All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

during the week I just normally ride some xc trails around where I live....once a week try to make it to bear brook. I just bought it last fall after not having a bike for several years (my last bike was a specialized demo) so just getting back into it really...and having a DH bike b4 I really only rode highland so just starting to explore XC/endure stuff, but this year I plan on riding highland and kingdom more. I live within not to bad of a drive of fomba, bear brook, fort rock, and mount mt agamenticus(Maine) but I want to do some exploring this year, make it out to Pisgah maybe, millstone, and some places I've heard about in mass

 

hell yeah a fellow 5 spotter!!! also I should do this with my DRZ

 

Bear Brook is great; I've been meaning to get back there but, it's a little bit of further drive for me (1.5hr). I'm hoping to hit Highland & Thunder this year (1st full year of having a full sus), Kingdom for Nembafest & maybe a camping trip. I haven't heard of Millstone before, if the Pisgah you're talking about is the in Berlin, MA I'd recommend Leominster State Forest over that and it is relatively close (Pisgah is still good just LSF has more to offer), also College Rock/Vietnam in Milford, MA would be another recommendation.

 

a couple of the guys I ride with talk about college woods/Vietnam...that's another place id like to check out...I want to try and make kingdom a monthly trip this year. I used to ride highland a lot but haven't been there in a few years im looking forward to getting back there this year. From what I've seen and heard millstones awesome, its in VT and its a massive old quarry with some badass bridgework and trails.

 

I wish my weekends weren't so busy in the summer so I could make that many trips to Kingdom, at least now the 3hr drive will be easy since I've been driving 4hrs to Sunday River all winter. College Rock/Vietnam has a great mix of terrain; I park at a lot on the bike path and ride through the trail system (XC) to get over to Veitnam (Nemba built section) makes for a great day of riding. Good to know about Millstone, I'll have to check that out sometime.

 

yeah I can make it to kingdom in just under 2 hrs, which is nice it makes it feasible to make a day trip out of it....4hrs would be a little tougher. Millstone has a website and there tons of pics and vids on google and youtube, from what I can tell (haven't actually been there yet) its worth a trip.

 

yeah man! I love that bike. It's a 2010 model that I bought on Ebay in 2013. It was built for interbike and then sat on showroom floor for 3 years. It's full XTR and weighs 26 pounds (well, probably more now...I've replaced some bits) . The crank bros wheels kinda suck. I finally bent the rear one for the last time and replaced it last summer.

How do you like your DRZ? I've been thinking of getting one as the vstrom is good for forest service roads but kinda blows for anything else more rough. With the center stand, crash bars etc it's 500 pounds. I've dropped it riding dirt a couple times. It's a bastard to pick up.
My buddy bleeds orange and insists I get a KTM. I agree performance may be better but I don't want to deal with the maintanence.

 

yeah ive been digging mine, i bought off a buddy who built it up a few years ago I think its an 11, but I mean the DRZ isn't going to rip your arms out of your sockets....but I loooove that effing bike. Does everything I need it to do and they're basically bulletproof and the maintenance is the exact opposite of KTM's from what I hear...oil changes and basic stuff and they'll go forever. I haven't gone crazy modding it power wise as it suits me well stock, I plan on doing upgrades seat and protection wise (bark busters, skid plates, rad guards etc.) but even as it is ive done 500+ mile trips on it and aside from a little saddle sore it loved every minute of it, plus its a blast in the woods/trails

 

its been in storage all winter...cant wait to pull the mtn bike and the DRZ out and get a family portrait taken with the new taco, unfortunately we just got 2 feet of snow

 

I made it out to Antelope Island (near SLC, UT) yesterday for a short cruiser on the Whiterock loop. It's one of a few places in SLC that isn't still covered in snow. Great views and also ran into a buffalo herd!

 

Getting the front bed rail and a rocky mounts hot rod soon for the '17 trance 2!

 

I think that if you keep your DL, a DRZ is a good addition. Haven’t owned one, but rode one before getting the DR650 and despite a more modern motor, you really notice the displacement of the 650 and I decided the 400 wouldn’t quite be a do-it-all bike. And I’m not riding many trails, so for me the DR650 has proven to be a bike I can ride 300 miles from the Bay Area with camping gear and explore dirt roads, that I could never do on the DL. Here’s my DR at Downieville:

 

I had a 92 DR650....that was a fun bike, wish I had never gotten rid of it. the most ive ever done in a single day on the DRZ is 200 but I could defnitly do more, I always toss around the idea of going with either a DR or a KLR, but at the end of the day for me I just couldn't part with the DRZ. I do enough trail riding and bombing around in the woods that I love the 400

 

I was supposed to finally go ride the 'lope on Sunday, but I think that is decidedly not going to happen now based on the WX forecast

Eagle Mountain and Bobled are running sweet right now though (for 6 more hours)

 

This is awesome nice work!

 

Thanks! I stole the basic idea from 2x2 cycles.
https://2x2cycles.com/product/moto-...WQB40iXUliId10Vo02uDk6VWdKIltZasaAsLxEALw_wcB

They're probably worth $300. However, while mine isn't as nice as theirs I built it for $50 plus the cost of powdercoating whatever that'll end up being. It'll probably come in at less than $100.

Next up I have to add lockable hard side cases. The bike already has the rack.

I go to Downieville once or twice a year for riding and wheeling. In my truck I spend about $85 in gas there and back. The bike will be about $27. That's a $58 differance per trip. The cases and the bike rack will be about $340 total. That's 6 trips and it'll pay for itself.

I commute by moto. What do now is I leave work, go home, change clothes, load the bike on the truck and do the 40 mile round trip to the trail head and back. Now I can bring the mt bike on the moto to work and ride straight to the trail head. That's like an additional 15 minutes of riding. And there are days where I don't mountain bike because of traffic. With this I can lane split! Also, each trip in the truck is $8 in gas, on the moto it's $2.60...that'll add up quick mountain biking 2 times a week. I'd still do it this way even if the cost were the same.

 

yeah man, live in south knoxville with trail out my backdoor to the baker creek property. Keep an eye out for the blue recon rack, its the only one like it!

 

Seems like you've got it pretty sorted!

 

mhhhh bikes

 

New bike day. Just took delivery of this 2018 Trek Stache 5. I think my LBS kept my tubeless strips and valve cores though. Guess I'll be making a stop back there. Currently mounted on my Rocky Mounts Hot Rod that I've posted in the past (1" aluminum bar underneath for support, stainless hardware, RTV everywhere, eyelets in the back for bunjees).