From Off Road riding/racing. Why do you Dual Sport?

[Ramseybella]

Scott; that's what I kept telling myself while chasing the 650 (It was a Suzuki DS650 motorcycle). In fact, the instrument panel kept flashing "Not in Commuting Mode". ::005:: I was having great fun rolling along in third gear and reeling the little Suzuki in with just a twist of the throttle. Eventually I zigged when I should have zagged and the fun stopped. Then as I was sailing thru the air I remembered what my wife said as I left the house: "Don't get a scratch on that bike!!!". But I still can't stay off of dirt bikes or racing them. I'm hooked on vintage motocross and Cross County racing. Got over a dozen of these old bikes in my barn; an XR, a couple of Penton Jackpiners, a 74 CR250 Elsinore, KTMs, YZs, a Suzuki TM400, Hodaka and a Husky & Jawa thrown in there somewhere. I beat the crap out of my 74 YZ250 for years (see below) in hare scrambles & MX events without ever even pulling the top end. Finally I parked it because I didn't want to scatter the motor and ruin it.

There is something so cool about lining up at a gate full of these old bikes for a motocross or grass track race. Anyone who has raced knows the fun of battling with someone and winning or losing by inches. A couple of years ago I restored a 1980 YZ465 and had a blast riding it. This year my goal is to race the 465 at Unadilla's MX Rewind event. But as much fun racing is, I have to give the nod to a weekend of just going out with friends for a fun trail ride. For now I'll just que up my "On Any Sunday" DVD & wait for the healing process to play out.

74 CR250 Elsinore what a bike loved it, I called mine the trench digger!!

 

[Kelvininin]

I never did the off road thing, but after about 18 years or ridding cruisers and touring bikes, I found myself wanting to explore the roads less traveled, back in the wood, away from the super slabs. So I went adventure... I love it, likely not go back to straight touring bikes for several years.

 

[orange rush]

I enjoy the fact that just because the pavement ends, the ride doesn't have to end.
Chris

 

[thfraser]

I never did the off road thing, but after about 18 years or ridding cruisers and touring bikes, I found myself wanting to explore the roads less traveled, back in the wood, away from the super slabs. So I went adventure... I love it, likely not go back to straight touring bikes for several years.

::026:: You did a good job echoing my vantage point.

I've been riding for almost 30 years, and I never owned a dirt bike or raced off road. It was something I always wanted to do, but wasn't available to me in my youth for various reasons. Though I often think of getting one and learning how to dirt bike with my kids.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Got too old and fat to go fast and\or break bones. I heal too slowly.
...
On second thought, it's because now I am no longer immature. Yea, that's it.

Sorta similar. Started racing Suzuki and CanAm dirt bikes from the back of an old Ohio GMC farm truck. Either Johnson or Nixon was in office, not that we cared. Moved into SoCal desert and then canyon racing when there were a lot less houses & cops, and the cops were WAY more lenient. Riding on pavement was just faster and dirt less accessible from where I lived in LA, so migrated away from dirt.


I've been renting Beemer GS's for a long time on travel, so got to know dual sports pretty well. Actually rode the "new" VStrom" and Super Tenere overseas before either came to the US. Saw D/S as a way to have a more upright seat for long rides and to be able to explore gravel roads that were less fun on the Ducati and FJR.


My friend & office neighbor recently picked up a 250 dirt bike and has had me itching for one, too. He came in Monday with painful sprains and huge bruises after a typical "off" and I had to think about how long it would take for me to recover from a similar fall. He is both younger and in better shape. I probably couldn't even ride a lawnmower for a month, so my dirt days are behind me.


Damn I was good.
NOBODY could catch me.


I always had the hole shot and always led the pack.
::26::
Yeah. Fast I wuz. Yeah. Fast.


Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[snakebitten]

Sittin on the porch drinking coffee with a grin now.
Nice story.
Do I HAVE to go into the office today? Really?

 

[AVGeek]

I'm one of those oddballs who grew up on ATVs, starting with the venerable ATC90 when I was 14. But I also made my first trip to Dumont Dunes (at the south end of Death Valley) when I was 3, and I've been hooked on the desert ever since. I rode all through my teenage years (moving from the 90 to a Fourtrax 200SX, then 250X), until my college and work schedule and my brother's high school athletic career took up too much time, and my dad sold off everything but the 250X (he had a sandrail I learned to drive in, and a Toybox trailer, one of the first toy-haulers).

Fast forward a few years...I'm married, and my brother and I return to Glamis for the first time in years (I rode the old 250X, my brother had bought a Banshee). Not long afterwards, I find myself a Banshee, and really jump back into riding...but living in SoCal, I stayed off the street, not because of me, but because of everybody else...Until my other quad riding buddy stopped by one day with a CBR900. I threw a leg over it, and starting thinking about how much easier commuting on a bike would be. So in November of 2001, I bought my first street bike, a 1989 Yamaha Radian. Then, at the Fontana round of the AMA races in 2002, I saw the FJR for the first time, and sat on the bike in the display. Given that I was mostly commuting on that little Radian, the locking saddlebags were very appealing. So in March of 2003, I jumped on the PDP, and ordered the 2004 FJR...and haven't really looked back since. Yamaha earned my loyalty with the Bansee (all the other manufacturers stopped making sport quads within a couple of years of the Consent Decree that banned 3-wheelers in this country), so that when I wanted a motorcycle that was street legal, but dirt worthy, I looked to them. In all fairness, I did also look at the Honda XR650 and the BMW offerings, but my heart really belongs with Yamaha. I first looked at plating a WR450 (I still have one quad, a YFZ450, so having the same motor in a bike was appealing), but as I lived in Nevada at the time, they closed the loophole that allowed "Off Highway Only" bikes to be converted to street legal usage. I was hoping Yamaha USA would import the XT600, but we all know how that went! When I heard about the XT1200 on ADVRider, and saw the campaign to bring it here (much like the FJR campaign), I jumped on it, writing to Yamaha as well...

Wow, that was much longer and more detailed than I first expected, but in a nutshell, I wanted something between the pure dirt of my quad and the pure street of the FJR, and my loyalty to Yamaha brought me to the Super Tenere...

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I am sensitive to the slower healing of an older body issue. 8 years ago I did manage to put myself in the hospital for 4 days from a motocross crash. 3 broken ribs, broken sternum, collapsed lung, it was a good one.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x-pBDbLZ9E

It did cause me to sleep in a recliner for 5 weeks. I definitely adjusted my riding style some as a result. Honestly I thought it was mostly all behind me, but damn-it, that Tenere woke up a sleeping part of my brain and I can't seem to ignore it.

Oh sure, in the first week of ownership I fell off the WR in a 2 mph whoops in my driveway, and I'm pretty sure I bruised a bone on that one. It was a good reminder of why I wear a helmet even in my yard. I don't want to get hurt. I do my best to stay well within my comfort levels for my skills. I know I could get hurt, but I'm doing my best to avoid it while still riding hard (within my limits).

 

[Combo]

I am sensitive to the slower healing of an older body issue. 8 years ago I did manage to put myself in the hospital for 4 days from a motocross crash. 3 broken ribs, broken sternum, collapsed lung, it was a good one.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x-pBDbLZ9E

It did cause me to sleep in a recliner for 5 weeks. I definitely adjusted my riding style some as a result. Honestly I thought it was mostly all behind me, but damn-it, that Tenere woke up a sleeping part of my brain and I can't seem to ignore it.

Oh sure, in the first week of ownership I fell off the WR in a 2 mph whoops in my driveway, and I'm pretty sure I bruised a bone on that one. It was a good reminder of why I wear a helmet even in my yard. I don't want to get hurt. I do my best to stay well within my comfort levels for my skills. I know I could get hurt, but I'm doing my best to avoid it while still riding hard (within my limits).

Creative video of your crash and rebuild. I liked the recreation of down the stairs with the toy ATV and at the end the ATV landing on the toy man. Glad you lived to tell about it. ::012::

 

[Karson]

I thought chicks dug big dual sports....until I got my KLR. The Tenere is a huge upgrade in the looks department, though. Maybe that's why I got that second date.

 

[Boondocker]

The part in the middle of the crash where the toy ATV hit the toy rider was particularly frightening

Seriously though, I still get a little angry at myself for how often I have to tell myself to slow down because I'm riding alone, a long ways from the paved road. At least I listen to myself...for a while, then I get absorbed into the "riding zone" again and find myself going as fast as I can. ::010::
This is on my WR250R though, not the Tenere. Something about the WR250R brings out the hooligan in me, and I never used to be a hooligan.

 

[dcstrom]

But I still can't stay off of dirt bikes or racing them. I'm hooked on vintage motocross and Cross County racing. Got over a dozen of these old bikes in my barn; an XR, a couple of Penton Jackpiners, a 74 CR250 Elsinore, KTMs, YZs, a Suzuki TM400, Hodaka and a Husky & Jawa thrown in there somewhere. I beat the crap out of my 74 YZ250 for years (see below) in hare scrambles & MX events without ever even pulling the top end. Finally I parked it because I didn't want to scatter the motor and ruin it.

Slightly OT here but... I see a common thread - all these bikes are two-strokes. WFOPete, could the cost of keeping the four-strokes running be a contributing factor to killing off the racing side? The 4 stroke MX bikes are pretty highly strung and I imagine a lot more expensive to maintain than your old YZ. DS bikes are in a milder tune so you can still have some off-road fun on them without it costing you an arm and a leg (just a rotator cuff! ;-)

 

[Dirt_Dad]

The part in the middle of the crash where the toy ATV hit the toy rider was particularly frightening

Hurt, too. The part I couldn't simulate was all the gas draining out of the tank and soaking me. So glad it didn't hit anything hot on the way.

 

[Ramseybella]

"The 4 stroke MX bikes are pretty highly strung and I imagine a lot more expensive to maintain than your old YZ".


http://motocrossactionmag.com/Main/News/1ba5bead-0c67-4e78-bfaa-ad88da97ec2b.aspx

http://www.motosport.com/blog/2-stroke-vs-4-stroke-dirt-bike-how-they-measure-up-on-the-course