Hi
Im 15 and ride dirt bikes. When i get my L's next year im organising some friends and myself to ride from the bottom of Tas to Cape York.

We plan to use AG100's for the trip

ANY info/advice is welcome as i want to use the year ahead of me to organise the trip.

Thanks Matt

Good choice of bike mate, they will see you proud. My advice for cheapish waterproof luggage is look at a canoe bag across the back carrier, and work out some way of putting a 100-150mm diameter tube of PVC sewer pipe with screw end end caps across under the front motor for tools and spares. Soft side bags (some old Drifter or similar throw-over bags off eBAY might be a good idea) are OK for that sort of trip and way cheaper than metal or plastic side pannier boxes. Take a small tent and gas cooker. Get someone who knows how to camp cook show you a couple of simple things each to cook and then take turns.

Enjoy!

Regards

Nigel in NZ

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The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription

you may be the youngest yet ,dress up in super hero outfits ,if your not having a back up vehicle fuel will be a real issue up at the cape so you will need BIG tanks as stock aggies don't have much range ,if you try postie bikes you can put that second tank on them , make sure you do a great trip report ,better yet ,call SBS ,it would make a cool doco ,kids to the cape,lol ,haha way to go ,better yet ,maybe i'll call them ,i'd make a film about that
oh yeah you need some croc off ,you need to watch the crocs ,lots of crocs

Thanks for the tips and advice, its a great help about the fuel range, i think we will carry a 10L jerry can each. Would this be enough?

Think one of teh mags dist a trip "tip to Tip"? So you might get some ideas from that .. TBAM? If I Recall Correctly...

Go to your local libaray and see if they have any guides .. the Moons book on Cape York should be avalible .. might be an old edition in the Library - good info even if old.

Maps - the Hemma Victrian High Country one is a must .. join the RAA and get the maps - they should be free ... NRAM, RACV, umm forget teh Qld mobs name .. but get them all - you may have to write to them to get teh maps .. the RAA should have a touring department - they may help?

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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

Congratulations Matt on planning such a trip, never to young to start mate. Anyone can make it happen! Give me a few months and I will tell you how we went. Starting August 23rd there is 3 lunatics including myself riding CT110 Postie bikes from Cairns to the Cape and back to Cairns. XR250 tanks are an easy mod and will give us a range of somewhere around 340km. Lots more planning but that's the short of it.

Glen

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

WHen i go i would rather spend more time off the blacktop and was wondering whether the maps suggested would show all of the off road tracks or not?

it would be great to get a trip report from you when you get back! that info would be gold

does anyone know what sort of weight the AG's can take happily
also the greatest distance between petrol stations
if we could get posties lots cheaper than AG's we could consider them too
does anybody know of any large fuel tanks that will fit an AG

thanks for your help guys!!!

nearly any old xr tank will fit a postie bike and they are a lot cheaper than an aggie bike to buy ($800-$1600 as a rule),all those posties keep buying new ones ,farmers only sell aggies when the fence wire and baling twine no longer will do it,and if you want a lot of dirt time then you better have plenty of time up your sleeve ,not to mention kanga , get a sponsor ,are you all going to be on your L plates ,
keep the questions comin

How much time would we need if we took about 80-20 dirt-road?
Maybe a postie would be better for us
what do you mean by "kanga"
I dont reckon anybody would sponsor us, we have been talking about making it a charity run for some sort of group like camp quality or a cancer
We wont all be on L's my dad will come and his mate and possibly some others with full licences
Also what are some of the "must see's"
the super hero outfits sounds good

Rule 6. No map shows all the roads.


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The Hemma Motorcycle Atlas shows the petrol stations where they matter .. and if you are thinking of motorcycle riding around OZ for some time in the future it is a good purchase. Bound so you can put it in the map pocket of a tank bag, enough detail but large enough scale that you are not constantly stopping to turn pages.

More detailed maps ..
Hemma and West print do ones for most areas of interest.
Catoscope have some free ones (PDFs) on the web ... they are more touristy but have some of the major dirt roads of interest too .. Welcome to Cartoscope's Tourist Maps and Holiday Guides

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Planning
1 in 7 days rest. Max 6 days a week travel .. but I'd throw in 1 more day off a week too ..

Max 400 kms per day ... average.

Figure out roughly how far you are travelling add 20% and go from there with the above average travel figures. That will get you are rough calculation.

Do figure the weather in your plans - you won't get there easily in the wet season. Nor do you want to go through the hight country when it is snowing ... they close some roads off then even if you tassies can stand the cold.

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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

kanga is dosh ,bucks ,moola ,doe the stuff that makes the world go round,in your case the postie bike wheels ,400 km a day on a postie bike is a big ask,it aint no GS Beema, especially if you put dirt into the equation,hobart to the top is probably 5000 + km,so allow your self at least 2 months for your trip ,if you want to stop and smell the roses that is ,unless you sell them all in cairns to japanese tourists as cape ready bikes,lol,then fly home ,if you only pay a little for them they would owe you fark all, on the way you ask ,when i did it, i stayed away from the tourist traps along the east coast and camped in the national parks, etc still plenty of great places if you keep off highway 1 good luck

We will definetely be trying to spend as much time in the bush as possible
How many K's would be realistic a day remembering that we wont to spend as much time possible off road and that we will be using AG's?

Hi matt
On ya mate, good to hear that your doing such a trip. I am half way up the Gt Divide at the moment on my klr 650, Yes it's a huge country and what your undertaking is massive! My mission to ride the divide from the first bumps in western vic to the cape traveling the highest parts of the range.The back way! taking in mostly unused trails and dirt roads etc.I have made the QLD boarder after 14 days of riding.
Its not easy and being solo I have to be very carefull and thats why I have written to you. There's somthing about the remote tracks and trails, if your not carefull you can get sucked in to a false sence of sceurity thinking your the only person for a thousand kilometers and therefore can get over confident when rounding corners! what I really want to say to you is a simple... THINK LEFT no matter where you are..it will pay off! I have also ridden a honda ct 200 - over 3000ks from Gosford to Carnavon Gorge and across to Fraser id and return taking in remote tracks even old railway lines and walking trails.Got busted in Coolah tops NP riding down some stairs! Since then I have ..Gone around NSW (torture) (dr 650) ..ridden the flinders ranges were I came off 300k west of Broken hill (don' want to talk about it )... Ridden to Broome via Arnhemland (klr 650)were I worked at the meatworks at Oenpelli(2 big to even talk about)
Also if I may say so Matt is its important to get a good nite's sleep and getting a good slef-inflating matterss should be considered, I know there a bit bulky but there worth it . Diet is important also, one of my favourite meals on the road is a bread roll with a layer of raw beans topped with a sachet of tuna! it's light to carry and dosn't take much room. My dietictian wife recons its' ok too. Although missing a meal here and there dosn't hurt you either.
Matt all the best mate, this trip will sort you out! your either going to be satisfied when your finnished or your gunna get bitten and continue doing these sort of trips.....hey there's nothing wrong with that pal!
and keep an eye on your wheel bearings too! ..after many creek crossings you could find they can fail, i've had problems with new bearings even.
Please let us know when you come through as we would love to get a photo or two of the expedition when it comes through.......and go the back way son!!
kind regards Geoff.