Who rides motorcycles?

[3930dave]

I got rid of my KTM 690. It was beating me up too much. My poor riding skills are to blame, but I figured it was the bike. (At least that is what I told my wife..)
A guy offered to trade his Ural for my 690, and a deal was done. So far I am having a blast with it. Really different from riding with two wheels.

A lot of Russian design seems tractor oriented...... said in a good way :thumbsup:

For the original roads they were produced for, should be fairly capable on what most of us play with today..

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Have a look at the old Boxercup race series....riders competing on S model boxers, equally prepared.

BMW R11S BOXERCUP race - YouTube

Many went down scraping along on the OHV cover protector, picked the bike bac up and finished the race. The stock oilheads have OE protectors for the OHV covers and there are aftermarket covers as well. I have seen folks use duck tape, JB weld and other means to do a roadside repair after cracking an OHV cover. They seldom get damaged to the extent that you cannot repair and continue on.

I can imagine that they are tougher than they look...... it's the idea of that happening would keep me awake at night

Rgds, D.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I'm thinking I posted here already but here goes again anyway;
The Yamaha Ventures I rode for a lot of years;
View attachment 583263 View attachment 583264
Then I finally got tired of carburetors, was going to look at used bikes, ha;
saw this 2014 Ultra Limited in amber whiskey, looked at it kept saying to danged much money,
called the next day and told them I'd be up that evening to get it.
View attachment 583265 View attachment 583266

Put quite a few miles on her the first two years, then da*ned medical issues kept me off 2 summers,
only about 24,000 on her now.

I loved Yamaha Ventures. IMO, Yamaha could have made a real badboy full dress tourer, if they had put the NEW Vmax engine in it. The bike they made instead is a nice bike, with a big air cooled Vtwin, but the VMAX engine would have had people standing in line to get one. LOL.

Aside from the snake, that XT looks like fun

A mature rider posted on ADVrider about taking a sabbatical from Yamaha USA, to go rideabout. What he chose for the trip was one of their 250 dual sports.

Big adventure bikes sell well, but if you have some appreciation of the physical conditioning required for a motocross rider to be competitive, they won't be your first choice for serious off-roading.

Rgds, D.

My old boss (and friend). He chronicled the maintenance and everything associated to the XT250 he used.

It reads like a daily blog diary, from back to front. You have to figure out the website to start at the beginning. Great reading and pictures.

2 Ride The Globe | If Not Now, When?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Did anyone else keep up with American Flat track this year?

American Flat Track American Flat Track


Supercross is soon to start!!! Jan 5th.

219 Monster Energy Supercross TV Schedule Announced - Racer X Online

 

[LouNY]

I loved Yamaha Ventures. IMO, Yamaha could have made a real badboy full dress tourer, if they had put the NEW Vmax engine in it. The bike they made instead is a nice bike, with a big air cooled Vtwin, but the VMAX engine would have had people standing in line to get one. LOL.
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That's what I was hoping for also, along with a lot of others.
Totally disappointed in what they came out with.

 

[Rich B1]

I have been keeping up with flat track for years. So yea I kept up with AFT this past season. Helps I know some of the people involved.

Got asked to help a young rider in Ohio last summer. The plan is to go pro in 2020. Kid has some talent and has held his own with AFT riders on short track. Might even be helping an AFT team at select events in 2019.

Plus KTM is now joining the party. The first twin team announced yesterday

 

[IslandTractor]

I've had a 1968 BMW R60 (drove East to West cross country many moons ago) and a 1994 RT100 (lovely bike but no long trips sadly). My last bike is a Yamaha Super Tenere which is a knock off of the BMW GS. I drove it cross country summer of 2017 West to East.

I've liked each of the bikes and have had good luck with them. The Yamaha is a beast at over 600lbs wet and probably almost 900lbs with luggage and rider so is quite a handful at low speeds but is smooth as silk over 10mph. World's largest dirt bike. I'm not going to keep it as it really isn't a great boulevard or short hop bike due to size but it was VERY comfortable on a four week 6000 mile trip.

 

[3930dave]

My old boss (and friend). He chronicled the maintenance and everything associated to the XT250 he used.

It reads like a daily blog diary, from back to front. You have to figure out the website to start at the beginning. Great reading and pictures.

2 Ride The Globe | If Not Now, When?

At the risk of damning with faint praise, I'd sooner read a blog like that one, than watch 95% of what's on TV.....

Some very well written and photographed travelogs are on ADV and elsewhere..... sometimes just one of those gorgeous pics of a serpentine mountain road is enough to get me drooling.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

At the risk of damning with faint praise, I'd sooner read a blog like that one, than watch 95% of what's on TV.....

Some very well written and photographed travelogs are on ADV and elsewhere..... sometimes just one of those gorgeous pics of a serpentine mountain road is enough to get me drooling.....

Rgds, D.

Totally agree. Pat is a technical writer and he went some places I wouldn't have gone, then he didn't go to some places that I still wouldn't have gone. So, living vicariously here. He got his start by hosting some Polish riders that were coming through his area.


Hey Rich B1, sounds like fun. Keep us posted on how it goes. I know things can be a real roller coaster in that arena. I took my 7 year old with 2 other friends to Fort Worth to watch the races. It was a "Who's who" of motorcycling in the stands around us. Many of the old dealers, Bubba Shobert and family,,,the list went on. KTM and Husky have some really fast singles as it stands. Indian seems to have the twins "sown up". It's really sad there are not any flat tracks down here in central Texas AFAIK.

Here's a link to the Indian Street version of their twin track machine. Only it has a big engine. I would love to have one, but it would just get me a lot of tickets....

FTR 12: The Story Behind The Bike | Indian Motorcycle

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

At the risk of damning with faint praise, I'd sooner read a blog like that one, than watch 95% of what's on TV.....

Some very well written and photographed travelogs are on ADV and elsewhere..... sometimes just one of those gorgeous pics of a serpentine mountain road is enough to get me drooling.....

Rgds, D.

Totally agree. Pat is a technical writer and he went some places I wouldn't have gone, then he didn't go to some places that I still wouldn't have gone. So, living vicariously here. He got his start by hosting some Polish riders that were coming through his area.


Hey Rich B1, sounds like fun. Keep us posted on how it goes. I know things can be a real roller coaster in that arena. I took my 7 year old with 2 other friends to Fort Worth to watch the races. It was a "Who's who" of motorcycling in the stands around us. Many of the old dealers, Bubba Shobert and family,,,the list went on. KTM and Husky have some really fast singles as it stands. Indian seems to have the twins "sewn up". It's really sad there are not any flat tracks down here in central Texas AFAIK.

Here's a link to the Indian Street version of their twin track machine. Only it has a big engine. I would love to have one, but it would just get me a lot of tickets....

FTR 12: The Story Behind The Bike | Indian Motorcycle