SETEX 200

[Hail]

We did this on Presidents’ Day. Skipped some of the southern portion just to get back home at a decent hour.

 

[Rydah]

Guess I just missed you guys; I was out there the next day:

Feb 2023 ET200 Ride

I hadn't been on the dirt bike in many months, so decided to take it out for a short run in good ol' East Texas yesterday. Here's a collage of clips for ya:

www.twtex.com

It's a fun ride, close by, and good therapy when you just need some dirt

 

[Struggle]

Guess I just missed you guys; I was out there the next day:

Feb 2023 ET200 Ride

I hadn't been on the dirt bike in many months, so decided to take it out for a short run in good ol' East Texas yesterday. Here's a collage of clips for ya:

www.twtex.com

It's a fun ride, close by, and good therapy when you just need some dirt

It’s hard to beat for sure.

I ride the lower 100 miles often. Made a shortened version.

I can leave my house and be on the route in 10 mins

 

[Irishcoffee]

It was cold for the start of the ride. I have decent gear, but the tips of my fingers were not very happy with me. Maybe I need some gloves with just heated fingertips...

About 60 miles into the ride there was a slab section, and the track tried to take us on a short fire cut that had no trail and a 'no motorized vehicles' sign. I was leading and decided to backtrack a few hundred yards to the dirt road we had just passed. As I was turning off the slab the front wallowed and I was pretty sure it was time for an unscheduled stop.

I'm not above laying the bike over to pull a wheel, but My6 had the great idea of using a downed log as a stand.

The axle was sticky, but it came out. The old tube was removed easily. The valve stem was no longer attached to the tube. A patch won't fix that, so I pulled out the spare tube. I probably didn't put enough air in the tube when I was installing the tire and I must have pinched it, but didn't realize it until the tire was back on the bike and had dropped pressure. I sure liked that battery powered pump that gottapickurline shared, was about to get a workout!

The tire came back off and I pulled the tube and found the pinhole leaks. My first attempt at a patch peeled off the tube as I was putting it in the tire, but the second held. It dropped a few psi between filling the tire and mounting the tire, but it stabilized, and ***, let's ride.

I kept an eye out for muffintop, but it held and we rode on. 14psi is about perfect in my book.

We passed two other riders at 90 miles. We saw them again when we were getting gas and again as we were finishing lunch.

105 miles was gas, 120 miles was lunch.

After lunch David had issues with his lighting, so he stayed in the middle and Scott and I swapped out leading.

The ride ended at 202 miles back in Koontz, with a 45mph moving average.

Good times.

Take note of the sticky axle thing folks. We pure dirt riders learned soon after disc brakes became available that another maintenance issue came up. Unless you frequentlly remove the wheels the water, dirt etc will cause corrosion on the axle. Not a good thing to find when a flat is encountered deep in the woods and the axle won't budge. If it has been a while, I suggest removing your axle's and give it a good greasing. It needs it.

 

[RollingJ]

Weird thing is, I had changed over to my dual sport set of wheels the previous day and had no issues removing or installing the axles.

I leave my axles dry because I've found they stick worse when greased, but I change wheels about every other ride. Go figure.

Knowing your machine is important, and so is knowing what to do when the unexpected comes up, because it will.

 

[DIYAdvtx]

So parts of this look sandy but how big bike friendly is this? Don't the COBDR on my R1250GS so I am not saying I am an expert but I feel like it shouldn't be harder than that.

 

[Rydah]

Unless you are pretty much a beginer, it's big bike friendly. Not lot's of deep sand sections on the ET200, more on the ET500, but if you time it for a couple days after a bit of rain, the sand is packed just right for some fun "carving". Your bigger concern is mud. If it's rained for several days, or poured hard for a couple, that clay soil can be slicker than snail snot. Timing is everything.

 

[Struggle]

It’s big bike friendly. But there’s some
Sand for sure. I just rode the east side Sunday and there were some deep ruts. Made it interesting to say the least lol.

Overall the ride is easy and fun. We often do it in around 6-7 hours including stopping in colmesneil for lunch.

 

[Struggle]

Planning to do this again with a little group Saturday the 27th

Leaving from Valero in Kountz at 8:30ish riding clockwise eating in Colmesneil.

 

[Rydah]

Got a date conflict on this one:

End of Month Ride (Southern Style)

It's crawfish season, so the March, Southern Style EOM ride will be held at the Crawfish Place in Anahuac, Texas. https://maps.app.goo.gl/WE1jndJJ7CTHt79n7 It will be held on Saturday, 30th around 1130... ish! As usual, please reply here so we can be courteous and give them a head count. See...

www.twtex.com

 

[Struggle]

That’s Outta most of our riding area from SETX for local day rides

 

[_RG_]

I'm sure ya'll are watching this rain and pondering the ride. It can be done BUT, it'll be a struggle. There will be some lowland stretches that'll take a lot of time to get through and your mud skills will be used like probably never before. I rode this one a couple of years ago under similar conditions. There were bike tracks most of the route from a couple of twt riders who came through the day before me so it's doable by we mere mortals. Fwiw...pick a better time to ride unless you are looking for a pretty good challenge.

 

[Struggle]

I'm sure ya'll are watching this rain and pondering the ride. It can be done BUT, it'll be a struggle. There will be some lowland stretches that'll take a lot of time to get through and your mud skills will be used like probably never before. I rode this one a couple of years ago under similar conditions. There were bike tracks most of the route from a couple of twt riders who came through the day before me so it's doable by we mere mortals. Fwiw...pick a better time to ride unless you are looking for a pretty good challenge.

If it stops raining Wednesday evening it will be perfect.

The north side out of Chester to colmesneil has two routes, north and south, take the north route as it’s dry the south is always wet.

Maybe a little wet stuff in Darden road and Red Hollow run north of 190

Gore store road is now paved, that spot used to be really muddy or really sandy. The only spot there may be some mud is fire tower road north of 418.



I live 10 mins from the “start” I ride these roads literally all the time.


But whats wrong with a little challenge anyway? Riding hard pack the whole way is boring.

 

[Irishcoffee]

If it stops raining Wednesday evening it will be perfect.

The north side out of Chester to colmesneil has two routes, north and south, take the north route as it’s dry the south is always wet.

Maybe a little wet stuff in Darden road and Red Hollow run north of 190

Gore store road is now paved, that spot used to be really muddy or really sandy. The only spot there may be some mud is fire tower road north of 418.



I live 10 mins from the “start” I ride these roads literally all the time.


But whats wrong with a little challenge anyway? Riding hard pack the whole way is boring.

What bike and tires are you using?

 

[Struggle]

What bike and tires are you using?

Me personally? A CRF450RL with Motoz

My dad rides with me all the time on a ktm 890
With motoz

Brother with klr650 dsport

A T7 with Motoz, multiple other bikes.

I live in Lumberton and ride these roads weekly

 

[hctr154]

We got more rain here in Conroe last night. Probably going to be a muddy ride to say the least.

 

[_RG_]

It'd probably be exciting but not so much on the fun factor.

 

[Rydah]

Ugh! I don't like mud, especially East Texas mud. Slicker than snot, and it stains too!

 

[PP186515]

How was the ride?

 

[Struggle]

Ride was awesome. Yeah there was some mud up north of Livingston through the Red Hollow area as expected. But nothing that was impassable