Like a lot of Aussie country kids I grew up on dirt bikes, so when I finally got my licence and my first street bike gravel roads were just another road. But for my city mates gravel was something to be avoided at all costs – ride up a dirt road and they’d be wobbling around corners, locking up wheels, and arriving at the pub cussing and complaining. 

The XR600R ‘carb issues’ page has been updated following an inquiry from a guy in Guatemala. Despite really lean jetting his bike was still running rich and showing carbon deposits on the exhaust. After running through the usual suspects (bad rings, float bowl level, stuck float valve), it struck me it could be an atomisation problem and there was an outside chance it was something simple like a blocked breather tube. 

I’ve been wanting to do a post about Britten motorcycles for a while but copyright concerns meant finding an image was a bit problematic. The good folk at Vimeo, however, actively support sharing so I guess it’s okay to use this screenshot of Callum Cooper’s excellent ‘Britten - Return to The Island’ documentary which you’ll find here. 

Gave The Camel XR600R a bit of an airing yesterday – ended up covering almost 600km and taking in some of Tasmania’s best roads and scenery. 

Alongside components that “can’t be repaired” one of my pet peeves is parts you can’t reach without disassembling half the vehicle. 

Animism aside, it strikes me that custom bikes like to build themselves. You start off with an idea of what you want, and as the build evolves the bike nudges you towards the form it really wants to take.