This is the recap video of this route: HERE
Here is a route thats was kindly given to us by one local Rider Russ, unfortunately he couldn’t join us that day, and we couldn’t wait for any longer
Russ warned us about potential dangers, like deep puddles and extremely slippery surfaces when cold…
He even went an extra mile and checked for Military trainings around those days! To check for training schedule go HERE
Started:
Esso Garage,
248 High St, Burbage, Marlborough SN8 3AR
51°20’42.9″N 1°40’12.7″W
51.345256, -1.670198
Route was super awesome, we only managed to cover probably 50% of it – it was winter, short days, wet, slippery and in some places icy, at least that was our excuse!
Salisbury Plain
Most of the route – byways! Some are fast gravel tracks, some are slow rooted muddy tracks! What i noticed, that there are quite a few permissive byways – owner of the land has kindly given the permission to use those trails, however, before every trip this has to be checked and made sure that those are still open to all (Read more about that here), and that there will be no trainings on those days! (link For GPX file at the bottom!)
What happened there
I picked the wrong line and I managed to slip into the deep puddle and submerged my XT660Z (Read More about My Bombroof XT Here!), all because i hate mud.. and the other line was over the muddy tracks…
To be honest i didn’t think that there will be a lot of water in the air filter box as well as i was under impression that intake is lower in the air filter box than the port for the crankcase breather (i was wrong)… i tried to start the bike while it was still in the water – just to see if it will spin at all, as I couldn’t push it out of the puddle, and i didnt want Andy to get his boots wet by jumping into the same freezing water. I kept trying to start it so I could get out of that ice-cold water. XT did spin and it didn’t hydrolocked so i thought – all good! “Probably a bit of water got into the air filter box, not a big deal…” It fired only after good few turns… and only then i got it half way out i heard the bubbling sound coming out of the air filter box, it was very clear to me that there will be lots of water there! and oh man!
What did i do
I drained the water out of the air filter box, started the bike and let it run for a while till steam / smoke from the exhaust cleared, and we kept going. When I got home I knew that oil would be milky, but I didn’t expect it to be that white!
What happened to the oil?
Well…, 1. The crankcase breather is connected to the same air filter box but slightly lower than throttle body 2. The engine is a sealed unit and breather is the only way for air to get in or out. 3. I tried to start the engine and when the piston went up in the cylinder (single cylinder) instead of sucking air from the air filter box – it sucked in water instead!
What did I do after?
Came back home, drained the oil/water out of the sump while it was still warm… left it to sit overnight too!
1st Oil Change!
Next day I got some cheap oil and diesel… i had few spare oil filters at home.. cleaned the air filter and filter box, as some sand and water there still there… inspected oil filter for metal shaving (none found) – changed it and poured 100% oil (cheapest i could find), let it run for a bit, and drained it… was still very milky!
2nd Oil Change!
Poured 50% oil 50% diesel…. let it run for a bit (without revving it too much), and drained again… – oil still milky but not as much.
3rd Oil Change!
I poured another 75% oil and 25% diesel, let it run for a while and drained it again… at this point it wasn’t too bad – checked oil filter – I didn’t find any metal shavings inside the filter or the case… so replaced the filter and back to 100% oil.
Few Days Later – 4th Oil Change!
For the next few days i had to commute to work and my exhaust did smell a bit like pond water, especially going uphill! That puzzled me a bit.. Another 200 miles in and it started to sound a bit like a bag of nails, not the engine, but exhaust! After inspection, thing called “Decibel Killer” that i had inside of my exhaust has rusted away and started ralling! Also for a good measure – drained the oil again as it was black black.. I assume it’s because of all the moisture in the crankcase that got trapped.
Conclusion
We had a good day riding around awesome Salisbury Plain! We found “Fury”, well not the real one, but very close! And even if I did take a bit of life out of the bearings by drowning my bike – I still Loved it!
Download Gpx File: (*.zip – compressed “zipped” file)
Please check the route before use! and if used – use it at your own risk!
