NEW Bike!

I wasn't actually planning to buy a Ducati but did not want to deal with the KTM camshaft issues. I also bought the bike earlier this year in May.

It seems that KTM has admitted to the camshaft debacle and is actually refunding and paying for the repairs. Kudos to KTM for this.

But that's not the reason for this post. I mention this because I actually wanted a Norden 901...

To be honest the Rally is a good bike but a bit expensive and I don't like the after sales. Bit to expensive if you ask me. I also don't like the aura of elite bikes that surrounds the Ducati brand. Not my cup of tea. 

Quick 1st maintenance and tire change = 500€ (tires not included)😒

I used the bike this summer to travel to France and Italy. It definately needs upgrades.

More will follow.

Race Wilder✊

Project P38!

 

Hi there,

It has been  while that I posted here but there is a good reason for it.

As you can see in the title I started a new project. Because of it I'm spending a lot of time wrenching and looking for parts. 

I did go on a trip with my bike in the summertime of 2023,  I didn't really post anything about it maybe I will later but that's due to my new hobby.

It had to happen one day, it was always in the back of my mind and I did go out and look for one on multiple occasions but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

And finally in may last year I bought my 1st ever land Rover Range Rover. Yes a 4x4 😏

It's a P38 DSE 2.5 voque that was made from 1995 till 2001, mine is from 1997. So why did I buy the most unreliable Range rover ever (according to the internet).

Well car's of that age are relatively easy to work on, parts are abundant and when in good shape it makes for a very capable over-lander.

That's exactly what I want to do , building an over-lander out of it. I can tell you that I did not anticipate to take it as far as I did. I never worked on cars before this can become quite challenging but more on that later. Enjoy the pictures.

Bye for now ✌

Paris Dunkerque a cocoricorando event.

The 21st of April was the start of the Cocoricorando event "Paris Dunkerque". 

This is a 3-day event and takes you on various off-road tracks from Paris to Dunkirk. It's not a contest, but it's what they like to call "a ballad."

In terms of tracks, you have 3 options. You can either do it all on the road, or the adventurous circuit which is a mix of road and off-road, and finally the extreme circuit which takes you from Paris to Dunkirk almost exclusively off-road.

The tracks will be mailed to you a week in advance, giving you time to set up your navigation equipment. Alternatively, you can rent a tripy GPS from them for the duration of the event.

For me it was the 1st time but this was the 10th anniversary of the event. I can honestly say that the event is very well organised. There is a briefing at the start. they take you through the program for the next few days and what to do in case of a problem with the bike or if you get injured. They also provide breakfast at the start.

The first and second day were actually very easy 2-track trails. The Tird was the exact opposite. I think they saved the hard part for the last day.

Anyway, the first day took us to a campsite where we would stay for 2 nights, which allowed us to ride lighter on the 2nd day. The second track was a loop that takes you back to the campsite.

The food from breakfast, dinner and for us also luch was really good. The campsite was also a 4 star campsite so the sanitary facilities were at a good level. Being able to shower after a ride is certainly very welcome.

I filmed some during the 1st day, but unfortunately not the days after. I couldn't charge my camera batteries for this.

Here are some impressions from the weekend, I'll leave a link to my YouTube channel if you like to watch my playlist Paris Dunkerque 2023  here.

Bye for now ✌

BTO "La Printaniere" event by Forest event

'La Printaniere'

About a month ago I did one of the most difficult rides for me on the KTM adventure during the BTO organised by forest event. It didn't help that it rained a lot before the event. On the day itself however we had rather nice weather and even good temperatures.

The start was held on the French border to Belgium and went into the Belgian Ardennes. There were some easy tracks combined with some more technical stuff and ruts… I hate ruts especially withe a bike weighing in at 255kg. 

Let me tell you that I couldn't feel my arms anymore at the end of it, at times I even wanted to quit but but I'm gladd I didn't .

I drove with some buddies, Gerald on the Ducati deset X and Jean-Paul on the T7 Yamaha.

Anyway it was a great experience and an eye opener and definitely a good practice before the start of the Paris dunkerque event organised by cocoricorando 🇫🇷. 

Hear some pictures taken during the BTO event.

Airoh commander boost update!

As a motorcyclist you have to wear protective equipment, but how often do you have to replace it?

In 2017-18 I bought the scorpion ADV-X helmet. It was reasonably priced and it ticked all the boxes for me in terms of usability, it had a flip-out sun visor and a peak for off-road riding.

It wasn't until recently that it started to show its age. The sun visor button didn't work very well anymore, as it has seen quite a bit off road it starting to show.

So I decided to buy a new one. At first I looked at the successor to the ADV-X, but I noticed that it became even heavier than its predecessor.

That's why I bought the Airoh commander boost. It is a nice helmet with a matte finish. It comes in a variety of colors and I bought it, how could it be otherwise, with the orange color scheme to match my bike.

It came with a bunch off parts like a pinlock, and adapters for the different configurations and even an action camera mount.

I took it for a first spin and I can say it's a better helmet than the Scorpion, or maybe it was a long time overdue to change helmets.

I'll elaborate more on how it performs later when I post a longer term review. For now you will have to settle for some pictures.

29-04-2023 update

So I’ve been wearing the helmet during a few event in the past 2 weeks. I drove it on highways, off-road and byways. 

This is what I observed. For highway use this might not be the best helmet out there. The reason being that a lot wind is getting inside the helmet especially if you don’t put the chin cover piece in. I didn’t put in the chin piece te be able to get the helmet on and off easier. Next time I'll add the chin piece to see how much off a difference it makes.

Other than that it provides a really big field of view that;s something I really like in all circumstances. I really get the impression that people actually can see you inside the helmet.

In the off- road the “breath ability “ plays in its favour so it doesn’t cook your brains. 

During my return from France I got hammered by a rain storm and I have to admit that it felt save at all moments. It  is a nice place to be like your own privite cocoon shielded from the outside world. Also the padding is of decent quality too, this also adds to the wearing comfort.

One of the things that also stand out for me is the weight it is really light and it really feels nice during longer rides. 

That’s it for now I’ll keep you updated on how it does in the long term.

Bye for now 👊

New rear tire!

It's been a while since my last post, lets say life just gets in the way. 

I finally got to install new my rear tire. Previously I ran the motoz rallz tubeless tire with dimensions 150/70-18 on a 2.5 inch rim. 

As a consequence the tire was very rounded because that's not the kind of rim what this tire is designed for.

So in comes the Rallz 14/80-18 tube type tire, and this one fits the 2.5 inch wheel perfect. Now that's a very small size tire for a 160HP bike. 

I took the bike for a spin yesterday and needless to say that the traction control has its hand full controlling the back wheel. I wanted to scrub the tire in and see how its behaves. 

I'm curious how long it'll last, I have a 3-days camping trip planned in April, we'll see how it hold up.

Bye for now 👊

Motoz Rallz after 4500km

Motoz rallz after 4500km

First ride of 2023!

 Cloudy and grey skies, time to get going!

The weather gods are kind to us this time of the year. Time to set the beast loose for the first time this year! 

Some impressions about my sunday ride.  Drove about 200km mixed on and offroad but mostly tarmac. Not the most beautifull ride I ever did but I got to ride and thats the most important.

Those wind turbines are popping up everywhere, I never saw one up close, they are huge!

Bye for now ✌