WORDS: BEN GRABHAM
PICS: ANDREW KENNY

THIS FEATURE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN ADB ISSUE #472.

Cross-country rallies have been few and far between in Oz. The last Australasian Safari was back in 2014 and racers have only had the two-day Condo 750 and the odd one-off rally in Western Australia to look forward to.

I don’t want to see rallying die as some of my best memories on a motorcycle come from racing events like Condo and Safari. Navigating while racing is bloody hard but it is also very rewarding when you nail it. Generally, the tracks are in places that you would never normally get access to so that alone makes the riding experience very special.

The part that I believe is holding rally racing back is the cost. The first Australasian Safari I raced in 2007 started at Kununurra up the top of WA and then, roughly 8000km and nine days later, we finished in Perth. The time and money to get the bikes, riders, crews and support vehicles to the start line and then home from the finish were both big numbers. That’s why it was good to see the Sunraysia Safari kick off in 2017, based in north-western Vicco.

SUNRAYSIA RALLY
Organisers have kept costs in mind, as the five-day rally basically does cloverleaf loops out of Mildura. This doesn’t affect the quality of the tracks, it just keeps the travel costs to a minimum as the event has a central start-and-finish point.

Not many brands have race-ready rally bikes for sale (okay, just KTM and Husky, maybe Sherco) and they are big-dollar Dakar machines. Your next option is to buy a road-registerable 450cc or 500cc four-stroke enduro and fit all the extra kit needed.

Things like a roadbook, ICO tripmeter and long-range fuel tank are the minimum mods. to finish a rally. Depending on your donor bike, you could easily spend over $25,000 just to get to the start line.

Mallee Motorcycles in Red Cliffs, Vic, has come up with a rally package that is well under that $25,000 mark. For around $14,000 you can roll out of their showroom with a new SWM RS500 Rally ready to go racing. That price is well below the other options and Mallee believes the package is definitely capable of a top-10 finish in the Sunraysia.

The location for my test on this rally-spec SWM was perfect. We were out near the NSW country town of Hay where I have done some rally bike testing in the past, so I knew the terrain was perfect.

The Mallee RS500 Rally was well finished for an enduro that had been converted into a rally bike. I have seen some ugly conversions but this beauty looked good.

I fired up the 500 and took off straight into some flowing roads to get a feel for it. Seeing as most rallies are multi-day events involving a lot of sitting down, I like the seat and handlebar to be very comfortable and the SWM definitely ticked this box. The 19-litre Safari tank does make the bike feel pretty wide but nothing more than expected.

The most impressive part of the bike was the engine performance. From the first crack of the throttle it had me smiling. From the bottom-end to mid-range power the 500 SWM was really impressive. The top-end was good but I did not need to go there much because of the impressive bottom to mid. To my surprise, it ran really clean all the way through the rev range.

I rode one of the first SWM RS500s to arrive in Australia at the beginning of 2017 and it ran really badly down low, giving it a really gutless feeling off the bottom. This beast, on the other hand, was great.

BOINGERs AND ANCHORS
The handling department is always interesting on an enduro bike that has been converted to rally racing. With so much added weight from the long-range fuel tank and the navigation gear you just never know how it’s going to react.

The SWM gave me a planted feeling even though most of the weight that has been added is on the front-end. It did not feel much heavier over the front tyre compared to the rear tyre and that is a huge plus.

The suspension is what I would call middle-of-the-range KYB gear so, for your average rally riding, it felt perfect with no harshness and easy on the body over long distances. The suspension did reach its limits on big hits, blowing all the way through its travel, but big hits at high-speed are difficult to deal with.

With rally races in Australia, high speeds are usually part of the package so you want good braking power. The SWM’s standard Brembo brakes were up to the task in every situation I tested them. I don’t think I have ridden a rally bike without doing some kind of speed test and this was no different. A cool 166kmh was my top-speed on the SWM. It was capable of more but I ran out of road. Either way, 166kmh is fast enough in most rally situations.

While turning around at the end of my speed run I was wondering what brand of steering damper was fitted as turning felt light. My eyeballs just about fell out of my head when I realised the bike did not have one.

I asked Wayne Woodberry, who bolted this bike together, and he said it was so stable without a damper they decided to skip fitting one. It was hard to argue as I never experienced any headshake and I’m all for making racing more affordable.

IS IT A CONTENDER?
Is this SWM rally package really capable of a top-10 result? Well It definitely has enough power and it turns and handles the bumps well enough, so I would say Mallee Motorcycles know what they are talking about.

It’s nice to see an affordable option for riders looking at getting into rally racing. If someone was looking to go top-five, I would beef up the suspension for big hits and then add a steering damper. I know it didn’t headshake on me but my mind just likes the idea of doing 170kmh with a steering damper, for the just-in-case moments. To convert the SWM back to its standard format, is very easy as nothing is cut or modified. Play your cards right and you’ll have an unmarked tank, seat, radiator shrouds and sideplates to go back on.

SWM RS500 Rally
Engine
Type: DOHC, four-valve
Displacement: 501cc
Bore & STROKE: 97 x 67.8mm
Cooling: Liquid
Compression ratio: 12.9:1
Fuel metering: Mikuni D42 EFI
Tank capacity: 19L
Transmission: Six-speed, constant-mesh
Clutch: Magura hydraulic, wet multiplate

Dimensions
Wheelbase: 1495mm
Seat height: 963mm
Ground clearance: 250mm
Weight: N/A (112kg stock, dry)

Suspension
Front: KYB spring-cartridge 50mm USD, 300mm
rear: KYB monoshock, 295mm travel

BRAKES
Front: Twin-piston Brembo caliper, 260mm disc
Rear: Single-piston Brembo caliper, 240mm disc

Running Gear
Handlebar: Tapered alloy
Front: TYRE Pirelli Scorpion Rally, 90/90-21
Rear: TYRE Pirelli Scorpion Rally, 140/80-18

Price & Contacts
price $14,000 approx.
web malleemotorcycles.com
phone (03) 5024 3610
Warranty N/A