Thinking about dual sport/ ADV bike

[SRTie4k]

GPX is on ADV-Rider

https://advrider.com/f/attachments/t...l-gpx.2426264/

See this page

https://advrider.com/f/threads/tomat...pster.1258683/

That's for my route, Tomato Trail.

Here is the link for Johnny Appleseed:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/johnn...setts.1447000/

And I'd also recommend checking out Mid-State Trail for more dual sporting in the same area:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/mid-s...setts.1251978/

[SRTie4k]

By the way I was out exploring class 6 roads in Rindge NH yesterday and while the Jeep trails are still a little muddy (nothing unmanageable on a dual sport), all the dirt back roads are completely dry.

I am also starting to find the limits of my suspension; square edge hits at speed. The forks on this bike do not like those (the shock is still fully composed). It might be time to order a Racetech gold valve kit.

[jimmycapp]

That's for my route, Tomato Trail.

Here is the link for Johnny Appleseed:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/johnn...setts.1447000/

And I'd also recommend checking out Mid-State Trail for more dual sporting in the same area:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/mid-s...setts.1251978/

Thanks!

[jimmycapp]

Edit: Deleted and reinstalled. Working now. Annoying that all my GPX files don't automatically reload. Any faster way than one by one?


Anyone else having issues with Osmand maps on Iphone? Mine just crashes when I open it.

[SRTie4k]

I use Locus on Android, which allows you to do backups, which includes the track/POI database. If you have to reinstall just restore a backup and you're golden.

Does Osmand do backup/restore?

[jimmycapp]

Doesn't appear to.

[MattR302]

So I’m horrible at storytelling and a lot of it is all blending together, and not worthy of starting a new thread, but I rode the MABDR last week with a couple friends from ADV. We rode it north to south. I rode my DR650, one guy on a Yamaha T7, and two guys on KTM 1090’s. I had my stock wheels with my 50/50 tire setup: Shinko 244 rear, IRC TR8 front. I spent the week before the trip working on the DR to get it ready: installed an Acerbis tank, added luggage racks and Pelican cases, installed the center stand I picked up a while back, added a sheepskin seat cover, and installed a larger tool tube and added a bunch of things to the factory tool kit. The night before I left, I found two Amazon boxes in my basement that fit PERFECTLY inside one of my pelican sidecases, were super helpful with packing.

Met up in Western CT on Friday morning at 9am, call it day 0. I probably got 2 hours sleep that night before. We took fast backroads through the Catskills out to the north end of the route. I haven’t been in that area of NY, some great riding out there. I think I did 385 miles that first day. We found a place to camp right before dark. Not only was this pretty much my first time on a multi-day moto trip, it was also my first time camping. I’m thankful the other guys lent me a tent, sleeping bag, pad, and pillow, and I didn’t have to buy anything, as there was a very good chance I’d be saying “nope, screw this, this sucks, I’m never camping again”

Day 1 and 2 of the route were going though PA. Seriously it felt like we were in PA foreverrrr. Mix of pavement, dirt/gravel roads though farmland and forest roads, and a couple rocky double track areas. There was a couple “expert” sections that we skipped. There were a couple “closed” sections that we were able to get though: a road section that had fallen into the adjacent creek we were able to get by, and a bridge being repaved that we were able to get through by riding under an excavator boom - Saturday late afternoon so no construction crews.

We had perfect weather the entire time, we were actually hoping for a little bit of rain, as the first 2-3 days were super dusty. Dust in every crevice of the bike, dust seeping though the closed zippers of our riding gear. Day 3 I switched to my waterproof gloves, as dust was getting in through the perforations of my leather gloves and making my fingers raw. I also had to put a sock between my chin strap and my neck as dust plus stubble was chafing my neck real bad. Did get a little chilly at night though got down to around 40F in the northern sections.

Beginning of day 3 was a lot of the same type of riding, bouncing between MD, the tip of WV, and in and out of PA (again still in PA, wtf?) The second half of day 3 going though WV was almost entirely paved twisties. Awesome pristine pavement had me wishing I had my supermoto wheels on. I got thinking that I could have probably gotten away with my 19/17 wheel set with the 80/20 tires and would’ve had a bit more fun on these roads. Thinking, hmm maybe I’d use those if I rode the MABDR route again.

In the morning of 4 (Tuesday) one of the 1090 guys slabbed home as he wanted to get back in time for the BBA. Beginning of day 4 was more paved twisties. Second half of day 4 was getting into the Washington and Jefferson forests and dirt ridge roads, the off-road riding started getting really good. A few water crossings that weren’t bad. I had a tipover on a slow downhill right hand switchback, the inside edge of the turn fell off into a ditch and that’s where I ended up. No damage, just had to straighten out a mirror. A few more water crossings that were dry.

Day 5 and 6 were a lot more ridge roads with slow dirt switchbacks. Had another tipover on day 5: was coming out of a bowl-shaped right hand switchback and hit a deceivingly slick spot. Back end slipped out to the right, awfully close to a dropoff, then the back end came around to the left and I lowsided. I ended up with my right foot trapped underneath the bike, but it wasn’t painful, thought it was my boot sole up against the engine case. As my buddy lifted up the bike, I found that the brake pedal had gotten lodged between the bottom of my foot and the sole of my Sidi Adventure boot. I got real lucky I didn’t get my foot stabbed. Ripped through some stitching on the boot, not sure if they’re repairable. Otherwise no damage other than minor tweaking of the handlebars in the rubber mounts, but wasn’t bad enough to need to fix it.

There was another real sketchy part on day 5 where they were regrading a dirt road. There was a looong uphill section where the left 2/3 of the road was soft tilled soil with loose rocks. The right 1/3 of the road was still firm and compacted, but that side had a 20+ foot dropoff next to it. Left side, first gear, tractored up the whole way without any issues. This section, plus the aforementioned low side, had me reconsidering whether I’d use 80/20 tires and I was glad I had the knobs.

Could probably lay have finished the route on day 6, only had about 100 miles left, but the nearest camp site was almost an hour off the route from where we stopped for gas, so we headed there while we still had plenty of daylight. Day 7 had some dirt/gravel, but it went through downtown Marion, which was kinda lame, I would recommend using one of the alternate routes to go around the town. Afternoon of day 7 we spent way too much time looking for a place to camp, ended up finding a nice campsite a Backbone just over the TN border. Ate dinner with another 3 BDR riders that were just finishing their trip - they trailered the bikes from home in Minnesota to Damascus, rode south to north, then backroads the way back to Damascus. They were on a 790, a 390, and a KLR.

We had a route to get back to CT that would have been 2 solid 350+ mile days of twisty backroads, we were trying to get home by Saturday night. Friday morning we left Damascus, but we were only able to do about 250 miles to central/northern VA; the 1090 guy was fighting some serious back pain. Found a place to eat while we figured out our plan. Ended up splitting up after dinner. The two other guys each got a hotel nearby, I slabbed another ~100 miles north after dinner so I wouldn’t have as long of a day Saturday and wouldn’t have to slab it the whole route. I slabbed for an hour, backroads for ~2, slab for another ~2, then backroads for 2-3 until home. The T7 guy is an early riser and absolutely hates highway, he continued on the twisty backroads route back to CT. The 1090 guy’s back couldn’t handle any more twisties so slabbed it the whole way back.

Definitely a fun trip. I clocked 2430 miles total, home to home. Front tire is pretty cupped, rear has a pretty good flat spot. Lots of good scenery and spots to take photos. We didn’t stop to see any of the historical stuff along the route. Tons of old ass barns along the route that it’s a wonder they are still standing. Met a bunch of friendly people along the way. Late in the afternoon on our first day heading back north, we pulled over on a side road in the shade to take a break. There was a big house set back a couple hundred yards from the road, we could barely see the house through the field and the trees. After a little bit, the lady from the house comes walking out her long driveway and checks to make sure we’re ok and not broken down. After chatting with us for 5 minutes, she’s offering to let us stay in her carriage house for the night.

We might be plan on doing the NEBDR this fall. Not opposed to camping again (as long as it’s not too cold and doesn’t rain, lol). Not sure if I’d change anything on the DR for the NEBDR, other than some more aggressive tires and some extra preload on the shock. Definitely saving those Amazon boxes and reinforcing them with a few layers of tape!

[SRTie4k]

You guys must have passed my buddies, they were on a 1290R and a 790S heading north.

MABDR is sedate but fun and very beautiful. My buddy (the 1290R rider) and I did it in 2019 on Pirelli Rally STR's, and they were more than suitable, so yeah you can definitely do it on non-aggressive tires if the conditions are good, but you never know what the conditions will be like. The "hard" sections aren't really all that hard, you would have been fine on them.

NEBDR is a quite a bit more technical, you're definitely going to want the aggressive tire setup, especially in VT. There's still a decent (too much in NH IMO) amount of pavement, and plenty of dirt roads, but the technical sections are 10x harder than anything the MABDR throws at you.

I'm hoping maybe next year I could possibly do the MABDR again. As you mentioned, it's kind of a blur looking back. Not having time to stop and take lots of pics is my biggest regret about the ride. That said I did get a fantastic one in PA when I did it, which makes me want to go back even more. This is at the top of the Poe Paddy hill climb, which is now a hard section. The view up on the ridge is excellent.

[nhbubba]

Epic trip!

[Gixxer]

What’s the multistrada 950 like?

I went to naults and checked out the 1050xt in person... I want to love the quad racer yellow and blue paint but I’m not quite there

They have a super adventure with hard bags.... that thing is huge! Seems taller and bigger than the Tiger Explorer, Africa Twin, and 1050xt.

They had a used Africa twin... worried it would feel under powered, and I like how they increased the tank size for an alleged 300+ miles between fill ups.... but let’s be real, when am I going to ride 300 miles without wanting to stop?

Moms and naults windham has a Tiger Explorer.

Kinda digging the size and feel, but feels wicked top heavy sitting on it.

[e30addict]

They had a used Africa twin... worried it would feel under powered, and I like how they increased the tank size for an alleged 300+ miles between fill ups.... but let’s be real, when am I going to ride 300 miles without wanting to stop?

They're torque monsters; unless you want to run triple digits all the time they get around just fine.

Moms and naults windham has a Tiger Explorer.

Kinda digging the size and feel, but feels wicked top heavy sitting on it.

Weight melts away when underway. If you're not going off road should be a non-issue.

[dankatz]

What’s the multistrada 950 like?

I went to naults and checked out the 1050xt in person... I want to love the quad racer yellow and blue paint but I’m not quite there

They have a super adventure with hard bags.... that thing is huge! Seems taller and bigger than the Tiger Explorer, Africa Twin, and 1050xt.

They had a used Africa twin... worried it would feel under powered, and I like how they increased the tank size for an alleged 300+ miles between fill ups.... but let’s be real, when am I going to ride 300 miles without wanting to stop?

Moms and naults windham has a Tiger Explorer.

Kinda digging the size and feel, but feels wicked top heavy sitting on it.

The Multistrada 950 gets terrific reviews as a street biased adventure bike. It is kind of tall and big - taller than the Multi 1260 or 1200 DVT. The smaller tigers are also very good and you may want to consider if doing mostly street riding. The Africa Twin is likely a better offroad. I'm 5'7" and I did not think the stock Africa Twin was very big.

[SRTie4k]

Did ~100 miles of riding small bikes this weekend on local class 6 roads. Buddy brought his WRR.



My CRF is surprisingly much better handling than his WRR in the suspension department. I didn't think the Ohlins setup would make it better than the lofty WRR, but it handles the rough stuff so much better. His suspension needs a little dialing in, but I have a feeling the Ohlins will still be better. And surprisingly the CRF flies better; I was easily getting air over ledges and rollers that he was struggling to. Road handling and a few extra "features" (like a rev counter, fuel gauge, windscreen, aux switched power, bigger tank) on the CRF are really nice, but everywhere else the WRR is just plain better; ergos for tall people, weight, power. The most noticeable difference between the two is the extra weight on the front of the CRF, it plows through mud like an ADV bike and wants to go sideways all the time, whereas the WRR just tractors through and maintains a line better in slippery situations. That might be partially down to front tire selection (CRF front is a D606, WR front is an MT16).

In any case, both bikes are fantastically fun on class 6 roads. Nothing stopped them.

[breakdirt916]

yup, that's where they shine

good to see you out riding! and thanks for the comparison between the WRR/CRF...the WRR is oddly fantastic in its segment while still unimpressive. Classic Yamaha engineering

[SRTie4k]

Got to get out for father's day weekend! Did ~70 miles of scouting on a mix of easy and stupid trails in SW NH. Some notable moments:

Buddy dumped his bike within 100 yards of the start of our ride. mud + wet log = slippery.

Pissed off a new homeowner building his ludicrously huge ~7000 sq/ft home by riding up his driveway to a class 6 road. He's gonna be really mad this winter when he finds out the class 6 road behind his house is also a snowmobile trail. Fuckin COVID refugees.

Basically rode through a swamp in Ashuelot (see 1st pic). Beavers dammed up part of a class 6 road that went right by a swamp, and there was no bypass. We broke up the dams but still had to ride up to the tops of our wheels. Gore-tex is wonderful until water comes over the tops of the boot. It never dries!

Ended up on a super gnarly Jeep trail (see 2nd pic). Steep with huge boulders, it would have given a lifted Jeep with 37's a run for it's money. Once we got to the bottom a bunch of ATV's came through and said "you went through that! The trail goes around it now." Yup, we found out there is a new trail cut around it that we found at the bottom, oof. Luckily the rest was high speed hard packed dirt, super fun.

[Kurlon]

Test rode a Pan American during Bike Week...

I want a Harley now. The only way you know it's an HD product is by looking at the badging, it has modern controls, shifts decent and the motor GOES when you put it in sport mode. Handles decent, has all the electronic doodads including suspension, up to and including an option that auto lowers the bike as you come to a stop and raises it up again once rolling. Doubt I'd ever actually take it off road, but I'd have a ball rocking it on the street.

[OneCheekRider]

Test rode a Pan American during Bike Week...

I want a Harley now. The only way you know it's an HD product is by looking at the badging, it has modern controls, shifts decent and the motor GOES when you put it in sport mode. Handles decent, has all the electronic doodads including suspension, up to and including an option that auto lowers the bike as you come to a stop and raises it up again once rolling. Doubt I'd ever actually take it off road, but I'd have a ball rocking it on the street.

There's a whole thread on it: Harley-Davidson Pan America

[MattR302]

Aprilia wants to get a piece of the P-twin ADV action
https://www.aprilia.com/en_EN/tuareg-660/

[jhawley]

that is one ugly motorcycle

[ducatirdr]

I think ugly is the target audience for ADV bikes.

In all fairness to manufacturers they must be hard pressed to make a bike that performs but doesn't look like someone else's machine. The headlight is one spot you can really go wild with without affecting function. BMW had its wink for the longest time as a styling exercise, Harley just came out with it Cylon/Road Glide looking treatment. Ape's have their 50's War of the World looking eye ball.

[MattR302]

that is one ugly motorcycle

Remind me again what beautiful motorcycle you’re riding these days

[dankatz]

With the exception of the headlight, it looks very very similar to the T7. Aprilia wanted it to look like the family signature lights at the front. I am not keen on the Pan-American headlights but this I think is ok. Prefer the T7 headlight but could live with this. Curious what it will come in at - I suspect around $12k

[a13x]

Jen (-jro-) just wrote this, and thought it was fitting for this thread. She's rather experienced in dual sport riding, but ADV is/was new to her

https://www.revzilla.com/common-trea...-to-adv-riding

[MattR302]

This looks like a decent deal and is local https://advrider.com/f/threads/2015-...-6750.1514202/

[SRTie4k]

3 of us are planning on doing an overnighter on the Flatlander in the next few weeks, so this weekend we got out and did ~80 miles of it from Danbury to Dublin. It was a great opportunity to test out packing for an overnight trip on little bikes. It worked absolutely beautifully on the Rally, never had a single problem with anything coming loose, shifting or needing to adjust luggage. Surprisingly the huge ass on the CRF makes dealing with rackless adventure luggage so much easier. All I had to adjust on the bike was to increase compression and rebound (unfortunately I can't adjust preload because the shock body threads are stripped out).

The trails were actually in great shape north of Antrim. Once you get down to that area, they start getting very wet and extremely washed out. There are a few spots where a simple 1 foot rock wall obstacle has suddenly turned into a 2+ foot rock face needing to be scaled, and a typically no problem mud puddle has turned into a bike swallowing hole. My buddy got swamped in one up to his tail light on the WR in Antrim.

I also just realized that I had my camera on Macro mode the entire time I was taking pictures, so they are pretty atrocious.





I also figured out how I can bring my 11 month old daughter and get weight off the CRF.