About 3700km over 6 days. And a lot of that was at full throttle, and near max revs.
The engine did not miss a beat. It used about 1.2 litres of oil over that distance (it holds 800ml) which is not too bad I suppose. I do not know if the oil is getting past the rings or whether it is exhausted out the crankcase breather into the airbox. Probably a bit of both.
Also, the suspension and drum brakes were surprisingly good. I guess by "good" I really mean "not crap". I was able to blast along over all sorts of terrain with no major complaints in the handling department at all.
I ran out of time to check over the engine before going on this ride, other than to set the tappets. I really had no idea if it was in very good condition or not. However the Honda NXR engine (XLR125 engine) is pretty tried and tested. The big "H' came through for me on this ride. I am not a Honda fan in particular, but I am very impressed with this little Honda.
The Dusty Butt route was unbelievably amazing. A really excellent trail. The NXR was pretty slow on the straights and up the hills, but was overall enjoyable enough. As soon as the route got twisty I was having a ball. The bike comes into its own on twisty downhill gravel. I caught and passed many much more powerful bikes on the downhill gravel sections. I guess the light weight really helps in that situation.
Overall the bike and the route combined to give me a much more fun experience than I was expecting. Really fun!
The other factor of course is the people. On the 1 dayer you don't really get to interact with very many others. However, the 2 dayer is great for meeting new people and making friends. Everyone is just so positive in attitude and willing to help out, no matter what the issue. It seems a shame to waste the opportunity of experiencing the 2 day environment just to do the 1 dayer. If was ever to do the 1 dayer, I think I would do the 2 dayer first, and then give myself a 2 day rest. Then I would happily have a crack at the 1 dayer.
Would I do the Dusty Butt again on a 125cc machine? Well,.. one guy rode around on a KDX125 two stroke with a max speed of about 130kph. This is much better than the NXR at about 90kph. I think that if I could get something like that KDX125 and tune it up to the max, then I could be interested. In general, I would be happy on something that can sit on 120kph on the gravel into a strong head wind. If a tricked up KDX125 could achieve this then I would definitely be interested. On a bike like that, I could imagine that you might just be in with a chance of winning the DB1k outright. Probably a very slim chance though.
Having said that, the whole idea of the Small Bore Challenge is to ride around on a gutless piece of crap. I have done that once, and am not all that keen to do it again. It is just a bit too boring on the straights and open uphills.
Receipts from the trip:
Thursday 14 Jan 8:25 BP Te Puna 5.10 litres 98 Octane $9.74 122km
Thursday 14 Jan 10:54 Shell Edgecumbe 2.00 litres 95 octane $3.65 (filled up 2 litre jerry can) Pie $3.80
Thursday 14 Jan 12:02 Murapara GAS 8.19 litres 95 octane $16.38 196 km
Thursday 14 Jan 13:52 Gull Hastings 11.92 litres Force10 $21.57 296km Picnic bar $2.19
Thursday 14 Jan 18:21 Dannevirke McDonalds $10.20
Thursday 14 Jan 20:59 Caltex Rimatuka 11.47 litres 95 octane $20.98 279.1km
Thursday 14 Jan 22:29 BlueBridge $100 (Ferry crossing)
Friday 15 Jan 6:43 Blenheim McDonalds $6.90
Friday 15 Jan Peter Grinter M/C Blenheim 17" Tube $20.20, Weld Exhaust $25.00, 1litre Spectro Oil $16.00 Departed 9:10am
Friday 15 Jan 12:32 Cheviot Garage (Caltex) 13.53 litres 95 octane $25.56 311.8 km
Friday 15 Jan 16:49 MGL Caltex Fairlie 11.73 litre 96 octane $21.69 294.6km
Friday 15 Jan Accomodation (HoT) $35, Tolls $10, DB1k Sticker $5, Beers approx $30
Saturday 16 Jan 10:25 Kurow Auto Services ?? litres 95 octane $16.25 203km Pie $2.80
Saturday 16 Jan 12:47 Challenge Ranfurly 3.95 litres 95 octane $7.34 103km
Saturday 16 Jan 15:49 Fax's Auto Services Lawrence 6.41 litres 91 octane $11.71 151km
Saturday 16 Jan 16:00 Lawrence Video Gold, weld exhaust $20
Saturday 16 Jan 21:03 Caltex Alexandra 8.22 litres 95 octane $15.70 183km
Saturday 16 Jan 21:11 Thai Crom Alexandra (Dinner) $30.00
Saturday 16 Jan 22:11 Alexandra Holiday park (Accomodation) $30
Sunday 17 Jan 9:42 Shell Cromwell 3.42 litres 95 octane $6.13 79.1km, Sandwiches $5.99
Sunday 17 Jan 13:43 Omarama Caltex 8.18 litres 95 octane $15.94 178km
Sunday 17 Jan 16:38 BP2GO Fairlie 7.04 litres 95 octane $13.03 146km, Picnic bar $2.50
Sunday 17 Jan evening at the pub including roast meal approx $45
Monday 18 Jan 10:14 Challenge Oxford 9.55 litres 96 octane $17.46 206.5km, Pie $4.30
Monday 18 Jan 14:06 Culverden Caltex 8.07 litres 95 octane $14.92 177.8km, Pie $3.50
Monday 18 Jan 19:00 Shell Picton 11.66 litres 95 octane $21.32 275.6km
Monday 18 Jan 18:56 Picton Plaza India (Butter Chicken + 2MacsGold) $31.40
Monday 18 Jan 20.26 InterIslander Picton $122 (Ferry crossing)
Tuesday 19 Jan 9:23 Levin McDonalds $7.30
Tuesday 19 Jan 11:48 Caltex Waiouru 11.31 litres 95 octane $20.80 271.4km
Tuesday 19 Jan 11:52 Fastlane Restaurant Waiouru, Piece of fried fish and ham roll (Yuk!) $9.30
Tuesday 19 Jan 16:30 Arrived home. etimated use of 13litres, 300.8 km
Totals:
Petrol: $303.18
Food and beer: $195.18
Accomodation: $65.00
Tolls & Ferry: $232.00
Other: $86.20
All up: $881.56 But this is just costs incurred on the trip. It does not include setup costs or post-event costs or tyre wear etc. I need to buy a new Fr brake perch, replace a rear spoke, do some welding work on the pack frame and probably some other little things.
Tyre wear:
Rear tyre (Pirelli MT60 110/90 17): started off with 8.5mm of tread depth and ended up with 5.5mm of tread depth. The trip covered 3686km, so this gives 1229km/mm of tread wear. The Mitas E-09 on my XT400 usually gives about 650-800km/mm tread wear.
Front tyre (Pirelli MT60 90/90 19): I did not record the tread depth when new. Tread depth after 3686km is 5.0mm
Fuel works out at (3686km/$303.18 =) 12.16km/dollar
Trip works out at (3686km/$881.56 =) 4.18km/dollar (although true cost is higher)
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