Hit the trails on Sunday with WestOZ and a few other ADV guys.
6 of us all up.
2 KLX's, a KTM 640 Adventure and 3 Suzuki's.
A DR650, DR250 and a DRZ400

160k from Mundaring to York and back. 130 dirt and 30 tar.

What a great day.
From fast sweeping dirt roads to some extremely difficult, slippery hills.

Here's WestOz and the 2 KLX's on the trip.




And the group at Mt Observation.




Did I mention that some of the tracks were a bit slippery and rough?
All hands were required to wrestle the 640 up this very rutted section.
(All but me that is otherwise no proof)






The 650 didn't mind a lie down every now and then.




And when the 640 got bogged, well lets just say that the 650 will need a good clean after this incident.




I managed to bend my gear lever.
I bent it back, sort of, but gear changes were a pain in the butt for the rest of the day.




What made it worse is I went to price a new one today.
$A100
I told em to get stuffed and they reduced it to $A85.
Told em to get stuffed again.
That's just ridiculous for such a cheap crappy lever.
I know, I know "brake snake"

Anyway, top day was had by all.

I'm sure WestOz will add to this report.

BTW, forget about all the other slip on's.
The 2Brothers on WestOz's bike sounds awesome.

 

As Neil said, a great time was had by all. I'll add some photos shortly, maybe a video too. Got one of Neil coming up the trail although he disappointed everyone by staying upright the whole way up.
Not sure I'd ever trade green for yellow, they seem to like to lie down far too often.

Go the greens.

 

Looks like a good time. Sucks about the shift lever, the price is outrageous. I thought Dual-Star was going to make an after market shifter that could be cheaper but so far zippo.

M

 

BTW Neil, I'm pretty sure the shift lever from an XR400R will fit. You could always heat it over the gas and apply some hammer. Temper it in some cold water when you're happy with the new bend.

 

I might try and bend the existing one back into shape and maybe weld a bit of extra steel to some points to make it a bit stronger.
After all, as I explained to the Kawasaki parts guy, its only mild steel.

 

That way it will just bend your shaft instead of the shifter next time

Just bend'r back, put it in a vice and just start cranking down.

 

+1 to what Jason said. I laid my old KLR250 down once and the shift lever snapped the shaft off even with the engine case. Sucked big time!! The lever on that bike was made out of thicker material. Some one on here said the lever off of a honda XR650L (1993-2006) will fit. Do a search, then you might have some aftermarket options.
Looks like a fun time. Thanks for sharing the pics, hope to see more.
Dan

 

Good stuff guys, that's cool you were able to hook up and ride.





So Neil, just between you and me, don't tell Woz I said this, but just how crazy of a **** is that guy?

 

 

lmao, that's awesome!