Going Down on Doi Inthanon

[The Bigfella]

A (long) day ride around the northern slopes of Doi Inthanon, then north a bit and back via Samoeng - for an after-dark finish. Left at 9am, back about 7pm to wash the dust down at the Ulysses Club social dinner at Rider's Corner. I managed to drop the new CRF300L - a bloody soft drop if I may say, I just caught two tree roots - front and back wheels at the same time and overbalanced on a steep bit... but my right leg got trapped. Funnily enough, there was no heat issue - not sure if that's due to the SRC heat guard the bike is fitted with, or just where my leg was. I decided to protect the plastics and used the horn, rather than my left boot in order to get free (thanks Gordon for coming back and lifting the bike off).

In another bit of slack riding, I managed to park the bike in a rut - I was using my road helmet... and had the visor up half way (idiot).... and spotted a broken off branch at eye level. The old adage of you go where you look came into play when I threw my head away from the branch. Kerrplunk. Bogged.

Quite the range of riding conditions on this ride. A great bit of bitumen to start - the 1013 - and then good trails, big ruts, big drop-offs, some of which we had to ride right on the edge, even some wet red clay then some nice dirt roads... and some damn ugly, slippery bulldust... followed by great concrete roads with gradients up to 19% signposted.

Bikes - from Rider's Corner - Deere on the CRF250 Rally - with GoPro 7 Black fitted to the screen. I couldn't use some of the footage from it because it made me seasick watching it as it see-sawed around. Me on the CRF300L with chin-mounted GoPro 9 - and a bit from that camera on the Rally as well, when Deere and I swapped. The chin mount is definitely better. Gordon on a CRF250L and Justin on his own dirt-geared CRF250L.

 

[Captain_Slash]

How about a GPS track

 

[2wheels]

Great video

 

[The Bigfella]

How about a GPS track

Didn't carry one

 

[2wheels]

I had to watch this vid again.
It's the best ride vid we've had here for a very long time, if not the best.
No music needed. No commentary.
I'm surprised (but maybe not) that more riders haven't acknowledged this.

Terrific riding skills.
The CRFs seemed to handle the challenge well, especially clutch, suspension and cooling system.
Great scenery too.

At 31'48" and elsewhere; there's always a local, with pillion, who is out there not for pleasure but work (presumably).

Thanks guys.

 

[The Bigfella]

Thanks Ron - we had some fun.

The CRF clutch is fine, provided you use the torque, rather than revving the tits off it and slipping the clutch. That said, we went through a run of CRF clutches a little while back - three in two months and a couple of snapped gear change shafts too. The good news is that we do the repairs in-house - so we know it's done right and we know the costs.

The main issue from my perspective is keeping the brakes up to snuff. When I swapped onto the Rally, the difference with the rear brakes was noticeable... and we will dump those pads and service the caliper. The New Year brought another large supply of EBC pads... and if I never see another set of cheap pads again, I will be happy. I'm trying a couple of sets of the Carbon rear pads - normally I go for the Sintered pads, and I'm staying with them on the fronts of all the bikes - but we tried the Carbons in the rear on a Forza and I like the additional feel with them.

I've got a set of EBC clutch plates in stock... but it'd be nice if they stayed in stock for a while, rather than being needed.