The steed is ready!!

Yes, my Tenere is ready for the 2015 Tenere Tragics in New South Wales. This year it's the northern Great Dividing Ranges. Looks like it's going to be an absolute blast. I'm just not keen on the crazy distance we need to travel to get there. From Adelaide to Nambucca Heads, it'll be around 2000km! Then we'll still do the 4 days' riding and then I tackle the trip back on my lonesome. My riding buddy for this trip will be a work colleague who's got a black Tenere and proposed that we head up there together this year. He did it last year when they hosted it in the Victorian Alps and had a great time. Well, here are some picks of my pride and joy:

Christmas came early and I couldn't wait to get these new toys on my bike.



I got Touratech headlight protector, large engine guard, power supply, a Dakar tank protector sticker and some Touratech Dakar stickers, just for extra bling.



Finally, my Givi Outback Trekker panniers arrived and I was jumping with joy.

So, in total my additions included:

• Touratech headlight protector
• Touratech large engine guard
• Touratech power socket
• Touratech Dakar tank protector
•  Rental Fat Bars
• Barkbusters
• Giant Loop Tank Bag
• Givi Outback Trekker 38 Litre Panniers
• Pivot Pegs
• K&N Air Filter

For the Tenere Tragics, I'll need some new rubber to give me extra grip on those clay roads, so I'm opting for nth Pirelli MT21's, which I'll pick up the morning we're due to check in. That's a Sunday, so we found a dealership in Port Macquarie who'll open up especially for us and fit the tyres. I managed to also organise this for all the others who want to do the same, so it's worth while for them to open for us. Cheers to Port Macquarie Motorcycles.

Just something worth mentioning here: I bought my panniers from Motostorm.it in Italy for under AUD1000, delivered and that included the mounting frames! Yes, that's crazy. Fantastic service too. I still have a AUD60 voucher from them too as part of the purchase, so I'll be using that for some extras.

Just a word of warning on the Touratech Engine Guard. Just after putting on the bike, I noticed that the engine resonated something terrible off the guard. I contacted the agent here, but he never responded. I eventually contacted Germany directly and they advised that I check the bolts and make sure they're tight. This wasn't the issue though and I finally thought I might be able to dampen the noise somehow. So, I bought some rubber sheets and lined the inside of the guard with them. Voilà!! That did the trick. Yes, sometimes I'm not as mechanically inept as I think.