If You See Kay Wine is going racing! Tuareg 2013 here we come!

The way it worked out, I was traveling when the Tuareg came together. I arrived home with about 5 days to build the bike and send it on its way to Oakland to go in the container.

Luckily, C.Vestal is my shop neighbor and I know his weaknesses. So, I had help.

The first step was stripping it down to nothing and getting comfortable with the underpinnings.



Her enduro clothes came off, and valves were checked, bearings greased, fluids changed, everything I could do to get the underlying bike sorted. Then it was time for Chris to work his magic on the front end:



I had taken at least two of everything required to make a rallybike to Dakar, and used only what was on the bike. The only part I had to buy for the Tuareg was a gas tank- Jason at MX1West helped me out with that.

In addition, I put on some other parts I really trust:

- Dirt Tricks gearing- 15/48, and I brought 14 and 46 sprockets to give me a pretty good range of options, together with a new chain.
- BRP damped submounts and chain guide
- 7602 racing Carb vent filter
- FMF Megabomb exhaust and 4.1 silencer
- Cycra Handguards w/ BRP threaded inserts (bombproof!)
- Wolfman custom fairing bags- the best for carrying a few odds and ends
- F2R Roadbook
- System Tech fork bleeders
- Touratech GPS mount
- Scotts steering stabilizer




Suspension was my spare set from Dakar (open chambers with stock 2009 XCW valving and .50kg/mm springs, stock rear valving w/ 8.0 spring), spare wheels from Dakar, spare tires and mousses from Dakar... basically, I built the bike from leftovers lying on the shelf. Good thing, too, because there's not much time to order anything in 5 days!

Here's the final product, I have no idea what my expression is about:



I loaded it in my van together with Wild Man's ex-Jonah 525, cRAsH and AnnieGS drove it out to Oakland, and it went in the crate. Here's the US lineup:



The plan had been set in motion!

Sweet ride Ned. It was surely fate that you had the required bits to build the bike up in the few days available.

Beautiful bike.

Loving the report Ned, the bike does indeed look great!

Also must admit I'm a little jealous of having a neighbor like Chris, I swear I would be sleeping on the floor of his workshop during a race build

Nice to see his Pyndon hoody on display during the build as well!

rad!!!

That looks kick ass!!

My girlfriend told me the shirt and graphics for my bike are cooler than I am. I'm pretty sure she's right. Graphics will be revealed soon...

Nice one Ned !

The bike looks really nice, looking forward to more pics , I know that you are running like a headless chicken but it seems that these lated nights paid off !!

fixed:

It's the "I'm going to race the Tuareg" expression.

"...and the sun is in my eyes"

Thats the expression of a man that has comsummed a case of wine

In like Flynn for a T shirt.

Been using your Double Take mirror mounts with a GoPro RAM mount once on the trails lately: works good.

Good luck in Tunisia!

Ned,

Great to see another XCF out there. We can be "spares buddies" as I have a few in a box heading out to Tunisia.

I have a 2009, 450 that has pretty much all of the same modifications as yours ..... except I have no fairing. My service support team will be Desert Rose Racing.

I bought the bike for the Tuareg last year as I had an entry but still no bike by the beginning of January. For some reason a dealer close to me (in Scotland) had a new one in a packing crate. (I believe they were put together mostly for South Africa and the USA). Money changed hands before a quick build ensued, then off it went to the 2012 Tuareg. It ran pretty faultless even with the cack handed abuse that I dished out to it.

It also did the Serres Rally in greece last year and the thing ran faultlessly all week. It just needs a better/fitter/younger pilot who knows which direction to head in and then it could be a match for anything.

Interested to have a look at your rally moto kit as it seems like a good fit for the bike.

See you there.

Awesome design. European shipping options that don't include an arm and a leg?

I know, I agree! Sorry!

That's our actual cost (or sometimes less, we pay up to $28) for a flat rate priority envelope. They just did a rate increase of up to 50%.

We want to put together a first class option, working on it, but getting ready for the race is taking priority.

A box just showed up from Sidi with the new Crossfire 2's... Thank you brown santa!

Hey what is your take on the 2's fit, is it the same as the first model? I'm beating myself up trying to find someone that has the old ones in stock to let me try them on (size 13 is the problem). My Tech 8's are 13's and they barely fit.

Not your fault, shipping costs have gone through the roof in general. How about throwing a bunch of tees in the parts box for the Tuareg? A couple of my pals are racing there, you could do an impromptu sale in the Bivvy?

Enjoy the Sidis and don't forget to break them in a bit....

Brown Santa just came!



Everyone who orders a shirt will also get a few of each of 3 sticker designs...