Bencubbin overnighter 10th March + PIX

[goodguy]

yea will be there.... Airheadcool

[Goldie1]

See you all tomorrow sounds like it’s going to be a good turn up

[BillB]

Bills spot for Dirt ride

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... k1gOMvpb9M

[Robbo]

Unfortunately my trip to Bencubbin came to an abrupt end about 160km in, after a major breakdown, The mighty DR being recovered on the back of an RAC tow truck. Great service by the way.
My initial thoughts were a failed clutch but after dropping the oil, it seems it may be more than that.

[brian/5]

Robbo good to hear the return RAC service was good.
The corner marking quality dropped after your departure.
There was discussion at breakfast that there may be DR parts lying around a few backyards.

The return Saturday with Colin & Hushy was uneventful except for the strong crosswind and a short delay fo find Hushy phone that fell off. Diverted via O'Brien road and Brigadoon to miss the road works on Toodjay road.
Thanks guys for the good company

Brian

[Digger]

Unfortunately my trip to Bencubbin came to an abrupt end about 160km in, after a major breakdown, The mighty DR being recovered on the back of an RAC tow truck. Great service by the way.
My initial thoughts were a failed clutch but after dropping the oil, it seems it may be more than that.

Bummer...my condolences for your loss. Time to upgrade????

[Robbo]

Bummer...my condolences for your loss. Time to upgrade????

It could be time to upgrade, I'll know more about the damage once I open the engine. Can't complain, 80 000km without issue up until now.

[Robbo]

Robbo good to hear the return RAC service was good.
The corner marking quality dropped after your departure.
There was discussion at breakfast that there may be DR parts lying around a few backyards

Brian

Thanks Brian,

I should hopefully know what parts I need soon.

[KoosWA]

Bummer...my condolences for your loss. Time to upgrade????

It could be time to upgrade, I'll know more about the damage once I open the engine. Can't complain, 80 000km without issue up until now.

What can you possibly upgrade to after a DR. Only a 2018 white DR with light grey motifs on the tank!

[KoosWA]

Just cehcked the website....

DR650SE
DR. DO-IT-ALL

The 2018 DR650SE is one of the most versatile motorcycles ever made, from commuting, courier work, weekend toy to all out hardcore adventure touring the DR650SE is built to be able to handle it all. Travel anywhere in the motorcycling world and chances are you’ll see a DR650SE in various forms of riding application.

No other motorcycle can offer such a heritage of reliability and value for money that’s why it has such a huge following of fans known as the DR faithful

Reliable, big-on-value and street-legal, the DR650SE is eligible for the Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme (LAMS) in certain States and Territories.

On the highways or toughing it out in the dirt, this is Suzuki's ultimate Do-It-All.

Sorry, I know it is a BMW club.

[wightman]

I was riding the same rig as Robbo and a fuel filter snapped on me, just coming into Bencubbin, Tx and well spotted Noel. Mine has only done 10 000kms, so 70k to go before I'll need a gearbox............. I was about the slowest in the group because my suspension seemed too stiff and I was getting blown off the road. I need to tweak.

[spacey1]

The dirt ride to Bencubbin and the Mt Marshall Agricultural Show was not uneventful.

The land up there is VERY DRY. Meaning the dirt roads were VERY DUSTY.

It was also VERY WINDY. Thankfully the cross-winds blew most of the dust off the wheels at 90 degrees into the paddocks, not onto fellow riders behind

The VERY strong cross-wind added to the adventure on VERY loose and dry dirt roads. It also kept the flies at bay.

Our trusty ride leader and his less-than trusty DR 650 ground to a halt not too far off the bitumen at the first instance... The RAC was called to the rescue.



Geez Louise... then we were on our own (minus 3 riders) with a newly acquired ride leader, our Prez, who thankfully is au fait with his GPS.

At one point, a bunch of us over-shot the turn-off from the bitumen to another dirt road section requiring a quick about-face. Our newest rider decided on a shortcut back to the correct turn and found the only bit of mud for hundreds of kilometres (sneakily hidden under a thin crust of salt pan) and fell off right before my eyes No rider or machine was hurt in this little low speed incident

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking, if it was 'digger', he would have caught it all on film

Another rider on-board a not-so trusty DR 650 encountered fueling faults. This time the stoppage was due to ageing after-market additions, mainly fuel lines and fuel filters.

And so... after a day of stoppages, the dirt group called it quits and bee-lined to Bencubbin on the hard-top, and made it by mid-afternoon. A long day to cover 300 kilometres or so...

Congratulations to the organisers of the Mt Marshall Agricultural Show It really was well put together and illustrated the tight sense of community evident in this small country WA town of Bencubbin.

The much-awaited fireworks display caused some grief to club members who decided to put up tents on the showgrounds a little too early... and down-wind of the fireworks site. The nice man surely must have waited until most of the tents were erected before driving around advising campers, with a broad grin, that falling embers from the fireworks were likely to burn holes in expensive plastic tents. An exodus to the up-wind end of the showgrounds followed.

The fireworks display, I must say, was VERY RESPECTABLE, considering the dollars spent by the Mt Marshall Agricultural Show committee (Info courtesy of Ag Show President and BMWMCCWA club member Nick) And it was a little less 'nanny state' than a city event. The local fireys were in attendance ensuring our safety.

After a cool windy night camping on the showground, an early start had us down at the Cafe by 7 am. Very decent of KC's Cafe owners to open at this hour of a Sunday to cater to a full house of hungry eaters.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-30.809 ... 328!8i1664

And I must add, a jolly decent breakfast was served up.

As is the fashion, in Bencubbin and the BMWMCCWA Club, the required photo of the group was shot by KC's Cafe. Many thanks Peta for your fine camera work



Homeward bound... the small group of 'dirt'ies trundled off. The remaining group preferred to hang about talking suspension setup on DR 650's

Low and behold... a phone call quickly stopped that discussion. To be continued at the next tuning day no doubt...

The Prez and his pristine HPM had ground to a halt not 10 minutes down the road, barely outside of town. An electrical fault

After much ado, the HPM was running again. Off we went... Then it was discovered that the HPM was not charging the battery.

No quick fix for this! Luckily local BMWMCCWA club member Nick was close by on his F800GS and offered up a very generous serve of country hospitality

So somehow, after acquiring the responsibility of getting our newest rider home, I got to lead the rapidly diminishing group back to Perth. And we didn't get lost... this time

Thanks to Robbo for mapping out this very enjoyable route to Bencubbin... I have heard that the RAC had done it's job

Thanks to our Prez for picking up the tab and geting us all to Bencubbin.

Thanks to Nick, the Mt Marshall Agricultural Show President, and country BMWMCCWA club member for the invitation and hospitality.

And thanks to my fellow club members for sharing a very eventful journey. All home safely and accounted for.........................

And apologies for the slip-up on that last corner just out of Bencubbin. I could have sworn that I was last.

It really highlights the fact that any time changes are made to the ride group (eg. riders leaving, etc), all riders need to be called together to discuss the status quo, prior to proceeding.