Anyone Ride Dual Sports?

[Greengiant]

Just bought a Suzuki DR-Z 400S in June and am getting back into riding street-legal motos on the dirt. But...I'm pretty much a noob at dual sports and don't really want to ride solo on the dirt. (Have no problem riding motorcycles on the road if anyone has that habit too!)

Anyone else out there have a dual sport motorcycle and want to go ride the Santa Anas on motos with a newbie?

[CalEpic]

I should be pulling the trigger on a KTM 450EXC next week. Now that it's cooling down I'm looking forward to twisting throttles more often.

On that Suzuki, if you want a high capacity tank, they had one at Malcolm Smith Moto they were blowing out for like $40 a couple weeks ago. Maybe still there.

C

[Geronimo]

Originally Posted by CalEpic

I should be pulling the trigger on a KTM 450EXC next week.
C

I'll own one if Yamaha drops a 450f with a plate. I'll keep my fingers crossed for 09.

[granny ring]

Go orange or go home!!

[Paul000]

Originally Posted by granny ring

Go orange or go home!!

For the price of 1 orange i can buy 1 1/2 reds... LOL I love my '07 CRF450X that i just bought... I hear the KTMs are awesome bikes but they are way to proud of their products... way to much $$$$$$

[Code Blue]

Originally Posted by granny ring

Go orange or go home!!

[SIZE=6]RED[/SIZE]

Honda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However my bud has one of the new Huski's that are really nice

[EMrider]

Another dual sport motohead here on a Husky TE450. I bounce back and forth between riding the MTB and the dirtbike. Thankfully I don't have to choose just one! This time of year, I like to hit the desert or the Piutes.
Rob

[emejay]

Originally Posted by Paul000

For the price of 1 orange i can buy 1 1/2 reds... LOL I love my '07 CRF450X that i just bought... I hear the KTMs are awesome bikes but they are way to proud of their products... way to much $$$$$$

But with the KTM you buy it then go ride it, you don't spend bucks and time modifying what the Japanese cheaped out on. Why buy a new bike to change the cheap handlebars and mounts, or the puny footpegs, etc..? I've had my share of Japanese bikes and enjoyed them, but when I got my KTM the quality was obvious and I would buy another tomorrow.
You can buy two Accords for one 330i, same thing.

[jcampbell]

You can always go Green for a little Less Green than Orange, then throw a bum plate on it and run your chances getting tickets. Figure you have a $2,000 cushion, whats that... 4 unregistered vehicle tickets. You can buy a lot of beer with a couple grand.

[EMrider]

Originally Posted by jcampbell

You can always go Green for a little Less Green than Orange, then throw a bum plate on it and run your chances getting tickets. Figure you have a $2,000 cushion, whats that... 4 unregistered vehicle tickets. You can buy a lot of beer with a couple grand.

Brand wars are a constant element on all message boards. I've tried many brands and IMHO the best value and performance for money are the Euros. And you can get a KTM or a Husky with a no-hassle license plate too. Honda's DS offerings are a 650L supertanker or a 230L foo foo campground cruiser. The new DS stuff from Yamaha looks good and is a nice start.
R

[2wheel_lee]

Genny, didn't you have a GS650? What happened to that?

Japanese bikes cheap out? If you're comparing old Japanese bikes to euro bikes, you should consider the old junk the euros used to offer at the same time. You may not have known that most of the Japanese-made bikes now have either Pro Taper bars or Renthals. BTW, some of the new Hondas come with steering stabilizers. Can you say tight and twisties one moment and 85 mph across the desert the next? If only those Euro companies could make their bikes handle. Or make the ever-so-commonly needed replacement parts reasonably priced or available at many dealerships. You guys can have your pumpkins!

'06 CRF450X here, although I'd like one of the new street legal 2008 CRF230L (or whatever the new model name is).

Sorry to hijack, but we need to do an STR desert/trail ride!

[jcampbell]

Originally Posted by EMrider

Brand wars are a constant element on all message boards. I've tried many brands and IMHO the best value and performance for money are the Euros. And you can get a KTM or a Husky with a no-hassle license plate too. Honda's DS offerings are a 650L supertanker or a 230L foo foo campground cruiser. The new DS stuff from Yamaha looks good and is a nice start.
R

Going green was my way of getting villipoto's picture up... I ride a Yamaha anyway.

[EMrider]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Genny, didn't you have a GS650? What happened to that?

Japanese bikes cheap out? If you're comparing old Japanese bikes to euro bikes, you should consider the old junk the euros used to offer at the same time. You may not have known that most of the Japanese-made bikes now have either Pro Taper bars or Renthals. BTW, some of the new Hondas come with steering stabilizers. Can you say tight and twisties one moment and 85 mph across the desert the next? If only those Euro companies could make their bikes handle. Or make the ever-so-commonly needed replacement parts reasonably priced or available at many dealerships. You guys can have your pumpkins!

'06 CRF450X here, although I'd like one of the new street legal 2008 CRF230L (or whatever the new model name is).

Sorry to hijack, but we need to do an STR desert/trail ride!

I was just taking a few cheap shots at Honda because they killed off the air cooled XR line.

In reality, all off road bikes today are top notch on performance and reliability. It is great to have so many excellent choices.
R

[Geronimo]

Originally Posted by EMrider

I was just taking a few cheap shots at Honda because they killed off the air cooled XR line.

In reality, all off road bikes today are top notch on performance and reliability. It is great to have so many excellent choices.
R

Unless you enjoy checking and adjusting your valve clearances after every other ride the blue and orange bikes are one notch above the others. Let the war rage on.

[jfsh]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Sorry to hijack, but we need to do an STR desert/trail ride!

If you guys want to bring your bikes up to the Kernville area I will play tour guide. There are hundreds of miles of singletrack that are motorcycle legal. I also have to add that Orange rules the trails.

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by Geronimo

Unless you enjoy checking and adjusting your valve clearances after every other ride the blue and orange bikes are one notch above the others. Let the war rage on.

I don't know about that...My buddies have to adjust their valves on their WR450s more often than I do on my CRF-X. Heck, I've never had to adjust them (but I check them every once in a while).

In all reality, I think all of the modern bikes are very good. And each of them have their own little quirks.

Originally Posted by jfsh

If you guys want to bring your bikes up to the Kernville area I will play tour guide. There are hundreds of miles of singletrack that are motorcycle legal. I also have to add that Orange rules the trails.

Awesome! We'll have to do that when it cools down a bit. I hear there are some awesome trails up there. Do you know of any of the Jimmy Lewis trails?

[Greengiant]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Genny, didn't you have a GS650? What happened to that?

I still have the 650GS, its my street bike with some mellow fireroad tour bike for now---just wanted a smaller bike to ride more dirt on.

I'm starting all over again riding DS, I was looking for other people to ride with. Still looking for other riders who aren't wicked fast and are willing to ride with a beginner!

[Paul000]

I say we take it to El Mirage for the first STR dirt bike/dual sport ride... Elmers is way easy to find, very close by, plenty of "beginner" areas and plenty of trails to the back country for the more experienced riders... there's also plenty of room for those with quads or those tricked out Rhinos...

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by Paul000

I say we take it to El Mirage for the first STR dirt bike/dual sport ride... Elmers is way easy to find, very close by, plenty of "beginner" areas and plenty of trails to the back country for the more experienced riders... there's also plenty of room for those with quads or those tricked out Rhinos...

Actually, I prefer to park near the 395 just past the shooting range (about 10 miles past the turnoff to El Mirage), then make El Mirage a destination. It's about a 10-15 mile ride (seems a lot shorter, though). We can make it a simple ride over there or...
I just hate to start near all the loonies at the lakebed. In fact, this area is even better for beginners, since no one is there to worry about hitting you at 80 mph. It's a nice flat area, too. Many riders have learned to ride there (including me!).

We can meet off the 395 and 15 and caravan in.

If we want to make it a longer ride, we can start there, head over to the outlet center near Barstow, then over to the lakebed in Apple Valley, then back, totalling about 100 miles - fun ride.

Genny, sorry for derailling your thread. Unfortunately, my bike isn't plated, or I'd be glad to do some rides with you (I guess it would help if I had a MC license, too).

[jfsh]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Awesome! We'll have to do that when it cools down a bit. I hear there are some awesome trails up there. Do you know of any of the Jimmy Lewis trails?

I have actually ridden with Jimmy a few times up in the Piutes. He has a cabin up there. That guy can do some amazing things on a bike. A few years ago I was part of a big group ride. There were all the latest, bad as bikes there. Jimmy shows up on an XR400 with an electric starter on it. He took us on a few hard trails to make the group a little smaller. He then took us on some harder stuff until more people dropped out. He then moves this big set of branches and reviels some secret trail. As each of us turns off onto the trail he warns us that we should not continue with him unless we thought what we had ridden so far was easy. I took that as a sign to bail out. My buddy Scott continued and said it was hell. Jimmy is an animal. On one section of the trail it was so tough that Jimmy was the only one who could ride it. There were only 6 or 7 riders left so he rode everyones bike through the section one at a time. Later one of the guys whacked his head on a branch right at the bottom of a steep climb and was a little out of it. Jimmy runs down to see what is taking so long. After checking out the situation he gets on the guys WR426 and tells the dude to get on the back and hang on. He fricken wicked up that 426 and hauled a$$ up the climb with the dude flopping like a rag doll on the back. Scotty said it is one of the most impressive things he has ever seen on a dirtbike.