the race is run, and while i am happy with my performance and loved the experience i can’t be happy with the outcome. i made a decision to withdraw after day 3 of 7 and it was not due to any fault of mine.

but let’s start from the beginning.

i built the bike, then the crate, and finally the bike went in the crate and on it’s journey to perth. at that stage i was fairly confident i had covered most angles and there were only a few things to take care of before the bike was going to be ready.

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the most important was that i still needed to take care of the tripmeter. that’s the essential instrument that counts the progress into the stages, without which there is really little point entering a rally. in fact, it would be quite dangerous because the roadbook does not only contain information about turns but also about hazards. i knew i had issues using the remote switch located on the handlebar with the trip meter, but i thought i had worked out what the problem was and found a solution, too. based on the evidence and interaction with a few experts i concluded i had damaged the tripmeter, and had sourced a replacement.

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should not take longer than an hour or two in perth to make the swap. there was also a nice new akra pipe in my luggage to give the little 250 as much bottom end as can be squeezed out of it’s tiny heart. the other key part was a completely new carbon fibre water container for my emergency water supply (required under safari regulations).

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a mate in newcastle made this piece of art for me. what is much harder to believe, though, is that he was able to craft this amazing piece of kit from the somewhat less than professional mold i made.

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the akra pipe was a breeze to change – i love it when things just go smoothly. changing the rear sprocket went a bit less smoothly – the bike fell over because the stand was on uneven ground. good thing i placed myself strategically between the bike and the ground so there were hardly any scratches. i don’t want to be accused of not looking after my bike, right?

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then the first curveball: after diligently replacing the not too elegant connectors on the new imo tripmaster with fancy m8 water- and dustproof screw type connectors i found that the imo and the remote still did not want to talk. that left only one conclusion: it was not the tripmaster that was wrong but the remote. and i did not have a spare.

luckily i was able to source one – not a perfect replacement but one that did work. i guess that was my first experience of the safari spirit: everyone will help a competitor. so i did a little more wiring and finally got the tripmeter to talk to the remote. ready to go?

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not quite. it turned out the new rallysafe system did not want to initialize. no worries, the specialists supporting the kit were on hand to help me work out what was going wrong. i got the answer you would expect from any technician worth his salt: the kit is fine, my installation is wrong. i can’t say i was too pleased that i was forced to redesign my antenna holder at the last minute before i had the time to run a few last tests and calibrate the tripmeter. i admit i was a little tense. well, actually i was livid.
the good bit: in the end it turned out the antenna was faulty …

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all set for an enjoyable safari show then, right?

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next day we got out of bed early – we had to be up in geraldton for the prologue at noon.

to be continued …