Tenere Tragics

TRAIL MAIL: TRAGIC DAVE HITS THE SAND DUNES

Hi Tania, Clubby and all the Tragics: I've been getting a fair bit of riding in on the old 3AJ Ténéré in preparation for next year's ride so the Super Ten 1200 has been feeling left out. I've recently had the suspension all rebuilt by Teknik which has made a huge difference, mainly because even though I have owned the bike since new in '88 I have never touched the suspension, not even an oil change for the front forks! So getting it sorted after 23 years has made it feel much better and an easier bike to ride. Other than that it's just regular oil and filter changes as well as wheel bearings, steering head bearings and brake pads.

Most of my rides lately have been with a group I like to call "Club KTM": they're a bunch of mates from the OffRoadExplorer.com forum. We've done a few rides through Yengo NP, up to the Watagans and an overnighter to Coolah Tops, as well as a bunch of day rides in the Blue Mountains closer to home.

One notable day out was up to Stockton Beach near Newcastle with my mate Chad on his F800GS and myself on the 600. We trailered the bikes up early one weekday morning knowing that we'd be too tired to bother riding the freeway home. Didn't really know what to expect up there, only ever doing it in the 4WD. We towed the bikes over the dunes to the beach and unloaded them but seeing the tyres sink into the soft sand was heart-wrenching and that was before I had my 118kg on the bike! We set off and I just gunned it, clicking up the gears, into third, on the pegs and it was like a boat coming onto the plane and in about half an hour we were getting used to it and only had a few low-speed falls for the day. I was surprised how much fun we had but also how much hard work it was. After a few hours we were stuffed, exhausted and muscles aching so we called it a day. We'll be back there again soon.

-- Dave, Ténéré Tragic

Nice one, Dave. Always good to hear about the ol' bangers getting freshened up and then put to good use. Riding Stockton on a pure dirt bike can be tough enough, let-alone doing it on a big-tanked adventure bike, so well done to you and Chad for having a play in the sand dunes on your adventure machines. We look forward to catching up again at Mount Panorama in March!

-- Clubby, Ténéré Tragic #1