Our man Bernie gets ousted by the Ed after he cartwheels the Sherco 300 SEF Factory and survives.
Long Term Test Bike | SHERCO 300 SEF FACTORY
You may be wondering why I am telling you this story about a bike that was meant to be treated like a princess.
I previously talked about the Sherco 300 SEF Factory being as tough as nails following many big hits with me as the pilot. Nothing has broken and it is still in perfect condition. My theory was that the Sherco 300 SEF Factory really is indestructible. Well that theory was put to the test by our resident VMX guru and all-round good guy Bernie den Hertog.
Bernie has become somewhat of a go-to guy for ADB as he possesses all the skills any magazine editor looks for in a contributor. He’s a cracking photographer, well-written, technically astute, well-informed and a pretty darn good rider, not to mention he’s just a good guy and incredibly easy to work with. But, Bernie’s squeaky-clean record on ADB came crashing down, literally.
Now, we all have crashes from time-to-time and bikes get broken. Hell, I’ve spent months recovering from numerous surgeries having crashed ADB test bikes but rarely do they get caught on camera. Actually that’s a lie, most of our crashes are caught on camera because we often have one pointing at us while we ride but for this particular crash, Bernie was just helping out on a photoshoot so none of the attention was meant to be pointed at him.
On a near vertical descent into a creek to test the Rieju Ranger Bernie grabbed a little too much front brake and leant a little too far to the high-side. He ended up getting caught in the handlebars and going over them with the bike still attached. The Sherco did three flips down this hill slamming into rocks, snapping my Quadlock mount and finally resting in a creek bed. It would have fallen at least 20-30 metres.
Fortunately Bernie was okay and somehow the bike was too. I was expecting a bent subframe, bent triple clamps, snapped bars, levers, pipes and pretty much anything else not protected by the frame. After running down to the bottom and checking over Bernie and the bike I was amazed that neither had serious damage.
After a closer inspection of the Sherco there was damage to the triple clamp and outer fork tube (small chips in both from landing on the rock), a bent clutch lever and snapped numberplate holder but that was it. This bike should be totalled!
You may be wondering why I am telling you this story about a bike that was meant to be treated like a princess. It highlights just how tough this bike actually is as nothing was seriously broken. The most impressive feat was no bent subframe. At one point while completing a rotation it landed directly on the subframe and still, nothing important broke.
There’s also another reason I’m telling you this story. You see Bernie’s son was on the ride with us and right before Bernie’s cartwheel he was yelling instructions to his son Ben on how to descend the hill. So Ben, enjoy this moment mate, it’s not very often a son gets to turn to his dad and say “See, I told you you should have followed in my footsteps down the hill”.
SHERCO 300SEF FACTORY
RRP: $15,799
WARRANTY: Six months, parts and labour
DISTRIBUTOR: Sherco Australia
SO FAR
TOTAL HOURS: 34
MODS THIS MONTH:Chipped fork leg and triple clamp, bent clutch lever (would you call them mods?)
MODS NEXT MONTH:Fixing the above (and telling Sherco)