Thinking Big? Start Small with Andy Strapz

Adventure Rider Issue #32

• It’s what we do – adventure motorbike magazine
• BMW GS Safari Enduro = adventure motorbikes, news, reviews, publication
• BMW F850GS Rallye X
• Strap Yourself In
• The Dempster
• TomTom Rider 450
• Read Between The Lines
• Locked Gates – motorbike magazine, australian motorcycle publication
• Ural Adventure Ride 2018
• Sri Lanka – adventure motorbike tour, motorcycle magazine
• The Best Job In The World = australian motorbike magazine
• Wet Arses
• Yamaha Tracer 900
• Congregation 2018
• We Didn’t Have PLBs In Those Days
• Sahara To Sunraysia = australian motorbike riding tours news event magazine
• Managing Risk with Miles Davis
• Thinking Big? Start Small with Andy Strapz
• A Precautionary Tale from Karen Ramsay
• Checkout
• Fit out – australian adventure motorbike riding

Andy’s only got a little one.

Charlie and Ewan have a lot to answer for.How many riders decided to get into adventure riding and went straight out and bought a big bike with chunky tyres and all the fruit? They then hit the road (often literally), had a huge moment very early on and sapped what little confidence they had and decided to sell the bike.

Luckily for this little black duck I’d stepped onto the dirty side well before those two well-supported ‘adventurer celebrity gents’ stepped off into the wide, errr…known. A Cagiva Elefant 750 was a big daunting bike for a ‘transitioner’, but I needed a road-mannered bike as well as one that was dirt capable.

Looking back now I made the learning curve far steeper than it needed to be. Dr Z was the place I should have started. In fact it was my first-ever chooky. I don’t care if I drop it ’cause I can pick it up…

packed! Scratches only make it look more authentic and it can be skull dragged out of trouble. Hill recoveries are a doddle and it does real nice skiddies.

A Cagiva Elefant 750 was a big, daunting bike for a ‘transitioner’.

You reckon…

Readers have had plenty to say about Andy’s columns. We’ve passed them on, Andy’s answered every one, and we felt we should share your thoughts. Here’s a few examples typical of the opinions on past columns so you can see how other readers have been reacting. We’ll try and publish a few responses to each column from now on. If you have thoughts on something Andy’s written, let us know.

Distractamania – issue #30

I’m with Andy on this one. Having ridden bikes for over 30 years, British, Russian, Japanese and through to an Indian Enfield (sigh), then finally a DR650. I’ve ridden road, dirt, and farm bikes all over Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.

I’ve never ridden one of these new-fangled, high-tech machines. I went on a ride with the boys from Inverell and Vince Strang was there on his DR650 with no ABS or riding modes. Vince rides as most of us old farts do, using the ride-mode selector on the right-hand ’bar – it’s called ‘the throttle’.

Ken Joyce Technology has its place and that place is under the rider’s control, not the other way around. ‘Intuitive interface’ actually means the overriding of your decisions by a programmer who may never use the end result of the work in the real world.

Richard Arnold

The Art Of Compromise – issue #28

Andy’s theories in issue #28 hit the nail on the head.Back in the 1960s we would put flat handlebars on our roadbikes and ride to Bathurst for the Easter races. Later we would put wider ’bars on for club runs and trail riding.

Hindsight

Looking back, I wish I’d gone small from the outset. The learning curve wouldn’t have been as steep.

After applying for the Seniors Card while waiting in line for a bag check at ‘The G’ on Boxing Day, it dawned on me that the three-metre-tall-and-bulletproof days were well and truly behind me. As silly as it might seem though, I reckon I might never have ridden better than I do now. Dr Z’s prescription of low weight and purpose-built off-road manners has been efficacious therapy.

Why the hell has it taken me so long to work this out?

Despite training with a Dakar star, my Tiger XC still puckered the master freckle and progress was slow, so it got sold.

Feeling that fine control starting to come was a joy on a smaller-capacity bike – Dr Z’s front wheel in the air while the rear crested a contour bank, then gently kissing the deck at the bottom as the whole plot made admirable progress in the direction intended – woo-hoo!

If I’d had the chance, or probably the kahunas, to go on an intercontinental adventure years ago I know I would have taken the wrong bike.

A 180cc Honda in Vietnam was a ‘big bike’ and riding at 80kph was certainly thrillseeking. The Elefant in the Swiss Alps was one thing, but nipping between real pachyderms or dodging rampant buses in Iran would’ve been done best on a DR of some description.

I’ve noticed the longer hard-core inter-national travellers wend their way around the soon-to-be-stuffed orb of ours, the smaller their bikes tend to get. The other group of riders I see working their way down the cc food chain are experienced and older riders.

Andy Strapz

Size of relief

The old adage, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” applies to us riders. Motorcycles were developed to blur vision and stretch riders’ arms soon after they were invented. The phwoar factor is the essence of motorcycling and gobs of grunt is what underlines that.

I’m convinced that’s why Harleys have such a strong following.

A big Kato, Tiger or Africa Twin on the pipe is sensational and it does my heart good to get the occasional go on them.

But I know I’d never have been able to appreciate what they can serve up with-out the progress I made on a user-friendly small bike.

As we’ve discussed before, it’s all about the compromise. It’s not how big it is, it’s how you use it.

Except for racing, one bike did all.I currently have a Suzuki V-Strom and a Yamaha DT175. At my age I don’t bounce as well as I used to, so I avoid scary hill climbs and suspect water crossings. However, I’ve toured every state in Oz and still love dirt roads and forestry trails in this amazing country of ours.

Andy’s last couple of paragraphs say it all. I still get a rush every time I throw the leg over. It’s a way of life.

Ivan Brown

Looky, Looky – issue #27

Andy has it right. Being a physio myself I’d have witnessed many of the sorts of consequences Andy refers to. It’s amazing we ride bikes at all, but like most guys I get carried away with the fun and take risks such as the blind-corner issue or dismissing the possibility of wildlife collision.

But flashbacks of myriad gruesome consequences keep me a bit more cautious than many, and now I’m nearing 60 my anatomy takes hits more like glass than rubber.

I don’t want to dampen anyone’s fun, but just putting out there my revelation of advancing age: I’d rather keep riding glorious dirt roads and tracks forever at six-tenths than for a couple of years at eight-tenths, then never again and spend years in rehabilitation.

Don’t kid yourselves, it happens a lot.

Pete KTM 690, Sydney Turning 50 this year, mate, and I do one major ride each year. Last year was nine days, 5200km on big-tank DRZ400s: Mudgee NSW, central SA, Birdsville Queensland and back. We ride to have fun and survive. Andy’s last five lines sum things up perfectly for us.

Chris King

Mine’s Bigger Than yours – issue #26

I read Andy’s article over the Christmas break and think he hit the nail on the head. I based my opinion on having spent four years riding around the world with my wife on the back of our BMW R1200GSA. If you are interested our blog is at www.offexploring.com.au/michaelcc