Ok perhaps the name is overly dramatic considering I’m modifying a DRZ but it made me chuckle for a moment. In all seriousness though the project has started in earnest. In recent years there has been a hive of activity in Holland when it comes to Adventure Motorcycling. Whether it is welding extra fuel tanks, luggage racks or prepping suspension the Dutch are the experts. Walter’s bike is currently in Holland being prepped for its 2011 outing.

In my case I found a small photo on Google of a DRZ. I traced it back to a guy called Allan Boerlage and I got in touch with him. He’s a busy man but he kindly offered to create a mould of his custom Rallye screen for the DRZ. We talked about this just before Christmas and I said to him that there really was no rush as I don’t yet have the bike. I said mid February would be fine. Time has flown and here we are, mid Feb. True to his word Allan has produced the fairing and what a beauty it is.

Breaking out of the mould

A quick pull and the finished product begins to emerge

It is black all the way through so won’t require painting

Many thanks Allan!

I’m scheduled to travel to The Netherlands, Germany & Austria in a few weeks so I will be sure to thank Allan in person, share a beer and pay him for his time at the beginning of the 2011 everywherevirtually adventure bike project.

I have not posted for a long time because there were a number of false starts and idea changes. My circumstances have changed quite a bit and after much thought I stopped compromising on the kind of bike I needed. I was considering a bike that would be a halfway house between going two up and adventure overlanding. Well to be frank that just ain’t going to work.

So for now the requirement has shifted to a significantly lighter 400cc bike that is cheap to run, easy to service and with parts easily available anywhere in the world. That bike is the Suzuki DRZ400SM. yes you read that right, the SM as in Super Moto. I need a bike I can use on the street once in a while and the SM is good for that… check the video below…

As you can see it fly’s pretty well too and I like flying! There will be many detractors on my choice. Some will say it is an old design, others will say it is too heavy (at 295 pounds / 133kg) even though I will be losing 100kg in comparison to my old BMW and some others will say it is too slow. yet more will say that compared to a 600 or 800cc bike the service intervals will be too frequent.

I have checked all the pro’s and cons and for my purposes this is THE perfect bike. It can be easily changed into a dirt bike, it is easy to work on, with limited electronics. Fuel range can be increased quite substantially and my luggage requirements these days are in the realm’s of Dave Lomax etherealness.

Will I be trudging the painfully boring expanses of Europe’s autoroutes, motorways and autobahn’s? No I won’t. I’ve done that, been there and to be honest it is a waste of time and effort. The real fun starts when you get to the perimeters of this continent of ours.

The bike you see below belongs to a friend of mine in Holland and he has very kindly offered to cast a fairing from the same design he has used on this bike.

I like his fuel setup here which is a 17L Safari tank. That said I’m toying with a 17L on the front and a 5L on the rear similar to this configuration.

While 22litres of fuel is more than enough in most places I have a riding style that means I like to keep stops to a minimum and keep on riding. Every fuel stop usually ends up with 30 minutes of faffing about especially if other people are involved. So I am thinking of doing a 28L on the front and a 5L on the rear. The only downside to this is weight if fully fueled up and the 28L suffers from having 5L of fuel you cannot utilize because it needs a vacuum pump to drag it up from the bottom of the tank. If I can sort the pump issues and have some degree of control with regard to the distribution of the fuel front and back then I will go with the bigger tank.

As far as spares and kit goes for the bike I have drawn up a list based on Dave Lomax’s advice after his numerous trips into the deserts and lonely places around the world on a DRZ400.

Take a look at my bike kit list here

if you are interested in my pack list for myself it currently looks like this…

Before I write another thing I would like to thank Grant & Susan Johnson and Chris Colling & Dave Lomax at adventure-Spec for making my attendance possible this year. Without them it would not have happened.

the 2010 10th anniversary event was much bigger than previous years. As I rode up the driveway to Lumb Farm I said to myself “Oh Wow”. They had pulled out all the stops. There were more vendors, more bikes, biggest tents, a video screen. It was all together an impressive event.

The campfire was blazing, the road kill cookout was in full swing but most importantly the people made the event special. Old faces, new faces, adventurers to be and adventurers with many years and locations under their belts.

In addition to the great setup the weather was perfect. It was consistently warm and sunny for the entire event. 28C and wall to wall sunshine. You could not have asked for better.

Attendees included Austin Vince and Lois Pryce, Jenny Furneaux, Simon Gandolfi, Walter Colebatch, Jenny Morgen, Peter & Kay Forward and many many more that can be found here

This year I was of course without my F800GS and arrived on my 1994 CB500. I guessed I would be the only attendee on a CB500 but by some strange quirk of the universe two guys arrived on loaded up CB500′s. Not only that but they plan to ride around the world over 80 months on these machines. I was heartened by their story and impressed at their low tech approach to luggage and increasing comfort. They were good guys, with a good sense of humour and I reckon they will go far and I personally will be looking forward to reading their story.

To find more photos of the event have a look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/everywherevirtually/sets/72157624238859917/with/4736800180/

Or click on the gallery above.

Not much news to report really. The BMW will be picked up on Monday by their collections agents. Already the finance people are after the remaining £1300 but I’m out of work so I wish them luck in trying to retrieve that money because If I don’t have it they certainly can’t have it. In the interim I am prepping the little Honda.

The biggest challenge for me is the ergonomics. I have been used to the stretched out riding position of the 800 and despite me being only 5′ 7″ (171 cm) the distance between the seat and the pegs is too short. The pegs are also behind me a little and of course the bars are low and set forward which adds to that cramped feeling. I’m hoping adding some bar risers and my airhawk will help in the short term.

The bikes engine is sound and the few things that are wrong with it are cosmetic. Somebody has previously tarted it up and not done a very thorough job of it. Springs painted in black paint without a primer so it just flakes off.

The forks, engine casings and other silver bits again have been painted in silver paint with very obvious brush strokes.

various nuts and bolts are rusty, so to save time and money I have been taking each one out, cleaning it up and spraying it in black satin hammerite which gives them a powder coated look. Hammerite also has the benefit of inhibiting rust. The scratched panels and gaudy pink decal will also be going. Everything is being primed and sprayed satin black. Matt black is not as hard wearing.

I replaced the bulbs in the headlight and instrumentation panel. I was going to install my HID 50w bulb but then realised that the lens is plastic and will melt or go brown as has been discovered on various forums. There is a fair amount of rust inside that light and I need to take the thing apart and clean it up. I haven’t got the time at the moment to start messing with the wiring loom so for now I just cleaned it up enough to get by until the summer.

My tired and battered Sat nav is also getting a make over. If you look closely the screen is cracked in the bottom left corner and the unit itself has a crack in it. It makes using the back button and certain keys problematic. So It is also getting the satin black plasti-kote treatment. I’m hoping it will all look good in the end. The British weather as always has been problematic. 5 celsius in May with damp and occasional showers does not make for good spray painting conditions.

My friend Greg in Austria gave me some good tips though. One of which was to put the cans in a bucket of hot water. This has the effect of increasing the pressure inside the can which will result in less blobs. Genius.

I like to think now with these puppies bolted on that I’m hard to ignore as I pass junctions and intersections. These LED Aux lights combined with the HID’s are an extra tool in the arsenal to makes motorists think twice before pulling out in front of motorcyclists.

BMW F800 GS Aux lights from Jonathan Fox on Vimeo.

This is my first High definition (HD) video for Sibirsky Extreme. I have spent the past week getting to grips with the camera. I’ve made all the usual silly vid’s you make when you first get a camera and this is my first real attempt at building up my part of the story for Sibirsky Extreme. It will take practice as I have a tendency to let the camera wander off the subject and it’s also unscripted so I’m still a little stage struck. This will get better with time as the trip unfolds.

BMW F800 GS Walkaround from Jonathan Fox on Vimeo.

My cramp buster stops the heat getting through to my last two fingers on my right hand.

To fix this I have drilled holes in it which allows more heat through. The weather is well below zero at the moment which made for perfect testing conditions.

There is a noticeable improvement after the mod and so I can say this is a success. Has anyone else noticed the same thing?

before:

the problem:

the solution:

I was careful not to drill too many holes and thus affect the structural integrity of the cramp buster when putting it back onto the handlebar grip. :thumb

For some time I have been troubled my motorists lack of awareness when it comes to noticing motorcycles. I have taken to riding around with my full beam on. A lot of people complain about this but I always point out… “well you saw me didn’t you?” I’ve heard twice now motorists say I didn’t see you.

It’s true. They look but they don’t “see”. Anyway I could rant endlessly on this subject but that is not what this post is about.

Over the weekend I decided to fit 50 watt HID’s. It looked complicated initially but once I got stuck in the electronics was the easy bit. Tucking the wiring away neatly and putting the panels back on proved to be the biggest eater of my time.

I’m hoping to post a ‘How To’ PDF on here soon but for nowI will only give you a few before and after shots.

These are just the stock halogens

and the HID’s after fitting

the bike went from this mess

to this. I’m very pleased with the end result.

These bad boys are too bright to be riding around with full beam. I have angled them down and left. After a quick ride out this evening not one motorist flashed me. The improvement was marked. I would like to angle them up some more but I realise I will have to compromise as I’m no the only road user. Thankfully tweaking the headlamps position is quick and easy enough to do.