Motorcycle Adventure Singles Only | 3 Husqvarna 501s, a KTM and Yamaha WRF 450 modified for ADV!

I heard you scream and that's when I bloody come. I thought mate he's gone, he's gone. You're nearly there boys, I'd like to help you a bit. What did you resolve? I like the 650 V-Stroke. No. I need to resolve this, this is the second tail tidy I've done. I can't believe they're all saying, oh you've got to do this tail tidy, you've got to do this. I reckon you've just got to lose about four kg. That's what it is. You can't wind the clickers up anymore. We're at Chris Watson's, finally for our 500 single fest. Dale's come along now, we've roped him into it on a 450 Yammy. Mark, welcome aboard. Your bike has more bling than the Maharaja's bike, I reckon. Oh yeah, you've got to have the gear. Well we'll talk about it later. There's my little build, then we've got Nugget. Nugget, did you bring any tools mate? No tools. We're two blokes from our own bike shop, surely they bought their tools. Hey unless they ask, Chris Watson, did you bring your tools? We don't need them in hostanas. Mate, that looks pretty too. Well gentlemen, look forward to riding with you today. I've got no tools, Nugget's got no tools, Chris has got no tools, Mark has tools. We're heading out with Chris Watson on our 500 singles fest, just going through the wineries and then up we go into the Wadigan forest. This is brilliant. Here comes Nugwa. Here goes Nugwa. Mark Cockerell from Adventure Bike Components. You have one hell of a blinged up bike there, tell me a bit about it. Yeah, so FE501 with our raid garage tower, all carbon fibre and pro moto suspension, the Adventure Bike Components clutch cover, Bark Busters, our service hand guards, don't know how to call them then, double take mirrors and cross-country adventure foot pegs, Venache disc guard, you can go on and on. Yeah. It's an absolutely fantastic bike to ride. Now I look at a couple of other things, front disc guard and you've got a Cush drive, haven't you too? Yes, so they're a Hahn Cush drive with XL rims. So Mark, we've been banging out some open trails, some single and a bit of transport. What comes to mind on these 500s, 501s is versatility, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. One of the big things I find personally is Rex from Fuel Talk remapped the ECU. Yeah. And that way we can run a 46 tooth or 47 tooth back sprocket and have, still have plenty of oomph and be able to do all the single trail stuff without using heaps of clutch. Yeah. It's just fantastic. No stalling. Yeah. Yeah, I've got, you know, you've encouraged me to do that. You're going to get up me for not doing some of my homework. And one of them is that, and in that single trial there, I stall once or twice, you know, and I don't think that would happen with the correct fueling. Yes. Yeah. Makes a big difference. It's got the KTX shock treatment on the rear, some protection on the swing arm. What's that, a Kropovich pipe? Yeah, yeah. That's an Acro pipe, Acro muffler. I just find that it gives it that more bottom end. I've tried it with the standard and that one with the mapping is really nice. Right. The service, what's that 20, 25, 20 litre? 15 litre. 15 litre tank. Yeah, no, it's a lovely bike. Yeah. A couple of other things up here. Yeah. So we've got a Beratech dash panel there. So that gives you, you can have engine temperature, coolant temperature, and a tacho, and even tell you what gear you're in if you really want it. Yeah. With very little weight, really easy installation. Yeah. And the other one we've got over here is that multi-switch. That Dave hasn't put on. That Dave hasn't put on yet, but just makes it so much better. Press, press to turn your blinker off. Yeah. None of that switching back and forth. Yeah. Just for an adventure bike, if you're doing a bit of road stuff, it just makes it that better. Now, traction control on a 500, you've got that one on two for poo. I don't have the, don't run the traction control on dirt roads. I normally run two. Yeah. And then when I'm in the tighter stuff, I'll turn it into one. Yep. Okay. And if it gets real snotty, I turn the traction control on. Right. But two allows you to do big skids through the corners. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Mike, you keep forgetting goodies. Like someone did your kit on it too. Like it's got a great sticker kit. Yeah. So MX Inc, they did our sticker kit and it come up really good. And it's a, it's a common theme. Seat concepts seen on a 501. Just something about it, isn't it? Yeah. One, one more thing that I note that I have that none of the other guys have. Yeah. Is tools on the bike. Oh, right. No one else carries tools. I'm one of those guys. Even the suite doesn't carry tools. I'm just having a look down here. That's my toolbox down the bottom. I'm just having a look down here. Your bash plate has got a little, what's that? Is that for a tool kit? So that's the toolbox. The lid comes off from over this side. Like that. That's a neat place for a toolbox and it protects the part. Yes. Oh, wow. And all your tools are in. And all your KDM tools, your tyre levers. Everything. Everything in there. Out of the way. Amazing. Chris Watson, thanks for taking us to this magnificent view. That is a cracker. Yeah. It's one in a million and it's great. Mate, it's brilliant. Now, a couple of months ago, I bought my 501 from you and we, we had a discussion and we said, we're going to meet back up together, do a bike build each and see the differences. So it's that time. It's come. Took a long time making, but it's a great day for it today. Yeah, mate. So tell me a bit about your bike. This is our Demo Adventure Explorer Rally. And it's pretty simple, my bike. It's a 23.5 501 FE. A Cush drive rear wheel. We're gearing to suit. 606 in the rear. We've got a larger oil capacity clutch cover. Gives it another 500 mils. Bark busters of Husky brand genuine, genuine screen and the service 15 litre tank. 350, 400 Ks. And the thing's a great ride. Yeah. Mate, that, that OEM screen, I mean, you and I have discussed this before, for our 701s that we ride and that, that screen's a cracker, isn't it? Well, it fits perfectly. It doesn't vibrate. 179 retail. Very affordable and, and made perfect. Yeah. Just buffy the, off the chest and that's quite good. Yeah. So who's done your stickers? Place called Black, Black Diamond. Local guy. He does all our shop work and he's Troy's a cool guy and mate just dresses the bike up and makes it a little bit personalised. So, you know, we're about halfway through this ride. We've done some single trail, some fast flowing stuff, some snotty rocky stuff. It really speaks for the bikes, doesn't it? You can do anything. Everyone comes to my shop. They want the one perfect bike and do everything. Yeah. Impossible, but if you want to do a lot of stuff off-road, the 501 slash 701 is probably close you're going to get. Now the 501 does a lot more technical stuff, a lot lighter. Mate, they're pretty hard to beat when you want to do everything. Yeah. I mean, mine comes in fuel full at 141 kilograms and yours would be a bit less because you're not carrying a rack. Yeah, it's pretty light. I mean, that's not even a 701 weight, is it? No, no, they're great and people ride them and going downhill is always a problem with a big heavy bike. These go down, stop, turn, adjust. Them bigger bikes are like bulldozers going downhill just hoping to get in that bottom. So I do like riding and you can ride faster and enjoy it more. So someone was saying to me the other day there's a very good price on the 501s at the moment. Well, there's two and a half thousand off at the moment on the 23. You're kidding. So this bike decked up how it is now would be under $18,000. Yeah, yeah. That's a fair bit of motorcycle for under $18,000 that you can go and have a lot of enjoyment on. Yeah. Well, mate, it's a pleasure getting out with you again, Chris. And yeah, well, we've got a bit more riding to do today, but that's a cracking bike. Yeah, they're good fun. I enjoy it. Yeah. And there's the no tower. See, that's the no tower. No weight, all gain. No weight, all gain. Remember that? It's a very good saying from Chris Watson. I've got to tell you. Thanks, Chris. Dale, you're the Japanese ring in. What's going on here? Mate, the trusty WR is all I can afford. I can't afford the fancy stuff. So how long you had your 450? All up, probably a couple of years now. Well, mate, you're not slow on it. No, I've sort of, I can keep up. That's a bit of an understatement. So what have you done to this bike? Like, it's adventurized, isn't it? Yeah, it's got the big tank, which is 16 liters, but it actually takes nearly 20 because it's expanded. I can get 300 plus out of it. Seat concept seat, hydraulic clutch, obviously Barkbusters, B&B rack on the back. It's got a GYTR bash plate and exhaust, which is too loud. Steg pegs. Don't know whether I like them too much at this stage. You see Nugget's Steg pegs? I did. They're three feet wide. Yeah, that's the budget option. That's the budget, budget option. And mate, just the screens for the bike screen, some double tape mirrors. We've got a USP port, double port. You've got to run on it as well. How do you find your screen there? It's good for general riding. When you start to get single track and you're over the bars, I have had it hit me in the face a couple of times. So if I was doing that, I'd probably pop it off. But for light adventure riding, it's good. It helps a lot. And you can just put your peak down and you get underneath the wind, give yourself a bit of a break. Your suspension, I suspect that something was done to it. Yes, initially it was done before I bought it by Promoto Suspension. And I used Ian for my race bikes back in the day. But I couldn't get hold of Ian, so I went up and saw Clive, Clive Ward at Motorcycle Biz, and got him to set it up for me with heavier springs in the front, heavier in the back, fresh oil. I don't think he did much with the valving, but it's great. He took good suspension, he made it better. Yeah, it's interesting. I'm seeing you on the bike and it's just beautiful through the single and fast stuff. It's great. Yeah, I like it. And for a budget bike, like for $6,500 for the basic, I mean, you've got $1,000 in a tank and a seat, but any bike you can spend a lot of money on. So you've adventurized that and a lot of people are interested at the moment the way the economy is. So how much would your bike cost right now in the kit it's in, do you reckon? I'd reckon probably eight and a half. Yeah, that's not bad, is it? To get on the road on a reliable bike. Well, and it's got, it's injected, but it's got a Kickstarter for backup when you're down in those gullies and no one's there to push you and you haven't got a jumpstart kit. I like that. The 16 models on, they went away from that, I think. But I like this one. I like the tank. The airbox is really accessible easily. It's just a workhorse and these things are bulletproof. So for a cheap, lightweight adventure bike, the only thing I'd put on it would be a Cush drive, but during COVID, they're just hard to get. I've got a Raleigh 300 Raleigh as well. Yeah. And I use that for longer rides where it's smoother and it's more comfortable. But when I want to be a little bit fancy free. That's a CRF. The CRF 300 Raleigh. Isn't that a good bike? Yeah, well, I've spent a lot more on that than what I've spent on this. But it's a great bike. Love it. But it's different. It's a different purpose. This one's when I want to do wheelies and slides. Yeah. And go fast. And the other one's when I ride with all my older mates. What about my age? Yeah, well, we're probably not that far. How old are you, Dave? 16. Nagwa. Now, what do you reckon? Is this the best kept cat or what, this one? This is my little secret missile here. You want to tell me all about it. I've got my phone thing here. I've got cable ties to hold my phone on. Yeah. But I don't even use it because it falls off. Yeah. You've got the Choker Chicken. I can see Choker Chicken there. Yeah, Choker's still travelling strong. Good modification. I've got a big... Hey there, Dave. Your sun deflection's too bad. Yeah, who is it? A Chris Watson hat? Tell me. It's a husky hat. Never misses a trick, does he? No. I've got a big brake thing because I've only got a size 7 foot and can't reach a normal pedal. Yeah, yeah. And I've got the new Wi-Fi... Yeah, Wi-Fi. These are Wi-Fi blinkers from Venture Bike Components. You just push the button here and they... They work, do they? Venture Bike Components, Wi-Fi blinkers. Did you see that, Mark? You knew you sold those? No, he sponsored me for them. He sponsored you for them. New technology. Yeah, and I've got a holder to hold the cable so it doesn't get caught in my chain. Mate, could your stag pegs, could they be any thicker? Are they off a kid's, I don't know, skateboard or something? What are they? No, they're a... They're solid, mate. And I got them from the hardware company. I've got big thighs. They're not very long, but they're very thick, so... Yeah, that's about it. I've got a steering dampener without a spigot so it doesn't even work. It looks good. You know what? I'm looking, there's a scar on the end of your bars there. I think I was the cause of that, wasn't I? Yes. No, no, that was, I think... No, that was this side, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you sent me, told me to speed up for the camera over a week, wasn't I? I was saying, slow down, slow down, and you accelerated, yeah. No, my bike's pretty uninteresting. I don't really have much of a tyre left on the front. Yeah, you say that. It's got no cush drive, but I'll tell you what it does have. It does have suspension work, doesn't it? I think I might have had a little bit lowered by the professor. Yeah, old Clive Ward. Yeah, and my sticker kit by Holeshot, that was pretty good. Holeshot, it looks great. H2O, the water boy. Yeah, that's right. So Brett Kenney there, he did a good job for me. Got me all up to spec. I've got a big tank. We put all this on for Fink. I've actually just transformed this bike from a race bike at Fink to an adventure bike, so... Yeah. All I did was put the Giant Loop bag on, and yeah, that's got my sleeping bag in it. Yeah, I thought so, yeah. I'm only little, you know. Yeah, that's right. Mate, but it's a good rig, isn't it? Like the 501s are great, or 500s are great. We're hitting the open trails, and we're launching off erosion mounds. We're exploring. Mate, you don't want to do that with a big bike. Imagine, I've been on rides where blokes are panicking on big T7s or something, because they're going down a trail. They're going, where's he taking us? You know, we don't have that worry here. Wherever we can go down, we can get out. Yeah, it's amazing that, isn't it? People, you know, like cashed-up people just walk into a shop and just say, oh, we need the biggest we can. Where, in fact, they'd probably be much happier with the lightest. Smaller the better. Like, who hasn't been on a ride where they're starting to panic where this bloke Leedon's taking them? Yeah. You know, no one wants to be the cause of a hold-up. No. And, um, but with these, you don't have that trouble, and you're always going to get it out. Any twin is sitting at 200 kilograms, isn't it? And blokes like Wado won't wait for you. No, no, Wado won't wait for you, no. He's left better blokes than me behind before. That's his job. The thing with these bikes is that they effortlessly, you know, cruise on the more open trails. You can really get hauling if you want to race, but if you just want to puddle along, you can puddle along on them. They're good like that. All right, Nugwa, this is your first interview in a long time. Just make it good, son. I'm ready. I've gone all camera shy. Hang on, hang on. It's me on the side of the camera, you're behind. Oh, that's right, that's right. Well, you've been asking us all about our bikes, and now we want to know a little bit about yours. It doesn't seem to have a speck of dirt on it. No, well, it's been down the Victorian high country with you, and that's it, and then I washed it, and it hasn't been done since, so that's it. So, yeah, the bike came about from envy from your bloody thing. I thought yours was great, and then bloody Chris Watson started influencing me, and before I know it, I was in the store at Cessnock picking up the 501, and I haven't regretted it. What about the big blue rack on the back? What's this about? Yeah, that's a true North Motors rack. That's made in America. A bit hard to get, but if you keep at the boys over there, they do a lot of riding. There's two good friends. They do a lot of riding, and they go off for a couple of weeks, but they do get back to you, so if there's any Aussies out there, you want one of those, it's a cracker. We did that in the Victorian high country, really good, but yeah, you'll put your order in, and it may not come through for a while, but they will get there. And what else can I say there? I like the mirrors. The mirrors are the best thing. I reckon they're great. These are Rosie Lalonde's mirrors from KDM. Yeah, they're the best mirrors I've ever had. Flippy mirrors. No talking on set over here, remember? You sell those mirrors, Mark? Adventure bike components? Double take mirrors, even better, eh? Yeah, now just remember there's no microphone over there, so he's just going like this at the moment. Come in, Mark. So I have got a question for you. Yeah, yeah, Mark. Now, I believe that Adventure Bike Components supplied you with a multi-switch for your blinker. Got an ignition switch, and I'm just wondering what happened with them getting fitted up. eBay, eBay. Not eBay, e-box. They're in a box, Mark, that will get fitted there, and the ignition will get fitted there. Mark's been very good to me. He provided me this Adventure Bike Components clutch cover, which gives you extra oil, which I think is a great idea. You need it, yeah. Yeah, but... How much extra, 50 mil or something like that? No, no, mine's 300. A bit over 300. Oh, wow. Yeah, 300 mil. Yeah, so it's good. Come on, get the flow going. What about the tower on it? The tower, Adventure Men Cave tower from Portugal. Now, I love that tower, and it came good with the Holeshot Gravix kit on it. I reckon it looks pretty classy. I'm not really a tower guy, as Mr. Watson knows. What's your saying, Chris? No gain. Yeah, too much weight, no gain. It's certainly not cutting him through. What it does, it balances with this and that. Maybe I need a bit more weight on the front. I'm going to buy in on the tower debate. Yeah, go on. Because I'm a tower guy. Oh. He sells towers, you mean. So what my thoughts are is that with a tower, you've got the GPS mounted up within your line of sight when you're looking forward. So when you're going fast, you're not looking down trying to look at the GPS. Now, that doesn't matter for Chris, because he always has someone else do the mapping, and he just follows them. Doesn't carry tools or GPSes. I thought he's so short, he doesn't have to look down. I don't mind the wind protection, but that's really good on that. But, you know, I've got one of those ones that Chris has got, an OEM one on the 701. It's just really good. It just keeps the stability. Well, why don't you mention... Hang on, hang on. Let me interview you about my bike. What did you say? What about the big tank? The GPS holder goes on the man cave. A couple of clickers. Mate, there's so much bling on this bike. Are they wider pegs? Not yet. I've got them in a box. In a box. If you were to give them to me, Mark, I'd put them on mine straight away. So, Nugget, I need to resolve this is the second tail tidy I've done, and Mark's given me some pretty significant pointers here. Have you got a bit... Oh, thanks, Darl. There you go, mate. Try that on the bike. Yeah, I think that goes about there. About there, yep. Looks good, too. Oh, look, it's perfect. Excellent. Oh, I can't believe they're all saying, oh, you've got to do this tail tidy. You've got to do this. I reckon you've just got to lose about 4kg. That's what it is. You can't wind the clickers up anymore. Thanks for that, Nugget. As I've always said, if it's not filmed, it's not there. Mate, it's an honest review. That's what we're here for. That's where I got honest nugget. This is the second one of these I've eaten. Yep. So it's got to go. Look at Chris's. Oh, yeah. Yep, that's right. Look at that. That works. Standard fitment part kit. Chris Watson. Hey, Nugget. Has Chris given us a bloody something good here or what? Sneaked us into some property, I think, through the gate. He had a key. Yeah. Inside info. Yeah, I think you're going to go and meet a fan now. Let's go and see. Yeah, this bloke down here who lives here, this farmer, is a bit of a fan of Nuggets. And look, he can tell he's made the grass for him. Nugget's liking those cows. He's a bit of a cow lover, Nugget. Logically removed from each other as you were born. I've got all the brains. No, you've got all the looks. Yeah, and the looks. And the looks. You're your twin brother. Say you're twin brother, Nugget. I was born first. Rejoin your brother. Congratulations. Give him a hug, Nugget. You can't just give him a hug. There's paradise in here. What do you think of the new 800 and the Suzuki? Oh, now we've ridden that. That's a bloody good bit of kit. And I've got two in stock. You've got two? Two in stock. Mate, the engine on that, we could do an editorial. What is it called? An advertorial. We rode those. They're bloody brilliant bikes. We'll demo one, Steve, for you. I don't like working my day off, but I will show you one day. No, no, no. Mate, you need one of those. I like the 650 V-Strom. No. Steve, you've got to sit on that one. Mate, I've never met you. I'm telling you now. Just take him up on the offer. Go for a little ride on it. You won't look back. Can we follow this up, Chris? You've got to get, bring one out here. Let him sit on it. Ride down that road and it'll be in the shed. I'll ride the deal back home. Come on, Nug. Bloody people out here. You spoil the serenity. Well, Nugget's gone serene on us. Gone native. Come up here. Launched over this. Saw this. Anyway, someone forgot to tell Troy. Hey, where's Dale Troy? I don't know. Dale Troy. Come up here. Dale Troy! Anyone for Dale Troy? Oh, wait there. Hang on. Hidey-go-seek. Oh. Do you think he got an oil leak under there? It's a lowering leak. They don't make it handle. Nugget. He pushed him off. Did you push him off? Nugget pushed him off. Dave set us both up. I heard you scream and that's when I bloody come. I thought, mate, he's gone. Chris, we're having this great ride. But one of your mates. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Customer. He's got a problem with keeping on tracks. I think, I think he should have turned left when he should have turned right. And so what happened? There he is down the jungle. I zigged and I should have zagged. Now, Dale, the first thing, are you all right? He's a borer mentalist. He's a part of nature. He's an arborist. I'm from Cessnock. I'm good. All right. He's from Cessnock. He's good. Have a go. Well, both heads are fine. Well, there's one head on his helmet. Lucky he's wearing an arrow. I heard the scream. And then you said, yeah, and you said, get up here, Dave. Get up here. When you first got over, you went. Yeah, there was a scream. I heard the scream. Anyway, singles only ride's going well. Let's go. Five started, four remaining. If I could reenact that squeal, though, when you went over. Yeah, and then you said, get up here, Dave. Get up here. Get up here, he's gone. When you first went over, you went, ahh. You showed me you're taking over with him. Yeah, there was a scream. I heard the scream. Anyway, singles only ride's going well. That's what made me come back. Just another one of Wada's rides. You're nearly there, boys. I'd like to help you a bit. Perfect. Keep filming Chris. Keep filming your leg. You've got another one of those. Many hands make light work. Yours aren't on it. Someone's got to do the filming. As per usual. I haven't got no tools. I don't bring any tools. What's going on mate? We're salvaging a bike. Are we riding with chimps or what? What's going on? They're going to the jungle. They're jungle lovers. I've ridden with Watto three days and three of his mates have not finished the ride. They end up in a jungle. What's this? I don't think that's going to be a good fuel line. I think. Let me have a look at that. Yeah look at that. That'll be interesting. You've broken the ordinary though because normally it's an ambulance trip out with Watto's ride. So you've done really well. It's only a ute ride this one. I'm pretty happy. Yeah all right. It's downhill back down there. Yeah yeah well your tail tight. Let's have a look at your tail. Look at your tail tight. Mine would have been like two two brackets. That was a very tidy crack. Yeah the funny thing is as soon as we get this up, Watto's is just going to leave you and ride off. Yeah yeah all right. Look at Chris Watson. Ladies and gentlemen buy a bike from Chris Watson Motorcycles. And this is this is the service you get at Chris Watson Motorcycles. He'll come out and pull you out of the bush. When he knows you're coming back to get more parts. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Something never changed. I knew what he did straight away. I heard the scream. I turned around and went straight around. Dave. Medic. There's a shelter all right. It's not bad. I'm ******* amazed. I seriously I'm amazed that I'm *******. Ten foot drop there. Just roll it back down the hill. And um. And burn it. We'll pick up and trade value you just drop a touch. One careful owner. Hey haven't haven't dropped as much as you did. One drop. Just one drop. Here comes Dale. Good rolling. Well and then there were four. Dale's still stuck out there playing banjos. We may see him again. I'm not sure. Maybe. Yeah. He's going back. One two three. Yeah well thanks Mark for coming along and showing us your bike. Thanks Chris. That was great. And thanks Nugget as always. We have great rides together. That was a lot of fun. Welcome to my backyard. Yeah mate. It's been great. All righty. Well let's go home. Have a chardonnay. What do you have here? Red wine don't you? I normally have both. Fuck that.