SMART Adventures and Off Road Performance Dirtbikes

 Over the long weekend I got out to SMART Adventures again for my yearly knobbly tire exercise. If you've read TMD you'll know I've tried to off road in South Western Ontario, but got stick for riding on hydro cuts and farmland and generally got nimbied right out of dual sport ownership. SMART is my release valve while thinking of ways to escape living in the one part of Canada that doesn't make off road riding easy.

If I lived anywhere else I'd have picked up the DR650 I found on a farm a couple of years ago and that would be my dedicated off road machine. My neighbor picked up a new Tenere 700 and I've long had my eye on Honda's CRF300 Rally - both of those would do the trick, though after this weekend I'm thinking a dirt focused specialist might be the way. 

Last year's SMART was an apex experience for both Max and I as we got advanced individual instruction on the off road vehicles of our choice, I even got to ride an electric machine! This year we'd planned to meet with friends at Horseshoe Resort and that gave us a discount opportunity with SMART, so I signed everyone up for the busy Saturday afternoon on the long weekend.

I initially went out on the Kawasaki I rode last year, but the gear shifter had been banged about by a previous rider and it wouldn't go into gear, so I got to switch to a Yamaha WR250F with upside down forks, high compression and proper brakes. I'd never been bothered with any of that and always thought a trail focused machine would be what I'd get as a pure dirt bike, but this Yamaha changed my mind.

Unlike the 230 I started off on or the Honda and Kawasaki 250s I rode last time, the Yamaha demands more but rewards you for it. If you can appreciate the difference between an appliance car and a sports car you can understand the difference here too. Those upside down shocks will get you across pretty much everything with incredible feel, and the brakes are precision tools, but it was the engine that took me to my next level, and eventually let me slip the surly bonds of earth and fly (!).

Trail bikes tend to be tuned for torque low down without worrying about stalling. This higher compression motor needs more revs, but when it comes on song (the exhaust snarls when you get there), it'll pull you up any hill or over any obstacle. If you're riding over whoops, it'll get both wheels off the ground too.

This turned out to be just the bike I needed just as I needed it because I probably wasn't skilled enough to appreciate it before now.  SMART put me with Adam, the brother of my instructor from last year, who did a great job of testing my limits without overwhelming me. We covered a lot of miles through the fall woods. That's a SMART hack: if you know what you're doing say you're 'expert' on the intake form. If gets you out of the kids-who-think-they-can catagory and lets you focus on improving your craft, usually one-on-one with an instructor.

The Kwak wasn't up for it, but that gave me a chance to explore the competition ready Yamaha...

Passed these guys while out on the trail - that's the dream setup.

Adam and I got deep into the forest - he's the red smudge down the trail that I'm keeping up with (because he kepts slowing to check on me). Every 10-15 minutes we'd stop and talk about technique, and then go exercise the talk.

Everyone had a good day out. The girls got out in a side by side and discovered that off roading in one of these is well within their skillsets and not at all uncomfortable. The only complaint came from Max who wanted a more extreme ATV experience as he's now expert in that. Next time he'll be sure to stress that he wants to be in the advanced group.

That Yam is the bomb! It's on my wishlist now.

Ready For The Off: off-roading by bike and Jeep

A tread lightly off road system that would let us explore places off the beaten path:

Wrangler 4xe hybrid Jeep

This crazy thing gets almost 50mpg!  It also has good towing capacity and legendary off road ability.  We had one as a rental last year and they are versatile, overengineered and astonishing off road.

$58k

Tuff Stuff Alpha Roof Mounted Tent

Only take a couple of minutes to pop up, has cool things like integral LED lighting and folds into a solid roof mounted case that keeps it safe and aerodynamic on the move.

It only weighs 176lbs (so as much as a passenger), but makes you entirely capable of pulling up and stopping in a pretty spot and making it home.  In COVID world being able to stop in an empty bit of nature is the key to being to travel anywhere at all.

In something as versatile as the Wrangler there are few places you couldn't get to before making it home for the night.

$2500USD  ($3125CAD)

CRF250F Honda Off Road Specialist

Super light at 120kg (265lbs) the CRF250F is a light weight dirtbike that is so light that we could hang two off the back bumper and still come in under the dual carrier weight limit.

$5650 x 2

Two CRF250Fs weigh in at 530lbs fully fueled.  With no fuel in them they'd be a full hundred pounds under the 600lb weight limit on the Black Widow Aluminum Double Motorcycle Carrier, which means we'd just be a Jeep without a trailer.

$330USD ($415CAD)

But now I'm thinking the Wrangler doesn't have the tongue weight requirements to handle two bikes.

The Jeep Gladiator could do it, but it doesn't come with the 4xe option (yet!).  A top of the line Gladiator comes in just under sixty-grand.  While it doesn't offer 4xe yet, it would mean no trailer towing.  I wonder if a Gladiator would be more efficient than a Wrangler 4xe towing a trailer.  With bikes in the bed this'd do it without the extras.

$59,908

Stand-Up™ Dirt Bike Trailer, Sport Bike &
Scooter Trailer

If I have to trailer then this'd be the one to go with.  It folds up and stands up to take up less space when not in use, comes with all the holders you need and is a well built thing that would work as a bike hauler.  With this I'm back to the Wrangler 4xe to move the bikes around when needed.

$3,099.00USD  $3900CAD

Where am I at with a super fuel-efficient off road and bike logistics system?

Wrangler 4xe  $58,000

Trailer             $3900

CRF250F x2   $11300

Roof Tent        $3125

                        -----------

                        $76,325

... which is about the price of a mid-sized BMW SUV (X5)  Seems like a lot of bang for the buck when you look at it that way.  Uses way less gasoline too.

No more begging for time at the family cottage - we could just be out there, COVID or not.

Green Laning

Public by-ways: It's a thing in the
UK, not so much here.

Green laning is a big thing where I'm from, but in Canada in 2015 most of the crown land around here has been sold off to pay off the debts of investment bankers.  With all the land hereabouts private it's not easy to take an off-road bike on a trail.

"As a military training area, Salisbury Plain is a unique
environment that has to be shared by both military and
civilians alike" - ha! Can you imagine that in Canada?

I got the KLX to trail ride.  I'm not interested in 'catching air' or riding like an MX loonie.  If I'm getting to places most people don't and practising my bike balance, I'm happy.  The point of the exercise is learning better bike control, being off road lets me do that.  If I have any interest beyond trail riding it's in trials, which is also hyper-focused on bike control and balance.

Today I took the KLX out for an hour or so, looking for trails.  Dirt roads start less than a kilometre from our sub-division, so I went there first.  I went south on Sideroad 6 North for about 5kms before hanging a right, crossing back over the regional road and then cutting off onto Sideroad 14.  From there I found a nice cut along a hydro line.  Another five minute stint on pavement found me at another off road trail which took me back north of Elora.  I ended the trip following the Grand River looking for off-road opportunities (there weren't any), though Pilkington Overlook was pretty.

Riding off road is an interesting process.  The massive suspension travel and knobbies on the KLX makes it amazingly sure-footed.  On the gravel roads I made a point of crossing back and forth over the centre line through the deep stuff, letting the bike wobble and find a track.  Even when I got onto the rougher stuff I still found the bike remarkably composed and had no trouble navigating ruts, mud puddles and deep grass.

I'm looking forward to getting deeper into the brush!

Just outside of Ponsonby

North off Side Road 14, a lovely little trail.

North of Sideroad 10 it's blocked off due to an electrical transfer station

2 Line East leads to the Elora Gorge Park entrance - it's a nice little bit of gravel

Pilkington Lookout
 

If anyone else lives north of Guelph and knows of any good spots to trail ride, please let me know!

Dirt or Adventure?

I was out in the woods this past Canadian Thanksgiving and couldn't help but look at the mad logging roads we'd travelled down and wonder what they'd be like on two wheels.  I'm also considering a starter off-road bike for my son, so having something I could ride along with him would be awesome.

I've actually ridden into the cottage on the Ninja.  It was surprisingly surefooted on the winding gravel lanes, but with a capable dual purpose bike I could head off the roads and onto the trails and not be terrified about dropping it.

I'd initially focused on the KLR650 as a dual sport, off road capable two wheeler, but if off-roading is going to be a major part of what this bike is purchased for then weight is a key factor.  The Suzuki DRZ-400S is over 100lbs lighter while offering a better power to weight ratio.  It's a smaller machine and $500 more expensive, though I don't find smaller necessarily worse since I'm an Austin Vince fan.  With no fairing whatsoever it'll be all wind while riding whereas the larger KLR would cover road speeds better, though no fairings means less broken plastic when it's dropped.  Both machines have off-road sized tall seats and feel well sized for me.  After seeing a DRZ last summer I was surprised at how much presence it had, it's a mighty fine looking machine.

Both are single cylinder, simple machines, but you get the sense that the Suzuki has been updated more often whereas the KLR proudly wears its 20 year old tech on its sleeve.  The DRZ also dresses as a supermoto street bike and has a plethora of go-faster kit.  KLR extras seem to revolve around repairing basic engineering issues with this old design.

I guess a choice between the two would come down to what the bike would be used for.  If covering distances in more of an adventure bike way is the goal, the KLR is a first step into that world.  If I'm looking for an off-road machine that'll carry you to those places, then the DRZ seems a better choice.

Two very different approaches to riding off the pavement.