A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

Well done Ed and congratulations on making it out there. Huge effort.

Its great to read about how awesome the TTR is, I've always called it the thinking man's bike.

Good news about the the fuel range, I guess you were lucky to have such good weather. Be aware though, it could turn nasty real quick. I've been out there when it rains (was a news cameraman for many years), and the roads usually turns to an inland muddy river at the drop of a hat. Also that road looked like a motorway compared to some of the tracks I've used to go to isolated communities. Once we did 90k's in a day (lots of mud / washouts etc) and used a full tank of fuel! Never managed to get into 3rd gear that day.

Don't go too hard on Steve or the courier companies, most of the time its our Customs Officials holding us up, its the price we pay for living on an island! I've been waiting 3 weeks for two small $5 camera components, been two weeks in customs. I dream of having something imported in 11 days.

Bummer about the bolts on the long range tank. The corrugated roads will shake the nuts off a dingo. Check the engine mounting bolts regularly, have had them come loose occasionally.

Thanks for posting stuff here, I'm not a big fan of facebook, I recognize its an essential tool for you but I know people who have a terrible time with trolls and bullying on those sites. I'm happy living in the age of steam and I consider this site as my "Happy Place". Good people.

Looking forward to seeing more pics / videos of the legendary TTR250!

cheers
Phill

-- Edited by Pendo on Thursday 31st of August 2017 09:25:37 AM

leigh wrote:

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Geez Ed, we've never met and I was kind of enjoying reading the things you posted, but you've lost me now.

Nothing worse than someone blaming others for their own mistakes, it seems you are pissed off as things haven't gone perfectly and your permits didn't come through. I'm not sure taking it out on others who have tried to give you a hand seems like a good plan.

-- Edited by leigh on Friday 1st of September 2017 12:46:18 AM

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 Well after this   "Thirdly which gloom and doom miser said that the TTR does not have the range to make it a good adventure touring motorcycle?! Oh yes, TerryK. Apparently "the fuel range was not up to the task in outback Australia". What a load of bull*** and hardly positive advice to inspire my trip, thank you so much. I managed 400kms with the Acerbis long range fuel tank and also carried 12 litres of spare unleaded in a fuel bladder. Total range 600+ kms. I never needed to travel further than 387kms before the next fuel station in OUTBACK AUSTRALIA and remember I am at Australia's remotest community so go figure.

I'm off this post as well, I'm a mechanic by trade & have never been let down by a mechanical failure & if I did I only have myself to blame...I could offer more advise but don't think I will bother....Ed you remind me of a whinging pom & that does not go down well with Aussies & if you carry on like that in the outback then don't expect much help

Terry

 

TTRed wrote:

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Secondly - I finally received parts from Steve at TotallyTTRS. What a sham! I paid £65 for postage and for a guaranteed 3 day service. I received the parcel on Day 11! I tried to get a refund only to be told that my address in Boonah, Queensland is in a remote area. No it isn't! It's a regular town of 2,500. Needless to say I won't be using Steve or Transglobal Express again. And before Steve gets riled by my statement just imagine what it feels like to be 400kms from the next person and go to replace your split link with a part ordered from TotallyTTRS only to find it doesn't fit. Luckily all I needed was the spring fastener and not the complete link otherwise it would have been weeks of getting a ride out of the desert, getting the right spare and then returning to most likely a missing motorbike. (The split link sent to me was for a non O-ring chain, I got a refund for £2.95. Yippee!).

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 Ed

When you ordered the link Lisa told you it may not fit as we ordered it in special for you and we refunded you the money in good faith when it did not fit, you should have checked earlier.

Your order was held up by Australian customs, maybe take your moaning up with them?

I am glad you are no longer a customer.

Steve

 

i cannot understand anyone riding offroad does not carry 1 more more split links

Ed - your failure to prepare properly is no one's fault but your own. Stop ragging on the good people here and man up. Bolts rattle loose on corrugations - if your handle bars came loose would you take it up with Yamaha? No, that'd be a dumb thing to do. 

 

I too have the Zen kit. I check my bolts across the bike every few weeks because I ride off road. I have my own bottle of loctite too so I don't become a douche and blame anyone else but myself.

 

I'm actually surprised you made it out alive of the community with your attitude of blaming everyone but denying all responsibility. In my experience Indigenous communities are wise to crap like that and don't stand for it. 

 

So before insulting any one else, take a chill pill mate. You certainly need to calm down a bit and be responsible for your own actions. Insulting people who tried to help you out or offer advise is bad form. 

 

I have to admit I've stayed off your thread until now because I could see this coming. But when you're nasty and don't accept responsibility for your own mistakes, I'll wade in to support the guys and girls on this site. 

Thanks for posting Terry.

One word.......Karma!

Listened to that podcast, sounds like Ed really got the short end of the stick. Through all the frustrations he had , he probably felt like venting a bit, perhaps that explains his last post.

But I also feel that much of his problems was brought on by not researching properly - Wikipedia is not a great source. If he was working with the BBC, maybe he should have consulted their research department.

I've filmed in many aboriginal settlements from up in the Torres Straight down to the bottom of South Australia.
For an anglo like me, it took a while to have a little understanding of the culture, even then it was insufficient..
One major part is photographing or videoing. Many don't like to have their image recorded, they believe that a part of their spirit is taken away or recorded. They also don't like to view images of relatives who have passed away, its like seeing a ghost (thus the reason why Australian Media blur images or give warnings). This was Ed's biggest hurdle, needed thorough researching.
Also in some Communities you must wait for them to approach you, for them to offer their hand first for a handshake. Ed trying to talk to the Community Leader was very uncomfortable for that person. Out of pure courtesy the Leader would have agreed to anything at that approach but he would have felt backed into a corner, trapped and suspicious. The office staff were correct in trying to get Ed away.

There are also a stack of other considerations such as being prepared to write off an arranged filming (the culture is heavily family orientated, they will not turn up when a family issue arises), have a elder / trusted community member present etc.

Bit of a shame this thread is straying from TTR stuff, was hoping for some exciting TTR adventure posts.

Yes Brian I agree on all of the above, Ed could have handled it better in regard to the forum & kept it to riding a bike in the bush & prep of the bike for the trip, me myself would not have bought a cheap unknown bike to go out into the outback.

The remote locations are not a good place to breakdown or run out of fuel, not hard to die out there plus the dangers of hitting wild life.

It is very hard to deal with the Communities, they beat to a different tune & have all the time in the world, I know as I have made repeated calls & emails to Alice springs to repair a $100,000 machine under warranty & they don't call back.

I understand his frustration but had he understood these people a little more it may have been different, no disrespect to anyone but you can't plan a schedule with the remote Communities.

Terry