650 break-in ride

nev

Super Térrarist
Jo's got her new 650GS and we're off to Mildura in a few weeks so we needed to get a few km on the clock and have the first service done before we go so decided to head off for the weekend for a running in ride.

I had sort of plotted out a route on the Tomtom but adjusted this as we went and I had more of an idea of what sort of average speed we'd be making.

Headed out to Yarra Glen and took the Steels creek turnoff for the run up Mt Slide..

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then out to Toolangi and took the Mt St Leonards turnoff... this road was quite wet and muddy and as soon as we started to climb we were in cloud, very limited visibility, unknown road, muddy, steep... but lots of fun :)

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down the other side of the mountain, we're below the fog again, the roads are dryer and the speed increases a bit.. until we find a tree down over the road...

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First jo tried a bit of muscle to move it...

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a 4WDer tried a bit of his muscle to shift it out of the way for us..

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in the end we built a little ramp out of smaller logs and branches...

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and my chance to out-do Evel Knievel

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Through Murrundini Scenic Reserve, up Murrundindi road

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Then onto Frog Pond road which landed us on the Goulburn Valley Highway just east of Yea.


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After lunch in yea, headed towards Seymour for 3km then took the Ghin Ghin turnoff. This was a teriffic 20km of sealed twisties up to Highland, then we turned back onto a dirt road towards Molesworth. A few KM down this road we came across some cows on the road.. .which then proceeded to run along the road ahead of us. Ahead I could see a couple of other bikes, and more cows. Initially I thought the farmer was hearding his cows down the road and we had picked up a few stragglers and were doing him a favour.. but after probably 1-2km saw the other bikes had got ahead of the cows.. and when we got to them a few took off again down the road. A few bends later the other bikes had stopped and the cows we had hearded towards them stopped too. Fortunately the cows finally stood to the side and we were able to pass.. pity the farmer who has to go hearding them up again. We stopped and chatted to the other couple. They were out on a DR650 and an XT250. It was her first ride on the dirt. They thought we were brave on our bikes without knobbies... and they didn't see the mud we'd ridden through earlier !!!


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From molesworth we headed up the highway to Mansfield for the night. An earlier phone call to the Kevington hotel, my original planned destination revealed they were short of beds this weekend. From Merton to Bonnie Doon we followed a black police car up the highway. just before the Bonnie Doon bridge we saw another unmarked Ford Territory which had stopped a car heading west. At the bridge the black car headed for his hiding spot at the end of the bridge.. at the other end of the bridge was another police car which had a car pulled over there. He flagged us down for a licence and rego check.

After we'd checked into a hotel in Mansfield we saw all three police cars parked there.. Cops from Melbourne sent up to patrol the highway for the weekend.

Sunday morning after a good sleep in we hit the road about 10am. Plan for today was as simple. I programmed the following destinations into the TomTom and told it to take me the shortest route between them.
Tolmie
Tatong
Swanpool
Lima East
Strathbogie
Ruffy
Dropmore
Yea
Kinglake
home
This would surely take us down some interesting back roads and forest roads... and we were not disappointed...

A back road to Tolmie, then into a state forest from Tolmie to Tatong. This was about 30km of quite varied road and terrain, mostly in good condition, but some corners churned up by log trucks... some areas logged, others heavily treed..


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We stopped in Swanpool for morning tea, and who should be right outside the general store where we stopped but the cops in the black police car we'd followed the previous afternoon and seen at the motel. They seemed to be doing pretty good business this weekend. We turned off on the East Lima Rd, where we came across this strange railway crossing.. according to the plaque this was the site of the Lima railway station which operated from 1914 to 1947.

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The Lima Station site was about 100metres from the road, but still distinguisable in the terrain. Earlier we'd passed a sign just like this one in Tatong. Realised that it was the site of another long gone railway station.

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Differing terrain and road conditions through the Strathbogie State Forest but mostly pretty good condition roads though the churned up mud on these hairpins kept us awake.

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interesting image with planation pine on one side of the road and native gums on the other

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From Strathbogie we headed to Ruffy for lunch, then followed Tomtom's directions back to Dropmore and Highland, where we found this interesting monument to the region's pioneers.

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There on we were back on the Yea-Ghin Ghin road, for the 20km run back down to Yea. Headed to the eastern end of town and down a sidestreet to the Melba Hwy. Midway down there was a police RBT set up. 3 cars. 1 black one, a white one, and an unmarked Ford Territory. As I pulled up I flipped up the Nolan and gave them a bit of "I wish you fellas would stop stalking us."

Thereon we headed down the Melba Hwy to Glenburn, then into Kinglake via this recently sealed road... then down the south side of the Kinglake national park following the HT powerlines down the side of the hill and home again (via the carwash).

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the GPS tracks are here...
http://www.thisstupidurl.com/2008/GSbreakinRide/10May2008.kml

http://www.thisstupidurl.com/2008/GSbreakinRide/11May2008.kml
 
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P

Punisher

Guest
nice write up Nev and Jo. I remember when i was a crazy teen in a makeshift rally car, when we explored stupid tracks, i had a tomahawk to fix trees like that.


hey i did a bike trip to mildura, probably the only decent 2 up bike trip ive ever done :-(

www.mad-biker.com for the review. the resort we stayed in was good and was on wotif.com.au for bugger all.
 
Nice review, great photos.

Will BMW honour the warranty when you take the bike in for service dirty?
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Great stuff !!!

One day we should do the Strathbogies together...a 2 or 3 day ride maybe?...there are some nice roads from Barjarg (the old servo near the southern tip of Lake Nillacootie) up into the Highlands, the one from Lima up you've done, there's another one further north.

Ruffy-Seymour is another one, it by-passes Highlands to the north and hits the Highlands-Seymour Rd about halfway through....pics are in one of the postie-rides (a Long W/E with Tim I think).
Up Mt. Wombat for a spectacular view into the northern plains (Euroa/Benalla etc)....we used to have an acre-block in Strathbogie, know the place quite well, there's some great stuff around.

Looks like the 800 gots it's cristening, jumping logs and all that. :thumbs::thumbs:

The pub in Tatong has a small cabin, too...and the counter has to be seen to be believed!! It's a MASSIVE slab of redgum, framed by posts and beams of a similar kind...GREAT.:so

Hats off to you guys....great ride and sweet pics....and a BALL of FUN by the looks of it :chug::chug:
 

goodie

...
Jo, it looks that the new bike suits you very well. How does it compare to the 650 - from your point of view?
 

jo

I'm a wimp!
Jo, it looks that the new bike suits you very well. How does it compare to the 650 - from your point of view?

Goodie - I'm really glad a traded in the old F650CS and got this one. The power is instantaneous, no vibration, handling on the dirt (for a new newbie on dirt) I found it to be great, and posture is great for me. It weighs less than 200kg with liquid. It's light enough that I can push it around the garage and I used to struggle with the old bike. I got the lowered version as well as lowered seat. It has been sculptured such that I can feel it within my thigh but I only noticed it if I'm riding a straight section of road and I'm bored.

I have no other experience with other bike but so far I'm really loving it. Lucky for me at the moment my boss said I don't have to travel until June :D.
 

nev

Super Térrarist
The pub in Tatong has a small cabin, too...and the counter has to be seen to be believed!! It's a MASSIVE slab of redgum, framed by posts and beams of a similar kind...GREAT.:so

Back in 1993 I jumped out of a hot air balloon over Tatong and skydived into town. Landed in the paddock right out in the backyard of the pub. :D Too early in the morning for the publican to be awake and pour us a cold one unfortunately.
 
P

Punisher

Guest
you jumped out of a hot air baloon into a pub? wtf were you on man!

cool ride jo, its great getting these bikes for us vertacally challenged folks, or long in the body such as my self.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Back in 1993 I jumped out of a hot air balloon over Tatong and skydived into town. Landed in the paddock right out in the backyard of the pub. :D Too early in the morning for the publican to be awake and pour us a cold one unfortunately.

:D Yeah, bunch of slackos out there, pub closed at 8am ....it's disgusting!
:wink:
Btw...the road along the spine of Mt. Samaria (the Nat park north of Mansfield... access-road branches off at the "sharp" angle off the Whitfield Rd, where it tacks from north to east, about 10k's out of Mansfield) is another worthwhile road, but fairly rough and bumpy most of the time.

Breathtaking terracing of the track and brilliant views from right along the spine.
 
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