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12SOFAR
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6
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MODSNEXTMONTH
Revlimiter1.I’mthinkingtheremightbeabitof
scarringwhenthosestitchescomeout
2.Rebuildincludedplatingthesmashed
ulnaandreplacingtheheadoftheradiusSHERCO500SEFFACTORY
RRP
$15,990
WARRANTY
Sixmonths,parts& labour
DISTRIBUTOR
ShercoAustralia
INTERNET
sherco.com.auMY TIME WITH the 500SEF
Factory started as planned
with some solid trailrides to
run the big thumper in and get
a feel for it. The fi rst thing I
noticed was how fi rm the
whole bike felt, especially the
suspension.
It felt nothing like the plush,
comfortable ride I got from the
500SEF test bike at the
Sherco launch (ADB #473). It
would have been easy to panic
and start changing the
suspension settings to fi nd the
comfy ride I remembered but I
didn’t change a thing.
I have experienced this
rigidity with new bikes in the
past so I took the approach
that has worked many times
before. What I did was fi nd a
reasonably rough track where
I logged about four hours of
ride time to let the suspension
seat and chassis wear in, then I
re-set the shock sag.SANTA LIGHTS
Just like that, the plush,
confi dent ride I remembered
from the launch was back and I
was enjoying the 500 a lot
more than during my fi rst few
bumpy hours. The next
trailride I had on the SEF was
as good as it gets.
The skies had opened up the
night before, turning dusty
Sunny Corner trails into
perfect loam. With Christmas
just a few sleeps away I could
only squeeze in a short
trailride before getting stuck
in to Santa duties at home.
Little did I know that that was
going to be my last ride for
quite a while.
Well into knocking over my
Santa jobs, I had just fi nished
installing the Christmas lights
on our roof and was in the
process of climbing down the
ladder onto our driveway when
my shorts got hooked onto the
gutter. Not thinking much
about it, I tried to climb back
up the ladder to unhook them
and, after realising I needed to
climb down a bit to get myshorts free, things turned ugly
really fast.
On my way back down I
kicked the ladder out from
underneath my legs, leaving
me dangling from my shorts
attached to the gutter.
Unfortunately I did not stay
this way for long at all, with my
shorts letting go of the gutter
and sending me head fi rst
towards the concrete. Just like
every time I have been injured
before, my left arm looked
after itself, staying tucked into
my side but my right one,
which has sacrifi ced itself to
protect me at least four times
before, was fearless again. As
my head was hurtling towards
the concrete my right arm
stretched straight out to take
the full force of my body
hitting the ground.
The good news is that it did
save my head but
unfortunately my arm got
smashed up pretty bad. Both
my forearm bones were
broken really bad. The ulna
was in seven pieces and had
punched its way out through
the skin, while the radius head
got smashed so bad it no
longer exists.
After a few days in hospital
plus a decent amount of new
hardware to piece my arm
back together I am getting
closer to jumping back
onboard the Sherco. Hopefully,
for next month’s update I will
be able to tell you how the
Sherco handles at very low
speed as I rebuild my strength.
Ben GrabhamThe good
news is that
it did save
my head but
unfortunately
my arm got
smashed
http://www.adbmag.com.au MAY 2019| 115
SHERCO
500SEF
FACTORY