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Dual Sport Riding.....on the pavement??

klaviator

Scooter Trash
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Feb 8, 2022
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Alabama
Many hard core dual sport riders have a preference for "Dirt Bikes with lights" and only ride pavement when they have to when getting to the dirt. On the other side are those who by dual sport bikes and then mostly ride them on pavement.

Me, I believe in the DUAL part of dual sport. I like riding both places. I like riding my dual sport like a sport bike:

279220430_5732336406782497_4111834780957303198_n.jpg


I like getting riding places that aren't paved and are a bit of a challenge like this single track:

P4230106 (2).JPG


And there is one king of road I have really come to like over the last several years. That would be what I call "paved goat trails". These roads are paved but the pavement tends to be rough and sometimes badly broken. They are one to one and a half lanes wide and do not have a centerline or any paint on them. These are not roads that most street riders would enjoy but they are a blast on a dual sport or adventure bike.

Roads like this:

P4220034 (2).JPG


.

PB200110 (2).JPG


.

PB200101 (2).JPG


Some of these roads can be real roller coasters. One thing they have in common is little or no traffic. I think usually enjoy these more than I do gravel roads. As an added benefit, on a group ride everyone who is not up front doesn't have to eat a bunch of dust.

I am lucky in that there are a lot of these paved goat trails close by. My typical local DS ride is a mix of paved roads, paved goat trails and dirt/gravel.

Anyone else out there who enjoys riding paved goat trails?
 

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Thats been the type of rides Ive been making happen out here, usually a short highway jaunt to get to the fun and then its a mix of gravel, single track, sand/rock washes, twisty mountain 2 lane, and those tiny 1 laners in the mountains. The mix really helps with staying fresh for the long trips and make it easier to not get too much stuck into one mindset. Now if I could only remember to stop for a pic occasionally :lol3
 
Thats been the type of rides Ive been making happen out here, usually a short highway jaunt to get to the fun and then its a mix of gravel, single track, sand/rock washes, twisty mountain 2 lane, and those tiny 1 laners in the mountains. The mix really helps with staying fresh for the long trips and make it easier to not get too much stuck into one mindset. Now if I could only remember to stop for a pic occasionally :lol3
No need to stop. Get a cheap camera and learn to take pics with your left hand while riding with your right. When riding with a group I take many of my pics while riding. Here's a couple I took recently.

P4230032 (2).JPG


This one was over the shoulder.

P4230100 (2).JPG
 
I may have to look into what kind of camera would work with gloves on. My phone doesn't. I also don't want to drop it.

Ideally, I'd love to find a helmet mounted camera with a handlebar mounted button. I have seen a couple, but they have video, comm, or other features that make them very expensive. I literally just want a point and shoot camera that points where I look.
 
The type of Small unclassified roads you describe are the type of roads i like to travel the best on a bike .
I like the fact you get to travel at your pace, and stop at any point to see what you want too.
Ok you can stop on bigger roads, but with much more consideration required generally .
I like to use My XT600E for these roads, and Scotland in fact much of the UK is criss crossed with such roads, and i find them very interesting, every trip is an adventure, and you get to get a feel for an area much more than ripping down the highways at 80mph.
I Like the same type of roads in New zealand and inded europe too. the alps are awesome and many such roads there.
Here is a video just plucked off youtube showing a couple of passes in the lakes, i travel down there a lot and its awesome area, not too technical really but it can be tricky in the ice or snow.
 
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The type of Small unclassified roads you describe are the type of roads i like to travel the best on a bike .
I like the fact you get to travel at your pace, and stop at any point to see what you want too.
Ok you can stop on bigger roads, but with much more consideration required generally .
I like to use My XT600E for these roads, and Scotland in fact much of the UK is criss crossed with such roads, and i find them very interesting, every trip is an adventure, and you get to get a feel for an area much more than ripping down the highways at 80mph.
I Like the same type of roads in New zealand and inded europe too. the alps are awesome and many such roads there.
Here is a video just plucked off youtube showing a couple of passes in the lakes, i travel down there a lot and its awesome area, not too technical really but it can be tricky in the ice or snow.

Now that looks like a fun road. I would definitely want to be on a dual sport rather than a street bike. The guy who shot the video was probably on a street bike because he kept complaining how rough it was and that it was a back breaker. The road looks real fun to ride and the scenery was spectacular but there was way too much traffic. Around here the paved goat trails go from nowhere to nowhere and typically have very little traffic. It's not unusual to ride a half hour and not see any traffic.
 
Now that looks like a fun road. I would definitely want to be on a dual sport rather than a street bike. The guy who shot the video was probably on a street bike because he kept complaining how rough it was and that it was a back breaker. The road looks real fun to ride and the scenery was spectacular but there was way too much traffic. Around here the paved goat trails go from nowhere to nowhere and typically have very little traffic. It's not unusual to ride a half hour and not see any traffic.
Thats one of the reasons I sold the street Triple and went almost exclusively to riding the verysy. The sport bike style suspension wasnt comfortable around town (Even If the engine was amazing) whereas the Versys even on the harshest roads I have a blast
 
A GoPro on a chin mount, with their remote for triggering the camera will do that well. You can use it to take still shots or high quality video, with stills captured from the video.
The GoPro Hero 4 looks pretty small, but it's $250! :doh

I'll probably just wait until it's time to get new helmet comms, and make sure I get one with a camera. Unfortunately, I'll have to pay for video even if I don't want it.
 
The GoPro Hero 4 looks pretty small, but it's $250! :doh

I'll probably just wait until it's time to get new helmet comms, and make sure I get one with a camera. Unfortunately, I'll have to pay for video even if I don't want it.
Buying GoPro new is a rip off. You can get cheap refurbished ones on eBay. I paid $45 for mine. Came with a bunch of different mounting options and two fresh batteries.
 
Now that looks like a fun road. I would definitely want to be on a dual sport rather than a street bike. The guy who shot the video was probably on a street bike because he kept complaining how rough it was and that it was a back breaker. The road looks real fun to ride and the scenery was spectacular but there was way too much traffic. Around here the paved goat trails go from nowhere to nowhere and typically have very little traffic. It's not unusual to ride a half hour and not see any traffic.
The fact hardnott and wrynose passes are paved and known as the steepest road in the Uk, mean in tourist season its often busy in there unfortunately. other Lake land passes are not nearly as popular and less well frequented, Honister pass and Kirkstone are on busier roads which kind or rules them out for remoteness too.
Many of the highland glens have remote roads on them, some gravel and many are incredibly beautifull, and not popular. The north coast 500 has started a tourist trend these days for boosting the local ecconomies of Scotland, and its in high season seeing lots of activity where years ago only those in the know tended to be up there.
Traveling up in scotland in the winter is potentialy very rewarding, but equaly if the weather hits which it has a likelyhood of doing in that quarter and your Adventure can evolve into a battle with the elliments. but get it right and Apart from the West coast of the south island of new zealand , i think sctland and sI Nz are too close for me to call, on the most beautiful places on earth IMHO.
As you have probably guessed i like the rugged landscapes .
 
The fact hardnott and wrynose passes are paved and known as the steepest road in the Uk, mean in tourist season its often busy in there unfortunately. other Lake land passes are not nearly as popular and less well frequented, Honister pass and Kirkstone are on busier roads which kind or rules them out for remoteness too.
Many of the highland glens have remote roads on them, some gravel and many are incredibly beautifull, and not popular. The north coast 500 has started a tourist trend these days for boosting the local ecconomies of Scotland, and its in high season seeing lots of activity where years ago only those in the know tended to be up there.
Traveling up in scotland in the winter is potentialy very rewarding, but equaly if the weather hits which it has a likelyhood of doing in that quarter and your Adventure can evolve into a battle with the elliments. but get it right and Apart from the West coast of the south island of new zealand , i think sctland and sI Nz are too close for me to call, on the most beautiful places on earth IMHO.
As you have probably guessed i like the rugged landscapes .
As you may have guessed, I like rugged landscapes too! I have never been to Scotland or NZ but have read some ride reports from both places and certainly can't disagree with you about both being beautiful places.

The ride report that really opened my eyes about Scotland is on the "other" forum and it's an old ride report but I wonder if you read it:

https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/you-are-going-to-die.540395/

It was written by a hard core sportbike rider but he did a great job showing the beauty of the country and how much fun it was to ride the roads. Unfortunately he was killed in a MC accident and many of the pics in the ride report are no longer there. I really identified with him because I used to be a sport bike rider and love the rides he went on. Despite being on sportbikes they still did some of the rough, narrow back roads. If I ever get the chance to ride Scotland I will. NZ will probably never happen for me because it is just too long of and airplane ride and too expensive to get there.

Have you thought about doing some ride reports of your rides in Scotland? Maybe you have and I just haven't seen them?
 
As you may have guessed, I like rugged landscapes too! I have never been to Scotland or NZ but have read some ride reports from both places and certainly can't disagree with you about both being beautiful places.

The ride report that really opened my eyes about Scotland is on the "other" forum and it's an old ride report but I wonder if you read it:

https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/you-are-going-to-die.540395/

It was written by a hard core sportbike rider but he did a great job showing the beauty of the country and how much fun it was to ride the roads. Unfortunately he was killed in a MC accident and many of the pics in the ride report are no longer there. I really identified with him because I used to be a sport bike rider and love the rides he went on. Despite being on sportbikes they still did some of the rough, narrow back roads. If I ever get the chance to ride Scotland I will. NZ will probably never happen for me because it is just too long of and airplane ride and too expensive to get there.

Have you thought about doing some ride reports of your rides in Scotland? Maybe you have and I just haven't seen them?
No i have never ever done a ride report in my life acctualy, and my photography slills never made the jump from my old practica SLR with a 70/ 200n Tele lenz to the digital age.
I did dabble with digital but that never progressed past a olympus C370 in about 2002ish once phones started to get cameras i just stopped bothering even family snaps, just never got interested.
I bought a Reflex 480P action cam about 2009 that i used a bit for Waterfowling, and got a few videos but the 480P was a bit grainy (if thats a word/ term) I liked it as it was small clipped on my baseball cap peak, and it took some decent action videos. but again it never made the transition to the bikes.
I am keen to make the effort to try and get into digital and i think a go pro might be good for some waterfowling hunting and the bikes.
Any advice on what model and make camera and which go pro to look for would be good( will be used ebay or cash converters purchases) . ill start a new thread to not derail this one.
 
No i have never ever done a ride report in my life acctualy, and my photography slills never made the jump from my old practica SLR with a 70/ 200n Tele lenz to the digital age.
I did dabble with digital but that never progressed past a olympus C370 in about 2002ish once phones started to get cameras i just stopped bothering even family snaps, just never got interested.
I bought a Reflex 480P action cam about 2009 that i used a bit for Waterfowling, and got a few videos but the 480P was a bit grainy (if thats a word/ term) I liked it as it was small clipped on my baseball cap peak, and it took some decent action videos. but again it never made the transition to the bikes.
I am keen to make the effort to try and get into digital and i think a go pro might be good for some waterfowling hunting and the bikes.
Any advice on what model and make camera and which go pro to look for would be good( will be used ebay or cash converters purchases) . ill start a new thread to not derail this one.
A good place to talk about anything to do with ride reports including the photography is here: https://advbikes.com/threads/the-art-of-the-ride-report.1130/
 
Many hard core dual sport riders have a preference for "Dirt Bikes with lights" and only ride pavement when they have to when getting to the dirt. On the other side are those who by dual sport bikes and then mostly ride them on pavement.

Me, I believe in the DUAL part of dual sport. I like riding both places. I like riding my dual sport like a sport bike:

279220430_5732336406782497_4111834780957303198_n.jpg


I like getting riding places that aren't paved and are a bit of a challenge like this single track:

P4230106 (2).JPG


And there is one king of road I have really come to like over the last several years. That would be what I call "paved goat trails". These roads are paved but the pavement tends to be rough and sometimes badly broken. They are one to one and a half lanes wide and do not have a centerline or any paint on them. These are not roads that most street riders would enjoy but they are a blast on a dual sport or adventure bike.

Roads like this:

P4220034 (2).JPG


.

PB200110 (2).JPG


.

PB200101 (2).JPG


Some of these roads can be real roller coasters. One thing they have in common is little or no traffic. I think usually enjoy these more than I do gravel roads. As an added benefit, on a group ride everyone who is not up front doesn't have to eat a bunch of dust.

I am lucky in that there are a lot of these paved goat trails close by. My typical local DS ride is a mix of paved roads, paved goat trails and dirt/gravel.

Anyone else out there who enjoys riding paved goat trails?

Trail 82 is a good time. Fast and flowing. This is a video of me from 2014, when we rode it in the rain. I was on a Super Sherpa. We were going the opposite direction as you.





I really like the riding position of dual sport bikes. I have tried standard riding position bikes but the seat to peg position did not agree with me.
 
Trail 82 is a good time. Fast and flowing. This is a video of me from 2014, when we rode it in the rain. I was on a Super Sherpa. We were going the opposite direction as you.





I really like the riding position of dual sport bikes. I have tried standard riding position bikes but the seat to peg position did not agree with me.

So did you get that bike running again?
 
So did you get that bike running again?

I looked at it sternly and it started back up. :lol3

It was raining pretty good, I suspected that rain was getting in the electronics somewhere. We rode for a few more hours and it died again on a nice flat road, while not getting ridden hard. After a couple min, it started again. I never had the problem again.
 
I looked at it sternly and it started back up. :lol3

It was raining pretty good, I suspected that rain was getting in the electronics somewhere. We rode for a few more hours and it died again on a nice flat road, while not getting ridden hard. After a couple min, it started again. I never had the problem again.
It would have sucked if it didn't re-start. You couldn't have gotten a truck in there to haul the bike out.
 
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