KTM 350 EXCF - Mark Stenberg Lawtalk

Lawtalk with Mark Stenberg, September 2017

By Bike Review • 7 years ago

Sep
2017

BY-THE-WAY OF LEGAL INTEREST
TOO FAST & CONSEQUENCES…

Ray is a contractor who drives a large rigid truck which he owns (and just bought on lease) delivering goods to the big three – Woolworths, Coles and Aldi. He is a professional driver and travels all over the greater Sydney area, six days a week.

His fiancée picked up a new car and within a few weeks was sideswiped by an oncoming car which did not stop. Ray was in the car as a passenger and got really upset (the new mirror would cost $600) and later that day while still fuming was detected by Highway Patrol driving at 34 over on the M5.

He showed the Police Officer the mirror hanging by the wires and explained the only reason for speeding was that he was angry and not himself. The copper just gave him the ticket which meant mandatory three months suspension and was catastrophic for Ray financially and a problem in complying with his contracts, which could mean loss of the contract.

His driving record was pretty good and with the hardship submission we went to the Local Court asking for a Section 10 – Offence proven without a conviction, no fine, no points and no loss of licence. Not even close, and the Magistrate said tough luck and you’ll just have to manage….

I felt there was merit in Ray’s request so he appealed to the District Court (you can drive pending Court in each case) and the Judge agreed with my request for all the reasons, including where Ray was giving back to the community by coaching a school’s soccer teams especially generous as Ray had no kids of his own.

Drive carefully, someone with a Lidar Gun is probably watching…

Mark with the KTM 350 EXCF

MISCELLANEOUS RAMBLINGS

It’s been awhile since my last column but I have truly been living the dream! My daughter’s family have a caravan and my wife Sandra and I have gone along on three occasions in 2017 and stayed in a cottage at the various caravan parks they’ve visited.

With two grandchildren aged four and six, the caravan and the cottage compliment each other, and of course I tow the important bike trailer with dirt bikes, kayak, fishing gear, and such.

Caravan parks, kids and their pushbikes are a wonderful and safe combination allowing them and their parents to also enjoy themselves with summer holiday activities intermingled with a few enduro dirt bike rides in local state forests, in our case in the Huskisson area over Christmas 2016 as well as Umina and Narrabeen.

KTM are a popular choice among Mark’s off-road riding group – the Dirty Boys

It is mandatory also to have a cold beer after a hot day riding followed by a BBQ or pizza dinner and that is what happens to us.

We also went to Vanuatu for 10 days with the immediate family of 16, for birthday celebrations and hired a guide and KTM 250 and 350 Six Days and nearly died from heatstroke!

We normally comfortably travel in the Wattagans and elsewhere, covering 60 to 90km of single trail in four to six hours. In Vanuatu, travelling in the jungle with no air or breeze, with 33 degrees and 100 per cent humidity, we covered 13km in four hours and I drank almost six litres of water – more detail another time…

While I still have my 2016 KTM EXC 500, my son-in-law Rob has a 2017 Husqvarna 450 and we have a lot of fun riding those mostly with the Dirty Boys in the Wattagans in the Central Coast of NSW.

Wonderful dirt riding but my Rego and Greenslip for the KTM for say 50 rides a year off road are the same cost as for a Landcruiser driven daily on the public roads! It makes no sense to me…

Our next out-of-town dirt ride will be in the Newry State Forest near Raleigh Northern NSW – I’ve been before, it’s sensational!

The Bike Review long term KTM 350 EXCF

Also I have a new test bike in my garage being a 2017 KTM 350 EXC for a long term test and it will be interesting to see how it compares with not only my 500 but the myriad of bikes of my local riding group – the Dirty Boys. 95 per cent of who strangely seem to share a bike colour of orange! There are few white/blue Huskies but they are really KTMs after all…

A new fad for me for the last four months is a also bicycle! It’s not ordinary at $7K, but a dual suspension Ebike made in Germany (a mountain bike), with 90nm of torque, a BH Emotion Lynx Atom! Slightly heavier at 21kg but with top suspension and hydraulic disc brakes.