RUST magazine: Rust#1

Adventure
as not to frighten motorists.
And the WK, like the Honda, is a bit tall in
the saddle. It’s a fair swing of the leg to get
yourself into position - though both of course
settle into the suspension once you’re
seated. But that initial mount - especially
with the panniers to avoid - can look a touch
comedic. Perhaps we need to face up to the
fact that if you want 250mm of ground clearance,
if you want nine-or-more inches of
suspension travel (both adventure standards
- and note how I mixed the units there) then
that comes with a lofty seat height. That’s
the unavoidable trade-off.
Into the Rough?
Well, off the tarmac at least. Not having
done the sensible thing and contacted the
Trail Riders Fellowship (TRF) for some local
knowledge we played it safe by riding only
the byways as marked on our brand new
Ordinance Survey maps. These were to be
found in the lower reaches of the Thetford
Forest and consisted of some fairly flat, wellgraded
sand tracks (not even deep sand).
The WK wasn’t perfectly equipped for this,
riding on smoothish tyres (made by Kenda).
Despite being well equipped with rim locks
we left the pressures as we’d used on the
road (yeah, whatever WK had put in them!)
and just ploughed on. The motor was spot-