samy

Hahaha

Search eBay for "5050 led strip". I went with warm white. I am going to set up some more of this stuff in my garage Cheers

LOL i thought the same thing until i started searching youtube and found heaps of very helpful tutorials. Little things like pedal position when mounting, body position etc make or break it! cheers

I have posted a build thread here: Trailer buildup cheers

Since getting back into trials, i wanted a way to carry my bike with me with my current setup. After thinking about it for a while i decided to ditch the toolbox on the drawbar and get a rack made up for the bike. I was a bit concerned about the bike fitting between the canvas cover and upright spare and also the drawbar weight. After a few measurements i decided to get it made by Greg at Scenic Rim Trailer Modifications up the road in Beaudesert. He knocked this up in about 2 hours i can't recommend his work highly enough! Due to the bike's low weight and although solid steel and steel chequerplate, Greg's bike rack is minimalistic and isn't as heavy as i thought it might need to be. With the camper fully loaded and with the bike on the rack i can still lift the drawbar by hand and i would guess that the drawbar is about 50-60kg's. The bike tows fine on the drawbar and i have taken it on steep rough potholed roads that wind up mountains and also at 110klm/hr (70mph) on the motorway. The bike doesn't move! I have used this setup at several trials this year and it works well. I can bring the wife and kids along and have all the comforts of home. We have a portable shower and toilet so we're self sufficient for remote areas. cheers

Over the years i have moved away from gas lighting to dual fuel lighting to rechargable fluoro lanterns and 12 volt fluoros. I havn't really been happy with any of them as i don't find them bright enough, with kids and family running about i like a lot of light at our campsites as our camps are usually isolated with no-one else around to annoy. I had recently read on this forum about 5050 LED strip lighting. After reading up i decided to get a 5 metre length in warm white with 60 LED's per metre and give it a go. A few camping trips ago i plugged the full 5 metre uncut length into my camper trailor's independent power setup to see how bright it would be and how much power it would use. I simply uncoiled it and used cut lengths of velcro tape to attach it to the ridge poles in my annex. I turned it on and my wife and i were astonished by how bright it is: The photo really doesn't do it justice. It's like sitting in the lounge room at home with a 100 watt bulb. I would have to say that it's borderline too bright. I probably should have gone with the 30 LED's per metre instead. Either way it's absolutely awesome to cook, eat and read under and the kids love it for homework and drawing and painting and stuff in the evenings. I tried to use my fluoro lanterns but i can't go back to them. The best part is that the powerdraw for the full 5 metres is 2.6 amps which is nothing! I'm running the strip with a 5amp fuse and it gets a bit warm at the start of the run length but not hot at all. I have gone from taking all these lights (1x dual fuel and 2x rechargable fluoros) to taking that one roll of LED strip: And it rolls up and fits neatly in the Drifta's kitchen drawer next to the mini LED lantern i use for the camp shower/toilet: After using the LED strip lighting for 4-5 hours a night, charging phones and DVD players and such, the little 60 watt solar panel had no problem getting the 105 amp/hr battery back up to full within a few hours during a completely overcast day at a trial last month:

In the ever continuing quest to maximise usable space due to having such a small 4wd, i decided i needed to place a few items outside the camper to reduce damage inside during travel. I don't keep any camping items or similar in the jeep, just passengers and things for the kids to help with the journey. Everything else goes in or on the camper trailer. Last year I bought some quickfists ($30) and attached my shovel and axe to the outside of the camper: Due to the sidewalls of the trailor being very tall and having taller tyres, the corners of the Austrack camper's canvas started to tear slightly. I took the camper into GD Canvas Repairs and Modifications up at Beaudesert for repair. The guys there did a great job of repairing the camper they increased the height of the camper's walls by 100mm to prevent future damage and to make it easier to deal with when setting up. I also got them to make me a mesh floor which has been excellent for beach camping, dirt campgrounds or freshly cleared areas with sticks and roots as seen here: This year, i decided that i wanted power in the camper trailor to power &/or charge lighting, mobile phones, dvd players, ipods etc. After doing a fair bit of research on the internet and particularly myswag, i bought a 60w solar panel ($399) to charge the car's battery to see how it would go. I gave it a go during a trip a few months ago and the cheap Juta style regulator that came with it promptly failed within 3-4 hours. I decided that i would need something better in the power department. I bought a cheap 105amp/hr deep cycle battery ($160), a battery box ($20), a decent regulator ($120), a fuse junction ($40) various cables, cig sockets, anderson plugs and other items ($100) and went to work... The system i came up with is designed only for lighting and recharging light draw items. I do not run a fridge or inverter and do not plan to. I wired up the battery box with a 30amp master fuse and a master switch. This it connected via anderson plugs to the solar controller: In order to save space and weight i attached the solar controller, fuses, a flushmount twin cig socket, 12v outlet andersone plug and a 19v solar input anderson plug directly to the underside of the bedboard and above the drifta kitchen. As you can see in the pics there is ample space: I used 6mm twin sheath for the cable from the battery to the controller and from the controller to the fuse distribution block. I then used 4mm twin sheath which was fused with 10amp fuses from the fuse block to the accessory cigarette plugs of which there is a twin outlet at the rear of the camper and another inside next to the matress. I used cable conduit which i had laying around at home to keep the cable runs neat and protected. I plan to run another cig outlet to the front near the drawbar to power the camp shower. As you can see on the regulator's LCD display, the little 60w solar panel is easily capable of providing well more than 3 amps:

After using the trailor for those 2 years we decided to think about putting a cheap camper tent top on it. We looked at the few that were available at the time and the best value one was the Austrack camper top. Back in 2008 it cost us $1800 and came with a phenomenal amount of accessories: I then purchased a pair of drop down legs ($150) to make sure it was stable: It was about this time that i realised that the very large, very heavy steel toolbox on the front was adding too much weight to the drawbar. I would say that with all that space filled with junk the drawbar was about 90-100kg's and i couldn't lift it. I took the large steel toolbox off and put on a smaller aluminium toolbox which reduced the drawbar weight to about 30-40kg's which i can lift. It has also helped control the ride and braking quality of the jeep due to the jeep's very short wheelbase: We then did some more camping:

I thought it's about time i post up some pictures of my budget camper trailer. All prices listed are AUD, $1 aud is about 0.5 UK pounds. My whole setup seen below is about half the cost of a new bike. Camping is a year round tradition in Australia as it doesn't get very cold in most parts and it's not very wet for most of the year. Camper trailers are big business down under and are everywhere. About 2007 i decided that i needed a trailor for camping. I purchased a brand new offroad trailor for about $1700. I think it was another $200 for the trailer manufacturer to add 3x jerry's, 1x gas bottle holder, upright spare, rear recovery hitch etc so the total was about $1900: Then put a tonneau and toolbox on it ($500) and went camping like this for a few months: Then i decided to get a Drifta DPOR kitchen ($1100) to make things easier to manage with the kids and went camping like this for about a year:

LOL i've never seen snow! I learnt in my fairly small garage. I found the youtube videos very helpful. I did about 30-40 minutes the first few days and then an hour or so each day after that as i became better. It too less than a week to be able to ride unassisted and about 2-3 weeks to start small turns and 'freemounting'. I was quite surprised at how easily i progressed once i passed that initial 2-3 day period. Mine is a 20" uni with thin narrow road tyres. Wear gloves and possibly kneepads! You'll come off a few times like i did and slap your hands on the concrete! cheers

I would rather it be this way! My sherco is very easy to get into neutral which can and has gotten me into trouble mid section when changing up or down from 1st to 2nd. cheers

Here's my gearbag: I pack all my gear into it, including my bike and kitchen sink and i can sleep in it cheers

I find my 250 very snappy and often results in wheel spin in loose/slippery terrain unless I feather the clutch. I have not ridden a 290 but I rode a 300 gas gas recently which I felt was very underwhelmed down low. Felt like an effort to hop over stuff but I'm sure would have been great in slippery stuff.

I decided to learn how to ride a unicycle this year. I watched a heap of videos on youtube, then went and bought a cheap uni and never looked back. cheers

And what about the unicycle?

I'd love one of those gas gas electrics to go out and practice for a half hour each day and not be annoying any neighbors. Cheers

Due to injury I have been ordered off the bike until April. I am interested in ways to keep my tyres soft while the bike is in storage. Cheers

Excellent video!

Also, in regard to the trailer i have a 6x4 box trailer that i use for day trips. The bike is too long for the trailer so i have to mount it in the trailer on an angle. I also have a camper trailer that i use for weekend trials. I have the bike mounted across the drawbar: cheers

On a smaller capacity you will always want more power on those long hill climbs. I have a 250 and sometimes want more The reality is that the smaller capacities are much easier to learn on. Its all about learning throttle control when you're new to trials motorcycles and although you may not look as cool on a 125 it will be much more forgiving. Cheers

I had this titanium installed last week after what i thought was a minor trials crash; I fell about 1-2 metres over the bars of my Sherco while decending steeply into a creek section in my backyard and destroyed my wrist when i reached out to cushion my fall. The surgeon said my wrist was very shattered and also said my bone is very strong so it was either a much higher fall than i thought or the bike landed on me. I swear i've had bigger stacks than this one and as usual i was wearing a helmet, gloves, riding pants, riding boots - all the normal safety gear. And the clincher, there wasn't a scratch or mark on the bike I couldn't ride it back up from down the creek so i had to get a mate to come out and rescue my bike. I had just been playing around with the rear shock to stiffen it a bit... perhaps this caught me off guard? Anyway the surgeon told me to stay off the bike for 4 months. When i get back into it in march 2012 i'm going to be very sedate with my riding and have a whole new appreciation for the damage minor crashes can cause Actually the surgeon did say that i could ride my bike earlier, as long as i didn't wear a helmet... hmmm... cheers

Wonder if I can get something for my wrists...

Forget about no-stop. We should give the observers each a cattle prod to chase you through the section. If they zap you that's a five. We'll have a long line of observers wanting to line up so it kills 2 birds with one stone Well, that's how we'd do it in Australia Cheers

I have been pushing myself hard this year to improve my skill and I have been riding well. I broke my arm on my sherco several weeks ago riding challenging stuff which means I'm out for 3 months+ and I haven't worked for 3 weeks since it happened. I had surgey to install titanium plates and screws and a bone graft last week. The surgery hurt like hell and my wife wants me to sell my bike because TRIALS IS DANGEROUS! Needless to say that when I'm riding next year I will be riding quite conservatively and only for fun. I can't even wheel my bike out of the shed to wash it LOL At least there's no blood on it Cheers

Interest rate cut this week for us down under... still have a long way to go to get down to your low interest rates cheers