Pavey heads to
Portugal for final shakedown.
 With
the race bike almost completely ready and just a few
weeks before the departure of all Dakar machines for
Argentina, Simon headed down to the Algarve for some
final testing.
Simon was particularly excited about getting to ride
the bike almost completely finished for the first
time.
“It’s taken almost a years work to get to this
stage, there were a lot of issues we have had to
overcome with the new bike. This time I am riding a
450cc bike for the first time because the rules have
changed dramatically in the last few years and so it
became the most viable option for me. It certainly
came with a few challenges though as the high speeds
and long distance will put a real strain on the bike,
we have all put many hours into problem solving. I
have got to hand it to both Off Road Skills resident
technician Evan Davies and Colin from Askey
Engineering as they have put so many hours into making
a bike that can take real punishment.”
Using the research time prior to the BMW Off Road
Skills Portugal Trip, to test the bike showed how much
improvement and good feeling the bike has over the
stock machine.
“The bike feels so good, it much lighter than my
bikes in the past and should make the deep sand much
easier than it has been in previous years. We did a
lot of work on making the bike as comfortable and
gentle on the body as possible, if the bike is going
to beat you up, you will never be able to do ten or
more hours a day for 14 days. It will destroy you, and
riding the G450X Rallye over the standard bike that is
the biggest difference. We rode for ten hours both
days this week and it was easy to keep riding the
Rallye bike. It does still need a little work on some
areas, the suspension clickers need a little
adjustment, but on a whole Chris at Dr Shox a top job
with the suspension, the forks a very nice.”
The testing didn’t go completely smoothly though,
with the clutch cable catching light after the power
cable for the IriTrack system earthed out the
handlebars and therefore the clutch.
“It was a freak incident, the clutch cable acted
like a high resistance wire and got seriously hot,
melted all the sheath around the cable, some other
wires, part of the battery case, part of the airbox
and the end of my finger too! It was strange too
because after we let it all cool down, it righted
itself, which meant it took us a while to find the
source of the earth.”
There is just under two weeks until the bike has to go
to Le Havre for scrutineering, before being shipped
out to Buenos Aires for the start on the 1st
January. For 2011 Simon will be riding in the Malles
Moto class, a half way house between the
Production/Super Production and the Marathon Class. It
is in the same ilk as the Marathon class with no
mechanic or outside assistance allowed, but more parts
can be changed.“I am super excited about riding the
Malles Moto class, I am really looking to forward to
the added adventure of the whole thing. It’s a great
class because itallows you still race pretty hard,
without having to worry too much about the bike. You
can change most parts of the bike still, including
engines, wheels etc. but you still have the challenge
of doing all the bike work yourself. With no mechanic
there is no rest, and your still trying pretty hard in
the day too. It’s going to be very interesting.”
You can keep track of all Simon progress on www.simonpavey.com.
The race coverage will be aired on British Eurosport
and the race starts on the 1st January
2011.
If you would like any the above images as high res
please for Press Purposes please email: llel@ThatCameraKid.com
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