5000km in 51 and a half hours

[OX-34]

I've got some plans for the Tenere to do some big mile/km days so I took mine out on a test ride...

Pretty simple plan. I live at the beach on the east coast of Australia. The Western Australia state border is 2512km away so it fits nicely on a ride plan for an Iron Butt BBG 2500.

BunBurner Gold 2500km in 24 hours for those not familiar with the Iron Butt rides. The metric ride is about 50 miles longer than the 1500 miles in a day version.

The aim was to tackle both legs back to back without proper sleep.

Lots of big open spaces.

The bike handled the job superbly. Except for fuel - availability rather than usage. As I was riding through both nights I carried a 10 litre jerry can to get me to the very widely spaced 24 hour service stations. The stops were 395km, 295km, 456, 414, 468, and 479 apart - so only one leg was done without the can. 19 litre auxiliary tank sitting in the shed and needs to be installed...

Kicked off at 04:00 on the coast.

Crossed the half-way point and beyond in 24 hours.

Hopped back on immediately and headed home the same way in 27 and a half hours.

Thumbs up - the bike is ok for long distance work.

 

[GrahamD]

Cool Bananas OX 8) ::008::

The stops were 395km, 295km, 456, 414, 468, and 479 apart - so only one leg was done without the can

Where did you find all the Servo's ? ???.

Good homework there mate to find 'em all that close.

Thanks for posting. This is where those GSA's come in handy. The only thing that slows you down is the Manditory shaft assembly change, but maybe those roads would be OK.

So what was the fuel economy etc like? You know stats 'n stuff. Fuel consumption, Roo kills, etc etc.

 

[OX-34]

GrahamD,

Google maps and always, always phone ahead of time to the remote places. Thats my fuel strategy. Parts of WA the servo staff have said "nah, no fuel at the moment. Call in a couple of weeks". But the Shell/Mobil/Caltex websites would lead you to believe all is well. Parts of WA fuel after 9pm is 870km apart (Carnarvon to Hedland) so it can put a damper on night time riding.

I've done an east/west/east coast to coast to coast in 100hours (IBA 100CCC) and also a 50CC on the way to a figure 8 kind of lap of Oz in under 8 days, so I know the fuel stops:
Newcastle Start
Gilgandra - (I used Mendooran on the way over, as the bloke was opening early as I rolled past at 730, but closed at 230am on the way back)
Cobar
Broken Hill
Port Augusta
Ceduna
Border Village

These are all 24 hours, so thinking is not required.

The bike's odometer showed 5226km. The fuel log (GPS) showed 5033km on 321.38 litres - thats 6.39L/100km or 15.66km/litre.

I may even fit the aux this week..... drilling the tank is a hassle, but necessary. Range should then be 670km by my figures above.

There wasn't much roadkill this time.

4 live roos on the way west, maybe 50 on the way back. But only a couple on the road and no hard braking required.
Emus - about 50 spread north and south of Broken Hill. Hard brakes for a couple - they may stop, but they won't turn around.
No camels this time...
Goats galore out Cobar way. They move with a toot of the horn.
Wombats out around the Nullabor. 4 of them at the road edge on the way west. But because I rode through light rain, there were probably 20 or so drinking on the road by the time I came back eastward. I slow for almost all wombats. I've hit one that was facing away from me on the opposite side of the road and just spun around and ran under my bike - bang.

 

[Twitch]

Great ride! Great report! ::012::

 

[Leopard_125]

Good job man, ::012::
Ive done the IBA(#34226) thing as well, It's ALOT easier on the S10 than a KLR650. ::008::