The first scary challenge of the day was getting the bike up on the ute (Colin did that job when we picked it up) without stuffing it up or worse, breaking the back window of the ute. Low-ratio 4WD really makes that easy to just putter up the ramp and tying it down is just a piece of cake with the bars on it.
A little over an hour later, I met up with Colin and Aaron in Waikanae for coffee before carrying on to our kick-off point into the Maungatuks where we were also joined by Geoff. Yes, it was a bit of a chilly start.
The first issue I had (and this was really the beginning of the bigger issue I had later) was getting the bike off the ute. It fired up fine but as soon as I stuck it into reverse it would die. After a few failed attempts, I let the bike run for a bit longer (thinking it was just cold), I got it off and it sat idling nicely with the other quads while everything else was sorted out.
And then we were off with me sticking behind Colin as we clambered up the first hill.
Initially the bike seemed to be going great but after the end of the above video, it started spluttering a bit and eventually slowing right down. Not a good sign. We all had a wee poke around without finding anything too obvious and decided to press on.
The bike would run okish after allowing it to idle for a bit but more and more frequently it would start to slow up after applying any load to it. It was down to 20km/h in places and was getting a bit annoying and also a tad worrisome. Poking out into the sun, we stopped and then started tearing the bike down to try and trace what was obviously a fuelling issue. We were already thinking that the symptoms were pointing to the fact that the bike had been sitting for over a year and that the fuel (even with plenty of fresh stuff on top) had clogged things up.
It took us a while to remove all sorts and bits and pieces until we could get the fuel pump out, but when we did, we discovered that the fuel filter was badly clogged (Aaron couldn't blow through it and I believed so didn't try). With perhaps limited other options to consider in the middle of nowhere, we decided to run the bike without the filter.
And what a difference it made! The bike now had twice the go and as you can see at the start of the next video, handled the nice open stuff easily.
Towards the end of that video you'll notice us getting into some more trickier stuff where this noob was definitely erring on the side of caution and probably also getting plenty of stuff wrong. The extra 4 wheels are quite confusing...Hopefully, in some of the other videos you'll see me gaining in confidence and going from a super-wuss to only mildly hopeless.
And a quick aside: I have ridden the 450 through all of these tracks up until the ones in the last video after our lunch stop. Looking at these videos made me scratch my head a little...
Anyway, so the tracks were definitely getting trickier and it was good to have both Colin in front of me and Aaron and Geoff behind to yell directions and instructions to me.
Here's how my attempt at the deep bog you saw Colin go through in the second video:
I was never getting through there - the bike ended up beached as, with all four wheels just churning in the water.
Next aside: the route I took on the 450 through this? You can see in the video that there is a little wee track on the LHS of the puddle. This is very skinny with a decent drop off on the left so get it right or you either die by falling down the bank or drowning in the puddle. There is also a little tree towards the end (deep end of the puddle) that you kind of have to squeeze around by tipping the bike one way and then the other so that the handlebars can get through - slightly perilous.
More "interesting" terrain followed on our way to the Orange Hut but at least I was able to drive myself out of the next bog.
At the hut, I was definitely ready for a bit of a breather as I possible hadn't breathed very much going through the gnarly stuff...BTW: there was still frost on the ground in places.
In the above picture you'll notice a monstrous Polaris quad and after lunch it joined us for the next excitement.
The next excitement had an enticing name: the Top Bogs. Sound like a piece of cake...
Actually, it wasn't too bad with just a few steep sections giving me the willies. I still aren't that comfortable when the bike is on angle and feeling (at least to me) like it could go over. As with motorcycles, sometimes a bit of momentum helps - until it doesn't.
Here be the top bogs (and at about the 11:30 mark you'll see us break out of the bush for some great views).
 |
| Geoff in action |
 |
| Parked in a big clearing... |
 |
| Where's the track? |
 |
| Aaron and Geoff |
Out on the main track (thankfully), we stopped for a pause, and I shut the bike down. Once rolling again, the poor old bike got stuck in splutter mode again. This time around it got quite bad (perhaps because we were climbing some steeper hills) and it occasionally didn't even want to idle. Perhaps I should never have shut it down.
With no real option to come up with a decent fix, we had to make the decision to tow the bike out, so Colin's bike was pressed into towing service and I spent the rest of the ride following him a lot closer...I let the bike idle all the way back on the off chance that any obstruction between the tank and the injector might eventually find its way out of the system via the combustion chamber.
Luckily, back at the ute the bike went well enough to drive it up the ramps (loading might have been a tad trickier otherwise) and I was soon on my way home after a reasonably eventful (but fun when the bike was running well) first quad ride.
Back home and the bike didn't really want to back off the ute either with it stalling numerous times before it finally behaved itself enough to get down the ramps and stall again...It wasn't a lot of fun pushing the bike around to give it a quick blast with the hose as the light was failing - yeah, in the light of day it still looks filthy.
The bike is now in even more bits with the tank out for a good clean and I'm waiting on a new pump (just in case) and fuel filter and then hopefully she'll be ready for action. Gonna run some injector cleaner through as well. Finger's crossed...
