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woodsguy

woodsguy

Ride Red
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Aug 15, 2006
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Huntsville
First Name
Rob
Last Name
Vaughan
Saw this BMW Sertao at SHNF Saturday. Riding or attempting to ride the trails. Big bike for that. Dropped it 12 times. Lol, it WAS a new bike when he started. Nice guy too.
Invited him to join this site!
 

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I still want to take my Tiger down an easier trail. Like the cut-over from 208 to 215. Was thinking about throwing that in to the Cheeseburger loop.
 
Was that the trail we worked on? Might be doable with a little moisture. Deep sand would be challenging. Couple of tight spots if I remember right. Even this trail would be a challenge. Imo But I might be game.
 
The problem for me would be getting in over my head and getting the bike turned around in the forest.
 
woodsguy said:
Was that the trail we worked on? Might be doable with a little moisture. Deep sand would be challenging. Couple of tight spots if I remember right. Even this trail would be a challenge. Imo But I might be game.
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I did 12 miles of deep sand on the Tiger near Llano. Of course it was a straight line and you could easily keep it above 40mph. I don't really have a point. ;)
 
40 in deep sand and I'd be in deep ####.lol It helps your 30years younger, and braver. We'll try it.
 
Speed is your friend in sand. The bike planes out on top instead of sinking in. Sounds all wrong, but once you feel one lift out and go straight you will be hooked.

Three of us 'older gentlemen' on slower bikes ( a KLR, a DR350 and an XR250) caught up to the 'fast group' at a long deep loose stretch of one of the early east TX dual sport rides. The fast guys on the fast bikes were fighting the sand, dropping bikes, and getting tired out. They pulled over to the side and waved us on, so we cranked up to 40ish and plowed straight through half a mile of sand and silt. The fast guys caught up again that night at camp in Louisiana.
 
ed29 said:
Speed is your friend in sand. The bike planes out on top instead of sinking in. Sounds all wrong, but once you feel one lift out and go straight you will be hooked.

Three of us 'older gentlemen' on slower bikes ( a KLR, a DR350 and an XR250) caught up to the 'fast group' at a long deep loose stretch of one of the early east TX dual sport rides. The fast guys on the fast bikes were fighting the sand, dropping bikes, and getting tired out. They pulled over to the side and waved us on, so we cranked up to 40ish and plowed straight through half a mile of sand and silt. The fast guys caught up again that night at camp in Louisiana.
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I remember that day well.:rider:
 
Correct! Sand is no big deal. Downshift to get rpm up before hitting it, keep weight well back, throttle well open, and don't slow down for anything. Even Tdub breezed the sand on the first ride to commie ride in East Texas as long as she was able to get up to speed before hitting the sand itself. Though with her fat tires she had no problems poking around in 1st, either.
 
Yes, sand on big bikes is easy as long as it's open and fast, like canyon washes and roads, but at SHNF trails where the sand is deep and fine in turns that are tight and slow (comparatively), it's a different technique altogether to keep the bike from plowing and folding... then there's the whoops... man I miss that place.
 
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We have silt on stretches in the desert that are curvy, so speed is not an option. Peg surfing the Versys when I had it, the GS now and the smaller bikes works. By peg surfing I mean steering by balance and using the bars mainly to keep the front pointed in the direction that weight shifting and controlled sliding of the back makes the bike go.

The much touted "scoot back and pin it" is not quite right though. Forward drive helps keep control, but a wide open throttle is asking for a wreck I think.

Having said that, taking big bikes where real dirt bike should go might not be the best plan. I might have personally proven this at least once. :trust:
 
On my one and only trip to SHNF, I trucked my DR350 there and while unloading it a guy walked by looked at my bike and said "so what are you going to do see how many blinkers you can knock off"? I had no idea what he was talking about, but soon found out as I entered the trail. And yes, I broke one blinker.
 
cdc1 said:
On my one and only trip to SHNF, I trucked my DR350 there and while unloading it a guy walked by looked at my bike and said "so what are you going to do see how many blinkers you can knock off"? I had no idea what he was talking about, but soon found out as I entered the trail. And yes, I broke one blinker.
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SHNF is where I first started trail riding back in the 90's, on a KLR600 (actually briefly on a KZ400 street bike, but I don't count that)... it is the reason that still don't run signals on any of my bikes to this day :-D (even street, lol). It is also the reason that sand riding has always been one of my strengths... :thumb:
 
I made the attempt at east side trails on my F800GS, high pucker factor as speed is the only thing that helps in the sand, bravo to the Sertao for roughing it out.
 
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