Happy N00b Year!

[slacktrack]

Hi gang -

I'm new to dualsporting, and only previously owned a bike of any sort for a short period of time some 20 years ago when I lived in California. Actually bought this one as a random practice beater thinking that I'd follow it with a newer sport tourer once I got my riding legs back, but I can see now that I had the wrong target in mind.

Looking forward to learning a lot, hopefully taking a dirtbike school, and riding some beautiful countryside!

[pmullen]

Hi gang -

I'm new to dualsporting, and only previously owned a bike of any sort for a short period of time some 20 years ago when I lived in California. Actually bought this one as a random practice beater thinking that I'd follow it with a newer sport tourer once I got my riding legs back, but I can see now that I had the wrong target in mind.

Looking forward to learning a lot, hopefully taking a dirtbike school, and riding some beautiful countryside!

Welcome! and about DAMN time you got here too! So, what bike do you have and in what part of the DAMN area do you live?

[slacktrack]

[Welcome! and about DAMN time you got here too! So, what bike do you have and in what part of the DAMN area do you live?

Thanks Ken! Shoot, I guess I forgot to include that stuff in my intro. Checking in from Darnestown, that notorious speedtrap hamlet along MD 28 in south-central Montgomery County. No, I didn't ask for all that photo radar crap to be installed.

The old NX650 is my only bike at the moment; I spend more of my time playing with cars. Just got her back into roadworthy condition, so 2009 will be the year of budget farkling, starting with cold-weather gear. I also have a pretty bad case of ATGATT, so expect plenty of questions looking for gear advice.

[Bucho]

NX650? is that a V-twin? same engine as a Honda Hawk?

Please feel free to vandalize the local speed camera. I hear tossing an old tire over it, dousing w/ gasoline and match does the trick. I've been hit a couple times by those bugger things. Though once I was saved by the amount of dirt on my license plate!

[Bucho]

Re-entry rider after 20 years, never really ridden dirt before.
Hey Ken, doesn't that sound familiar? Why don't you introduce him to what "slightly muddy and a little rocky..." means.

[slacktrack]

NX650? is that a V-twin? same engine as a Honda Hawk?

Negative, the engine is the RFVC air-cooled single (644cc) that later powered the XR650L. Dry sump lubrication, and a low-compression design that'll digest crap-grade fuel anywhere in the world.

The bike itself was short-lived in the US ('88-89), but the second gen was popular overseas until Honda pulled the plug around '02. It was probably intended to be Honda's competition for the KLR, except with somewhat more power, marginally more suspension travel, and similar weight. But it was a sales bomb, so first-gen accessories are close to nonexistent. I picked this one up just a couple of years ago from a friend who was leaving the country.

[pmullen]

Re-entry rider after 20 years, never really ridden dirt before.
Hey Ken, doesn't that sound familiar? Why don't you introduce him to what "slightly muddy and a little rocky..." means.

Good idea! I should be a mandatory part of the DAMN initiation.

First we have to check his rear tire and make sure it doesn't have too much tread!

slacktrack - we need to do an early spring ride at Green Ridge State Forest, the almost official DAMN riding place...

[motojunky]

NX650? is that a V-twin? same engine as a Honda Hawk?

Negative, the engine is the RFVC air-cooled single (644cc) that later powered the XR650L. Dry sump lubrication, and a low-compression design that'll digest crap-grade fuel anywhere in the world.

The bike itself was short-lived in the US ('88-89), but the second gen was popular overseas until Honda pulled the plug around '02. It was probably intended to be Honda's competition for the KLR, except with somewhat more power, marginally more suspension travel, and similar weight. But it was a sales bomb, so first-gen accessories are close to nonexistent. I picked this one up just a couple of years ago from a friend who was leaving the country.

I love the NX. My wife had a NX250 for a while and it was a really neat little bike. The NX650 is on my (informal) list of "someday bikes."

Welcome!

[slacktrack]

Thanks, Craig!

"Green Ridge"...you mean that place where I accidentally got lost last week after dark?

Oldtown Orleans Rd just looks like any other mountain road to Google Maps, so I turn from MD 51 onto Purslane Rd, and already the brain is thinking "crap, this looks like some guy's driveway". Somewhat later, after taking a few exciting wrong turns and noting the general lack of houses, I end up back on MD 51 at David Thomas Rd. It wasn't until I snagged a C&O brochure in Paw Paw that I realized there was an entire State Forest that didn't show up on the Goog!

Yeah, we definitely need to revisit during warmer daylight hours. Maybe with a GPS. Just wait for me to catch up, 'kay?