muttley takes a snooze..... twice in one day :(

[oz_johnno]

Greetings,
I took a ride from Melbourne to Dargo on Australia day (yesterday) Had lunch at the Dargo Pub then took the Dargo high plains road (dirt road) then the hill to Harrietville at the base of mt Hotham.

some photos from yesterday

mick coming across the bridge just before Dargo



Mick checking the papers for that elusive pole dancing job so the can augment his income to pay his speeding fine that he collected earlier that day (im on the right)



after lunch we headed up the dargo high plains road to bust my dirt riding cherry

mick



micks mate



muttley



the view.



it was a great day marred only by a by a flat in my 14000km old rear PR2 which had to be fixed before we made the run down the hill to harrietville



Buoyed by my first sucessful run in the dirt I made plans to replace the tyre in wangaratta today and find some more dirt to play in on the way home.

we had brekky then I left the boys to it and headed off for my new tyre. After the tyre was fitted I left Wangaratta and headed out to whitfield and over the back to Mansfield where I fueled up and headed for jamison where the dirt began

Things were going pretty well, I was taking my time, travelling at about 40-60km/h (or 25-40mph for the non-metric) when just after gaffneys creek ran into trouble. It seems that my PR3's had not much problem with the gravel/dirt, but when the front tyre hit a patch of sand...... the front end suddenly dived, and muttley had a bit of a lie down

I got him back up and checked for damage. It seems the bark busters and altrider crash bars took the brunt of the blow, the 3m paint protection film did ok too, but there is still about an inch long scuff which penetrated the duco (pics to follow)

------ to be continued

[oz_johnno]

------ continued from above

I stopped a bit further along at various points and took some photos





and it was at the secon stop that my foot got caught when I mounted the bike and........ muttley snoozes yet again.....



same side luckily.

by this time I was getting pretty pissed off with things so I decided to have a break. So I popped open a can of rum and coke (they sell cans of pre-mixed drinks in Australia), poured some on the ground to make the appropriate libations to the road gods and drank the rest of the can while I enjoyed the alpine vista's



As I said, I was getting pretty jack of the dirt for the time being, so I was looking forward to getting back to some nice smooth tar and the twisties of the reefton spur

The drops were a little disappointing and at 115km (71 miles) of tight twisting dirt roads, it may have been a bit long for a second outing, but looking back on it, it was great fun, and it was nice to see the bush like that, so I think I will do this enduro thing again.

Only next time, I will use dual sport tyres instead of sport tourer tyres

OZ

[TimOz]

Oz_jonno,
Maybe some viagra in the tank will help keep it upright??

But seriously, sorry about the drops. I have ridden that dirt road many times and even done the Dargo HP road in snow. Great riding and thanks for the report and pics. Inspiring me not to commute so much.

Keep it up next time.

[oz_johnno]

thanks bloke,

As I said, it was the first couple of times riding on dirt. Very different technique I think. Any tips you could pass on to a newby about how to ride in dirt would be appreciated

OZ

[thelumox]

awsome report Johnno!

[Duc PP]

So, that's what the bottom of our bikes look like, I'll take your word for it...
How well did the crash bars and bark buster do, is the left side ok after your spill, did the parts pay for themselfs right there ?
I like the idea of Rum & Coke , all in one, do they sell "Bloody Marys" in a can?.
It's good to see someone in the world getting out for some adventurous riding, I have to wait probably another 10 weeks, damn winter!
Thanks for sharing your good & bads....

[geobryrap]

G'day Oz,

Great write up and pics, it was nice to meet you on sunday and put a face to the name. Hope the damage is light.

cheers George.

[Dr. Greg]

Howdy Oz,

Yeah, that soft stuff will get ya. On hardpack the MTS12 is fine (within reason), but just throw a little silt at it, and...

Glad you and bike are basically OK. Thanks for sharing.

--Doc

[WakeDude]

For some reason I just love seeing Multi's all dirty like that, thanks for the report and pictures. G'day!

[Bly]

You might want to rethink the racing slick on the front for dirt next time.