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Dual sport riding in our area

  1. #1
    Lifer Jayspeed's Avatar
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    Dual sport riding in our area

    Are there areas in MA or NH that you can ride at your own risk legally?? I'm trying to figure out if a duel sport is worth it or just get an off road bike. Is a duel sport required in some areas because it is registered? Basically I want to ride for free on land that it is ok to do on.

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    Last edited by Jayspeed; 08-06-17 at 02:31 PM.
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    Lifer Chippertheripper's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    This is a broad question.
    With a duAl sport you can ride anywhere any other motorcycle is legally operable. Regardless of if you have a legit license plate or not (in mass) if you want to ride offroad, legally, you must also have the mass offload reg (commonly referred to as boat stickers).
    Possession of both street and offroad reg doesn't immediately open up all areas to offroad hootenanny. Illegal riding is still illegal riding.

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    BMW track whore e30addict's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Get the dual sport and enjoy both worlds. I just got back from 130 miles of scenic as fuck dirt roads, class 4 trails and a little pavement. It's great to just pop off a trail and run roads until the next one with a plated bike. It gives you a break physically and lets you see some amazing areas.

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    Lifer Jayspeed's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by e30addict View Post
    Get the dual sport and enjoy both worlds. I just got back from 130 miles of scenic as fuck dirt roads, class 4 trails and a little pavement. It's great to just pop off a trail and run roads until the next one with a plated bike. It gives you a break physically and lets you see some amazing areas.
    Thats great I'd like that! I don't know any areas like this. As I think more and more what I'll be doing off road I wonder if I'll just be using my hitch bike carrier and driving to locations to ride. Sounds like there are areas that would need a plated bike to on/off to continue riding.

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    Last edited by Jayspeed; 08-06-17 at 07:38 PM.
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  5. #5

    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Not really...

    You got the state lands, Hodges, and pachaug (sp?) And the last one is the only one that needs a plate...rest of it you will trailer/haul to unless you get a piggy DS like KLR

    Rest of plates stuff is in NH or Western MA...which also reckons a pig to ride to get there or trailer

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    Awesomeness, Inc. MattR302's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    I was on this group a couple years ago, never made it on any rides, but there's a bunch of organized duAL sport rides
    Northeast Dualsport Riders (Bridgewater, CT)


    | Meetup

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  7. #7
    Lifer typeone's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    what sort of terrain do you want to ride and for how long? e.g. 130mi of dirt roads or ~25mi of trail over a few hours?

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  8. #8
    Lifer Jayspeed's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by typeone View Post
    what sort of terrain do you want to ride and for how long? e.g. 130mi of dirt roads or ~25mi of trail over a few hours?
    I'd like to go out and do full days worth. Bring a camel back and energy bars. Kinda like mountain biking. I'll start on easy trails and eventually try technical and single track.

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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    I went through this last year and decided to just get a woods bike and trailer. Did some dual trail with an Africa twin yesterday, and now I want one. My only hang up is that in eastern mass there are not a ton of places you can just pop off-road and have great riding.


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    BMW track whore e30addict's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by Jayspeed View Post
    Thats great I'd like that! I don't know any areas like this. As I think more and more what I'll be doing off road I wonder if I'll just be using my hitch bike carrier and driving to locations to ride. Sounds like there are areas that would need a plated bike to on/off to continue riding.
    You will want that hitch carrier. I love throwing the bike in the truck at the end of riding and sitting in the a/c. Even if you just go to Hodges you'll end up burning off knobbies commuting.

    Spend the money and get the needed registrations and you'll have a much bigger world to play in.

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  11. #11
    Posting Freak Jewcati's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by e30addict View Post
    You will want that hitch carrier. I love throwing the bike in the truck at the end of riding and sitting in the a/c. Even if you just go to Hodges you'll end up burning off knobbies commuting.

    Spend the money and get the needed registrations and you'll have a much bigger world to play in.
    I agree with this, however, I would like to be able to do the TMT or puppy dog, which cannot be done unless plated


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    BMW track whore e30addict's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by Jewcati View Post
    I agree with this, however, I would like to be able to do the TMT or puppy dog, which cannot be done unless plated


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    Agreed. I should clarify, mine is also street regged. I take it to work too, I just don't want to ride it forever to get somewhere, ride for hours, and then ride it home.

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  13. #13
    Posting Freak Jewcati's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by e30addict View Post
    Agreed. I should clarify, mine is also street regged. I take it to work too, I just don't want to ride it forever to get somewhere, ride for hours, and then ride it home.
    I hear ya....that husky 701 is a sweet ride though


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  14. #14
    Lifer Tekime's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Getting my dual sport on the road has been the greatest thing ever.

    I can't speak to MA/NH but it's probably similar to Maine - lots and lots of trails but it takes some homework to find out where the good, legal ones are. There are a bunch of dual sport groups, regional forums on ADVRider and Facebook. We require street registration and a separate offroad sticker.

    Luckily I only have to ride 10 minutes to get to the nearest trails, but the longer/better ones are a 40-60 minute haul, not that bad really, although my bike is geared down quite a bit so I don't go near the highway.

    For years I'd take my mountain bike out on the trails for the day, pack lunch and snacks, but my range was limited to wherever I could bike to. Biking 20 miles home after cranking pedals all day in the woods was not the best type of fun. Riding home on my DR after ripping in the dirt all day is just a nice chance to cool off and explore. If I were going more than a few hours I'd plan an overnight or a nice dinner break before the ride home.

    Can't emphasize the importance of bringing tools and GPS. I've had to do a few trailside repairs already (broken clutch lever, zip ties for the win, missing bolts, random shit). And have a buddy with a trailer on speed dial, lol. I use Gaia GPS on my phone for hiking and riding and it's a lifesaver - got all my routes saved and I can track all my rides so my trail map is slowly getting bigger.

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    Super Adventurer SRTie4k's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    There are tons of areas in southern NH and north-central MA to ride class 6/unmaintained roads.

    The way I find them is using OSM data downloaded for Basecamp from here. There are hundreds of them. I then build tracks in Basecamp and view them on my phone with Locus Maps Pro.

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    Last edited by SRTie4k; 08-08-17 at 11:47 AM.
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  16. #16

    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Ya that's the issue...they are NH or central/Western MA...in both cases he has to ride an hour(s?) To get there on something that doesn't do freeway comfortably...

    Imho truck or trailer or hitch carrier will get him there is best...plate just opens up more in those areas but there is plenty to ride without a plate if he's already trailering

    @Tekime - Boston is nothing like Maine at all

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    Last edited by breakdirt916; 08-08-17 at 12:09 PM.
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  17. #17
    Lifer Tekime's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by breakdirt916 View Post
    @Tekime - Boston is nothing like Maine at all
    Right, I mean one's a city and one's an entire state

    But yeah, Medford... you'd still have 1+ hours to get into some woodsy areas. :/

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  18. #18

    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Exactly...if he's committed to endure the slab, worth it...if not start shopping for a trailer or hitch carrier, and at that point non-plated is fine

    Plus side is I can't imagine insurance/reg costs much annually, so even if a truck/trailer is in the equation, a plated bike is still worth it

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    Lifer Kurlon's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by Tekime View Post
    I can't speak to MA/NH but it's probably similar to Maine - lots and lots of trails but it takes some homework to find out where the good, legal ones are. There are a bunch of dual sport groups, regional forums on ADVRider and Facebook. We require street registration and a separate offroad sticker.
    So, Maine has clarified the law a bit, if you have a valid MAINE street reg you're ok in the woods. Only if a landowner specifically requests off road regs do you need the separate sticker.

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  20. #20
    Lifer Garandman's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    We gave up on MA and register OHRV in NH. SNH is closer than most of the MA to GB.

    https://www.nhstateparks.org/uploads...Trails-Map.pdf

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    Last edited by Garandman; 08-09-17 at 06:25 AM.

  21. #21
    Lifer
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Slight tangent

    I find a number of unpaved roads down in the Plymouth area, as well as when I was up in Maine last year. All show as named roads on my GPS.

    What are class 5 vs 6 roads?

    When is a road really a trail and closed to street registered vehicles.

    What's the best source for finding public, legal unpaved roads?

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  22. #22
    Lifer Garandman's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    http://www.thetrustees.org/assets/do...unty-Roads.pdf

    Class VI is a term used in NH. They are roads no longer maintained by the town but which remain open to public use. In MA they just call them "discontinued roads." https://www.nh.gov/oep/resource-libr...i-highways.pdf

    A lot of "trails" in New England used to be roads. If you have a Garnin GPS and set map detail to High many of them show up. When we went to Abbott Maine campground all the marked trails were in the Garmin, which was awesome.

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  23. #23
    Lifer Chippertheripper's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by Garandman View Post
    We gave up on MA and register OHRV in NH. SNH is closer than most of the MA to GB.

    https://www.nhstateparks.org/uploads...Trails-Map.pdf
    That's also, in part, because you bought a house there. Why try and dualsport out of your house in Boston when you can dualsport out of your house in nh?





    Mr Steve: many, if not all, of the unpaved roads in Plymouth are ok to traverse with a sple street reg. The exceptions are in MSSF, and are gated, and marked for no motorized vehicles. Street and trail.
    My understanding in NH is if it's a road, on a map, you're allowed to ride it with a treet reg. You need their sticker to ride their actual trails (just like here in mass). In nh class 6 roads may be gated by landowners, but they are required to be open. So you can legally let yourself in and out, just put the gate back how you found it.
    Some landowners are pissy about this. The law is the law though. They cannot stop you from using an actual road.
    A few of my buddies in snh have taken to looking at maps at the local townhouses prior to exploring, so they know ahead of time what's fair game and what isn't, in that respect.

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  24. #24
    Lifer
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveM View Post
    What are class 5 vs 6 roads?
    In NH : https://www.nh.gov/oep/resource-libr...i-highways.pdf

    Basically a class V road is maintained by the town or state, where as a class VI is not. You'll usually see warnings like "seasonal road", "road not maintained, proceed at own risk", etc.
    Notice that a lot of class V roads have a bunch of "no trespassing" signs in very close proximity. Land owners post their adjoining property, obviously. However it is my opinion that some position the signs in such a way as to get people to believe that the road is their property and posted.

    Unfortunately class VI roads are often hit or miss. Some are privately maintained and basically well graded gravel roads you could get a camry through. Others are slop fests the local kids with jeeps have rutted the shit out of. Generally, in my experience the ones in my part of the state (east, seacoast) are the wettest and worst. I've ridden a bunch west of the Merrimack that are way more interesting; lots of rock stair-step climbs and such. Many of the seasonal roads in the WMNF are nice, but well graded and easy to get through on just about any bike.

    Also be careful as some class VI roads have been "abandoned" by the town. Some get converted to a "trail" where motorized traffic is often prohibited by town law. Others the right of way is released back to land-owners and you are certainly trespassing. I've been warned that one of my favorite local class VI's was "abandoned".. but there is no indication whatsoever. The "unmaintained, at own risk" sign remains. Truth told I've never seen anyone else out there.. so what the fuck ever.

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  25. #25
    Super Adventurer SRTie4k's Avatar
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    Re: Dual sport riding in our area

    Quote Originally Posted by Chippertheripper View Post
    That's also, in part, because you bought a house there. Why try and dualsport out of your house in Boston when you can dualsport out of your house in nh?





    Mr Steve: many, if not all, of the unpaved roads in Plymouth are ok to traverse with a sple street reg. The exceptions are in MSSF, and are gated, and marked for no motorized vehicles. Street and trail.
    My understanding in NH is if it's a road, on a map, you're allowed to ride it with a treet reg. You need their sticker to ride their actual trails (just like here in mass). In nh class 6 roads may be gated by landowners, but they are required to be open. So you can legally let yourself in and out, just put the gate back how you found it.
    Some landowners are pissy about this. The law is the law though. They cannot stop you from using an actual road.
    A few of my buddies in snh have taken to looking at maps at the local townhouses prior to exploring, so they know ahead of time what's fair game and what isn't, in that respect.
    They call this "Subject to Gates and Bars" in NH. That might help look up the laws pertaining to these situations. Some roads are even marked as such.

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