Paddy Dakar 2024 - Photodump

Some shots documenting the Paddy Dakar motorcycle rally last weekend, from the MERCENARY GARAGE perspective.

The event went off flawlessly thanks to the dedication and brilliant organisational skills of the PD staff and volunteers. The atmosphere was relaxed, friendly and inclusive and the catering was superb. It's a uniquely laid-back affair and we look forward to returning in 2025.

Our sincere thanks go to Damo, Stephen and the rest of the team for their dedication, their vision and all their hard work.

Paddy Dakar 2024

So, MERCENARY was in full effect at the Paddy Dakar this weekend.

Image & Video - Rónan Hickey

#ThePaddyDakar, #PaddyDakar, #PaddyDakar2024, #TheGoldenHorde, #T4Transporter, #TransporterT4, #VWT4, #BugOutVehicle, #BugOutVan, #ZombieVan, #TeamMercenary, #Mercenary, #MercenaryMotorcycles, #MercenaryGarage, #Ratbike #MatteBlack #VanLife, #MadMax, #Punk, #OldPunks #DublinPunk, #PunkBiker #PunkVan, #PunkRock, #Motorcycle, #EnduroBike, #DirtBike, #OffRoad, #OffRoadMotorcycle,

Mercenary KLR

The MERCENARY KLR all ready for this year's Paddy Dakar which takes place in Doon, Co. Limerick next weekend.

The front and rear fenders have been swapped out for lighter Acerbis ones for a KX80. The side panels and chain-guard have been deleted so as to not gather heavy, cloying mud. And the 9" front headlight has been replaced with a smaller lightweight LED number to save weight.

Image - Mercenary Garage

#KLR250 #ThePaddyDakar #PaddyDakar #PaddyDakar2024 #KawasakiKLR #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercearyGarage

Paddy Dakar

Here in MERCENARY HQ, it's time to start thinking about getting ready for the Paddy Dakar...

Image - Unknown

#PaddyDakar #Apocalypse #BugOutVehicle #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Paddy Dakar 2022

Doon, Co. Limerick, September 16th-18th 2022

Paddy Dakar 2021

Doon, Co. Limerick, September 18th 2021

Paddy Dakar

The Paddy Dakar 2021 takes place tomorrow (with Covid restrictions).

Image Ró Hickey

#PaddyDakar #ThePaddyDakar #PaddyDakar2021 #HondaCRF250 #CRF250 #HondaCRF250Rally #CRF250Rally #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Paddy Dakar 2019

 

Night Rider

There's a night section in the Paddy Dakar and last September we found ourselves riding around a mountain in the dark looking for tiny 1" x 2" metal plaques.

The headlight on the KLR is super bright, but it's limited in it's aim by how far you can turn the bars while stationary. This isn't ideal.

At the time it occurred to me that it would be wonderful to have a lamp of similar brightness to the headlight, but mounted on my helmet so that there would be good illumination wherever I was looking.

What you see here is the culmination of that thought process.

The stock headlamp bulb on the KLR was a 50/55 Watt so the alternator is good for at least that. In addition, it had to power the stop/tail bulb, the indicator bulbs, licence plate bulb and the various bulbs in the instrument cluster.

My KLR doesn't have any of that stuff any more due to advances in LED technology over the last few years. The LED headlight is 35 Watt and the LED parking lamp and the LED stop/tail bulb draw 1 Watt each!

It also has a GPS now - I don't know what kind of power that draws, but I guess its only a couple of Watts.

The point is, there should still be capacity to power an additional 15 Watt LED cluster mounted on a helmet.

The short term plan is to test it out over the winter by simply plugging it into a wiring harness on the bike. But for the Paddy Dakar next year I'll probably run it off a second battery in my backpack so I can walk around away from the bike (there's a good bit of thrashing around searching for the markers). I'll plug the second battery into the wiring harness to keep it charged while I'm on the bike.

I went riding today with the lamp mounted on the peak of my helmet and instantly forgot it was there. It doesn't weigh very much and it's fairly low profile - about 50mm tall and 150 wide. I didn't have it wired up, but I often ride with an electric heated jacket plugged into the bike, so I don't think the wiring will be an issue.

So it looks like it might actually work quite well...

Images Mercenary Garage


#NightRider #NightRaid #NightRally #LEDBulbs #PaddyDakar #KLR #KawasakiKLR #KLR250 #StealthKLR #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Twilight

Image Ronan Hickey


#PaddyDakar #PaddyDakar2018 #HRCBiker #VWT4 #VWTransporter #ZombieVan #TacticalVan #BugOutVan #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Paddy Dakar 2018

Doon, Co. Limerick

Photo Evan Kelly

Photo Evan Kelly

Photo Noel Feeney

Photo Noel Feeney

Photo Noel Feeney

Roads

Where we're going, we don't need roads...

Image Mercenary Garage


#PaddyDakar #KLR250 #VWT4 #HankookDynaPro #PirelliMT21 #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Paddy Dakar

It's that time of year again and the MERCENARY Surface Module is loaded up, ready for its annual trundle down to the Paddy Dakar in Doon Co. Limerick.

Normal service resumes Monday.

Image Mercenary Garage


#PaddyDakar #SurfaceModule #StealthKLR #KLR #KLR250 #VWT4 #VWTransporter #TransporterT4 #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Shark Attack

Evan's been getting some practice in for the Paddy Dakar at the end of this month...

Image Evan


#MadMaxTDM #YamahaTDM #TDM850 #PaddyDakar #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Beach

Image Mercenary 


#KLR #KLR250 #StealthKLR #PaddyDakar #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Ride Eternal, Shiny and Chrome...

So it's September, and that means preparations for the Apocalypse Paddy Dakar are afoot...

Pics by Evan


#PaddyDakar #TDM850 #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Paddy Dakar 2017

Doon, County Limerick.

Mercenary is Traveling

Normal service resumes Monday 2nd of October.

Image Mercenary


#PaddyDakar #KLR250 # StealthKLR #SurfaceModule #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

KLR

So, today I spent a couple of hours driving around in the rain breaking in the KLR motor. Wet. Very wet.

Images Mercenary


#KLR250 #StealthKLR #PaddyDakar #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

KLR Wiring

When I built the KLR about three years ago I decided not to re-wire it or to rebuild the engine in the interest of keeping it a small, cheap project.

So three years on, I've decided that it's a keeper and it's time for some upgrades. So I took down the motor and replaced the main bearings and the piston and I'm currently scratch-building a new wiring harness.

Hopefully I can get the wiring finished tomorrow so I can break in the motor in time for the Paddy Dakar next weekend.

Watch this space...

Image Mercenary Garage


#KLR250 #StealthKLR #PaddyDakar #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage