Snoozin

Hey good news I've fixed all the broken image links in this post....

Soon I'll update it on everything me and the wee car have been up to.

Story time. The TL;DR version - really enjoying this thing, and once again I made a regular adventure ride turn into more of an adventure that it should have been, thanks to my idiocy.

But yeah, this thread is likely to be more of a "sharns about stuff Richy attempts on bikes" as opposed to a proper project, as these things are pretty well just ride, maintain and occasionally modify.

Apologies if it's a bit wordy.

So I took the bike on it's second ride a week ago, a bit of a trip around the coast from Martinborough, via White Rock, then through a private station, to Cape Palliser and Ngawi thanks to @BLIZZO and a bunch of his mates on flash as KTMs mapping out a future rallye route. 

We kicked off on gravel roads, the road out to White Rock isn't bad at all, and I'm gathering a bunch of confidence in using my brakes and weighting the bike to get it to turn a bit better on gravel. Net result, getting a bit quicker which probably means it's just going to hurt more in the future.

Ripper time. A couple of the challenges made me think twice, I dropped the bike once on an awkward, slower turn in some sand but got through and was chuffed I managed it without having to palm the bike off to someone more skilled than me to get the job done. However, first to admit I'm not the fittest, or the most elegant at getting through some of the stuff so I was a bit pooped early on, however once the trail flattened out a bit it allowed a bit of recovery. I also didn't take any pics because admin, and there wasn't a huge amount of faffing around with a bit of a schedule to keep to. Would trade again!

The weekend just been, I decided I'd join up with a group doing a ride around the Wairarapa/Tararua region on primary gravel roads, culminating in Puketoi Rd, which if you've been following along, is where I punctured on the XT and had to turn back.

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (4) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

This is the group at the end of Bartons Line, the first stretch of gravel we encountered after leaving Masterton. Yes, I rode the bloody thing to Masterton... bit buzzy at cruise RPM but bearable. A range of bikes, erring on what I'd call the larger side with myself and a guy on a DR-Z400SM the smallest of the lot. The fella on the T7 with all the stickers on it, could PEDAL though and was fun to watch as he overtook me, and proceeded to powerslide like a boss through multiple corners. The road was relatively narrow and tight to begin, but opened out into some pretty cool sweeping corners, and fast switchbacks. I couldn't keep pace with the 3 fast guys but managed to acquit myself all right I thought.

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (5) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Still looking fresh as after the first road!

So after this, we trekked to Pori Rd, which would then lead on to Puketoi Rd - the rougher of the surfaces chosen for the ride. Again I lost sight of the quick fellas, but stopped to take a quick shot. 

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (6) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Pretty good nick roads, minimal corrugation. I rejoined and again found myself effectively riding alone, and when I arrived at the Pori Rd/Puketoi intersection continued straight as I figured the lead groupd would have. However, I didn't see any tracks (and T7s seem to leave hectic skiddies!) and got to the first gate, which was closed... and this struck me as a bit odd. Nevermind, on we go, and I'd go on to ride the entire length of Puketoi Road, not get a puncture, and end up waiting for over 30 minutes at the end for the group to arrive. Turned out they took the wrong turn at the intersection...

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (8) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (9) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

I figured instead of taking Route 52 back to Alfredton, and then onto Eketahuna, the most direct route for me to go home was back via Puketoi Rd, in reverse. No problem then, off we go, having a blast and being a hooligan. I took in Tararua Road on the way, another flowy gravel road effectively between Pahiatua and Ballance.

Arrived home happy as you like, until I looked down and noticed my tank bag was unzipped and... and... hell I was sure I popped my phone in there. Whaaaamp whaaaa. The Puketoi Road curse strikes again. 

Thankfully, technology is wonderful and Samsung helped me find it. The problem was, it was here.

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (10) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

OK cool. At least it's alive. But 1.5 hrs ride away. Logic said 1.5 hrs of riding was cheaper than a new phone, so off we went. Back to Puketoi we went, only this time it was raining and the terrain had changed somewhat!

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (11) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

OK past the first gate.

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (14) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

And then we arrived at approximately where the phone was. I'd grabbed the location and added a pin to Google maps, and used my work phone to GPS me to the rough spot. The phone was about 5m away from where I'd stopped, face down in the mud. I reckon it fell out when I'd given the front a good old heave to wheelie over a hole, while I'd been having a grand old time roughly 3 hours earlier...

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (12) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

No harm done, and time to head back...

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E Phone (1) by Richard Opie, on Flickr

And as you can see, it's not like conditions got any better. That's about where our adventure ends, with retrieval of a slightly mucky but perfectly functioning Galaxy A54 5G, clearly the IP rating on these is worth it's salt.

But the real victory is more KMs under the bum, more grins and on the DR-Z I'm feeling better and better about riding off road (on the road is still scary tbh).

Thanks for reading! No doubt more stupid yarns to follow, about riding a bike badly and falling over, getting up, having a giggle and continuing to the next low-speed mishap.

Old tutu fingers can't help but fuck around with perfectly fine vehicles.

Black plastics added. Aftermarket sides and rear guard, aftermarket RMZ front guard and a genuine DR-Z400SM headlight shroud.

Hooned it over Ridge Road on the weekend and had a total blast, it's so nimble and responsive compared to the XT albeit less grunty. Still gets off its arse pretty well and it's a lot more confidence inspiring to push a little bit harder on loose surfaces, but nowhere near as composed on the road.

Plans include a fan kit, comfort seat and a new front tyre at this stage.

On 10/01/2024 at 15:39, peteretep said:

DRZ400E? with a big tank/maybe some mods?

Yep. 2015 400E, Safari 17l tank, assorted B&B shiny things, FMF pipe, Renthal bars, risers, Barkbusters, MSR shifter, tail tidy etc etc.

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E-28 by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E-34 by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E-44 by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E-53 by Richard Opie, on Flickr

2015 Suzuki DR-Z400E-2 by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Grabbed it off marketplace, was for sale in Cromwell and a mate of mine based in Wanaka made the pick up for me.

A few days down South visiting people and doing a quickfire road trip saw it back home in the shed. It was pretty bloody dusty, so I spent last night cleaning it all up.

Not too many plans - maybe full black plastics, a screen, comfort seat, suspension re-spring and a base to suit my Kreiga bags and we should be humming along. Probably wants a new front tyre soon too.

It's so light and easy to manouvre compared with the tank that is the XT, although that is ultimately quicker and feels more stable on the road.

1995 Ferrari 456GT S14 13B-104-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1995 Ferrari 456GT S14 13B-157-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

1995 Ferrari 456GT S14 13B-247-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr