Sunart Wildcat Rally 2019

Last April Tim and Lynn who run Sunart Camping teamed up with my wee tour company, Passing Places Tours to put on a the Sunart Wildcat Rally, a charity motorcycle rally. It was a great success, everyone enjoyed themselves and we ended up raising £1730 for the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance.

On the 13th of April we did it again, Sunart Wildcat Rally 2019! The plan was to have a treasure hunt style ride on the Saturday followed by a barbecue hog roast in the evening. Folk were welcome to come up early or stay late. I got a webpage built to advertise the rally and we were open for bookings. We picked Spinal Injuries Scotland as our chosen charity.

It’s always a nervous time. What if nobody comes? Will anyone book up? Luckily some of the folk who had been the year before were quick to sign up. We hold a raffle on the Saturday night so Tim and I began scrounging prizes of whoever we could while Lynn arranged to give away some of her art work. Lynn had also designed the logo for the Rally T shirts. With a couple of months to go we had sold out. It was great to see so many people from last year’s rally once again on the list and plenty folk were planning on heading up on the Friday to properly join in the treasure hunt, or just have an extra night partying in some cases.

The weekend of the rally I set off with around 10 folk from the Winton Massif. We had a great run up through Glen Devon and Sma Glen, stopping for lunch and meeting another couple of people at Glen Lyon before heading up over the hill to Killin. A surprisingly traffic free run over Rannoch Moor and through beautiful Glencoe  saw us to the Corran Ferry, a short blast from Strontian where we were having the rally.

It was great to see so many folk already at the campsite when we arrived. Some folk had maps out, already planning the following days ride; others were chilling out with a beer (or cheese and wine) in the sun. We had a great evening in the Strontian Hotel where we got a preview of the Michael Mannering, the excellent musician who would be keeping us entertained come the night of the rally.

Rally day! While most folk headed out on the bikes to do the treasure hunt I waited around the campsite for the Saturday arrivals while Tim got everything prepared for the hog roast. The sun was shining on a perfect day for the event. I went for a short spin around the Morvern coast via Lochaline and Clach na Criche with Andrea, who took his bike down onto the beach for some nice photos, getting a wee bit stuck on the way back up. Back at Sunart Camping I dished out T shirts to folk who had arrived, Tim and Lynn carried on with the cooking and we all were selling raffle tickets. Just as the food was ready another bike turned up, a Kawasaki Versys 300 with a German number plate. I knew there were no German folk booked on for the Rally so I was pretty surprised to see him. Helge, the rider, had been heading south with the aim to get to Oban for the ferry to Mull but his sat nav had taken him to Oban via Mull! While he was on the Corran Ferry someone told him about our Rally and here he was. Helge got stuck right in, buying a t shirt and some raffle tickets and giving a donation to the charity pot. With everyone fed we had our charity raffle and auction where we raised a substantial amount of money. I can't thank everyone enough for their generosity. A couple of locals were drafted in to pick Bike of the Rally which was won by David from Wick. Michael Mannering started his set, beer flowed exceptionally well and everyone had a good time.

Photo by David Eastwood


Photo by William Walker






Photo by William Walker


Photo by Rebecca Robertson

Photo by Rebecca Robertson

Photo by Mike Blain

Photo by Mike Blain

Photo by Ritchie Salt

Photo by Ritchie Salt

Photo by Ritchie Salt

Photo by Ritchie Salt

Sunday we said goodbye to most folk. A few of us stayed an extra night, recovering from the rally night or going for a spin on the bikes. We totalled up everything in the Strontian Hotel that evening. The grand total raised for Spinal Injuries Scotland was an amazing £2050!!

Big thanks to the following companies and people who donated raffle prizes.

Scottoiler 

Motorrad Central 

Applecross Inn

Sam Manicom

The Winton Arms

Graham High

The Rivers Hotel

Ardtornish Estate

Callum Colquhon

Another big thanks to The Strontian Hotel, Michael Mannering and, of course, everyone who came attended the rally and donated raffle prizes. We couldn't do it without you.

Who's up for it again next year?

Mike

Photo by Iain Kitson

Dirt bikes

"That would make an ideal Adventure Training area."

It stuck me as a strange statement. I wondered what the fuck an adventure training area was. Said statement was a reaction to a video I'd sent someone to show them an area where folk ride dirt bikes a few miles from my house. How travelling a few miles from my house and riding around for half an hour equals an adventure was a bit beyond me, but I realised what he meant. He meant off road riding.
Now, there's a bizarre movement in the motorcycle world where people confuse the terms "adventure" and "off road". BMW's GS was probably the first victim, but loads have followed. People with a poor understanding of physics are now arguing with anyone that will listen that their Africa Twin is a dirt bike. They ignore anyone who points out the fragile plastics, vulnerable engine casings, under sprung suspension, massive repair costs and the fact that anything that weighs over 200 kilos is crap on anything properly steep. Instead they showcase various very skilled riders on youtube videos and say their smashed bikes are actually showing "battle scars" and aren't wrecked hunks of shite.
Now, if you want to ride your Africa Twin off road that's fine with me. It's your bike and you're free to do with it as you please, but don't go telling other folk, especially new riders (who seem drawn like a magnet to "adventure bikes") that their 10 grand, 200+ kg bike is a good dirt bike, or we'll have even more people complaining on the internet that their "dirt bike" is broken and is going to cost the price of an actual dirt bike to fix.
Ok, rant over. I decided to get myself a dirt bike. The Hornshit just wasn't cutting it. Towards the end of winter, especially around February and March I seem to get very, very bored very, very easily. I need something that would deliver the right goods. The Hornshit was fast enough, but on a wet, greasy day it wasn't inspiring me to get out the house. I know about a classic Honda XL600, 1984 model that was going for sale locally. It was an OK price and in good condition, but it had a wee crack in the crankcase where it had been battered by the chain at some point. I was trying to get in touch with the owner when Faithir showed me an advert he'd seen in the Lothian and Borders Classic Motorcycle club magazine for a 1996 Honda XR600R. The real deal. A proper big traillie. It was at the very limit of my budget but was in amazing condition and practically one owner from new. Money was scrounged and borrowed and I bought it.

At 145kg wet its still pretty heavy for a dirt bike, but it's got bags of grunt and feels like it would ride up the side of a house. I spent the following few weeks exploring where I could and popping crap wheelies about the place. Old Mike (I'm sure he loves that handle) joined me on his TTR one afternoon and we had a great time spinning about the local trails. You'd never have thought it was still winter.

See that last photo? You probably can't tell but the bike is stuck on quite a sizeable pile of concrete blocks covered in branches. The back wheel dug itself in when I tried to gun it over and that was me, grounded. I had to lift the bike over it all because I was on my own. I was curious to see what the GS/Africa Twin/Super Ten etc brigade would do in such a situation. Some suggested using a winch or similar to get the bike over while a few others said they don't go out alone, which I guess it pretty sensible. Some said they just ride easier trails. I think when folk are saying they go off road, they just mean "off tarmac" like the road in the picture below.

Anyway, I was really happy with the XR, but it sounded a bit lame. The previous owner had informed me that it was still jetted for a free flowing pipe, but had fitted the standard one back for the sale as the link pipe for the Supertraap can had rusted away and the titanium Remus system was too loud. How loud is too loud? I guess we'll find out when I fit it, I'll just go for another wee spin first.

So now the XR sounds like a big thumper should and it seems to pull even stronger. I took it over to show my uncle Greaser who was servicing his beemer. The XR was much louder tha with the stock pipe, but not antisocially so. I'm pretty happy with it.

Greaser liked it too, but he is more concerned with getting his valve clearances bang on.
 

To summarise my earlier rant; ride your bike where you want, when you want. That's great fun.
Ride your adventure bike on whatever surfaces you like, that's also great fun.
Don't go telling people that are asking for advice, especially new riders, that something like an Africa Twin is a great dirt bike. That's bad advice.
 

More soon.

Mike