Berm Busting

 Oops, it's Friday and I still haven't posted about last weekends shenanigans!

Last Friday I knocked off at lunchtime and loaded the RMX onto the ute for the trip up to Taupo to have a bash at Epic Event's Berm Buster Trail ride.  

These seem to be run monthly (when Jacinda permits) and after seeing some pictures of the tracks I'd considered going in August but bailed due to a hopeless weather forecast.  This time around the forecast for the weekend was good!

Well, I hoped the forecast was right...driving through the Desert Road I encountered hail and some snow flurries, along with very poor visibility.  Didn't see one mountain...

I arrived in Taupo around 5 and soon found the motel and din-dins.

Taupo was pretty dead (even though the Jaffas were back off the leash), usually it's pumping down in town on a Friday but not at the moment.  The town must be doing it pretty hard - probably why I got a very nice motel room and breakfast for $107...

In the morning it was chilly but looking really good - no sign of hail or snow.

Brekkie consumed, I drove out to the ride which is based around 30km from Taupo.  I was pretty early but things were all setup and plenty of other riders were also early, unloading bikes and gear and generally chomping at the bit.

Nearing the 9:30 kick-off I was trying to hold back a bit to let the guns get away first but eventually got impatient and made my way to the "starting line".

There were three different tracks available to me and first up I decided to do the large 38km one.  

To say that the tracks are fun is an understatement.  There is a bit of everything from tight forestry sections, occasional steep climbs and some wide open (😈) fast sections.  Add in plenty of bumps and the odd boggier bits and there was something for everyone.  The 450 certainly enjoyed it!

With only a few stalling issues, I handled the first lap pretty well but pulled in back at the ute for a quick breather, drink and some fuel for the bike (I still haven't got a real feel for the bikes fuel consumption - I think it's possibly the worst in the fleet) before heading out for my next lap.

This time around I chose the shorter 19km loop (to see what was different and just in case my body broke down).

This loop involved the first few km of the longer loop and I thought that I attacked it a lot harder straight off the bat.  I was getting use to the bike and the fantastic riding surface (grip galore) and finding out just how hard you could attack the track.  If only I was a young, fit bloke...

Lap number two seemed to be over pretty quick and this time when I got back to the truck, I had an early lunch before my next lap.

I took off again not knowing whether I was going to do the larger loop or the smaller one with the intention of seeing how I felt at the turn.  In the end I decided that I was pretty pooped and took the shorter option.  By the time I got back to the ute my arms and shoulders were telling me I'd had enough.  My legs weren't complaining too much...that kicked in Sunday/Monday...

Back at the truck the bike was quickly loaded and then I struggled out of my gear...

The trip back was a lot nicer under the sunny skies and I stopped on the desert road to reacquaint myself with the mountains and make myself a cuppa from the thermos.

While i was getting the thermos out a few 4WD's went past and then a familiar looking 800GS also puttered in - Rodney had escaped out for a ride too and was off to explore some of the tracks off the desert road.

After a quick catch up (it was fairly cold standing in 5 degree weather in shorts and T-shirt), Rodney went off on search of fun while finally pointed the ute South towards home.

New boots look broken in...

Outstanding wee adventure and one I will need to repeat (now that I can walk properly again).  Man the 450 is FUN!

Hall hunting?

 I needed a ride today and had already decided that I wanted to take the Mouse out for a wee play on the gravel but I didn't really have any particular idea of where I wanted to go.  Best check out the Tagorama page then...

Phil had been up in our neck of the woods and dumped the tag over on some back roads between Woodville and Dannevirke.  Oh well, bound to be able to find some gravel over that way...

Now, because I did manage to nab the tag, I can't go into too much detail on my we route (Al might be watching), but suffice to say, some gravel was found both before and after the retrieval of Phil's tag.

I took the shortcut through the ditch, that's why I'm facing a different direction to Phil 😜

And of course, I got to post up the new tag:

So after finding Papatawa Hall, I got lost on the way to Toad Hall...

Shifting sand

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...

Playing with seals

 Bork, bork...

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...

First there was Mighty Mouse