I was talking to a mate the other day and he mentioned he’d recently taken some overseas visitors to show them the Blue Mountains. I said “Cool, where did you go?”. He looked at me like I’d asked him if he was male or female. “The Blue Mountains, we went to the BLUE MOUNTAINS!”. I knew what that meant of course. They’d gone to the 3 sisters at Katoomba. This is not the first time I’ve heard this so my shock was momentary and not staggering. What IS staggering is the number of people who think that “The 3 Sisters” lookout IS the Blue Mountains. For them the Blue Mountains is like a Madame Tussauds Museum. You sleep in the car till you get there, tick it off the tourist list, then get back in the car and go to sleep again.
They miss the point.
They miss the point.
The Greater Blue Mountains is a world heritage area covering over 10 thousand square kilometres and stretching almost 300KM from North to South. You could spend years roaming this dense and magnificent wilderness and still not see it all. I have always found the Blue Mountains fascinating. They’re not very high and they’re not really mountains at all but the amazing cliff tops and dense eucalyptus jungles create a very dramatic and unique landscape. Since I started looking around for the best dirt riding trails around Sydney, I’ve realized that many of the best trails are in the Greater Blue Mountains area, especially around Lithgow. I did a couple of rides recently in this area.
The first was with my mate Pete when we were heading to Oberon to catch up with some BikeMe folk. We went up the Bells Line of road and took a couple of dirty diversions along the way. The first one was up Comleroy Road from Kurrajong, down to Wheeny Creek and then up to Bilpin via Mountain Lagoon.
Wheeney Creek is a nice campsite in thick forest and would’ve been pretty quiet for the few campers there till we braaped along, splashing noisily through the creek. It was a bit damp and misty but the moist conditions didn’t bother us and we had great fun on this section. Not especially fantastic riding but nice, forested countryside and open firetrails.
After droning along a wet Bells Line of Road (is it ever not wet around here?!), we again turned north onto dirt tracks starting at the ZigZag railway. Pete was on his much abused but stoic DR650, which made my Husky 610 look a bit dainty. But as we hit the trails, the low weight, quality suspension and excellent poise of the Husky quickly put me at an advantage and I pulled the lead on Pete. It was my first ride on the Conti TKC80 tyres I’d put on the supermoto rims and I was immediately impressed with their grip on the damp and sandy trails.
After droning along a wet Bells Line of Road (is it ever not wet around here?!), we again turned north onto dirt tracks starting at the ZigZag railway. Pete was on his much abused but stoic DR650, which made my Husky 610 look a bit dainty. But as we hit the trails, the low weight, quality suspension and excellent poise of the Husky quickly put me at an advantage and I pulled the lead on Pete. It was my first ride on the Conti TKC80 tyres I’d put on the supermoto rims and I was immediately impressed with their grip on the damp and sandy trails.
The main trail was easy going but it wasn’t long before we stared exploring some of the smaller trails tearing off into the bush. There were just so many trails in this area that we were exhausted just thinking about the possibilities. We were time constrained though as we were meeting up with some BikeMe folk at Oberon so we cut our explorations short and headed towards Lithgow on the GlowWorm Tunnel Road. Along the way we spied some amazing rock formations and couldn’t resist exploring. What we discovered was a whole valley full of strange, monolithic rock formations. It was all weathered sandstone and it was mind boggling to imagine that nothing more than the natural forces of wind and water acting over millennia had produced this unbelievable natural art.
Pete and I rock climbed to the top of one of these weird and wonderful “pagodas” and talked about how good life was while watching the clouds roll in and out of the valley. It was a most surreal spot.
From Lithgow we headed to Oberon via Hampton and explored the top speeds of both bikes. The Husky topped out at about 140 and it was a struggle to keep it there. I’m ashamed to say that Pete’s DR pulled a lead on me here. Maybe if I rode naked and lay flat on the seat, I might catch him. An easier way to increase top speed would be to put on the bigger adventure wheels I have lying in my garage but that’s way less sexier than lying naked on the seat doing 150 and I’m all about bringing sexy back. YEAH!
My next sojourn to the Blue Mountains was only a few days later on the CBR. My 06 CBR600 is an excellent bike but its 10 years old and after a couple of track days it was clear to me that the suspension needed improvement. The forks were farked and the shock was shocking. So it wasn’t a shock that I’d need to fork out some cash to fix it. Want me to go on with the puns?
My mate Paul McDermott is a very handy bike mechanic, though this is not his day job. He is also very good at his day job, though that has nothing to do with mechanics. When I explained my suspension woes to Paul, he volunteered to help me out. While I was away holidaying in India, he serviced my forks and replaced my shock with a $1500, top of the line, ELKA unit. When I got back he claimed the transformed CBR was the best handling bike he had ever ridden and he refused to return it to me. I had to bribe him with some Indian goodies to make him return the bike. Once in my possession, I set about finding out for myself how good the transformed CBR really was.
My mate Paul McDermott is a very handy bike mechanic, though this is not his day job. He is also very good at his day job, though that has nothing to do with mechanics. When I explained my suspension woes to Paul, he volunteered to help me out. While I was away holidaying in India, he serviced my forks and replaced my shock with a $1500, top of the line, ELKA unit. When I got back he claimed the transformed CBR was the best handling bike he had ever ridden and he refused to return it to me. I had to bribe him with some Indian goodies to make him return the bike. Once in my possession, I set about finding out for myself how good the transformed CBR really was.
I headed to the Putty road via Wollmobi. I did 2 laps of the ten mile and then sat in the shade of my favourite tree on that stretch and reflected. The bike was indeed much improved. The front was transformed, no saggy, divey, spongy forks anymore. Firm, precise loading and excellent feel. The rear was firm and just very planted through the smooth bends. I was impressed. I love this bike. Its revvy and playful character complements its incredible handling perfectly. It’s just so easy to go fast on. I was having so much fun that I decided to continue onto the Bylong Valley Way to test out the high speed handling.
There are few roads around Sydney nowadays where you can really open up a sportsbike. The Bylong Valley Way is one such road. Mostly comprising of short straights and long open sweepers, it’s a great “test track” to work on your suspension settings. The only problem is the incredible scenery of rocky cliffs and dense forests (we’re still in the Greater Blue Mountains!), which is highly distracting! But I was focussed on my work and in the interests of science, I proceeded to test the bike’s handling at increasingly higher speeds.
I was happy to note that the bike was rock solid at high velocities but the high speed rebound damping was too harsh as a result of which, the test rider’s testicles were getting jolted too frequently. This information was logged in the data logger for subsequent action.
At one point a large Goanna crossed in front of me and I had to brake hard to avoid it. I decided to stop and chase it off the road. He didn’t seem very thankful and stuck his tongue out at me instead.
At one point a large Goanna crossed in front of me and I had to brake hard to avoid it. I decided to stop and chase it off the road. He didn’t seem very thankful and stuck his tongue out at me instead.
After the BVW, it was a fairly routine slog back home on the Great Western Highway, which is anything but great really, considering it’s restricted to 60KMPH for vast stretches due to roadworks. 60 kilometres per hour. Fuck. I can’t get out of first gear at that speed. All up I did 850KMs for the day and was on the bike for 12 hours. Was pretty knackered and convinced that the CBR600RR is not meant for these kind of days. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it again at the drop of a hat though. The CBR is just so much fun to be on!
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