The Grand Rally

Oki doki

Thanks Hoggy, This was too much fun. Some of the cool stuff we were not allowed to photograph due to Hopi tribal rules. I look better next to the cow pie than wearing it. What? See post #79.

Thanks Scott for the great pre-run!
Great terrain, awesome routes!!
I didn't see any other bike tracks besides what our group created.
Lots of sand: dunes, sandy hp, sandy double tracks, perfect sandy washes, a bit of Moab-style slab, lots of HP, no whoops.

Scott, taking a breather. Notice the unnamed, undisclosed primo wash in the background:


Dave, getting ready to head up a slot canyon:

Hey Bluebull!
Phil's KTM is rad!
Wonder how Dave liked that blue bike?
hope they post more pics!
see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

bees knees i say, good looking bike for sure

It's a great bike indeed. For Hondaphiles, I'm also working on 3 Meca'System CRF's for another team. See my Facebook for pics.

Dave

Hi Neil,

My bike is relatively unchanged from 2010 Dos Sertoes. Cooler and tank were in use at that time.
Yes you are looking at an HT Racing oil cooler http://www.ht-racing.com/htrbilletoilcoolerkit.aspx.

The aux tank is from Baja Designs http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDetail?ItemNumber=260498. Adds 1.1gal of fuel and has served me well. I feel that the stock install(using BD hardware) for the aux tank is inadequate in one area, under full suspension loads/twisting sub frame, rear tire will contact inboard surface of tank....not good. This condition is exacerbated when running 140/80 18(full size rear)
The simple solution is to weld an extension(1" will do) onto BD mounting bracket which moves tank away from rear tire the requisite distance.

Aux tank and stock tank(together approx 4.5 gal) have yielded 160-190mile range. Given a known and acceptable jetting set up, range depends on throttle control or lack of, terrain, and quality of petrol.

Hope your leg is healing well

All those parameters must have been against us on the last day because we all ran out of gas before getting back to the motel. I think that leg was only about 150 miles, including our assorted unplanned excursions. The only thing that prevented the coyotes from eating us that evening was the emergency 1 gallon bottle on my rear rack. We split that 3 ways and limped in on fumes (passing that gutted dead cow on the way)!

A few of us were given the amazing opportunity to play on Hogwild's Tulipless trails. Its been unquestionably a fantastic couple of days. Its really cool to ride with these guys again, and get to know everybody better. Lots and lots of highlights for me, not the least of which I got to team up with Ned for a good bunch of miles. And with super challenging navigation. Challenging for me, anyway. And the Tracks! Wow...



























Thanks Scott!

Yes, a great time with a great gang. Entries and sponsors of the postponed Rally Diabol%@&* were invited to join me for some fun to tide them over for a few months. Thanks Dave, Ned, Phil, Rick, Bob, Matthew, Jason, Chris, Tony, Antonio and Michael for taking me up on the offer. We did Stage 16, Stage 23, and Stage 13, in that order. The photos look great!

A few more pics from Grand Rally paradise:

Snow encountered the day before, not so far from the bivouac:



The next day....much better:









Thanks Scott for the great ride!

I know, I was driving!!!

Here are some more pics of the bike that I was testing for Dakar 2015. And a pic of my brothers nasty off. He was riding off-road for the first time and we dragged him straight into the dunes. He found the "Mini Grand Canyon".

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Wow ... great pics, thanks for posting!