2wdrift
Race Dog
Ok I have a few questions about riding big bikes on dirt roads, but let me give you a bit of history first.
I learned to actually ride a bike when I was about 13/14 on a old yamaha RZ50 on our farm roads near my parents farm. The roads are a mix of thick sand, hardpack and gravel.
From there I had a few Chinese bikes that fell apart and then I bought a 2003 Suzuki Dr200 djebel. I rode this for about 5 years to school and back and played with it in sand quarries. I tried a friends DT125 and tore my left knee's ACL and some of the cartilage was torn out as well, wheelie... Then on my DR 200 I got a nice tank slapper at about 80-90 and highsided on the dirt. So from then I was quite weary. In 2011 I got a new DR650SE which was amazingly fast and had loads of torque, with this bike I started practicing powerslides and the normal bike control. Then last year I got into my hands a 2011 BMW R1200 GSA. Now on this guy I learned that the mighty DR650SE is not quite as fast as I thought. I finally got the confidence to start sliding this heavy roadbike on the stock tires around on gravel and sand at high speed 100-140+ kph. I once pushed it to 200kph on a rather bumpy piece of farm road with it jumping and bucking underneath me. I did this once to prove my manhood to myself, never again. It was one of the few times I believed I was going to die with it jumping around but I kept it pinned until a smooth piece of road appeared and then slowed down.
The GSA was then stolen last year and I ordered a KTM 1190 Adventure R 2014. This I have been on since January the 9th of this year. I love the bike and I am quite confident on it on the gravel and sand. Yeah I know its not fair that a 24 year old boy has a bike like this but its my greatest passion and I love it.
Now question number one:
Slick mud, I haven't been able to get any kind of confidence on this but I would love any advice?
Question number two:
I think that I have reasonably vehicle control on unpaved surfaces but on tar I do not have any confidence on how to "feel" how much grip is left to use, could anyone please describe how it feels to approach the limits on tarmac? I am not interested in beating lap records but would love to run with more experienced guys on the passes without being tense and scared.
Question number three:
To those of you who have been on bikes for many years now, how do I become one of you? I have been sideswiped on the road once and had many other scares and am becoming increasingly scared about going onto the public roads.
I am open to any and all advice from anyone, I do not believe I am a invincible riding god and I believe that is step one to surviving...
I learned to actually ride a bike when I was about 13/14 on a old yamaha RZ50 on our farm roads near my parents farm. The roads are a mix of thick sand, hardpack and gravel.
From there I had a few Chinese bikes that fell apart and then I bought a 2003 Suzuki Dr200 djebel. I rode this for about 5 years to school and back and played with it in sand quarries. I tried a friends DT125 and tore my left knee's ACL and some of the cartilage was torn out as well, wheelie... Then on my DR 200 I got a nice tank slapper at about 80-90 and highsided on the dirt. So from then I was quite weary. In 2011 I got a new DR650SE which was amazingly fast and had loads of torque, with this bike I started practicing powerslides and the normal bike control. Then last year I got into my hands a 2011 BMW R1200 GSA. Now on this guy I learned that the mighty DR650SE is not quite as fast as I thought. I finally got the confidence to start sliding this heavy roadbike on the stock tires around on gravel and sand at high speed 100-140+ kph. I once pushed it to 200kph on a rather bumpy piece of farm road with it jumping and bucking underneath me. I did this once to prove my manhood to myself, never again. It was one of the few times I believed I was going to die with it jumping around but I kept it pinned until a smooth piece of road appeared and then slowed down.
The GSA was then stolen last year and I ordered a KTM 1190 Adventure R 2014. This I have been on since January the 9th of this year. I love the bike and I am quite confident on it on the gravel and sand. Yeah I know its not fair that a 24 year old boy has a bike like this but its my greatest passion and I love it.
Now question number one:
Slick mud, I haven't been able to get any kind of confidence on this but I would love any advice?
Question number two:
I think that I have reasonably vehicle control on unpaved surfaces but on tar I do not have any confidence on how to "feel" how much grip is left to use, could anyone please describe how it feels to approach the limits on tarmac? I am not interested in beating lap records but would love to run with more experienced guys on the passes without being tense and scared.
Question number three:
To those of you who have been on bikes for many years now, how do I become one of you? I have been sideswiped on the road once and had many other scares and am becoming increasingly scared about going onto the public roads.
I am open to any and all advice from anyone, I do not believe I am a invincible riding god and I believe that is step one to surviving...
