Victorian High Country Motorcycle Adventure - THE HARD WAY - Part 2

Is this Australia's longest river crossing for a motorcycle? Two Suzuki DRZ400E dual sport motorcycles test the waters.
A five day, 1250km Victorian High Country adventure ride onslaught. We chose the hardest tracks on offer and linked them all together to create 'The Hard Way' route whilst being fully loaded up. This ride was the hardest ride I have completed as an adventure ride to date.
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[@epicridesandtours]

It's amazing how much country like this is packed into the smallest mainland state.

[@RastaRider]

5:15 Just a heads up that ripply, broken water section on the left is the shallow area. *You're adventures are a blast to watch.* My DR-Z400S in Florida is fun on and off the trail. 💯 Cheers from Tampa Bay 🌴🤙🏼

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Yeah we were going that way but the water was moving much faster than it appears with some big rocks submerged. Too risky for me. Thanks for tuning in mate.

[@warrenellis167]

Awesome work at Jacksons Crossing Lance, it's no joke that one. Myself & a bunch of mates did almost exactly the same trip in May 2023. we camped at Jacksons & glad we had vehicles with us. We bitched out & put the bikes on the utes & 4WD truck to get em across. We didn't fancy wrangling 14 bikes across the river 1st thing in the morning. It started raining after breakfast when we left Buchan, did haunted stream & got into Omeo at 8 that night completely wet through, then it started snowing the next morning so we all chickened out & loaded up the cars & headed home to Moruya. Still I reckon it was one of the best trips I've ever done.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Hahaha geez, it sounds like you coped a standard Victorian day. It actually sounds pretty good to me as those rides are the most memorable.

[@AusMoto]

Great to see the perspective of why you guys didn't make it to Buchan to meet us before we took off, bloody Jacksons Crossing is no joke!

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Yeah it was a tough one. If josh didn’t take on a little water I reckon we would have made it though. But definitely a solid crossing to tackle.

[@lesterroberts4787]

Those are some insane tracks, you guys are awesome.

[@bobdrakeford5731]

Great watch Lance. I really like your Dad's memory is with you. Tough areas, but great scenery. Gotta watch those corners, I've experienced too many close calls. Be careful! Thanks for sharing your fantastic motorcycle adventures. 👏😁

[@darrenrouse8709]

Great to see ya back into it mate 🤙🏽

[@MargaretM-bc6cf]

Looking fwd to watching more of this trip. It's great to see both you and Josh riding again.

[@benjohnson7170]

Bloody hell,action aplenty..

[@theordinaryathlete]

The river looked hard work. Great video.

[@garywinkworth3380]

those rocks . im on the ground more than on my bike in that terrain. you 2 are machines. i like the easier stuff. safe travels

[@bikeaction.]

Nice work boys. Certainly doing some challenging tracks that's for sure. Just watching these videos you can hear the extra punch to your bike since you've done the Big Bore kit. If I still had my DRZ I think I would have been looking at doing the same. Look forward to watching how the rest of the trip unfolds.

[@advswede]

THE HARD WAY is the best way :)

[@ShadowVonChadwick]

I think that's well outside my endurance level now, funny how much difference a few years make. Still keeping my KLX400e but going for a second bike for tamer adventure/touring, I was hoping to grab a F800gs, but I think it's a few kg too much, though they surprising hide it well. That hill brought back some scary memories 🙃. Thanks for sharing 👍

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

I use to have a f800gs, they are a big bike indeed. But great to cruise the easier trails with.

[@jpadv4157]

Awesome video and country mate

[@retiredwaterdoctor]

That Sally is like a kid...loves to play in water...also turns into an animal when needed...had a split personality, I reckon..... Great work mates.....both take a pat on the back from me...and a double for Josh...... DRZ's don't make good hood ornaments.....stay safe guys...look forward to the rest of the series.

[@Terran_tino]

Looks Like u boys got some sick weather! Stunning footage! Love your work. Can’t wait for Josh’s take!

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Mate we were discussing that. We had perfect weather which for the high country is rare indeed.

[@Adventure_Bum]

Good times!

[@budget-adventure]

Yeah it’s no cape York. It’s a completely different animal. Every time you go up, you’re going down just as steep. While most of it can be done by casual bike riders and 4wders there’s some tracks that are insane. Great trip man, and some advice for josh jb, always expect a 4wd coming around each corner at you.

[@lowend5566]

Sitting here waiting for my knee to heal after an off and living vicariously through your adventures. Keep it up Lance.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Get well soon mate.

[@williamarango5289]

Sally O M G 👏👏❤

[@Nerb1]

I remember Jacksons crossing well ;) It is intimidating!

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

I knew it was long but didn’t truely know what to expect. Feet either side the whole way for me thanks. Lol.

[@nathan7880drz]

Great content dudes how good are the drzs mate awesome bikes 👍✔️💯

[@gregedwards7030]

There are youtube tutorials on how to re-route the carby breather hoses up under the tank to prevent what happened to Josh's bike

[@davidforeman2734]

I have found two things happen crossing rivers with four strokes if you stall or stop. The vent tubes get blocked of in in the water if you haven’t put a t fitting in the vent lines. Second thing that happens if you stop in water or fall off or over the engine cools off very quickly and all you have to do is pull the choke on and the bike will start. Hope this helps. Kiwi Dave from Canada.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Hmmm, good to know. I’ll keep that in the back of my mind for next time. 👍

[@johnbradfield9732]

Put your breather hoses from the carby into the air box, just leave the drain one hanging down. Did it with my first DRZ and made a big difference, have never bothered to do it with my second one and it stops in the creek occasionally Cheers JB

[@timdudeney5072]

Hey Lance, having done the two trips down there relatively close together, pre and post big bore, id love to hear your thoughts regarding gearing and power on the ups and down, especially compared to JB's bike and his comments about struffling with gearing on the steep ups. Cheers mate. Love your adventures, hopefully someday i can have a beer/coffee/bevy wkth ya, if not take a ride 👌

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Mate suss out the Q and A video josh and I did. We talk a bit about it. But in short we both ran 15-44 and my bike killed it. So much more torque and ready to use power. Its awesome.

[@maxmoore481]

I struggled on this crossing when I did it last year. Was so slipepry and kept stalling it. The XR not fun to kick start with water over the pegs

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

So I have heard mate. 😉

[@steventhomson9869]

Deers obviously don't appear in circuses for a reason - can't be too clever lol

[@Aids45]

It's a good idea to tuck a couple of your carby breather hoses up high for those deep water crossings. A mate (the bloke who showed you up Monkey Gum) and I did a lot of these same tracks last year, was good fun.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Hey legend. Mate thanks to your ride because I got some of those tracks off Max. Awesome bloke. I hope you boys faired better than us through Jacksons Crossing.

[@Aids45]

@@The_Apprentice_Adventurer Max had fun kickstarting his XR400 in the middle of the river haha no drowned bikes though.

[@rogertargett4769]

I don't blame Josh, I've seen a bit up there it's hard yakka....more than cape I think.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

100 percent. This ride was much more full on than the cape trip we did. Overall bucket loads more crossing as well.

[@rogertargett4769]

@The_Apprentice_Adventurer I've done the cape twice on a bike, the first time was solo and first thing I thought when I got there that my father would have been proud of me too. You miss them sadky hey.

[@majoy-osterlundfreeman5425]

Ain’t looking to hard to me😅

[@whitedrguy6503]

One thing to remember about the high plains is that there is a good possibility that you will share the tracks with 4x4s. Sorry but it did make me cringe after nearly having a head on you decided to ride side by side, bad idea, if you see one 4x4 chances are the could be others, stick to the left.

[@grahamnielsen4797]

Need to rerout your breather hoses higher fella's

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Mate they are under the seat. Can’t go much higher.

[@zacash25]

Josh is a hottie

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

You need to post that on his channel. He’d love it 😉

[@Peteslife]

28:29 You should have stopped to Let the deer have more time to find a way to get off the road.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Believe it or not this happened twice on this trip and stopping didn’t help unfortunately. The deer just stood there.

[@Peteslife]

@@The_Apprentice_Adventurer Ohh ok. and I thought you were the lead rider, pretty unusual to even see deer while on a noisy bike. I have driven that haunted stream track several times.. its a great track. Did you see the stone wall?

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

@@Peteslife yeah the weirdest bit was Josh didn’t see the deer. I was only a few hundred metres behind him and the track had a big drop off. It was Like it just dropped from the sky between the two bikes. 🤔 no I don’t believe we saw that. Well we could have but nothing stood out.

[@Nerb1]

@@Peteslife I see deer out there almost ever ride. They are a plague!

[@MargaretM-bc6cf]

What ever happened to the other blokes who were riding with you.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

You’ll see mate. Next Fridays episodes tells the story on that one. Stayed tuned.

[@kluthage421]

Let the clutch out on those steeps! Ride 1st gear down. Save your brakes.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

I tried but the bike goes too fast on the steeper hills. The not so steep hills it works a treat.

[@timdudeney5072]

Turn the bike off and put it in first. Use the clutch lever as a bake brake. Just gotta make sure you don't leave headlights on, like the other boys alluded too, or you won't be able to start it if the hill is long enough.

[@adventuresofwombat]

You guys are cramping and struggling on the downhill so much because you're doing it the wrong way. On the steep downhill decent turn the bike off on the kill switch and leave in gear, feather the clutch while standing and use that as the rear brake makes it way easier to both control the speed and the bike. At the bottom while rolling turn the kill switch back on and bump start the bike and off you go.

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Mate no cramps on my body. I was loving it. 🤙

[@adventuresofwombat]

@The_Apprentice_Adventurer nah I get that you weren't cramping. I mentioned cramping and struggling. EG: When you said you're riding down the hills clutched in to stop it stalling and having the break the descent into little sections that's struggling. Not taking away from the tough tracks you did I absolutely get it.

[@jw8556]

Ok little water in the fuel hope you don't Go dumping your oil in the high country when think it might have a little water in the carb and if you do l hope you catch it and take it with you lol break failure typical Suzuki dr

[@bennyaufreisen2855]

mate you should change your name.. the "suck in water" adventurer

[@The_Apprentice_Adventurer]

Haha yeah but only for my fellow riders. Sally is good as gold in the water.