Celebrated adventure rider Steve Crombie has completed an unsupported 6000km off-road adventure from Darwin to Sydney on his Lost On... Yamaha WR250R.
His journey meant that Steve was the first motorcycle rider this year to navigate through closed roads across hundreds of crocodile infested rivers to the Gulf of Carpentaria, back out to Cape Crawford, through the Davenport Range and into Alice Springs.
From Alice Springs he was also the first rider to cross the Simpson Desert this year despite the area still being officially closed due to flooding.
The incredibly durable Lost On... Yamaha WR250R was developed to handle every type of terrain from deep mud, sand to long distance tarmac. Reaching up to 145kms an hour fully loaded the efficient fuel injected 250cc engine enabled Steve to ride 640kms across the Simpson with only 35 litres of fuel ‰ÛÒ that‰Ûªs 18.5kms per litre on one of the toughest trips out there.
From Birdsville he continued across yet another closed area (Sturt Stony Desert) and the Strzelecki Desert before hammering to the Darling River and safely back to Sydney. Once back on the tarmac the WR250R was good for 26kms per litre.
The purpose built machine was punished consistently averaging 400-800kms per day on varying terrain without a single performance issue. The constant high speeds and unknown
landscape put a few dents in the wheel rims and bent a brake disc, but thanks to the outright strength and sophistication of the Lost On... Yamaha WR250R, the ride wasn‰Ûªt even compromised by a puncture.
‰ÛÏI had never ridden a fuel injected, liquid cooled engine on any adventure as serious as this one because I never previously had faith in the ability of this new technology to cope with the harshest conditions. But technology has certainly caught up. The little 250cc engine never missed a beat,‰Û
