Anyone available to ride some dirt this week?

Motorcycle Mike

Motorcycle Mike

Well-known member
The weather looks decent from Tuesday to Friday, and I have the week off.

Does anyone have time to go ride some dirt somewhere?
 
I could be in for later in the week.
 
SuperStealthySquid said:
whearabouts are you? i'm in Hamilton, no real experience in heavy stuff tho
Click to expand...

I'm in Mississauga, and I am 20 years out from riding in heavy stuff, nor do I know where to find any heavy stuff.

Do you know of any places to ride near the Hammer?
 
Diesel said:
I'm in Mississauga, and I am 20 years out from riding in heavy stuff, nor do I know where to find any heavy stuff.

Do you know of any places to ride near the Hammer?
Click to expand...

I would love to.... if my ribs were not busted up *sigh*


maybe Friday? ;)
 
I don't think there's any real dirt riding around Hamilton anymore. I did all my riding at Six Nations (Eagles Nest, Steel City Riders track) and St. Williams. I just bomb around the gravel roads now on a DR650.
 
inreb said:
I don't think there's any real dirt riding around Hamilton anymore. I did all my riding at Six Nations (Eagles Nest, Steel City Riders track) and St. Williams. I just bomb around the gravel roads now on a DR650.
Click to expand...
Any of those gravel roads not maintained or no winter maintenance?

I'm going to head up to mono and putter around between there and Angus and see what I can find tomorrow. I know one or two roads that are not maintained up there and dead ends that are not dead ends -- now I just need to see if I can find them again.
 
Slim pickins for anything knarly anywhere it seems. I just ride 'til the pavement ends and go gravel for the solitude and scenic views. That can be done anywhere.
 
So, anyone want to tag along tomorrow? I have a few tracks to check out, no single track.
 
Trying to shake a cold, so gonna have to pass this time.
Have fun.
 
unfortunately not, the most I have done is random train tracks and a hydro road, both illegal and also kinda boring. Been far too busy riding back and forth to work and school
 
I managed to find a new trail today, but couldn't explore much of it because it was too wet, and I was alone, so I feared getting stuck up to my swing arm 500m from the road and being unable to get it out on my own.

Anyway, I have the location saved for when it is drier out. I also toured up to Mono and found a few of those No Exits gravel roads that have exits -- even if they are barely a track through the woods.

I also discovered that on a cool windy day like today that 1) my bike needs a windshield and 2) I should not have worn a motocross helmet and googles. Anyway, roughly 5 hours out on the road, good tour.
 
Diesel said:
I managed to find a new trail today, but couldn't explore much of it because it was too wet, and I was alone, so I feared getting stuck up to my swing arm 500m from the road and being unable to get it out on my own.

Anyway, I have the location saved for when it is drier out. I also toured up to Mono and found a few of those No Exits gravel roads that have exits -- even if they are barely a track through the woods.

I also discovered that on a cool windy day like today that 1) my bike needs a windshield and 2) I should not have worn a motocross helmet and googles. Anyway, roughly 5 hours out on the road, good tour.
Click to expand...

I put a spitfire windshield on my Drz and its night and day. Just need to loctite the screws for the bar clamps or they rattle loose. Its not ideal for rough trails as your face will hit it but but its okay for double track and rail trail and its great for long rides at highway speeds
 
Kevin KO said:
I put a spitfire windshield on my Drz and its night and day. Just need to loctite the screws for the bar clamps or they rattle loose. Its not ideal for rough trails as your face will hit it but but its okay for double track and rail trail and its great for long rides at highway speeds
Click to expand...

Yeah, I went and ordered a spitfire last night. Something about the DRZ, even if it is not windy out the design of the headlight seems to funnel the wind straight to your chest/head. I've had naked bikes in the past, and I never recall the wind pushing me as hard as on this bike -- except for possibly the KLX250 I had.
 
Funny how air flows over bikes. I demolished my headlight (DR650) and plastic surround in a deer strike so instead of coughing up for direct replacements I installed a 6in. dia. KC Slimlite alone. Sonofagun, doesn't it buffet much less. I should mention I also tried a small MRA streetshield(?) and 8in. Buell light, that combo was a disaster no matter what adjustments were tried.
 
Kevin KO said:
I put a spitfire windshield on my Drz and its night and day. Just need to loctite the screws for the bar clamps or they rattle loose. Its not ideal for rough trails as your face will hit it but but its okay for double track and rail trail and its great for long rides at highway speeds
Click to expand...

Got the spitfire and tested it on the trails today. I had a ***** of a time trying to figure out where to mount it along with my hand guards, gps mount, etc etc... I eventually got something figured out, but the space is too tight for the little spindle things -- so I just used hex head bolts of the same thread and used locktite as you suggested. I will have to check and make sure they haven't rattled loose though.

As you said, it works wonders on the highway, but yeah, I hit it a few times on the trail although I got better as the day went on avoiding it. Unfortunately I'm going to have to put up with it as I live too far from any trails.

This DRZ is awesome though... I rode it today in Beaver Valley. Down a very rocky path on the one side, up an abandoned ski kill, then up a very rocky East side and a sidetrack through the forest due to a fallen tree. This bike handles everything with ease and has more than enough power to just throttle through nasty stuff. There were some uphill rocky bits that if I tried to go slowly I would just be spinning rocks back down the hill... so I gave 'er **** in first and powered through it.
 
Diesel said:
Got the spitfire and tested it on the trails today. I had a ***** of a time trying to figure out where to mount it along with my hand guards, gps mount, etc etc... I eventually got something figured out, but the space is too tight for the little spindle things -- so I just used hex head bolts of the same thread and used locktite as you suggested. I will have to check and make sure they haven't rattled loose though.

As you said, it works wonders on the highway, but yeah, I hit it a few times on the trail although I got better as the day went on avoiding it. Unfortunately I'm going to have to put up with it as I live too far from any trails.

This DRZ is awesome though... I rode it today in Beaver Valley. Down a very rocky path on the one side, up an abandoned ski kill, then up a very rocky East side and a sidetrack through the forest due to a fallen tree. This bike handles everything with ease and has more than enough power to just throttle through nasty stuff. There were some uphill rocky bits that if I tried to go slowly I would just be spinning rocks back down the hill... so I gave 'er **** in first and powered through it.
Click to expand...

I really need to join you on one of these adventures... sounds like great times were had ;)


What kind of GPS do you use? I'm using the GPS Map 62S and my Android phone. Not really a fan of the 62S so far.
 
Chasem said:
I really need to join you on one of these adventures... sounds like great times were had ;)


What kind of GPS do you use? I'm using the GPS Map 62S and my Android phone. Not really a fan of the 62S so far.
Click to expand...


I'm using a Garmin Oregon 450... but it is quickly falling apart on me. That 1300km of gravel in Labrador really shook it apart and the rear case is all cracked now. I'll make it survive a bit longer.

Next time I might revert back to a non-touch screen version. This touch screen more often than not misinterprets where I am trying to press when I have gloves on and just irritates me. My old venture etrex was superior for switching menus and zooming in and out with gloves on.

One of these days I'm going to have to irritate the sales guys at bass pro or sail and play around with all of the hiking gps'.
 
I know I posted the other pics in the other thread, but here are some more pics of the day out in Beaver Valley:

Here one of the guys nearly ended up in the ditch... so we dragged him back up to try that again:
603C8592-3E40-44E5-AE47-2528842948B9_zpsqy7lk5pm.jpg


This is from the top of the abandoned ski lift -- all the trees are changing up there:
D77946CE-3312-40DB-8C7F-779C98BDDEA7_zpss6me9hfy.jpg


More:
1E5940B7-117C-4553-9B9B-885D9393D0CB_zps4qq9jfqt.jpg


Another shot of the hill the one guy just barely failed to make it up.
3d404ad7-4e80-45e8-8433-52e0e425fa2d_zps7ff7da96.jpg


And... some of the wet spots we encountered:
d4af80c0-aa2e-40a0-ab00-20151d9cdac8_zpsa8d774de.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom