Definitely looks like a fun place to ride! The pipe line is impressive. I like massive things. The CAT dump trucks you have in your pic are built in Decatur IL, (about 2.5 hrs south of me here in Rockford). My wifes grandmother lived in Decatur and when we were there I would go exploring. Here's a shot of the company that dis-assembles the trucks and ships them. It's right across the street from the CAT plant,

 

Trains are pretty cool, being your all going off of the same jump it means you all have to go the same speed so when your in the air, it looks like your all stopped and the rest of the world is whats moving. You can't possibly imagine it unless you've done it...its badass.

How bout that announcer trying to keep up with all the tricks he just started to mumble and yell...haha, what a jackass.

Next time I run into Scotty O' I'm gonna have him put my helmet on with the helmet cam, I'll get you guys some more helmet cam trick via mid air.

Nice pics, nice ride by the way.

 

I have ridden bits and pieces of it over the years.
But a 1200k round trip would be a challenge.
I used to live in Kalgoorlie.
Now that's a hard town.............

And there is no need to stop there.
Keep going along the railway and a couple of 1000 more k's of flat straight dirt.

 

Riding any part of the hills is the best close to the city. Once you get beyond them to the east, it's flat flat flat. If I lived out that way I'd invest in one of these. I know a 450 wont cut it out there
BTW, what's with the Dakar banning any bikes over 450cc. What are they, loco??

 

I heard they are tired of KTM's dominance. bloody stupid idea in my book. If no one else can keep up it's not KTM's fault. It's simple economics, the other manufactures choose to not compete at that level, so he who does, well wins! Kind of like the Audi Quattro backin the '80's when it came out it whooped butt all over rally racing then the organizers changed the rules against it. It's all B/S!

 

Excellent ride report.

-Justin

 

Bloody awesome ride report mate, glad u didn't hit a roo ;-).

 

Yeah, that's quite the story right now. At least let them race them this year, and make the rule change for 2011. KTM already has made all the bikes and spare parts and shipped lots of 690's to customers. If you don't have your bike for this year's Dakar by now, you're running behind. The announcements seems to have come at a time to cause the most financial damage to KTM as possible.

Maybe even more surprising, KTM said F U and pulled out, and will not participate as a Factory effort in this year's Dakar.

Those with 690's can still run them this year only, but with a restrictor plate to reduce the power to that "equivalent" of the 450's. That's lame. And that won't even be available until September, according to ASO, so teams won't be able to see just how bridled their bike will be until then, that's going to suck for testing, especially when they need to get their bikes on the boat to ship by around October. Horrible, horrible timing.

Most agree that the ASO, should they really want to make this change, should have announced the change this year, and make it take affect next year, giving everyone time to adapt. But the timing was horrible.

As for 450's in the Dakar, ASO says they want more competition and every manufacturer has a competitive 450. But unless they change the race, a 450 is not really suited for that kind of long distance, wide open, dunes etc style of racing. The guy that finished 3rd last year was on a 450 but was doing engine swaps like every night. That kind of support required to get a 450 to the finish line will kill many privateer efforts, who are already on a tight budget. Can they really afford that many engines to take with them? Either that, or they have to take it easy to save their engine, but then they have no chance of winning.

Personally, I feel if the other manufacturers really wanted to compete in this event, they would. What is stopping Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Honda from building a competitive bike? Nothing. They just don't want to or see the value in it. But punishing the only manufacturer who has stepped up and built a 700cc adventure/dual sport that can go the distance and do it in style, i.e., the 690, in an effort to "level the playing field" seems misguided.

The 690, Dakar equipped:



Personally, I'd prefer this one:

 

Wow West! What an awesome ride report. I know how much work goes into just the uploading and up-linking of a report like this. In fact I am working on one right now. I rode for 138 miles yesterday. 40+ pics coming soon. Man if we got paid for ride reports I could have retired 2 years ago.

 

i love 450s, but darak deserves the bigger bikes. on one hand, you have a good chance blowing up a 450 going threw sand and such (which makes dakar dakar) but on the other hand, the bike wont wear the rider out as much (unless you mark coma, then you exempt), so it would be more of a multi day baja race (team honda picks up johnny campbell for dakar?). i hope rally pan am will still be able to race, mr. street need a finish.