Australasian Dirt Bike Magazine

I THINK I MIGHT have invented a new saying: “What you do in isolation stays in isolation!” Not because I’m discouraged by those “social media influencers” keeping me entertained during these tough times but because after just a few weeks of “lockdown

COLLAPSING ON A BAR stool at the pub after a long day in the saddle is one of the best parts of riding a dirtbike besides the actual riding, although some deluded people might argue otherwise. But with coronavirus safety measures forcing pubs around

YAMAHA HAS TOPPED sales in the off-road sector for the first quarter of this year, according to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. The Japanese manufacturer topped several categories including Enduro, Off-Road, Adventur

RIDING IN STATE forests is not allowed under the Federal Government’s laws restricting movement, in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. The National Cabinet’s instructions to all Australians are to stay home and only leave it for shopping fo

THE NEW OWNER of the GasGas EC platform, Rieju, has revealed what the enduro bike will look like under its watch. The 2021 300cc two-stroke will headline the brand’s “hard off-road” range and will be called the MR in honour of Rieju’s 1984 MR80 ISDT

THE YOUNGER BROTHER of ADB Editor Mitch Lees won the dirtbike lottery when his 1998 Suzuki RMX250 was chosen for restoration as part of the massive bike build series in this issue (starting on page 36). Revered Technical Editor Mat Boyd managed the p

Do you know if we can head to state forests in NSW for a ride? I heard today that golf is allowed [pairs only], so am hoping we can go for a ride. Daniel Veitch Unfortunately, mate, trailbike riding in state forests is not classified as essential.

There are some pretty wild builds in this issue of ADB but there are heaps more out there. We’ve featured this DR-Z400E before but Kiwi Josh Martin put so much work into the Doctor that it’s worth a revisit. This was actually his third DR-Z, create

It’s now time for the fun part – rebuilding the RMX into the respectable enduro weapon that it once was. We gave you the list of stuff that was wrong with it last month but now it’s time to give you the inside scoop on what we did and how we made the

A few years back, I put a KTM 380 engine in a modern frame. That build went okay but, after repeated mechanical issues with the old motor, I decided I wanted a cool, old-skool bike with the reliability of a modern engine plus decent suspension and ha

Before Covid-19, you were all set to buy the latest and greatest Ténéré 700 but now that’s just a dream destroyed, again. The pandemic and resulting financial fallout have put lots of things on the backburner, especially $17,000 adventure bikes. But

Surrounded in this issue of ADB by tricked-up Yamahas, Suzukis, KTMs and Huskies, this 2007 Honda CR250R might not look like much but sometimes it’s not the bling that counts but the story behind the build, no matter how long ago that might have been

The coronavirus has knocked the wind out of the Cross-Country Rallies World Championship and, domestically, has forced the cancellation of the Condo 750. But there’s still a good chance that September’s Sunraysia Safari will go ahead. If you’re dream

Former FMX champion-of-everything Levi Sherwood has always had a reputation for having some of the slickest, trickest set-ups in the game. The crazy thing is, everything you see on his bikes is designed by him, based on thousands of hours of riding r

With the world seemingly turned upside down with the current health crisis, awesome activities like riding your dirtbike with your mates have to take a bit of a back seat. And it’s not just social riding that is affected, every race across every coun

If you’re as grey around the temples as me, you probably remember the mighty days of Honda’s XR trailbikes. In the 1980s and into the ’90s, and even the early ’00s, XRs were like backsides: just about everybody had one, and enough toilet paper to kee

It seems the further we get down the capacity ladder the fewer brands we have to test, and some don’t even want us to do it. Once upon a time, the then-60cc class was dominated by Japanese manufacturers who all had a red-hot go at building bikes to d

In March, Honda dragged a bunch of precious moto journos to Big Red to launch its latest big red. Uluru was an appropriate place to unveil the all-new Africa Twin seeing as how the mighty rock is Australia’s beating heart and the Africa Twin is one o

Yamaha has been producing the TT-R range for nearly 30 years. Since 1993 it has become famous for its incredible reliability – and, with 27 years behind it, we’d expect nothing less. ADB has tested multiple examples of the TT-R230 over the years, wit

Before everyone got sent home to play in their sheds, the much-anticipated Australian Hard Enduro Series got underway with a bang. The aptly named Tenterfield Terror attracted 286 riders, including some of this country’s best hard enduro riders – nam

WITH A BUNCH of racing on the horizon, it was a busy couple of weeks for me and the YZ125X. The plan was to race it against the 250cc two-strokes at the Dungog and Nowra AORC rounds in the new 2T Cup, which I was pretty excited about. I’ve always enj

I KNEW B-DAY was coming [pretty hard to miss, usually) so I tried to get as much seat time on the FC350 as I could before I got tied up in nappies and bottles with the baby. The truth is, every time I tried to get out on the bike it rained or was 40-

ALL THE RECENT rain made me think that I couldn’t remember the last time I rode the Watagans in conditions that were soaking wet. I’m not talking about a little sprinkling of rain here or there, or being slapped across the goggles by a wet branch, I’

THE DROUGHT HAS been devastating. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I dreaded having to clean my bike. Sadly, after most rides last year the only thing I needed to clean it was a duster. In fact, if I drove fast enough on the way home most of t

MY LAWD, DO I feel upset about this poor seatcover. Mario worked his arse off to repack the foam in our stuffed RMX250 seat and wrap it in his gripper cover only for our tester to ride the wheels off the bike and absolutely trash it in less than thre

Find a spare bolt with a thread that’s in perfect condition. It must exactly match the thread that you wish to repair, which you can check with a thread gauge. Take this bolt and clamp the hexagonal head in a bench vice tightly so that it won’t move

Hose clamp screws get dried out or clogged with dirt. This makes them jam when you try to retighten them. When they jam they may feel tight but can slip off or leak easily. Spray some WD40 or Inox on the thread of the hose clamp screw to flush it ou

The FE comes in at a claimed dry weight of 109kg. The suspension is fully adjustable with the conventional fork having adjustable compression and rebound damping and the monoshock sporting adjustable compression and rebound plus spring preload. It co

Emelie and I are incredibly excited about this deal with WP Suspension. Last year was strong for both of us in the AORC. We managed to show some speed and put results on the board, with me finishing sixth overall in E2 and Emelie ending up on the pod

Who wouldn’t want one of these beauties sitting in their garage? This bike represents all the things that were great about our sport – crazy power that took real cahunas to hang onto. All my idols when I was growing up raced 500s and they made the cr

THE FIRST OBSTACLE to testing a factory bike is getting a tester of sufficient ability to really make it work and, as much as the ADB staff hungered to throw a leg over Chad Reed’s bike, the actual testing was done by Kiwi and Australian MX champ and

IN SHADES OF this year, major floods hit southern Qld and north- western NSW, with Charleville, Roma and St George severely affected, maybe even an enduro or two. The Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that the population of Australia had exce

YOU HAVE WON AN OGIO PROSPECT STEALTH GEARBAG WORTH $134.95 FROM OUR INCREDIBLY GOOD MATES AT CASSONS.CASSONS.COM.AU, (02) 8882 1900 To get your mug and machine in the hallowed pages of ADB,and for your chance to score a great prize, send your photo

Thanks to the coronavirus, we don’t know what races are going ahead next week, let alone in June. We hope that at least some rides will happen due to the low numbers involved. Please support these operators by booking ahead. 30-31 May NSW Mid North

IF YOU’VE NEVER watched a sidecar race, do yourself a favour and get along to a sidecar motocross, it will leave your jaw on the ground. If you thought jumping a dirtbike and railing it through ruts was hard enough, try doing it with a chair and a hu