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I've been getting a little antsy lately with my everyday grind, commuting to work and back on my GSA isn't cutting it. So I'm planning a little trip with my friends here in California. Two days in Santa Barbara at the Divide Peak OHV park. Were probably going to camp one night, being there just Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th of June. I'd prefer if everyone had knobbed tires and comfortable with single track. So far its just a group of three at the moment. http://www.riderplanet-usa.com/atv/trails/info/california_10378/ride_420a.htm

Hi there folks, My name's Lorry Gombos and I'm the founder of Outback Motortek, manufacturer and distributor of adventure motorcycle products. Eric has kindly offered me to introduce my business to the XL ADV forum users and offline lurkers. It's hard to squeeze Outback Motortek's history into a short story but I'll try and tell you guys how I ended up taking on this tough venture in this very saturated market. No need to go too far back in the time when I first began riding and what kind of bikes I've owned etc..Fast forward that and I found myself living in Taiwan with my wife teaching English on the daily basis and riding around the island as much as 40K in 3 years. Not a big deal unless you only own a small 150cc scooter. But it doesn't matter what you ride but rather where and how you ride it. Again, fast forward time to December 2012 and I caught myself staring at an oversized, outdated (communist!) Asia map. By this time we had known that we would leave Taiwan for Canada very soon but before doing so I wanted to visit my family and friends in Hungary. So, I was calculating distances, sizing up deserts, considering road of bones and the Pamir highway and asked my wife " Do you want to ride to Europe instead of flying??". She said "How long would it take?" I couldn't believe my ears as I totally expected a "are you insane?" response...I replied "3 weeks if we ship our bike to Vladivostok, Russia". I know, I kinda lied but it was always my dream to cross the Asian continent way before Charlie and Ewan did. Of course, they re-inspired me! Fast forward the time again, I was deep into organizing what I thought was a simple task: purchase a bike that is reliable, can carry two people and luggage across Asia. Not so simple. Long story short, I ended up giving up riding from Vladivostok and even to ship my bike to Mongolia (logistics reasons made it impossible or too costly). I had to settle for Kyrgyzstan. Not a big loss, on the contrary! I got to spend more time exploring the Pamir Highway and its surroundings. I had to reach out to my family and friends in Hungary to buy me a decent motorcycle due the extremely high Taiwanese foreign vehicle import tax. My final choice - 2004 Suzuki Vstrom 650 - would have cost me $10,000.00 appr. in Taiwan, meanwhile in Europe one could get it for $3500-4500. Here comes the story of Outback Motortek before you think I'm writing a ride report The Vstrom, my best friend ended up buying for me only had a set of Givi bars to make it adventure (?) worthy. Lucky me, my father had owned a metal fabricating company for 30 years and had a great facility, engineers and a handful of skilled workers to tackle any metal related task. Let's just call the company by its name, G&T Manufacturing Inc. which mostly known in the medical devices business in Europe and is a major supplier for a Dutch company. My father's business outfitted my bike with all kinds of farkles, like aluminum panniers, center stand, upper crash bar, tool box etc. We still had no intentions of selling and manufacturing all these. I just wanted to get the job done and do the ride of my life. After finally riding out of the Kyrgyz customs and headed towards the Chinese border and later south towards Tajikistan and Afghanistan, we began meeting other explorers from Europe and Australia going the other direction. We always greeted each other, exchanged information but most conversations were about comparing farkles...Most of them noticed that our gear was well-made and somewhat unique looking and they were wondering what brand was it... Finally after nearly 8 weeks and 14000kms on the road we got to Hungary and I was ready to sell the bike and fly to Canada. We took off all the products my dad's business made and sold it online separate from the bike. In no time! I had to remove the ads later because the phone didn't stop ringing... Just then it hit me that maybe....Why not join this small but constantly growing market?! So, back to the title whether Outback Motortek is just another accessories manufacturer? It perhaps is but hopefully with our passion for adventure riding, a fully equipped facility and a dedicated and experienced team behind us, we will mean business for the major ADV/Dual-Sport motorcycle manufacturers in the near future. www.OutbackMotortek.com

So this is an 8 minute vid of the prep and ride up to Overland Expo West 2015 near Flagstaff, AZ. I ride up from Orange County, California with Eric Hall, Kim Krause, and Jessica Washburn. No pics of the snow, but I'm sure the other folks have some they'll contribute. Enjoy ...

No ride report would be complete without a video, right?

Day 3 M'yeah, so it snowed. There was to be no riding today given the weather and yesterday's difficult ride, so we just kind of made the best of things and trudged around the mud and checked out all the vendors on display. What was really cool was that I finally got to meet Ted Porter in person. That guy is amazing. He was talking suspension magic like a Gandalf or something. Kim on the Rev 'It bike Tomas' Ural Jim Gary's 690 w/Tolga's Ride Must Go On sticker prominently displayed. I did manage to walk around the other non-moto part of Overland Expo and was totally amazed at all the impressive kit out there. Saw lots of rigs that cost more than my over-priced home in Orange County. Saw lots of really cool people, including the one and only Simon and Lisa. I did miss out on meeting Tiffany Coats, however OE is a huge deal. They have food vendors, wi-fi and coffee tent, maps, showers, etc... I will definitely have to attend next year because there's no way you can see it all in one weekend. It was truly a Woodstock (except with snow and motorcycles) because this is the only place you'll see that many people who are as crazy as you are for one thing: adventure. We will camp out in sub zero temps and snow just to be a part of that madness. Many new friends as well. I was really glad to spend more time with the ICON Raiden people. Expect to see yours truly and XLADV perhaps be a part of their next video series. I was also *this* close to buying a ticket to Cambodia next month to join Brad Barker on a moto ride he's filming there. Lots and lots of new stuff to come. My ride home was thankfully a bit warmer. Roughly 52 from Flag to Kingman then 80-90 from there to OC and back down to the 60's. I took Kelbaker road south off the 40 through Amboy then down through Joshua Tree. Never been there before. Kind of a cool/creepy desert community. I will have to explore trails there in the fall when it cools down. SnOverland Expo 2015.