Getting things sorted

After a change in circumstance, the last twelve months has seen me enjoying very intermittent bike time. Spread a bit thin, and need need of some serious r and r.

I took the time on  an already organised road trip to try something new. Don't plan anything. Yep, sounds simple, but for my mind I thrive on structure.

The last few years has been pretty slow. The 250F(then fitted with 280 kit in the rebuild after piston met valve due to a distortion in time) did the valves again after 20 hours of having the top end done by a machine shop with all new seats and kibble white gear (the good stuff!), so after a rather long rant about 4 stroke dirt bikes, I was straight down the shop to lay my hands on my current steed, a 2015 250EXC (6 day). I bought a second hand (SX) head off a friend for the 250F, reassembled the bike and we parted ways to a new happy owner. My luck it will be a great bike now I have had all the headaches with it.
Initially, after purchasing the 250EXF I got up to enough rides a year to keep me happy with family commitments (10-12). I took the factory plastics off right away and bought one of those large tubs to put all the original plastics in when the bike was new. And changed the bike back to orange. I had since dropped, flipped and crashed my way to moto bliss and have now updated with another set of plastics for her birthday, more true to the 6 day colour scheme. I haven't missed having valves and this bike is a pleasure to ride. When the bike was up for a top end, I found a 300 kit to put on the bike which made my grin even wider. I honestly don't think I will ever sell this bike (maybe add to the collection later). Admittedly the bike make you work for your ride, but this is part of the two stroke charm. Initially, I enlisted Dave from Suspension Matters  to sort out the suspension to suit an overweight mid paced clubman and was pleasantly surprised on the performance gained by the dreaded 4CS WP units on the front. The rear became an absolute dream and less prone to trying to throw me over the bars on big logs with a change to a progressive spring and custom tapered needle in the rear. They became very forgiving on large impacts at speed. Ultimately, I decided to ditch the 4CS to another roller chassis that the old man picked up and borrowed the WP4860 CC Bladder forks and have not looked back. These have had some work done also.

My brother has spent the last 12 months riding solid, but I have only managed about 4 or 5 social rides off road. Got me thinking, I need more time on two wheels,... so I bought this rod bucket.....cheap!!

There were a few (very) backyard repairs on this old girl. A few dings in the tank, bolts missing, a miss, but is does start and run. That is a start back to some of my earlier days on the road with the goofy (600F). All for the bargain price of 700 hard earned smack-a-roonies, this baby was all mine. Stay tuned for more updates....