Accepted!! BC61 headed to Dakar Argentina - Chile - Peru 2012

Bill, I hope you give it another go in 2013.

I'll just jump in to say that was a great effort, you did better than many more prepared folks have done - if you go for it again next year, or whenever, I'll definitely be throwing some donations your way.

Nice job! Thanks for the story, build, and the experience.

Great to hear you are considering another go at it

I guess racing is in the blood. After a few days the disappointment fades and the what ifs creepback in. I know I can ride the race and hope I can raise the funds to compete next year. There is no way I can spend the amount of personal funds again, I just don't have them. I plan on working on sponsorship and developing a fund raising plan for 2013 when I get back in the states.

i predict you will have alot of support. you've got mine for sure

Heads up! *If you are interested in an XL tshirt or any of our new workshirts please get your order in by Tuesday, January 24th. We will then get the shirts made and shipped out! *Thanks again for the support!

Bill look forward to your push for next year... And don't be afraid to ask for 'the cash'... Might be surprised how they give.

I wanted to say something but sometimes its bettaa to keep quiet,,
good luck

p.s.build vs buy = raise the money and buy a decent bike

ordered one of those nice grey work shirts. Probably too late to be rocking it at Sandblast, but hey - here's one for next year, Bill!

dc

What's a decent bike? The $50k factory KTM Rally? Several of them burned to the ground and pretty much all of them had fuel delivery problems at one time or another. The Honda's? A few top team bikes went out due to stator issues. Same scenario with the Yamaha's. The Speedbrain Husky's had starting issues on the first day. Since every machine in the race had some kind of issue during the race it's a tough call. What do you suggest and can I count on you when it comes time to raise the funds?

Thanks for the tip.

Neduro's ride seemed fairly solid and relativity affordable.
Don't reinvent the wheel, spend time preparing other aspects.
In my experience, the more you spend and the fancier it gets, the more problems surface and problems get more difficult to solve.
Good luck! Looking forward to following along on the comfort of my couch....

"Fairly" is the key word. I'm not going to get into it but Ned's bike had issues like all the rest.

Just guessing here, but I think Bill will have better luck w/ a Husky due to possible BMW connections. Why not use the bike you had??? Kind of makes since to me......

Bill:

I think you did great and you are the inspiration for a lot of us. The Know-How you own today is priceless.

Keep the good work!!

I think these new rules really test the capability of any 450 out there. also considering 1 full dakar race is like the full lifespan of a 450 so it is amazing any of them hold together. how did the berg's hold up this year?

Hi Bill,

Great effort , followed it from afar. The remarks in regard to bikes, yep all bikes have issues, every single one of them. The race is more in the head and body than in the bike.

You got there, you raced, well done. Sam dropped out on a technical the second day, a dutch friend of mine dropped out on the second last day (Hans Jos Liefhebber), he wanted to race the last day but wasnt medically allowed to.

Fact is its crap if you cant finish, for anyone in the race whether it is the first day or the last day.

PS Russian remarks much like eastern european remarks are indeed "straight from the bridge " as they call it.

you know exactly what you need to fix; I'm sure you did little else but think about it for days. And now you've seen more official rallye bikes up close than most people alive so you really know what to do.

Don't worry about what we wankers think.

I know of one that had an injector go bad, was able to get towed off the special where his assistance was able to replace it.

Whew, decision is made then. The rally expert has spoken, oh wait, he's a computer, cubicle-keyboard commando type, never mind.

If Husky is going to provide support again it's a no brainier. If funds provide I'd seek out SpeedBrain for rally parts as their kit for the TE are showing on their site. Finish the development you started. As you said, all the bikes experienced issues. I'm in for support for 2013.