Hello guys, it's me again. I just did a 1900 km round trip to Da Nang, a city 800 km from my home. Just want to share with you some of the experiences I had with the TTR.
Normally, if you take the highway, it will take only 800 km. I took the longer route, with crappy road and trails but more scenic views. The route was certainly not as awesome and satisfying as your Australian outback, but still pretty great. The roads looked like this:
Here is one of the mountain passes. This was at night, with rain and fog.
First day, I did 600 km in 11 hrs without any problems. On the second day, I crashed into a rice paddy. I was at a bend on a small village trail, doing 50k/hr. A group of farmer appeared out of nowhere, taking up the whole road. I had no other choice but to crash into the rice paddy.
Damage report:
- Bent fog lights base
- Busted the front left ball bearing
- Broken ignition cord contact at the battery. Must because of the shock.
The ignition cord contact was easily fixed with a electric wire. I managed to go pass the next mountain pass to the next city, bought the ball bearings & oil seals at a local store and fixed the thing. The remaining kms was without any problems.
My reward: A beautiful beach, blue sea, white sand and nice sea breeze. Absolutely worth it.
The way back I did 800 km in one go, without any problems whatsoever. The TTR is really built like a tank!!