I did this already 2 months ago but finally I edited the video how I’m making the BIG impovement to my bike… Changing the rear shock from the original Continental Air Damper to Touratech “normal shock”.
I hope this can help you if you’re planning this change!
dirt bike
Eicma 2021 was in November but there was not too many interesting bikes.
Now when we are already in 2022 it is interesting anyway to look the newcomers for this year.
1. Aprilila Tuareg 660
This bike is coming straight to the same category than Yamaha T700 so it will not be easy to find buyers… Or is it? The adventure segment is growing fast, more and more new bikers starting their adventures every day/ week!
2. MV Agusta Lucky Explorer 9.5
This one is not coming to the stores yet in 2022. But it proves that all manufactures really are interested about this adventure segment. Maybe even more interesting is the little brother Lucky Explorer 5.5
3. Honda NT1100
It’s quite long time since Honda had an affordable big touring bike. This new NT 1100 will be filling the missing gap. It has the same engine than 1100 Africa Twin but after that pretty much everything is different.
5. Harley Davidson Pan America 1250
This bike is been in stores allready for awhile and there is a lot of test riding videos of this bike!
But it is so BIG newcomer and remarkable new model to the market. Everybody’s even saying that it is not bad at all! It is actually very good!! Harley Davidson has now an Adventure Bike!
These were quite extraordinary bikes 15 years ago! And I own one! That’s why it’s very nice that advrider.com made a srory about these bikes together with bigger HP. Enjoy!
https://advrider.com/revisiting-the-bmw-g450x-g650x-and-hp2/
In the beginning of July 2021 the Linesman of Finland (Roland from Austria) gave the task to me!
I was ofcourse very flattered about this and I was thinking should I take such a responsibility to me since I’m not very active rider anymore, But from the other hand I want to be more active! So here’s my reason to go riding Enduro more often!
I’m the new Linesman of TET Finland!
For my first active thing I went riding! Took my XChallenge very early in the morning…
I didn’t have too much planning done. First to ride to Iso-Valkee lake and to the TET route and then start to follow the route to Hämeenlinna and beyond. My main goal was to change the eastern route to go to EVO -area.
It was about 1,5 hours ride to Iso-Valkee.
About 6.30 am I arrived to Lake Iso-Valkee -I had the video camera also with me!
FInally I found the place to stay for the night quite close to EVO area and next morning I would meet Lauri and we would ride together few interesting roads of EVO.
After 2 days of riding in this interesting area I can say that I know area quite well!
I wasn’t sure where to ride on the 2nd day but the bike was making some strange sound! I got little bit help from Autohuolto Markku Ruuskanen in Luopioinen to find out that it wasn’t the rear wheel bearing that was making sound.
But I still decided to continue riding south… I was thinkin maybe to spend the night somewhere in Forssa (???)
But finally it was riding all the way back home! And it almost 400km’s in one day!
The whole trip was like this:
And after few days of planning the new TET Finland route is ready for download!
We don’t have a lockdown in Finland. We are allowed to go out but meetings with more than 10 people is not ok. There was only 4 of us in a beautiful sunny weather and almost +10 degrees celsius. This time I didn’t choose any difficult tracks… and I finally made a video of this interesting route:
This was a narrow railroad in Finland and it stopped working in 1967. But the track has stayed and it’s kind of in use as a road. But for example now in spring it can be tricky if there is still snow (and there was!!)
Unluckily my riding ended with the flat front tyre in Karkkila (65 km’s from home).
I was lucky that there was one big bike (KTM 1090 Adventure) so I could take a ride with him back home and then I picked my bike with my big car…
This season I started later than in a long long time! But there’s quite obvious reason: Covid-19.
Last week there was already quite nice days but finally when I made the decision to go out on sunday it was quite cold! +3 (celsius) was the highest and -1 was the lowest. But at least we had sunshine!
The route for this day was something like this:
Triumph brought totally new models with 1200 twin engine. It has nice 90 hp -which doesn’t sound much but in this kind of bike it’s more than enough.
Even I didn’t have real knubble tires I felt the calling! “Go to the gravel! Go to the forest!” -It was shouting… And I did.
It’s totally the best bike that I have ever been riding in the gravelroad! It is too heavy to take Off-Road but I don’t really miss that anymore.
The seat should be softer and it should have better design. I could feel my ass wouldn’t like this after 200km’s!
On august 17th I bought a new enduro bike! This time I chose BMW G650 XChallenge! It has the same 1-cylinder 650ccm Rotax-engine than in many many other bikes. It is known to be very trustful and you don’t have to make service all the time.
I rode the bike from Lappeenranta to home and I really was enjoying enduroriding again!
During this autumn I’ve been riding few times with friends also and I’ve had videocamera with me. Here are some nice videos:
This was 2nd of september. We were riding mostly quite big roads/ easy roads so everyone could join the ride!
The roads in Kiikala area are very nice!! You really can enjoy the speed and essence of Finnish nature and adventure motorcycling!
This one is from Vihti/ Karkkila/ Lohja area (Rausjärvi). It is also a part of Trans Euro Trail route that I planned last spring. In this video there is a scary moment in 06:45 when a car comes from the yard straight in front of me! Luckily I had enough time to ride aside!
In the end of september we had a little bit different ride. This time mostly OffRoad. This was already in the beginning of the day… The most difficult parts! I can say that I was sweating like a pig… or a horse!
This path is quite well known route in Vihti. Not too difficult, almost quite ok for ordinary roadbike too.
This is one sandpit near Lohja. There is also nice small pond and we are riding around it two times.
And the last route is an old railroad (without rails) in Pikkala. The railroad was built by Russians when the area was part of Russia after the WWII.
In this video there is short break to take pictures under the bridge and then riding over the log. This log is not that difficult anymore…
Trans Euro Trail is an epic motorcycle journey through some of Europe’s most remote, diverse and inspirational landscapes. I’m proud to tell that now the TET Finland is updated and I’m the one to blame about the most southern part (From Espoo to Hämeenlinna).
So all you enduro and adventure riders it’s ok to download the track from TET-site and go riding and having fun!
You can find the track here.
It looks like this:
BMW 1200GS
Oh jeez, where to begin… This steaming pile of excrement’s undeserved popularity is outweighed only by its actual weight. Follow the crowd, independent thought is over-rated! Pointless 1930s technology brought to the present for absolutely no reason. Terrible suspension. 0/10
KTM 1290
Making well over 600hp this is the official bike of the mid-life crisis. Your wife might even stop sleeping with the mailman when you get one of these babies! Unreliable doesn’t begin to describe it though, the airbox sucks like your mom after 3 glasses of Four Cousins. Terrible suspension. 0/10
KTM 1090
Want a 1290 but too much of a pansy to handle the power? This is for you! Terrible suspension. 0/10
BMW 800GS
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!! Terrible suspension. 0/10
Honda Africa Twin 1000
Like a worse KTM 990. Can you say “under-powered” Making only 95hp, this bike is rendered practically useless. 15 years of waiting for this? Let down of the century! Terrible suspension. 0/10
KTM 990
Like a worse Africa Twin. Ugly as the night, looks like a Matric metalwork project. Fuel consumption rivals that of a Land Cruiser, rendering any trip longer than 15km impossible. Suspension is terrible. 0/10
Honda 250 Rally
Honda has fooled a handful of idiots into thinking this delivery bike is dual sport. It even has them paying over 90k for a bike that should be dropping off Debonairs at your house on Friday evening. Suspension is absolutely terrible. 0/10
Yamaha Super Tenere 1200
You want a 1200GS in blue, but without the free muffins? It costs HOW MUCH? Absolutely terrible suspension. 0/10
Yamaha XT660Z Tenere
This bike weighs almost as much as 1200GS but with one fourteenth of the power. Kymco scooters will flatten you at the traffic lights. Only an absolute idiot would opt for this abortion of a motorcycle. Has a long fuel range, so you’ll be subjected to hours and hours of excruciating seat time. Suspension=terrible. 0/10
Triumph Tiger 800
Haha don’t even kid me. So bad even Triumph itself fled from the country, leaving us stuck with this pathetic mess. It depreciates faster than the Rand during a Zuma speech. And reliability? It’s British in every sense of the word! Avoid at all costs. Suspension is so terrible. 0/10
Kawasaki KLR650
“Hello, this is the 1960s calling, we want our technology back please!” A face only a blind mother could love, this almost out-ugly’s the KTM 990. A reversing Fiat UNO has a higher top speed. Suspension is terrible. 0/10
Suzuki DR650
See KLR650 review but much, much worse. “It’s old so it must be reliable”, haha, yeah right. Carry some extra oil buddy! Terrible suspension. 0/10
KTM 690
You have to be a special brand of stupid to want to cover long distance on a glorified dirt bike. Luckily, there’s this steaming turd for that! You want to pay over a hundred grand for a pimped-up plaasbike? As reliable as an investment opportunity email from a Prince in Nigeria. Suspension? Terrible. 0/10
Huswqawjqwskwarna 701
A KTM 690 in yellow. From the country that invented ABBA comes an equally terrible bike. You’ll be screaming “Mamma Mia!” at the discomfort that comes with riding anything further than 2km. Also, try saying “Husqvarna” without sounding like an orangutan having a stroke. Suspension is terrible. 0/10
(This is a copy from http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/)
GoZa Mite 