Goodbye Dorco: The Little Motorcycle That Could (Eventually)

- Tim Notier

There are good days, there are bad days… and then there are Lombok torrential rainstorm days, the kind that make you question all your life choices, your mechanical abilities, and whether motorcycles can drown.
Spoiler: they can.

Somewhere between "It only has to last one more day” and “why is it making that noise?”, our faithful Bajaj Pulsar 220, affectionately named Dorco, decided to take a nap as we rode through a seemingly harmless puddle. Marisa and I pulled over trying to restart the bike but with my lack of any mechanical abilities, I may as well have been kicking a can down the road.
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That was the moment we officially entered recovery mode.

⚙️ Resurrection by Carburetor

After a lot of poking, prodding, and Google Translate-ing Indonesian motorcycle terms, we cracked open Dorco’s carburetor. A swampy soup of water and fuel poured out, and we crossed our fingers that this impromptu baptism might bring her back to life.
And miraculously, it worked!

Not only did Dorco cough, sputter, and roar back to life… she suddenly ran better than ever.
Apparently, she’d been slightly clogged up since the day we picked her up in Jakarta. All she’d needed was a torrential monsoon to clear her sinuses.

So yes, the rainstorm that nearly killed her actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With the equivalent of a motorcycle enema courtesy of Mother Nature, the bike was unclogged and felt much more “regular”, and we rode off with nervous smiles back to Bali.

💸 The Great Dorco Sell-Off

With our time in Indonesia wrapping up, we knew it was time to part ways with Dorco. She’d carried us across four islands, Java, Kalimantan, Bali, and Lombok. Through volcanic ash, jungle mud, and some of the best (and worst) roads imaginable.

She’d also broken down approximately 472 times, so… you know, mixed feelings.

Enter Joel, our friend and fellow rider, who somehow decided he wanted to buy Dorco. (Even after witnessing its near-death experience first-hand.)

We sold her for a whopping $250, which honestly felt like we were charging too much for a motorcycle that previously refused to start just hours before.
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Joel, bless him, took her for a test ride, came back with a straight face, and said:
“It barely works… but okay.”
That’s the spirit.

🚢 Farewell Ferry Fiasco

Our final act with Dorco was loading her onto the ferry back to Bali. The crossing between Lombok and Bali is notoriously rough, the kind of seas that make Dramamine stock prices go up.

Marisa, Joel, and I snagged a “VIP cabin,” which in Indonesian ferry terms means a room that kind of smells like a locker room but has a window that doesn’t open.

We tried to sleep while the boat pitched like a seesaw, hoping we wouldn’t wake up to Dorco rolling overboard.
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At 11 p.m., we finally landed in Bali. We were all exhausted and queasy, and Marisa and I got to show off Dorco’s 1 watt headlight as we road back to Joel’s house nearly blind to our surroundings.

☀️ A New Dawn for Dorco

The next morning, Bali greeted us with one of those perfect tropical sunrises. Birds chirping, palm trees swaying, and Dorco sitting proudly in the driveway like nothing ever happened.
It was our last morning together.

Joel took ownership, promising to give her a second life as a rental for adventure riders exploring Bali. I told him to be gentle as she’s been through enough existential crises for one lifetime.

Weeks later, Joel sent us photos, and my jaw dropped.

He’d transformed Dorco completely. New paint, new panels, new spirit. The same frame, the same engine, but she looked amazing.
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Dorco 2.0 had risen. The little engine that couldn’t had become the little legend that could.

🏍️ What’s Next?

That marked the end of our Indonesian chapter. Thousands of miles, four islands, one resurrected carburetor, and countless memories.
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But every ending is just the start of another misadventure.

Where are we heading next? What new motorcycle will we pick up? Will it also die in a rainstorm? (Statistically, probably yes.)
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You’ll have to stick around to find out.

Until then, here’s to Dorco, our unreliable, unstoppable, unforgettable partner in crime.
Ride on, little buddy. Ride on.

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🚨🚨‼️ Blog Subscription Update!!
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🧠 Tech Tip from the Road

If your seat is as comfortable as a two-by-four, don’t spend hundreds on fancy mods? Grab an Airhawk cushion and, for the pillion, toss in a cutting board underneath for extra width.
Yes, a cutting board.
No, we’re not joking.
It’s not pretty, but neither are we after 8 hours in the saddle.
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Check out our full list of gear here and let us know if you have any questions!
👉 https://www.2upandoverloaded.com/ourgear.html

Thanks for riding alongside us,

We’ll see you in the next chapter, wherever two wheels and too much gear take us next.
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Watch the full episode of our latest escapades on YouTube here 👉 https://youtu.be/ml9oFTJ-i_8

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