Great ride last weekend

[bob795]

Hi guys,

I went out for a long ride last weekend. I toured the western part of the island of Java, the Banten province and West Java province.  It’s about 500 km trip that I divided into two legs and  two days ride.

Here’s how the route looks like on Google maps:

First leg: From Jakarta to Pelabuhan Ratu.
 


From Jakarta I went West to Cilegon, this is on the western shore the island of Java. From there, I rode along the western coast of Java to Labuhan, to continue to my destination Pelabuhan Ratu which is on the South coast of Java.

I stopped at a beach somewhere, I don't know where it is, and rest for about 15 minutes and rehydrate myself.



The ride was great. Unfortunatelly, almost about 200 km of those, espescially from Labuhan to Pelabuhan Ratu, the road is in a really bad condition. I mean really, really bad road.

The worst section was from an area called Kerta, Banten to Pelabuhan Ratu, West Java which strecthes for about 100 km or so. The road was really bad. It’s a combination of twisty roads on hilly area, covered with lots of potholes, damage road suface, gravel road and unpaved road.

I don’t think I’d ever been  on a road that bad. It’s the worst road I ever traveled on. On this part I can only ride at slow speed between 10-30 kph. Even at slow speed, countless times I almost lost control of the bike and almost drop it when the tires lost traction.

It was really fun though    Bad road condition, in the middle of nowhere, and it was dark with no light other than the light from my headlight.  

It took me almost 6 hours  to ride through the area. That section of the trip left me with a really sore right forearm and numb right hand.  

I arrived at the resort, west of Pelabuhan Ratu, at 11 pm. That night I dreamed about potholes. I closed my eyes, dozed off and potholes, make it quite hard to sleep
 

Second leg of the trip, the ride home, from Pelabuhan Ratu to Jakarta.



The next morning, I woke up at 8 am, took a shower and had a small breakfast and lots of coffee. I left the resort some time after 10 am. The ride home was really great.  

Stopped at Pelabuhan Ratu to take this picture



From Pelabuhan Ratu to Jakarta, I rode through an area called Cibadak.

It was about 40 km of fun twisty road.   It’s really awesome. If any of you ever come here and have a chance to ride, I highly recommend a ride through Cibadak, West Java.  I really enjoyed this part of the ride and I plan to get back there in a couple of weeks.  

The road was just so awesome that I didn't want to take pictures, and I only took two pictures I guess cause I really enjoyed the ride and didn't want to stop. I managed to stop to take this picture



After Cibadak, I stopped by a restaurant for lunch and then continued the ride home. The ride from thereon was uneventful and quite boring, cause it a ride though a city with its traffic jam and crowded street. I arrived home at about 3 pm, tired but felt great


So, how was the bike? It was great. It ran great. Fuel consumption is good, at about 5 l/100 km, and most importantly ergonomic of the bike is good. I find it's really comfortable, with DP comfort touring seat and Rizoma handlebar.

I have lower back problem, and before the trip I was a bit worry that I might have problem with my lower back during or after the trip. Turned out, even after a 14-hour ride, my back is fine. I feel no back pain at all, not even a sore back.
 
My hand, however, is a different story. My right forearm was sore for several days after the ride, and even now my right hand and the fingers are still felt weak. I think it's the section from Kerta to Pelabuhan Ratu that cause it, where I had to ride really slow and I guess I was a bit tense back then.

So, where the road condition is good, with smooth asphalt surface even with potholes here and there, or in traffic jam … and especially on twisty road, my bike is eally great. Handles really well. I really had a great time.

When the road condition deteriorated, more and more potholes, the road become gravel road, then got worse and worse and become more like off road, although my bike can still handle it albeit at a slow speed… I wished I was on a different bike.  

Two things that were my biggest concerns: the front wheel, and the fork seals. I was afraid that the wheel might be bent ….  or the fork seals blown. Oh, and the tires. The tires slid underneath me many times.

Is there any mod I can do to make the bike more capable of handling bad road conditions? Is it worth it to mod it, or just leave it as is and just get an adventure bike (thumper) for that kind of road?

Cause frankly I’ve been thinking about getting an adventure bike, either a 800GS or T800XC to replace my Monster, or keep my Monster and get a BMW Sertao as a second bike.

I plan to do longer rides in the future, and I'm not sure about the road conditions on some of the places that I plan to visit, like Sumatera. If the road is as bad as the one that I just rode on, then I’m not sure if my Monster would be the right choice.

Thanks for reading.

[Dirty Duc]

Tires help a lot.

Also, just doing the suspension (springs and valving front and rear) even setting it up for pavement greatly improves the feel off road.

Does the 795 have the skinny rear rim?  If so, you can get small variety of supermotard tires that should greatly improve your confidence.  If you have the 5.5inch rear rim, I can recommend the Pirelli Scorpion Trails as a partial solution.  They aren't true dirt tires, but they add a bit of confidence on dirt/gravel roads.  Also the MT-60 comes in a 120/70R17.

Keeping the front aired up to 36psi or so will keep the rim off the rocks and all but the worst of the potholes.  I ride relatively nasty roads here, and my fork seals are fine.  I've taken quite a few hard hits from unseen or unexpectedly bad bumps/potholes/unpatched bits of road.

As far as gravel riding?  If the road is just gravel (in daylight), a little faster is better.  Use more rear brake, and let the bike move around a little bit.  Sandy bits will probably never be fun.

[ZLTFUL]

Sandy bits will probably never be fun.

Unless you get some TKC80s... 

[Ak1nza]

Great Post!  I grew up in Jakarta from '82 all the way to '00 so it was nice to see the pictures of home.  I couldn't imagine riding through those rough roads back home (when he says really really bad, if you're in the US just imagine the worst road you've been on and multiply by 10). 

Nice roads here are definitely something I take for granted.  Not to mention great weather for riding during spring and fall.

If I'm ever back there for some period I'll hit you up Bob.  Maybe I can rent a Duc and you can show me the good roads.

A

[bob795]

If I'm ever back there for some period I'll hit you up Bob.  Maybe I can rent a Duc and you can show me the good roads.

A

I'll be happy to do that A.

[bob795]

Does the 795 have the skinny rear rim?  If so, you can get small variety of supermotard tires that should greatly improve your confidence.  If you have the 5.5inch rear rim, I can recommend the Pirelli Scorpion Trails as a partial solution.  They aren't true dirt tires, but they add a bit of confidence on dirt/gravel roads.  Also the MT-60 comes in a 120/70R17.

Thanks Dirty Duc. The bike has 5.5" rear rim. i'll look around for pirelli scorpion trail.

[ungeheuer]

Nice ride report.  Always interesting to see somewhere a little different 

Re the bike....  If it were me I'd keep the Monster and buy a cheap (DR650  ) DS ride for the longer rides on the rougher roads.

I've never been to Indonesia, looks like you ride/drive on the left too?

[bob795]

Thanks Ungeheuer. Yes, we drive on the left.

As for DS bike, Suzuki, honda or yamaha don't sell their DS bikes here. Japanese brand that sells Ds bike or dirt bike is Kawasaki, but they only sells Klx 250 IIRC.

So my only options for 650 thumper are either Bmw sertao or Husky Terra 650. Lucky for me, the dealer (same dealership for husky and bmw) is only 2 km away from home. I lean more toward Sertao cause it can use lower octane gasoline... Less thing to worry about.

I plan to ride to Sumatra, ride around the island, but high octane gas stations are few and far between.  For instance, while checking the gas avilabilty I learn that in one province, the next gas station that sells 92 octane is in the next city 500 km away.

[the_Journeyman]

Really nice ride & report! 

Look up Dunlop D616.  They might be suitable for a bit better traction on questionable surfaces.  They look a bit like a the rain pattern racers use.

JM