I probably shouldn't as I might rough some feathers, but I'm going to risk it. Here goes.
First of all - and sorry to bring ABS up again - my 2c are that you should never ever ride off tar with ABS on on the early generation ABS bikes such as 650GS or GS1150. While it works kind of fine on tar (taking into account it is first attempt at ABS on bikes), it is downright dangerous off tar. I have seen first hand what happens when you try to go down steep dirt road in Lesotho on Dakar with ABS on (we tried to switch it of but the bloody switch didn't work - it was rental bike). The runaway situation was one of the scariest things I have seen - luckily my unexperienced mate had wherewhital to bail relatively quickly, but it could have been much worse. Imagine sitting on steep downhill with rockface one side of the road and steep long drop off to the river with bike that just releases its breaks. No amount of experience - except maybe judo falls - will help you to resolve that situation (OK maybe switching off the key quickly might, but try to do that when the bike is accelerating down steep slope).
And even if the switch off works it is still way too dangerous IMO, as on a long ride (I have ridden GSA from Prague to CT) you will inevitably get distracted sometimes and forget to switch it off after break, leading to some unexpected hairraising situations.
My understanding is that newer generations of ABS are much better and I have seen guy ride one of those JustBlipIt Swazi hard core rides on 690 with ABS on up front (back must be always off - no matter what!) and he did just fine. Still the first thing I did on my 690 when I bought it was to disable the ABS permanently (on both wheels) and I prefer it that way, but that is me - if your more sophisticated ABS works for you off-tar, enjoy.
Second - and I have to step in here for absent 2SD - one aspect completely missing in this discussion and greatly affecting rider's ability to enjoy riding off tar is bike choice. The biggest nonsenses spewed on internet biking forums is the 'bike is capable' rubbish usually followed by video of Chris Birch or GS trophy dude on big heavy whale doing something stupid just to lure unspecting uniniformed wide eyed buyers.
Any bike is only as capable as the rider on it. And the bike will greatly limit (or enhance) what any rider can do on it - even Birch cannot do on 1190 what he can do on 300. Where people go wrong in this argument is usually like this - bike can do it, but rider can not, implying that only if rider would to more training, riding, watching Birch videos, whatever, they would be able to do exactly the same as Birchy on 1190.
While I of course agree that people should try to do their best to better their riding abilities throught training and practice to be safe and for me more importantly to enjoy riding to the fullest, the reality is that at the age most people on this thread are, there is distinct cap of how much they can improve. I started riding at 28 (i.e. late) and now at 46 if I'm pretty sure that if I spent the rest of my life riding/training every day, I'm not going to get anywhere close to Birch level. In others words in this bike/rider equation the rider and his/her ability are more or less given (with some wiggle room for improvement) and the bike is variable. So if one wants to maximize their enjoyment of biking (and let's face it, biking in the west is mostly about enjoyment) starting where they are in terms of their riding abilities, its much easier to achieve that by chosing a bike that is going to facilitate that as much as possible, rather than hinder it (because of weight, price, lack of crashability, etc.). And if one progresses to the point where they feel ready/need to master something bigger, it is again very easy swap the bike for something else.
I know this personally because I have been there and done it - made all the mistakes. Starting at too big bikes, being scared most of the time and hating other people who could throw those bikes around like bicycle, and eventually gradually moved down to smaller bikes, that allow me even with my admitedly very average at best riding abilities, explore where most don't dare to go. People complain here about windgat riders who are not aware about their riding limitations (and sure enough there are plenty), but for me this whole 'ego' thingy starts already at the beginning when buying bike, when people are not honest with themselves about their abilities, and often buy bikes that then hinder them in their riding. I remember on our Kaokoland RR somebody commented that he wished he was 10 years younger so that he can do the trip. When we checked how old he was it turned out he was the same age as Straatkat who was on the trip. By chosing right bike for his riding capabilities and expected riding terrain, Straatkat was able to enjoy a trip some of his contemporaries possibly with even better riding ability (Bertie is roadie, and started riding dirt only relatively recently)
Unlike 2SD, this is not a blanket rant against big bikes. Those bikes have their place and are best fit for majority of people who just want to tour, probably with pillion and at max stick to the good dirt roads. Nothing wrong with that and it will always be the biggest part of adv market. However judging by so many condescending comments here about powerslides and wheelies (I cannot wheelie, but I can lift front wheel in a pinch), both of which are absolutely basic skills required for dirt riding IMO (and that is why they are taught on those training academies - e.g. Countrytrax or BMW course in germany both of which I did), it seems to me that there might be a little misguided jelausy running underneath here. Just because you ride on Supertenere or any other big bike so slow that your rear wheel never slides a bit in dirt (that must be actually pretty difficult), doesn't mean that somebody riding let's say DR/XT/690 significantly faster with their tail wagging is windgat. They may indeed be riding much safer than you are (I remember how terrified I used to be when the rear wheel slipped just a little - I was attempting to achieve the same amount of grip and stability on dirt as on tar, which cannot be done).
To wrap up this long drivel and provide some very rough guide for bike selection from riding enjoyment and self improvement perspective - in my experience it is much better to ride a bike (where one prefers to ride) where one can use 80% of bikes capabilities (at their current skill level) - i.e. closer to bikes limit, than ride a bike when one barely scratches 30% of bike capabilities. To use very crude example, if normal people like me would get a chance to drive Ferari and Ford Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost, most people would enjoy the Ford imensely more.
Sorry for long drivel, got carried away.
Topic: Riding experience and riding abilities (Read 4020 times)
