Cole
Registered user
With 5 weeks to go, the X-Challenge was finally ready to pick up from Touratech and the Off Road School in Wales on the 20th Feb. Visas all done up to and including Mongolia. Not sure whether to get China, India and Pakistan now or leave them till Almaty on the way out. A new logo has been finalised by none other than Matt Hill - the round the world motorcycling graphic designer from Terra Circa. The logo was inspired by an “Udarnik” badge I picked up on an earlier ride thru the former USSR … its a badge for productive communist labour. If anyone represents productive communist labour, it surely is not me. The new logo is now proudly now displayed at the top of each page of the website.
—
Exhausting stuff: I thought I had sorted out an exhaust supplier but that fell thru 2 days before I picked up the XC, so naturally I threw a “tizzy” and tore that aftermarket exhaust manufacturers poster off my office wall. I mean, how dare they?
Simon Pavey came to the rescue. He had a spare unused remus XC exhaust lying around for his rallying needs, but as it turns out BMW will be racing the 450 model this year. The ‘09 Dakar was the last race for the XC so the spare was about to be returned. I convinced him I was a more worthy recipient of it. I had been thinking of even putting up with the extra 2.5 kgs and going with the stock exhaust, but I had a dream last week of the cat converter clogging up in remote Siberia on all the leaded fuel in central asia, rural Russia and Mongolia so Pavey’s remus came in at just the right time to ease my mind.
—
Hard Parts: Having picked up the bike, next project was to get it over to Holland ASAP for what the Germans like to call some “hard parts” prep. I guess for me, the 3 sets of modifications a bike “needs” to go overlanding are related to fuel, luggage and protection. Obviously there are a whole bunch of “wants” as well … but those mods are the 3 needs. (I have done big overland trips with neither fuel, or protection mods, and only the most amateurish luggage mods - but its far from ideal).
Protection will come from old mate Nick Plumb at Touratech UK. A radiator guard, rally bashplate and handguards are to be fitted whenever I can get back to Wales to pick them up, along with a number of other minor protective pieces, the sort of stuff at which Touratech really excel.
Fuel: The fuel mods and luggage mods were to be handled by Dutch metal working guru and bike prep maestro, Erik Bok, from Hot Rod Welding. Erik was ‘hip to my cause’ when I said I needed the lightest possible solutions. He makes the only metal aftermarket fuel tank for the X-Challenge, a neat 7.3 litre add on unit called the X-Tank, that weighs just under 2kgs, as it is made from pressed aluminium alloy. For the Sibirsky Extreme bike, he added 60mm of width to the tank, giving us an extra 5 litres in the Xtank for a total of 12 litres. The additional weight for the wider tank is only 0.4 kgs. The tank feeds directly into the 10 litre standard tank. So now, one fuel stop will give me 22 litres of continuous fuel, and on the super economical XC, that translates to 600 km of range.
Next it was onto the luggage. To minimise weight, the bike will have Ortlieb soft luggage ; Bicycle panniers (weighs around 1.25 kgs for 2 bags) at the sides and a roll bag at the back. I have never subscribed to the germanic notion of steel or aluminium boxes. They are heavy. The frames required to support them are even heavier.
I needed a framework for the side bags and a rack for the roll bag. Erik built a set from 15mm tubular steel which included a rear rack, side mounting bars, and fuel tank protection, weighing less than 3kgs. As there is no room to double on a XC anyway, we moved the luggage as far forward as we could get it, right behind the rider. With the side bags being 1.25 kgs a pair, plus less than a kilo for the rear ortlieb roll bag, we have come up with a complete 3 piece 130 litre totally waterproof luggage solution (including rack) for 5kgs. Thats a 15-20 kg !!!!! saving on many hard luggage solutions.
—
Seating Arrangements: The stock bike seat needed to be changed. I can ride 15 hours a day, 7 days a week on a good seat, but 1 hour on the X-Challenge and my butt needed changing. It is not a sustainable proposition. Modifying the seat is essential. The Dutch connections again came into play. Ray de Vries is unique among motorcycle seat makers. He actually rides bikes all over the world himself. He knows what it means to do long days on gravel roads, sitting down as much as standing up. And he knows what to do to seat to make it comfortable in that role. Ray is crafting a new X-Challenge seat in black.
—
Suspension: In a final Dutch link up, Hyperpro, the guys with the purple springs, have convinced me that the air-shock at the back of the bike is not really up to the job. Hyperpro don’t just set up the shock absorbers, they have also built a reputation for the best progressive springs in the world. I cant wait to try out the new bike and feel the difference.
—
Exhausting stuff: I thought I had sorted out an exhaust supplier but that fell thru 2 days before I picked up the XC, so naturally I threw a “tizzy” and tore that aftermarket exhaust manufacturers poster off my office wall. I mean, how dare they?
Simon Pavey came to the rescue. He had a spare unused remus XC exhaust lying around for his rallying needs, but as it turns out BMW will be racing the 450 model this year. The ‘09 Dakar was the last race for the XC so the spare was about to be returned. I convinced him I was a more worthy recipient of it. I had been thinking of even putting up with the extra 2.5 kgs and going with the stock exhaust, but I had a dream last week of the cat converter clogging up in remote Siberia on all the leaded fuel in central asia, rural Russia and Mongolia so Pavey’s remus came in at just the right time to ease my mind.
—
Hard Parts: Having picked up the bike, next project was to get it over to Holland ASAP for what the Germans like to call some “hard parts” prep. I guess for me, the 3 sets of modifications a bike “needs” to go overlanding are related to fuel, luggage and protection. Obviously there are a whole bunch of “wants” as well … but those mods are the 3 needs. (I have done big overland trips with neither fuel, or protection mods, and only the most amateurish luggage mods - but its far from ideal).
Protection will come from old mate Nick Plumb at Touratech UK. A radiator guard, rally bashplate and handguards are to be fitted whenever I can get back to Wales to pick them up, along with a number of other minor protective pieces, the sort of stuff at which Touratech really excel.
Fuel: The fuel mods and luggage mods were to be handled by Dutch metal working guru and bike prep maestro, Erik Bok, from Hot Rod Welding. Erik was ‘hip to my cause’ when I said I needed the lightest possible solutions. He makes the only metal aftermarket fuel tank for the X-Challenge, a neat 7.3 litre add on unit called the X-Tank, that weighs just under 2kgs, as it is made from pressed aluminium alloy. For the Sibirsky Extreme bike, he added 60mm of width to the tank, giving us an extra 5 litres in the Xtank for a total of 12 litres. The additional weight for the wider tank is only 0.4 kgs. The tank feeds directly into the 10 litre standard tank. So now, one fuel stop will give me 22 litres of continuous fuel, and on the super economical XC, that translates to 600 km of range.
Next it was onto the luggage. To minimise weight, the bike will have Ortlieb soft luggage ; Bicycle panniers (weighs around 1.25 kgs for 2 bags) at the sides and a roll bag at the back. I have never subscribed to the germanic notion of steel or aluminium boxes. They are heavy. The frames required to support them are even heavier.
I needed a framework for the side bags and a rack for the roll bag. Erik built a set from 15mm tubular steel which included a rear rack, side mounting bars, and fuel tank protection, weighing less than 3kgs. As there is no room to double on a XC anyway, we moved the luggage as far forward as we could get it, right behind the rider. With the side bags being 1.25 kgs a pair, plus less than a kilo for the rear ortlieb roll bag, we have come up with a complete 3 piece 130 litre totally waterproof luggage solution (including rack) for 5kgs. Thats a 15-20 kg !!!!! saving on many hard luggage solutions.
—
Seating Arrangements: The stock bike seat needed to be changed. I can ride 15 hours a day, 7 days a week on a good seat, but 1 hour on the X-Challenge and my butt needed changing. It is not a sustainable proposition. Modifying the seat is essential. The Dutch connections again came into play. Ray de Vries is unique among motorcycle seat makers. He actually rides bikes all over the world himself. He knows what it means to do long days on gravel roads, sitting down as much as standing up. And he knows what to do to seat to make it comfortable in that role. Ray is crafting a new X-Challenge seat in black.
—
Suspension: In a final Dutch link up, Hyperpro, the guys with the purple springs, have convinced me that the air-shock at the back of the bike is not really up to the job. Hyperpro don’t just set up the shock absorbers, they have also built a reputation for the best progressive springs in the world. I cant wait to try out the new bike and feel the difference.