Crossing Australia

Hi all,

I have recently been pondering a challenge that i have been dreaming of - the concept of riding across the country on my berg, east to west, north to south, but havent settled on a route yey, but Sydney to Perth would be the ultimate challenge.

Thinking that starting in Sydney getting on to the bicentennial trail through the blue mountains before geting out into the plains and desert sounds like a good start, central OZ is a mystery to me, i know nothing of it, and would like to re-enter the southern / south western region of WA on the other side of the continent, just basic and conceptual.

Im hoping that some of our rally riding or desert riding berg brothers might be able to provide some of the hard earned know how and advice to point me in the right direction, and maybe give a few clues about bike prep and set up for the berg, as well as what to carry to keep out of trouble etc.

My old man is readying for full retirement and is somewhat inclined to follow in his landcruiser for support and supply.

anyway, if any one has some tips or techniques, set up or prep or any other guidance it would be greatly appreciated, could envisage possibly riding some sections with other berg riders along the way if anyone is keen to lead me through their patch.

I have been working on big tank setups, fabricating a sub tank for under the left side panel, and hard or soft panniers / saddle bags to cary essential equipment.

There is a story behind every ride, at the moment im going through a tough patch, its the season in my life that i can do something like this, and if it all comes together I'd like to try and raise some money for charity along the way to doing something amazing and challenging while i can.

I look forward to anyone providing any advice.

Cheers!

Azza.

Jeez ! If I didn't have 3 kids and one on the way I would saddle up and come with you. Love trips like that.
I can't offer any tech advice, but just wish you good luck. Take a good digital camera and post lots of pics for other Berg fans to enjoy.

Years ago when i lived in the Pilbara 5 of us on various big bores planned a trip to cross the gunbarrel hwy west to east, hit alice springs then head north to darwin returning home via the kimberly coast. The trip happened for the others but my railway roster got changed in the last week and I had to cancel (super pissed at the time).

They had a ball, heaps of punctures and the odd mechanical failure, but overall they survived and loved it. With a trip like that it pays to do lots of research. planning fuel, permission in ADVANCE if you have to enter abbo land, ETC..

Good luck

sounds tops !!

search for Enginenumber's thread on his Canning Stock Route trip on a 550, they went unsupported and he carried something like 45L of fuel on his bike 8O plus everything else including the sink :wink:

Azza,
great idea, i have often thought of doing an east /west run across aus on a bike.
Last year 2 other riders and myself completed a run across the Canning Stock Route. 1700km all up of offroad riding. Most attempts across the Canning by motorcycle are done with a support vehicle as back up.We tried to find out info off the net and so forth on doing the Canning Stock Route un assisted without support, there was only a couple we found that had done it, everyone said we were crazy even thinking about it.

After a lot of homework and planning(12 months) we decided to give it a go.A lot of info on the net on peoples claim to fame with the CSR trips, we found were done with vehicle support and back up,we found it was limited info for what we wanted to do.
Some of the issues we were faced with were- 750km fuel range out of the bikes, camping gear, water, 10 days food,bike maintenance,break down repairs,how to get out of there in an emergancy, communications,fuel usage in deep sand with a fully ladened bikes,type of bike most suited for the trip,tyre selection,what spares to take, what to leave behind, the list just goes on. You need to sit and talk to many people,4wd clubs,other bike riders,take notes so you never miss anything, go over the notes, add more info to it on what and how you are going to deal with certian situations,regular meetings and contact with your team, lay all your gear out, do a couple of dummy runs fully loaded up, test, retest to ensure it is capable,use as close to real conditions as possible for testing, do a multiday run as a test of gear, machine and rider.Go over as many what if this happened and how are we going to fix it? Show your team your bike and all the gear you are going to take, get their ideas ,modifications may be needed also.
Rider management can be over looked easily,its no good having the best of everything and all the preperation right and you find a rider fatigues early a few days into it and crashes out, this can ruin the trip for all,fitness and riding ability need to be accounted for also with the type of riding.If a rider is showing signs of fatigue or other issues or injures, then they also need to be managed, you may need to slow the pace down to accomadate other riders. You need to work as a team to get through the trip in one piece.Australian desert crossings in summer is not reccommended due to high temperatures especially on bikes so time of year will need to be concidered.

I looked at my berg for a week and a half, after many people said you cant do that on that bike! How do you attach an extra 80kg of gear equipement ,fuel,water and supplys to a bare arse race bike ideally suited to a 70kg rider.Well it can be done, see the attached photos below moments before leaving Meekatharra for Wiluna to the start of the track.

I carried 53 litres of fuel for a 750km stretch as we were unsure on fuel usage in dunes in deep soft sand, 7-10 litres of water a day(from wells on the track), 10 days food,tools,spares, oil,filters,light weight dehydrated food,tools.i installed a 130kg rear spring to handle the load and heavier front springs also. This was one of the best things done to the bike otherwise it would have punched itself to bits and damaged gear on the bike bottoming out with that sort of weight onboard.A gear rack was constructed out of chrome moly to hold jerry cans, gear bag and other items.This had to be modified a few times to make sure it was not going to fail out in the desert miles from nowhere.Soft fuel cells and tank bags were utilized also.i even went to the trouble of bolting the rack on the bike and taking it to a professional welder/fabricator for inspection just to make sure it was right.Even spoke to Gazza and others with desert riding/racing experience for their opinions as well,tyre choice came into it.It all counts, once in a remote area you cant chase info, tools, gear,food or other nessasary items.

To my suprise out there, the 550 was averaging 18km / litre through the sand dunes , so the 750km section was done on 32litres I think.We also pre arranged a 200 litre drum fuel dump halfway through the trip as well.The KTM LC4 used about 48litres and I think the KTM 625 used 50 during the same section.

I imagine a mountian expeditioner or the like would go through a simular process before heading out on a mountian climb.
Anyway good luck with your trip Azza, if you want photos of our trip and a write up on it , send us a pm- your email and i will forward them on to you.Any other questions or info , feel free to ask mate.

Hope there was some good info there for you.
Cheers,

thanks gents, very helpfull.

Enginenumber, cheers, that is a great start for me and the pictures speak volumes, im definately not going un supported, its just too extreme, i will work on the basis of being supported, but will work on carrying enough fuel and my own equipment to do large segments solo, also am looking at solo ride, except if others join in along the way.

If i can bombard you with a heap of questions - what is the blue 'box on the right side alongside the cylinder? how did you fix the jerry can holder frames to the bike frame? dud you use the standard 10.5 litre tank and work on refilling more frequently - did you have a sub tank of some kind? did you go with mousse tubes to avoid flats or did you use standard HD tubes? any tyres you'd specifically recommend?

Im starting to build a mental list of the sort of bike set up, and kit out, im thinking that my second berg (hopefully here this week, could represent a good back up bike if the first bike poops itself on the trail, spare chain and sprocket definately, case saver - yes, ive now seen what a chain malfunction will do to an engine case.

what about all those little tricks? yes or nos here - zip tying spokes? whatabout carrying and powering GPS? can you run a cig lighter plug from the bikes electrical system (not necissarily the plug - can be specifically wired) to power up a road and a hand held GPS?

minimal camp gear? one of those single man tents and a -2degrees sleeping bag? self inflate bed mat? small fuel cooker?

All good thanks guys, any other info will go in the notes and plans, maybe, just maybe I can do this, only prob is there are going to be few chances to pre-run, few chances to converse with other like minded riders or 4WD'ers, because im on an island, thats what makes doing something like this a really big challenge for me.

I think this is about getting out there, and seizing the day, carpe diem! if i can drum up some support or raise awareness about depression particularly for people in remote and rural areas, it would be worthwhile.

Cheers again

Azza.

Azza,
the blue box on the side of the engine is nothing more than a cut down storage container that is sold in hardwares used to hold nails and screws,it was mounted on the bike to hold 1 spare litre of oil, this was put there to help keep the centre of gravity lower on the bike and it was out of the way, the plastic container added protection for the oil bottle that it housed.I also lined the inside of it out with carpet to prevent chaffing and a hole wearing through the container over rough ground during the trip.

I have attached a couple of photos of the heavy duty rack attached to the bike also.I built this myself, out of chrome moly tube. I hired a oxy set and nickel bronzed it.Mounting a heavy rack on the husaberg was a challenge, with the 40 odd kgs I wanted to carry, using the sub frame on the rear of the berg was going to be out of the question as this would of damaged the sub frame. However to get strenght and adequete bracing I used a couple of U bolts around the main back bone of the frame and also made a forked peice to go over the foot peg bracket and replaced the pin with a bolt.Added more bracing to the frame for strenght. our other problem was the bikes tend to shake from side to side in sand ruts, which in turn would work on the frame and potentially break it also. I then had to put nylon spacers through the side guard into the sub frame, 2 small bolts were used for that which then fixed that problem.You will also see i had to apply a touch of heat to the fuel tank corner so I could get clearance for the nuts on the U bolts so they did not wear through the tank. the tank was also spaced out on the mounts slightly as well.
I chose jerry cans that were slim (10 litres) to be mounted on the rear each side, these were steel also and durable, that way i had a narrower bike width which proved to be a wise chioce.I also designed the rack so if the bike went down on its side the jerry cans would just pop out the back and absorb most inpacts without punchering the cans.Carpet was also applied to the rack where the jerry cans sat to prevent movement and chaffing a hole in one.

When we carried fuel we did not attach lines every where so they all fed into the main fuel tank. The reason for this is if a fuel line came off in the desert and went unnoticed you could lose all the fuel. With seperate containers and soft fuel cells , if you damaged one you would only lose 5-10 litres but retain most of your fuel reserves to get to the next fuel stop.The same applied for the water, seperate containers.The standard 9 litre fuel tank was used and I had 2/ 8 litre soft fuel cells in a tank bag and another tied on the bike. Anyway after blowing off 9 litres of fuel you were pretty happy to get off the bike for 5 minutes.Another thing, as you go into remote australian communities sometimes Opal fuel is all that is avaliable.

Tyres,well after reading up on all sorts of info I decided to speak with Gazza and another Rally rider, they basically said moose tubes lost shape and density after a day of racing and needed to be swapped around or rotated, although you did not get puntches. We were carrying lots of weight so they would of got pretty hot and gone out of shape quickly i imagine.We went with the Ultra heavy duty 4mm tubes and Michelin Desert tyres. Now if you run those tyres at high speed with weight on them on open roads for long periods they will start losing knobs and fall apart. If you keep your speeds under around 100kmh the tyres will last and go the distance.i got second a hand set off a guy who rides rally, they had already been doing legs of the australian safari( had a hard time) before i got my hands on them.I used them for the whole 1700kms and have still got them on the bike now getting the last out of them, great tyres, excellent wear , strong side walls and a wide foot print,they provided excellent traction in loose sand over dunes.Cable ties were applied to the cross section of the spokes as a bit of extra support also.

Bike prep- we started off with brand new chain ,sprockets,brakes,wheel bearings. I even replaced the swing arm pin, bushings and bearings as they were slightly worn. With all the weight onboard and heavily corrigated tracks , I was glad i did.

Motor- you need to have a look at your motor before leaving, how many kms/hrs are you likely to put on it during your trip, how many does it have on there now, I had around 160hrs on mine, I needed to lower the proberbility down of a break down, although the bike engine had not been flogged, I replaced cam bearings $10 each , cam follower bearings and even put a cam chain in just for good luck prior to leaving.It may have made it through the ride with the original stuff in there, however you are going into the unknown after a certian number of hours I beleive.

GPS- without a doubt, going into remote desert areas i would say this is a must, we also carried paper maps as back up.If you are not a guru on navigation or struggle with navigation by the stars then these are great items.
I used a garmin Zumo 550, this is quite a large unit for a offroad bike, however very good, I had oz topo offroad maps in it which had the track on it already.In the middle of the desert it is flat on all horizons so no land marks to be seen, the sun was about the next best thing for direction we found.The unit is water proof, fuel resistant and can be used with the left hand with gloves on. It has all the mounting stuff for the bike and can be used as a navigator in the car also. I have punched the gps over rough stuff on the bike ,corrogated roads and the like, it just keeps going.Others will prefer a smaller more compact unit for bikes. This one hard wires into the bike as well.

Camping gear- i generally use a compact 2 person tent, 1.8kg, I can get all my gear out of the weather if needed and I got it cheap.1 person tents are great 1.1- 1.5 kgs a bit lighter. I used a cheap sleeping bag during our trip that was rated to 0 degrees. The temperatures out in the deserts can drop to around -3 , if i went again i would look at a quality -5 degrees sleeping bag, we also took thermal gear luckily as well. Sleeping mats, I have tried a few, very happy with the therma rest pro lite 4, XL about 1kg,compact and lite, most others did not seem to last and you could feel cold from the ground. Sleeping bags will be 1-1.3 kg in that range.I also use a $2 blue tarp as a ground sheet under the tent, you never know what else it cound be used for. I carried a emergancy thermo blanket 50 gms,can also be used to attract attention from above and keep you warm.I made my own metho stove, used a 250mm paint tin, filled it full of cotton wool, fill it with metho a hose clamp around the outside with a peice of thin sheet tin around the outside. Burns about 100ml of metho during a cook up.Plenty of compact stoves on the market out there as well.

Regards,

nice rack!

Azza Pm me before you leave and get my details, FWIW my workshop is yours to repair anything if you make it over here

we can look at your boingers as well, this is the test Track :twisted:

Hi Azza,
If you do the East-West ride let me know if you need anything chased up from the Sydney end?
I’m about 40Kms North West of down town Sydney.

Good luck, you will need it when you tackle the Sydney drivers with that much gear on the bike. Wow you are going to get some looks.
I don't know how enginenumber got down any steep hills with that gear on the back you wouldn't be able to shift your weight over the back. Wonder how effective the headlight was shining through the bread rolls? I reckon he would have been chewing grasshoppers in the bread rolls
And I’ll be darned if I can't see the rack on his bike for the Port Bottles for the mandatory night cap around the camp fire each night They must be there somewhere.

Anyone have some really heavy uprated fork and shock springs?

may neen an escort out of sydney... i hate cities... and have never seen Sydney..

Azza.

I have a WP 92 rear shock spring in yellow which is hard to get, used it on our 650 Safari bikes, its no good for the new 570's so was looking to on sell it

Myself and a few mates are planning a loop to Finke and home via the Hill and Simpson in June 2011. I got the DR650 for this rather than take the Berg. Cop out? Perhaps. When are you planning to leave? I recall Tony Kirby wrote up a Byron Bay to ? (Shark Bay?) crossing when the WR400 Yams came out. 2 bikes and a Courier 4x4 for support. Might be able to track down an old Sidetrack with it written up. When are you going? I perhaps can assist this end and ride some/all of the way on the DR with you.

Steve

Azza I'm happy to escort or ride with you. I don't know any dirt tracks out of Sydney though. Are you looking for dirt tracks or bitumen out of Sydney ?
It would also be good to meet you and Steve.
Could we call it a mini Force ride? Just the 3 of us on the Great Western Highway for a couple of hours


I can't help you with suspension, all this talk about clicking clikers, 0.46 springs, a full revalve, CC, OC, TTX, Ohlins, Sag, and Fork Oil height has got me baffled. Wish I lived near bushie.

Struggle on the down hill sections Davo, yes we struggled all over the place, the bikes did not turn , stop or go anywhere you wanted them to go in dunes. Sometimes when taking off in the sand ruts they would just want to highside and the front would go anywhere, the bike would just jump out of a rut and go for the trees or bushes.You would just have to stop and try and start again.The other good bit is trying to get them out of sand ruts when 4wds are coming the other way.We found to get as much weight over the front ends as possible, i used the fuel on the rear of the bike first to assist with this.I had brused calf muscles for the first 2 hours of riding due to putting my leg down to stop the bike going over, you would then be hit by the rack on the bike in the back of the leg, you quickly adjusted your riding style so this did not happen. I also became quite good at acrobatics when riding, i pulled off many stunts and weird positions on the bike to keep it upright at times.Oh yes, slowing down in sand it also went where ever it god damn pleased.No dodging rocks on the track either, you justed slowed down and and straight lined it all.

You have got me there Dav! I have attached a photo of the rear of the bike, if you look closely to the right hand side just under the rack you will see a 2 litre wine cask, which went down well in the evenings. However after a few days in the sun with heat stroke and fatigue the last thing you wanted was a drink.The other 2 guys got on the sauce with red wine one night and payed for it dearly the following day.

Azza,
heres so more info, some of the stuff we took was bolts,nuts,washers,6mm threaded rod, fencing wire,tie wire,spare tubes, tube repair kit, silicon, gasket cement, gasket paper, plastic repair kit, liquid steel, spare radiator hose, oh I also got some flexable hose or conduit and wrapped up the radiator hoses for extra protection which was wise due to us over shooting corners and going for the trees sometimes.Fuel hose,small pre-drilled steel brackets , peices of rubber and plastic , heaps of cable ties, metho and that sort of thing.

Springs, the springs i brought new for the trip were racetech, a 130kg progresive rear spring, this was awsome for the weight carried and it worked well even with just 20 extra kg of gear on the rear.I was able to go off drop offs 2 foot high without bottoming at all. The front springs were .50 kg, they were good a touch stiff, however with the added weight over the front end they done the job. they were only used for the 8 days and have been removed from the bike straight after the trip , I have been going to put them on E Bay as I wont use them for normal riding.

If you are interested you might want to have a look at the rack I have, it will bolt straight onto your bike, you will need to drill two small holes in the subframe bracket on the bike and about a 30mm hole through your side guard for the nylon spacers , a touch of heat to the inside of the fuel tank to gain clearance for the Ubolt nuts on the back bone of the frame, it is strong , does not flex, narrower than the width of the handle bars and will hold 10 litre jerry cans either side. It has $300 of chrome moly in it. If you are serious about your ride you can have that if you like, it takes lots of time and testing to get it right, it may save you building one. it takes about half a day to fit.Let us know if you are keen,it is of no use to me anymore , it was purpose built for the trip.

And theres more! When we took food we mainly carried light weight non perrisbable stuff, Continental packets of rice and pasta dishes, you can add satiuals of tuna or samon, freeze dried corn, beans and peas, weetbix, powder milk, buscuits, rice cakes,salami and cheeder cheese.Although the first day or 2 we would usually take snags or steak , bread, pita bread or flat bread, you can buy flash expensive dehydrated stuff from camp shops as well.Space and weight was a big issue. I think 10 days of tucker was about 6.5kg , which is not to bad.If you take fruit and eggs they get smashed and make a hell of a mess.Choclate melts in the sun, we also took musli bars and lollies.

packing your gear on the bike, heavy items need to be put down low , it may help with handling of the bike, water proof camp bags were used for sleeping gear and clothing and any other stuff that may get wet, even though it may already be in a bag.Watch for items that will wear against each other when packed, fragile items can be wrapped it clothing for protection also. Watch for branches and track over hang with anything the hangs off the side of the bike as well. A branch or rock can quickly puncher a bag or fuel container.
Well thats all i can think of at the moment.

Oh , and another thing Azza while I think of it,
do something with your seat, I suggest building the seat up , with quality dense foam, make it a touch wider also, get yourself a sheep skin cover to, otherwise you will need a chisel to get your arse off the seat every night. I would look at putting a make shift fold away set of pegs on the front of the bike so you can stretch your legs right out on the long road sections, just down around the front engine mount area.plenty of pics on the net of people who do this on other bikes.

See Ya!

Azza

If you were to do it around the time that the Lions are over I would save like buggery to do it with you!

It's been a secret dream of mine to travel australia around that time.

regards

Taffy

Hey Enginenumber ,

Fabtastic effort. I've got some geriatric friend heading to the CSR next week, 4 fourbies. Doing it unsupported on bikes is not for everyone, brilliant effort. People die out that way.

Steve

Thanks for all the awesome responses guys, it is very much appreciated.

Engine number, i may take you up on the rack and springs in time, think about their value, but up to now I have been thinking of the saddle and tank bag set up thats shown in Ballard's catalogue (on a katoom) as riding supported will require less to be carried on the bike, and that will make the ride a little easier.

Taff, i was thinking just before june, probably the month of May - have you seen what the rain is doing out on the east coast and in the desert over here this june?

Steve, definately keep it in mind, i wont hold it against you if you ride the 'zook, but why not on the Berg?

Davo, im conceeding that coming out of Sydney would require some road, i was looking at maps last night, and thought that starting at Palm Beach (the lighthouse out there) would be cool, skirt the bottom or Ku-Rin-Gai NP, head towards Paramatta, then aim at Penrith, im not sure where you can pick up the Bicentennial Trail, but that would head you towards Wallerawang (where we rode the 2008 Force Ride), then start heading towards Parkes, Broken Hill, and then for the junction of NSW, QLD and SA border, past Uluru, and Olgers, then onto the Gunbarrel Hyw... thats about as far as I got.

I'll make no bones about the fact I had a hard time on the 'Wang trails, and some of those were inprecipitous mountain goat country, but there were some big open trails and powerline easements and stuff out there. I was hoping to get into the trail as soon as possible, and of course there will me some offroad tracks to follow somewhere in there.

Maybe one of our friends from out that way, like Mal 5.1, Timmy or Cafey18 could buy in with some suggestions??

Wildman, where are you now?? I would love those contacts you have in WA, for the MX Retreads, and Husaberg Australia, I wonder if they would provide any basic support for this endeavour? I have a few other business' which I ought to approach.

It would definately be an awesome Force Ride even if people wanted to join in along the way for a stretch and not do the whole thing, its gunna be about the journey, both the physical and mental aspect for me.

Im also guessing theres areas out there you can ride an un-regoed bike? thru the desserts? my new (ex 2002 finke) FC 550, turned up yesterday at 11am, and it is begging for a bash... it is a sweet bike.

The Cause - i was thinking of charity, for something like regional Australian mens mental health (sort of fits the whole concept), particularly groups that provide support for rural men battling depression and suicide prevention support, or something of that nature anyway.

So stoked with all the great advice coming in - i would really love to bring this to fruition.

like i said for a small country town lad, who's grown up on an isolated island off the coast of SA, this is a massive project.

Cheers!
Azza.

Hey Azza,

Good on you,were doing a similar thing except we're going from Dubbo to Alice springs this september via Birdsville. (we want to go for the horse races.) We've been planning this for the last 12 months so hopfully we can fulfill a dream and cross an item off our bucket list. I've just bought my long range safari tank and will fit it over the june long weekend.

Drop me a line to compare notes, we are going with 2-3 back up vehicles so we won't need to carry to much fuel, beer and gear with us.

Steve, Taffy, Enginenumber and the other blokes, any hints would also be appreciated as well as this will be our first time.
I'm reading with interest
cheers

Pete

Hey Kanga man, ive crossed then Simpson Desert twice on a bike and have some tips, back years ago i mapped a ride from Coober Pedy SA to Leanora WA up to Canning and a few mates from Geelong did the ride and it was awesome, i did not do that ride because i had problems at home with a divorce which sounds like what your going through now.
i did the Simpson to get a break from my missus before we got married, It was a derailed train wreck before it started.
You have seen where i will sleep and thats the desert dog in me, do it on a BERG for gods sake before i have to. I will meet in the middle please give me your ETA and Co ordinates.
ORANGEBERG