Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

I havent even touched suspension on mine.

 

What all have you done then?

 

the beauty is it’s a fraction of the cost at least

 

this is an excellent example of how having a street legal dirt bike imo can increase an adv riders skills tenfold

 

One of my issues with getting a nice ADV to go off road is I know I'll drop it. I haven't gone out to the dirt bike trails without crashing at least once per day. I need more experience on the dirt bike before I get a nice ADV.

 

The first drop hurts the most, but after that it's really whatever. I've lost count of how much I've dropped my F800 off road. I think the worst damage I've done is a bent shift lever, which I just bent back and then replaced with a folder when I could.

Oh, I did bend my old barkbusters pretty good one day, then melted them when I heated it up to try and bend it back. That wasn't cheap haha

 

I'm scared of damaging the aluminum panniers off road. Maybe I should get composite?

 

Seems like the growing consensus these days is aluminum for on-road touring and soft luggage for off road. Slow speed drops aluminum is going to hold up fine, or at least be able to bend it back. Before I sold my aluminum cases they had one dent on a corner but nothing that affected it's ability to seal or hold it's shape on it's own.

 

It looks like hard plastic for off road is the worst option as they can shatter.

I like hard cases because you can use them as campfire seats, so one less thing to have to carry!

This recent T7 talk has me looking at them. One dealer wants $1k markup, another wants $2300. I don't think that will be happening anytime soon.

Then again, the AT Adventure Sports ES is even harder to find...

 

Crash bars, tires, luggage, mirrors, hand guards, fog lights, fender, electronics

I have 4k miles on the bike now

 

A helinox or one of the hundreds of knockoffs is going to be way more comfy than a pannier haha

 

I have 0 dirt experience when I bought mine. Now I have 1

 

We raced a few hare scramble last year… seeing A class riders blast through tough sections helped me push my limits on the dirt bike which translated into more confidence on the 1200. I also took the long way to work, hit gravel daily and I always try lock the brakes once on a ride. My way of staying sharp and respecting the bike.

Thank you sir!

 

Female rider I know from Maryland rides a BMW GS1200, loaded. 2 time IBR finisher and former MSF coach. First thing she does when she gets a new bike is to puch it over in the parking lot and then pick it up. Says she'd rather just get it over with so it doesn't bother her as much later when it happens and not on her terms.

 

I suppose it depends on the bike. I can see that happening for an ADV with some protection to minimize damage. I probably wouldn't push a sportbike over, though.

I'm kind of tempted to put some knobbies on the Versys and see what it can do.

 

Got a decent ride in yesterday, photographed 17 more murals and rode about 175 miles. I've known it was soon time to change tires but kept milking the last few miles out of the pair I had on. Coming home yesterday started noticing it just didn't handle the way it should. Spent today mounting and balancing new tires. Kind of sucked because I had no way to really get them warm enough to be really pliable, so they'd go on easy. Front wasn't awful but got a workout on the rear.



That was 12,797 miles.



Same tire when new.

 

My wife’s hair dryer is a temporary winter garage tool for tires and rubber boots haha.

 

You should run soft bags off-road unless you like broken legs or the most you're doing is gravel roads.

 

I had it laying in front of our gas fireplace for a while. These things go on a whole bunch easier when it's warmer out. It's only 41 degrees outside now where I'm at.

 

I changed tires in the summer and sat them out on the concrete driveway for an hour or two first. Hot rubber goes on so much easier.