us. This gave us the chance to use all the horses we kept under our seats; which in turn completely vindicated a last-minute decision to upgrade our trip from a planned postie bike slog. Easily cruising at 110km/hr we flew into adventure.
Each bike performed well, although adventure bike mods continued throughout the day. Johnny Bang found an old couch pillow which, with the addition of an occy strap, was quickly transformed into an adventure bike seat pad (increasing road comfort by resting his aching butt buns). However the TTR’s speedo was less stoked than the rest of us to be on adventure - failing to report any speed or distance travelled. Dan’s WR had no problems at all, which came as a surprise considering the amount of crap he had managed to awkwardly pile all over it. Finally, I found riding 100km/h on the Super Sherpa somewhat disconcerting - the postie bike never went this fast.
After clearing 426kms and riding into the falling dusk the decision was made to make camp at the next available opportunity. Not quite the 800 or so ks we planned on but enough to get the adventure stoke pumping. Now, lying here in my hammock reflecting on my day - the turmoil of emotions as I said good bye to my special lady friend, to the feeling of pure stoke as I crested a hill to find a vast green vista into a valley whose dam reflected the beauty of the sunset - I can only think next time we make camp we should avoid a hill where trucks are frequently using their exhaust breaks…
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