Official Dual Sport BS Thread

Finally Pulled this weekend off. My son and I regularly pick an adventure for Father's Day weekend. We finally got aligned with some weather for a weekend cruising the un-paved roads (State Forest roads, State Park roads, fire roads, fracking roads, powerlines, roads to nowhere for future rescue options, trails that aren't really roads) this past weekend. We put over 150 miles off asphalt in two days of riding from my cabin in the mountains.

Started Friday morning with Son, my dog Scout, trailer loaded and headed north. First stop at halfway point for fuel for us, truck, spare can of 93 Octane for motorcycles, and a nature break for Scout.



Made good time, got to the cabin, opened it up, unloaded the motorcycles, stretched Scout's legs so he would be ready for the important job of securing the site while we rode. All set:



First explore was a road I walk into the woods regularly during December hunting season. This is an old logging road that has grown over and leads to a powerline about 4 miles from hard road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXxkV-HVj64

Then another mile or so on the Power line: (Longish video of pretty redundant scenery, you'll get the idea pretty quick)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZLpYeAKSDk

A ride from the West Branch Nature Conservancy to a little cabin in the Sproul State Forest called Buck Snort Camp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gYmL27gxiQ

Found an awesome little trail with a marker designating it "Passable - But Travel at your own Risk"



And, then a ride up from Rattle Snake trail to the Sugar Camp road and a few more cabins with actual double track access:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCZYljFWYbM

Then more State Park gravel to Hyner View State Park (razors and combs optional at our camp)



Followed by another tour to yet another vista called Lebo Vista:



Son has a head start on me on the beard

As I said, lots of interesting roads to nowhere, to dead end, and to closed gate (typically snow mobile trails closed to other motorized vehicles).



And, on to yet another cool overlook called Spur Vista. Just the XT250 this time - no riders:



In case you are concerned that Scout had to sit in the cabin all weekend, we got out for some hiking. Here he was watching a doe that kept circling us and snorting. Kept at it for about 10 minutes, I suspect there was a fawn in the tall grass somewhere, and she wanted us gone. But it was the only place with cell signal for miles around, and I was checking with my wife. Got to always know what I'm doing wrong.



After a long day, in saddle and in the grass, two of us were in desperate need of some comfortable old couch time:

 

Thats so awesome!!! Thank you for sharing!

 

90 miles running around mud, sand, and pavement

 

Any suggestions for dual sport tires that see 95% highway use? I currently have kenda 761s that came on the bike but want to replace them with better tires. I still want a dual sport tire, but with highway use the priority. Price isn't an issue.

This is what I have now:

 

i just put on mitas e07 tires as a recommendation from another friend. 5-6k mile tire and so far they are great on the highway

 

i run shinko 705 and loveeee them

 

Going look at a 2001 Super Sherpa tomorrow for 1500 with apparently 1200 miles. Have 0 experience with bikes or how to ride but want to get into it. Can’t have anyone come with me to look at it that would know stuff about em. Am I stupid? This is the listing with some pics and I have a video of it running: PS someone said that the stuff that was done sounds like it was sitting with gas for a while which is why all of the new parts were needed which would make sense.

Road legal and clean title ready to go.

Lots of new parts and just serviced professionally .

Fresh oil change with filter, very bright led headlight,

New starter, new starter clutch assembly, new air filter, fresh carb tune and total engine tune up, rebuilt petcock and fuel delivery gaskets, new lines and more.

Starts good, runs good, stops good. Ready to ride .

1250 miles.

Only bad is that it is missing the side plastic covers by the seat. $30 each on Ebay and the speedo has a faulty wire.

 

looks very clean and parts are very easy to come by

 

Check wheel bearings headset bearings and swingarm bearings for wear by putting the bike on a centerstand and check for any side to side movement or play. Check rear shock and front forks for leaking seals etc. Grab the forks and check for worn bushings by rocking them forward and back. If those are the original tires look at the sidewalls for cracks and signs of rot. Spin the wheels to see if they are round and straight with no loose or broken spokes. Check brake pads and rotors for wear or if rotors are bent. Look at the air filter to see if it’s clean or caked with dirt. If there’s a dipstick check the oil level, color and take a sniff to see if it smells like gas. Check all levers for play. Check the sprockets and chain for wear. Maybe the mirrors are in a box of spare parts? Check for smoke from the exhaust on start up or any odd noises. After you’re done inspecting it’s time to take it for a ride, check that the brakes function first then run it through the gears. Weird that both side covers are missing. I’d offer $1000 and be willing to go $1250 but $1500 is probably what it’s worth with the side covers and mirrors etc. included. YMMV

 

@L J Been talking with the seller and he had a professional shop fix a bunch of stuff. Also included a front tire he bought thinking he would need to change it but the shop told him it was fine for now. Spent 700 on that alone.

"This one I bought knowing it needed a starter but it push started and had old gas in it but it ran . Just ran kinda rough like it had old gas in it. So I got it home and took it all apart. Cleaned everything that could be cleaned . Took off all the lines and cleaned them out, took the carb all the way down , cleaned , new pet cock seals and gas tank seals , tank cleaned and then the best shop we have in town cleaned it again when they did a full tune on it with the exhaust silencer cap off and the oiled foam filter on it . They also put all new lines on the carb and all kinds of stuff since they had found a crack in a line causing a vac leak and feeding the carb with too much gas."

"I replaced the starter in it and it did work but the starter got weak within a few mins and then died so I took it to local shop and they replaced the starter again and then determined it wasn't the starter probably to begin with it was the starter clutch assembly which can stick from just time or sitting without starting for a long time . I spent over repairing that . They put new starter and all new starter clutch assembly so it's all brand new and shouldn't be an issue probably ever . I also timed the motor correctly and readjusted the cam chain tensioner . Took the top of the motor off and it looked like new. I'll send a pic showing it is timed and how clean it is . New plug , oil, filter, took the headlight assembly apart and repainted the metal in the housing and cleaned inside the headlight since it had some discoloration in it and retrofitted a ridiculously bright led hi/lo headlight in it . That's probably where I moved a wire around for the speedo since it's right in front of the gauge ."

 

@zmanlane Just for comparison I bought a 2001 KDX 220 in 2012 for $900. After cleaning and greasing everything I put about $100 worth of new plastic and various small parts on it. Cleaned the carb up and it ran perfect. A friend bought it for $1600 for his son to ride. Turns out his son lost interest in bikes so he sold it for $2000. I only rode it three times for a total of 6 miles.
Picture of the day it sold.

 

People will pay for clean bike

 

A few pics of my little TW.

 

Not technically "Dual Sport" but son, son-in-law, and I spent a sweltering hot Saturday at Budds MotoCross track for a pro National race. We found a hillside view to watch this broad section of the hilly course. Couldn't actually see the start/finish line from here, but none of the races were actually close enough to make a difference. The riders doing the best in this section were leading by enough to make the finish order clear from here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KmfzRnqIwM

Spent the morning walking the pit area, then mid day watching practice runs and over-spending on concession food, then all afternoon watching racing.

 

time for 1000 mile oil change

 

350 or 500? those tires are the best in the dirt....guy I ride with just got a 500 this year and loves the power

 

Went to a local MC club Motocross race Sunday, enjoyed some exciting ProAm racing, then took advantage of some nice-ish weather for a round-about route home, including a quick Hay Creek crossing and on into French Creek Park.

 

500s are a badass bike. if i didnt get a 690 that would have been my other choice

 

Went with the tree-fiddy. Everything about it just felt right. Plus they had it knocked down to 8500.

Pretty happy with the tires after adding some dynabeads. They were way out of balance before and +60 the rear would hop a lot. Traction hasn't been an issue anywhere so far.