The time has come for my first road trip of the year! I’m revisiting northern New South Wales for several days and getting out of Sydney.
This is my trusty steed:
A superb touring machine with 4 riding modes: Urban, Touring, Sport and Enduro. Each one is set up perfectly for me after several years of experience with the suspension, power and traction control. As you can see, it has “knobby” tyres on as I have been doing some dirt roads in the last year. When I return, I’ll replace these with the standard Pirelli Scorpion Trails. This is a perfect bike for tall folks who want to do a mix of riding and it’s fully configurable for rider size and usage.
What’s different about this bike?
I have concentrated on safety first rather than increases in power – it has enough already for me. So here’s the list of changes:
- AltRider crash bars.
- AltRider frame sliders.
- AltRider water pump protection.
- AltRider engine manifold protector.
- AltRider back shelf.
- Evotech water and oil radiator guards.
- Kineo wheels – Italian made spoked wheels.
- AMHP Headlight protectors.
- Barkbuster protection.
- Ducati carbon fibre protection pads.
- SW Motech raised handlebars.
- SW Motech lowered pegs.
- Continental TKC80 tyres – (their final hurrah).
The Touring model comes with panniers and I have a Ducati tank bag for extra stuff.
The Route
Tomorrow (Day 1) I leave Sydney, head up the Putty Road to Singleton, then a cruise up the New England Highway through Tamworth to Uralla.
Day 2 will be north again through Armidale to Tenterfield and then across to Brisbane via Warwick.
Day 3 – South to Casino, Grafton, through Nymboida on to Ebor and staying the night in Armidale.
Day 4 will be back to Uralla, left on to the fabulous Thunderbolts Way to Gloucester, across to Dungog and then to Wollemi via Kurri Kurri and Cessnock. A final run back through Kulnura on to home.
I’m going to attempt to post each evening to test out blogging on the fly with photos and commentary of the day’s ride. I haven’t ridden up north for a couple of years, so I’m looking forward to the adventure.
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