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went on my first real ride yesterday

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juddspaintballs
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went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by juddspaintballs »

A buddy invited me to a private course he's a member at. He's fairly new to dirt bike riding and I'm a total n00b. He has a CRF250X and I have my KLR250 with a few mods that make it better for the dirt (KLX650 USD front end, upgraded rear spring, MSR bars, hand guards, good foot pegs, knobby tires, 13T front sprocket). My KLR is far from a dirt bike still and my technique is not only terrible, I just have no clue what to do.

Within the first 5 minutes, I lost it in a U turn and threw the bike on the ground and hit my hip and shoulder hard on the ground. I even managed to tweak the forks in the triple trees. Ouch. I was wearing shoulder armor, but no hip armor.

I stalled and did general nonsense being terrible at riding on the trails. Kicking sucks! I even managed to totally blow an uphill that I had already defeated and the bike and I rolled back down the hill on our sides. That didn't hurt, but it was pretty funny.

I still had a blast. I have a completely wrong bike for the task and zero skill. Dirt riding is totally new to me. When I can afford it, I plan to purchase a CRF250X as well. In the mean time, I'm going to do a little more suspension work on the baby KLR and see if that doesn't help any. I plan on sticking with the dirt thing so I need to practice and keep doing it.

That being said, I'm shopping for more gear. I already have a Fox Titan chest/shoulder/elbow/back protector and a jersey to cover it up. I have a couple DS helmets. I have good boots. I'm shopping for riding pants and knee pads right now (whatever is cheap and fits). The place where I'm stuck looking is hip protection. I suspect a lot of guys don't wear it, but my job requires me to not have broken bones or injuries where I couldn't completely function 100% and I want to protect my hips reasonably well. Obviously nothing will save me from everything. I'm not seeing anything too great for hip armor though. There are a few under shorts that have foam padding in the hips, but they look horribly inadequate and I'd have to wear them under a pair of riding pants anyways. What about buying some good CE rated hip armor like D3O and sewing it into the riding pants I'm going to buy? That would eliminate one piece of clothing and give me better protection than what I'm seeing out there. Does anyone have thoughts on doing that?
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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by Bork »

I hear ya on the pants thing, because I have been keeping my eye out also for what you described. (kinda like the ole padded football pants) Joe Rocket has jackets but now I think you gave me an idea to search joe rocket pants to see what shows.
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juddspaintballs
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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by juddspaintballs »

I'm seriously considering sewing this hip armor into a pair of pants

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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by phoo »

I don't have hip armor, and I've gotten away with it so far (knock on wood) but I can't imagine riding without knee pads. My knee pads aren't great, but they are enough to protect my knees during my myriad falls where I try to drill my knee into the ground or rocks.

The only hip armor I've seen are like shorts for under your pants, like in hockey.


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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by phoo »

Oh, and I'm glad to hear you had fun. Dirt really punishes you for mistakes, but for me that's part of the allure.


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juddspaintballs
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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by juddspaintballs »

Here's what I wound up going with for tonight's order:

These in green because I have the matching jersey (not that I care about looks)

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These knee/shin guards

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These goggles because I know nothing about goggles

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and that D3O hip armor from above. As long as I can get that hip armor situated in the pants reasonably well, I should be all set now for gear. Now to work on getting a real dirt bike. Apparently it's not so difficult to legalize a dirt bike for the street in WV, so that's a serious consideration for replacing my KLR250, although my wife even told me that I shouldn't sell it and just keep it around for a spare for someone to borrow or if the CRF breaks down for a bit.
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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by thetable »

If you want a tagged dirt bike, better to look at the European bikes since they don't brand the title and VIN as "offroad only."
WV is actually a little harder to get one legal than VA.
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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by stretchride »

You probably didn't, but don't forget elbow pads :deal:
Sucks how much some of that stuff costs :frustrated:
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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by Laoch »

I always armor up- if I break something I can't work. :thumbup:
I wear padded "under drawers" and some of my pants have hip pads also. Really just a couple of layers of foam. I think in most cases you'd get a bruise, it's tough to actually break a hip. Of course shit happens and landing on a rock will do some damage.

Glad you had fun. Practice, practice, practice. :whoop:

On your KLR, have you dropped the CS a tooth? That may help?
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Re: went on my first real ride yesterday

Post by juddspaintballs »

The Fox Titan upper body armor incorporates chest, back, shoulder, and elbow all in one suit.

There's a thread on ADV about a guy tagging a CRF540 in WV. They do come with "off-road only" titles, but a few lights, an inspection, and a few forms and a trip to the DMV later and you can get a new title that makes it street legal. Not that I really want to run it on the street, but there are dirt trails fewer than 5 miles from home.

I dropped the CS sprocket 2 teeth, actually. Stock is 15/44 on the baby KLR and mine is at 13/44 now.
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