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Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:37 pm
by Rut Row
thetable wrote:Now, if your budget allows, buy a trials bike, learn to ride it well. After that, any off-road oriented bike will be much easier to master.
ya, I so regret not learning trials first. I might have saved myself from a concussion and a really massive hematoma.

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 12:35 am
by thetable
Did you say kids? Trials bikes all around! I'm not really sure how you could go lower risk factor on a motorcycle than with a trials bike. It's not without risk, but it's much lower risk.

There are some off-road only places available around here, but really not much where you could do a multi-day, camping off the bike trip. The closest place I can think of would be the Hatfield McCoy trails in southern WV.

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:14 am
by BoltAction
So now you've got me buying trials bikes for the kids too? That may be low risk out in the dirt, but at home, my wife would be furious (since the kids aren't even in school yet, so I'd be in SO much trouble). :)

I'm getting the picture that grand camping trips might not be as much of a possibility out in our area. I'll look into Hatfield McCoy in WV. What are some good off-road areas where I could at least get a good day of practice/fun riding in? I've heard that there are Forest Service roads in the GW National Forest that are open to bikes. Anyone ridden out there?

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:22 am
by Stinson
Dentvet is selling this. I saw it over the weekend. Its really clean for its age. Located in NOVA.



"99 SE with 2500 miles, runs like a sewing machine! $2300"
Image

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 12:17 pm
by stretchride
Welcome, there may be more riding relatively close to you than you think, including multi-day camping type routes such as the "Blue Ridge Trail (BRT)" detailed here:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=632804

Theres also a great ride report on here a while back from skinny-j, bigbird, etc, about a multi-day ride in that area.

I also hope to do a TAT run in the future. There are numerous cool ride reports about the TAT and anywhere else you could imagine on advrider.com if you weren't already aware. Tons of great preparation info, gear info, and comparisons of bikes making the trip. Beware that reading some of the good ones with the beautiful pics will really get you charged up to do it. :pyndn:

Seems like lots of good bikes for sale right now and with fall almost here and winter coming there's more to come. I think that when you are interested in multiple styles of riding, there is no perfect do-it-all bike, which partly explains why so many guys have multiple bikes. There's always compromises. If it was me, I'd get something capable of making that trip if that's your goal rather than an off-road only bike. Keeping the wife on board will be tougher if you start talking 2nd bike or upgrading soon after buying your first :rant: . Whatever you get make sure to get plenty of seat time in on it in varying terrain. Sure the TAT's mostly gravel roads I guess, but it sounds like there's plenty of knarly portions too. :whoop:

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 2:38 pm
by BoltAction
Thanks stretchride! I hadn't heard of that trail before, and it looks like exactly what I was hoping to find!! I've read a number of people talking about the need for a second bike in order to fully enjoy all the different terrain types/possibilities. As if dual sport is a gateway drug into other types of biking...

Hey, I also see you are a Honda XR650L owner. A buddy of mine who rides says that is a bike that I might ultimately want to consider once I get more experience and can handle a bigger bike (he's also trying to talk me into buying a KTM, but I think his idea of a reasonable budget varies significantly from mine). What do you think of the Honda?

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 7:22 pm
by Granville
Much good advise in here. Your first question, is do you want a dirt bike that can be ridden on the street or a street bike that can be ridden on the dirt? From your 90%/10% off-road desire, it sounds like you want a dirt bike that is street legal. They are out there , but tend to be mostly larger 4-strokes and are not the best units for a newbie to learn how to rail a turn. My 2-cents is get a dirt bike that is light weight, has performance capabilities that will never bore you and is street legal. Big Bird and Bucho already mentioned one particular bike. I got that same model bike for my 15-year old son. That was a year ago and he is now capable of keeping-up with many experience wood riders.

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:26 pm
by BoltAction
Thanks Granville!

I have definitely drank the Kool-Aid on lighter being better. My only concern is whether the smaller bikes have the ability to carry a load of camping gear (i.e whether they have mounting points for racks on the subframes, or the ability to carry an extra 50 lbs of weight). Are they built to travel with a load, or just to be "fun" bikes that can be ridden to off-road trails and then home again?

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:05 pm
by Granville
BoltAction wrote:Thanks Granville!

I have definitely drank the Kool-Aid on lighter being better. My only concern is whether the smaller bikes have the ability to carry a load of camping gear (i.e whether they have mounting points for racks on the subframes, or the ability to carry an extra 50 lbs of weight). Are they built to travel with a load, or just to be "fun" bikes that can be ridden to off-road trails and then home again?
The lighter bikes will be much better for a beginner to learn on. Particularly from a safety perspective. Once you understand how to ride that 90% off-road stuff, then you will be in a knowledge position to select the next bike that can carry the extra 50 lbs. Like others have said, there is no one bike that is going to "it" all well. As a beginner that wants to ride off-road, you really need to match your first bike to your present skill level, not your long-term expectation of going cross county. Getting a bike that is too powerful and too heavy is not only not fun to ride, but more importantly too dangerous.

You may want to get educate yourself on 2-stroke vs 4-stroke. This forum has some of the best riders and most knowledge people you will find.

Re: New Guy - Leesburg, VA

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:25 pm
by Rut Row
to put things in perspective, one of our DAMN Riders rode a 250 all the way to Alaska dua-sporting the whole way.