I definitely needed to go for a ride this weekend and perhaps should have chosen Saturday as the weather ended up being a little nicer. On Sunday morning the weather was fine except for oodles of wind. So, I decided that rather than dealing with that on the Connie or Tenere, I would take teh 450 out to the Taikorea MX Park for an experiment...
The Park is a pretty awesome setup. When you arrive you can see the MX track with its crazy jumps (no thanks) but they also have a kids track and a 12km XC (cross country) track. The XC track was the one I was interested in, although perhaps I should have tried the kiddies one?
One thing Taikorea has a lot of is sand. Deep sand and lots of it. Lots, yes, quite a bit actually...
The only time I've really ridden in this sort of stuff is on the Orua trail ride where there were a few sandy sections to get through. Not a lot, unlike Taikorea where there happens to be a lot of sand...
Anyway, I gave it a good old try and didn't make too many mistakes and did have a bit of fun. After nearly completing a full lap I pulled in to have a drink and a breather at the ute but quickly discovered (on hopping off the bike) that my back had pretty much had enough. It kinda sucks being old and unfit...
Oh well, I got out on the bike (and am really enjoying the 450) and tried something a bit new. I definitely won't be taking the Tenere into this sort of country...
Looking forward to a proper trail ride, hopefully a less sandless one too...
So, some time ago (during the Dusty Butt) the RHS fork seal on the WR started leaking. I attempted to fix it my cleaning it out with a Seal Doctor but this wasn't successful. So I bought some new seals and put them on the bench while I carried on giving the old seal more grief...
Old seal (dust seal removed)
But, I also started doing some research as I was a little bit nervous about giving this job a go myself - I've had to have a few fork seals done in the past and always left it to the pros. But, I thought that it was time for me to do some learning.
This video was very helpful:
Last weekend the on the job learning began in earnest...
Well, so far so good. Now to see what's inside...
A useful picture for later
Time to get rid of this one
Once I had things in pieces it was time to check the fork for damage. The best way to do this is to rub the back of your thumb nail up and down the tube. Even the smallest nicks will "grab" ya nail as you slide it over them. And bingo, I found quite a nasty little sod.
As per the video, I attacked it with some very fine sandpaper. And it took an age...
I ended up having to use a little bit of slightly more coarse sand piper before going back to the very fine stuff to polish it off. I then got a second opinion from Dad and we pronounced it "good enuff".
Fast forward a week and it was time to put the new seals in and get everything back together.
The new dust seal went on first and then the fork seal itself. Just like the video, I used some thin plastic to thread the seals over the tube without damaging them. I also used a little bit of grease on the seal and some fork oil on the tube.
Next up was seating the seal and this required a new tool.
This dohickey is used to gently "whack" the seal into place and I really did have to use a little elbow grease to seat the seal - all the time worrying that I was going to damage the new seal. But in the end it was in far enough to get the retaining clip in it's groove and we were well on the way to getting things back together.
Clean fork and new seals
Then it was time for some of this:
Apparently each leg takes about 630ml of oil so the other leg wasn't going to get fresh oil on this day.
The oil goes in while the spring is out and you have to work the dampening rod a few times to remove any air before completing the assemble. The oil level is checked by measuring from the top of the tube down to the oil level (easier said than done) and the distance is supposed to be 105mm.
After wrangling the spring and fork cap on (one of those jobs that really needs three non-slip hands) to button things up.
And finally, reinstalled into the Mouse.
And now I just need to get some more oil so I can change the oil on the other side and test my work...
Thanks to a mongrel cold I've lost three weekends worth of riding and having a new bike in the shed has made this even worse. This past weekend, by hook or by crook, I had to fix that!
Earlier in the week I'd considered shooting up to Taupo to tackle a two day trail ride but still fighting the cold and unsure of the weather it was a bit of a gamble. In the end Chevvy came up with a plan to go and play in the Akatarawas. Mark had just had a significant birthday so I told him he had to come and take the WR so I could see if old men can still ride...
On Saturday Mark popped around and we prepped the bikes before loading them on the ute for a quick getaway in the morning.
Come Sunday morning and we were on the road just before 8am with just one stop for supplies in Otaki before arriving at the Maungakotukutuku entrance to the forest. There were plenty of other bikes (some motorised and some not), along with quads and side-by-sides heading in while we unloaded the bikes and awaited the arrival of Chevvy.
Once the second WR arrived, Chevvy consulted the map and sounded very confident about where we were going and then we were off!
I initially sat behind the other two while I started getting used to the RMX (and the huge boots that came with it) but got the hang of it reasonably quickly and somehow managed to sneak by the others. I was nice enough to stop and wait though...
As we climbed up the hill we got to sample some of the famous slippery clay sections so this made for the odd little slip and slide. I had one pretty good moment that had me all over the show until I could rein the bike in, drop a gear or two and continue my clamber up the hill - it was great!
As neither Mark or I had that great an idea of where we were (North Island I think), we stopped at every intersection and waited for our navigator.
Our trusty(?) navigator
These short pauses often involved some interesting conversations which the camera captured. Occasionally these were publishable and even slightly humorous..
And yeah, clay can be funny too. Try not to stall a 450 when on clay - the rear wheel will try to overtake the front...
After being foiled by a closed road we eventually neared the Orange Hut which was our planned lunch stop but before that I gave Mark a whirl on the 450 and gave chase on Mighty Mouse. Man, I noticed the difference! You had to actually twist the throttle to make progress, it was a lot heavier and didn't have the suspension or handling of the RMX - big surprise eh? But, what it did have was a comfy seat...
Anyway, it was a blast and you can catch the action in the super long video at about the 35 minute mark. More careful watching will possibly discover some other interesting bits like picking the wrong line in a river (23:10) and more clay. Unfortunately I think I missed a piece where Mark was cautious entering a big puddle only to find that it wasn't that bad...
Just after the wee race we arrived at the Hut and lunch was had with quite a few others - one of who gave me a couple of litres of fuel as I was a little worried at how much I'd got through and how much I was going to need in the afternoon. Top bloke that guy.
After lunch we somehow managed to take the wrong turn almost straight away. This took us down a steep section with a bit of a drop-off into a creek and then a scramble up a similar piece to get out of the hole. We eventually got back onto the right tracks after riding some really neat bits that also included some faster sections which the 450 appeared to enjoy (it was making some lovely music and most of the gearbox got used).
Eventually we split up with Chevvy taking the Param track back to the Hutt valley and Mark and I pretty much retracing our steps back to the car - we even managed to not get lost!
From there, we loaded up, grabbed a coffee and nibbles at Colin's before the trip home. I for one had an awesome day. It was fantastic just to be out on a bike again but the icing on the cake was riding some great trails on the new beast - I'm pretty happy with the RMX so far 😊
