As explained in RUST #36, RUST is going to the Rallye du Maroc in October. And as part of that I’m going to enter the Trail Desert Challenge section of that event (see https://www.traildesertchallenge.com). When we published #36 we couldn’t reveal the bike I’d chosen as we were still awaiting an official sign-off from the top bods, but now it’s come and I can reveal I’ll be riding Suzuki’s V-Strom 650XT, an excellent first-adventure-bike if there ever was one.

As said in RUST #36, the plan is to ride there and back as well riding the five days in the rally. For this we’ll be making some special preparations to have the Suzook rally ready, but in the usual style of mine, i.e. not too much. A bit of crash bars here, a knobbly tyre there, but all with a keen eye on budget. What we’re looking at here is an adventure anyone could do, if they have a mind for it. If you’ve always fancied getting more involved in adventure, do some discovering, reach out for new experiences, then we hope this project will inspire you.

So the plan is to evaluate the Suzuki’s performance over the coming months as we make the preparations, showing you what’s going on at every step. And here I’ve posted a first video introduction to the project. As most will know by now, I’m not too flash at this video stuff so apologies for the ums, ers, deviations and hesitations. Hopefully I’ll improve as we move this project along.

But first, there will be a break of two weeks as I’m off to Mongolia on another mission! Apologies for that. But we’ll crack into this again as soon as I’m back. And you’ll find more details in RUST #37 when we publish on my return.

Quick links:

https://bikes.suzuki.co.uk/bikes/adventure/v-strom-650xt/?grade=c3f5a30a-9e27-491c-beaf-fe4072f6dfbb&price=7899&Colour=Champion+Yellow+No.2+(YU1)

https://www.traildesertchallenge.com/