Trail Bike Adventure Magazine

Rockin' out

Sunday, 10 August 2008 23:30

Back to work Back to work

 

Issue #23 has finally gone to print, and it looks good. We're trying a few new things, we rode a heap of bikes, and I reckon it'll go like a cut cat.

Meanwhile, I've made a start on issue #24.

First up Phil Hodgens has filed an awesome story of how he and The Gav were caught in floodwaters near Bridsville. Not all that near, I guess. Forty kilometres is a long swim. Phil's an extremely resourceful bloke, but when he casually writes how he decided to hit the EPIRB, you know there's some serious stuff going on.
It's all written in Phil's usual low-key tone, but it must've been some tense shit.

In another story for #24, we grabbed a bunch of blokes and a bunch of dualsporters and headed out to Burren Junction for a soak this last weekend. The idea was to casually blast out there, putting the bikes through their paces, grab a few pics and some video, soak in the springs for the evening, then wander back Sunday.

Unfortunately, it didn't go eactly to plan. The pic at the top of the page is a hint. We're not far from Boggabri on the way home, and, as the image shows, there was something not quite right with the BMW. Youse'll have to wait for the issue to find out what it was and whether or not we were able to deal with it, but I do have a vague memory of a video camera being aimed at my face when I first saw the problem, and I can't imagine it'll make for pleasant viewing. I'll see whether there are any snippets I can put on the site here today or tomorrow.

The bikes involved, by the way, were the TransAlp, the F 650 GS, the XT660, the TE610, and the V-strom 650.

Next issue will have a heap of product, and of course, TBAM's next DVD. We're trawling the backstreets of Redfern and St Kilda as I write this, looking for music.

Finally, a couple of people movements. Stuart Coble has left Gas Gas, and I'm very sorry to see him go. He's a fine rider and a really good fun bloke to have on a photo shoot. He's also very knowledgable about bikes and always offers steady, considered opinions. I'm really hoping I can find a way to get him involved in the mag.

Chris Thomas (pictured) - probably better known as 'Chilli' from Chilli 50s - is going to be helping out with some bits and pieces in TBAM. He came on the dualsport run on the weekend and was great company. He's an accomplished racer and rides like seven bastards but was happy to poke along at the pace set by the rest of us, and was a great addition to the posse. I hope he'll become a regular if time permits. Chris is also a switched-on tuner, and will kick off by wringing some more performance from our long-term CRF250X.

I haven't fully caught up with all the stuff from last week yet, but at least issue #23's gone and Ralphie has the mag and pics. I have my fingers crossed that a reuglator/rectifier for the XR will turn up today (I'm supposed to be racing it this weekend in Nowra), and the CRF is still in the Honda shop.

Apparently you can't hard-wire the headlight, so somehow that left-hand switchblock will have to go back on.

Hi to all the insomniacs at advrider.

TF