Enduro tyres , and this one had a Metzeler MC360 front and Karoo Extreme on the rear . Both hardly used . There was a slight scuff on the left-hand leading edge of the front fender , and the trailing edge of the left hand side of the swing arm ( where I sent it down the road on its side , but that ’ s a story for another time ) and some other minor marks on the black handlebars . There were no two ways about it , it was ‘ my ’ Beta .
BACK TOGETHER AGAIN I won ’ t go into too much detail , because , honestly , there ’ s not all that much to tell . But , after some tough negotiating with the dealer and some light arm twisting , the 430 is now back in my garage . Yep , we ’ re back together . I won ’ t sully the relationship with talk of money ( like the Editor who recently bought his long term test GasGas ES700 ). With hindsight I ’ ve realised it shouldn ’ t have left my garage at all . I ’ ve fallen for a bike that I ’ d once let go . Since we parted it ’ s been out there , I can tell by the farkles that have been added
to it , including front and rear Kriega tug straps , and some tasteful Acerbis bark busters in Italian rosso red .
THE FUTURE I ’ ve got some rides planned , mainly trail rides . So , the rego is going on hold for now , but the idea of a road-legal enduro bike chilling in my garage , ready to go any time I like is quite exciting . There could well be some big adventures coming too . The Editor is sometimes subtle , sometimes he ’ s like a brick through a window . I ’ ll put it this way , it doesn ’ t sound like he ’ s taking no for an answer after gently planting the seed of a Summer South Island high country mission with the RR430 , his ES700 and a 690 Enduro R . It went along the lines of , “ We ’ re off down South on the trail bikes to explore some smaller tracks . Now you ’ ve got that , you ’ re coming . Best tell the wife early .” To be honest , it does sound awesome . I ’ ll be sure to keep you updated on the future adventures of the Italian mountain goat .
58 KIWI RIDER