Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

No lol he drove his truck

 

Made it out for a solid 5 hours of riding today. Goal was to make it to the end of Crown Point road. Was stopped by a half dozen fallen trees just a few hundred yards from the end of the road. Close enough.
Most of the area looks like this from fires. This spot used to be heavily wooded. It was leveled after the fire. And wiiiiindy. It sounded like rushing water with the trees being barren.

This spot (someone's elk camp) was just before the fallen trees, so stopped for lunch.



Some of you are in the 3D print thread, for those that aren't, I made this a few days ago to relocate my GPS from the bars to above the dash.


It worked better than I hoped. Gets it in the line of site and keeps my eyes on the road. As an added bonus, when it was mounted to the bars, it would "freeze" every so often from the vibes. It didn't do that once all day.
So overall, a very good day.

 

Nah, in my truck

 

I've only seen one in the wild, buddy dropped it in the parking lot haha.

I'd want one thats bright freaking kawi green. No idea why they keep going so dark.

 

Nice pic's. and great job on the GPS mount. That's down right awesome that you made that.

 

The post threads into the body, unthread and use loctite so the body doesn't loosen and be ready to solder on your own connectors and they have been great. I will say they fit my application on my xt225 rear rack sides for size/appearance very well. But might not look the place for standard blinker application. That stated, I am going to replace the standard run of the mill LED blinkers I have on the front for something brighter cus these little guys are blinding bright even in daylight, and cool thing is they shoot light out at a 90 as well as directly out.

I have said it before and will say it again. IF I was forced to only have ONE BIKE (shudders at the thought). The T7 would be it. It could do most things from street to dirt decent without too much frustration/discomfort but would not be the best in any one realm.

 

The T7 would be far better on a BDR than the Super T due to the weight advantage. In that same vein, a CRF300L Rally would be better on a BDR than a T7.

That said, I'd the rider has the skill then you can run the BRDs on an Africa Twin, GS 1250, or Super Tenere. They're all very capable, but it's less forgiving if you tip the big bikes.

This is the ST, but I expect the GS and AT would do at least as well as this.

https://youtu.be/jihcX6xz4HM?si=ztaj-D1D94o4E2u9

 

Curiously, those big Adventure bikes are as heavy as my '99 VFR800.

The golden grail of MX bikes in my day was sub 250 lbs. An East coast builder put together a Bultaco at around 220 lbs. (Dang, can't recall the fellows name)

Dirt biking at 450+ lbs just seems stupid.

Light is right!

 

Light is easier, but a with the proper skills it is not required.

A Yamaha T7 weighs 450-ish lbs and Pol Tarres rides it better than most can ride a dirt bike.

Jocelin Snow is 5'1.75" and runs huge BMWs through all kinds of mess.

https://youtu.be/zYp1zXyc0fA?si=YSTFonH6uqzmgZ2c



Skill is more important than any "problem" a big bike presents off road.

 

I think even with road bikes a heavier bike is for those with the appropriate skill level to control. A bit diff on pavement than dirt. I wish I could get a dirt bike to do some trail stuff from time to time. Use to have two. Now I want more of a cruiser for long rides but I’m my trading my Z1000. Not worth much and way to much fun still even after all these years.

 

This is my thought on the mid weights in general. Tuareg is another in that realm.

I've ridden A large ADV bike, the old Stelvio. I grant you that experience will overcome, but I'd rather be comfortable day one. Too old to look at the far end of a learning curve with optimism.

In my case I want to leave my house on the tool of choice, and I want a bike I'll be comfortable with on the trail. That means it has be slab capable while loaded. A 300 is out I feel, for that reason. I think a larger bike, GREAT on the slab, and fire roads, would test things in anything too technical. More nimble and capable of carrying a load seems right.

less is more. all that. YES.

 

As a 300 owner, I can tell you that if I had to ride on the interstate for extended periods.....I would hate it

 

Trip computer on the bike this morning claims 77mpg average. There is a lot to be said for small displacement. Might take most of the summer to get last falls gas out of it.

 

I'm in the same "too old to think I'm Pol" category. Lol

I also don't want to ride any technical trails. Just forest roads/fire roads. I'd do the easy paths of a BDR so long as there's no sand or baby heads, but it's not anything I'm after.

 

I can't argue with that. If I had driven my truck as much as I have the bike over the last 2 years.....I would have spent 2K more in gas...........so in my mind.....it pays for itself

Still lovin that baby Versys

 

Bet that Stelvio was nice.

 

I think it comes down to your idea of adventure. I see the argument for 250 lb bikes, but they already exist. They call them enduros or dual sports.

Adventure bikes are not a panacea for all disciplines of riding. (in my opinion mind you). If your goal is strictly one up on backroads and single track, the lighter the better. We always had 90's and 125's with a big ass rear sprocket and about a 35 mph top speed. LOL But we werent jumping shit and getting air on every bump and speed never entered into it. It was usually to get to a fishing hole or abandoned mining site. Trail 90's ruled.

But those lightweight bikes that are so good on a single track, really suck if you have 10 days off and it's a 3,000 mile round trip to your destination. To me, a KLR 650 is almost the minimum and only qualifies with some caveats. Adventure bike = big load capacity (two up for a week on the road), enough fuel capacity for 220 - 250 miles without stopping, enough room for a passenger, enough weight that 10 hours in the saddle at 75 mph with a 30-40 mph cross wind doesnt leave you completely exhausted, the actual ability to run 10 hours at 75 mph with the ability to sit on the thing for 10 hours without having to call care flight to get you off of it.

KLR 650 can scoot up Engineer pass like a day at the park, Alpine loop is easy.
F800GS, you can do the Alpine loop pretty easy, but you got to pay attention if you arent a talented or experienced rider.
The same goes for the White Rim trail.

You got 10 days off work, you wanna go west,
KLR 650, Dallas to El Paso first day. About 10 hours on the road. You will need to check the oil a couple times because the KLR does not like Texas interstate speed limits. 75 to 80 mph is really tiring and there is always a cross wind from Midland to El Paso. Beats the shit out of you.

F800GS, you just point it west and ride. You wont be white knuckling it at 65-70 trying to maintain lane discipline in the cross wind while trucks blow past you at 5 over the 80 mph speed limit like you are walking. Just roll the throttle lock to where it needs to be and retreat into your mind to think about whatever you think about when you are slabbing it.

I think the guys who slab 250 lb bikes for 10 hours a day with the motors screaming and carrying minimalist gear or doing the same thing guys on the big adventure tourers on single track goat trails are doing, trying to prove a point, that they can do it. I'm not typing anything out that y'all dont already know, just reminding folks that some of us have different ideas of adventure. I am perfectly fine with rolling into a hotel in Moab on the end of my second day out of Dallas, cleaning up and wandering down to the bar to discuss the days events. LOL In the past, it would have been in a one man tent, an sleeping pad and a campfire with a rock to sit on. Nothing wrong with either, but these days smoothing it is more attractive. LOL

 

I've had my Dyna up for sale for 2 months now. I feel like the used Harley market has dropped around here. When I bought it I was the first of 6 callers on it, the ad only being up less than a day.

 

The bubble on everything has got to bust at some point. Prices are just insane. I've seen bikes that a few years ago would have been given away just to get them out of the way....now people are asking 1K+

 

Case and point. I would love to build "Daryl" bike. These things should be around $1000, not 4K. There's nothing special about that model bike. Not a collector's/rare model. They didn't change for years.