Posts
3091
Joined
7/18/2020
Location
UK
GB
Edited Date/Time
7/5/2022 3:32pm
I haven't gotten the chance to ride much since getting my 350, and a friend of mine gave me a shout about an off road / GNCC-ish kinda practice day coming up locally.
It's basically a 6 mile loop with a little moto section thrown in and an optional woods section and the rest seems to be an enduro / hare scramble loop, from what I can gather. Sounds like maximum seat time for good money, so reckon it's a winner?
Never done anything besides Motocross tracks before, so is there anything worth knowing / considering or vastly different? Thank you 👍
It's basically a 6 mile loop with a little moto section thrown in and an optional woods section and the rest seems to be an enduro / hare scramble loop, from what I can gather. Sounds like maximum seat time for good money, so reckon it's a winner?
Never done anything besides Motocross tracks before, so is there anything worth knowing / considering or vastly different? Thank you 👍
Stay on the pegs and steer with your weight through the trees. Grip the bike with your legs to save energy.
HAVE FUN! You will be doing more of them before you know it.
The Shop
For handguards; I run the Cycra Pro bends on all my bikes; you will have to cut the end of your throttle tube so if you plan to not keep them on permanently, you might buy a spare tube while youre ordering parts.
Water pack; I use one of Klim's water packs (if you're staying on a small loop and close to the truck, get a slimmer pack like some of the USWEs mentioned above). There are cheap ones at most sporting good stores if you don't want to spend $80+ for a 1 time thing.
Depending on the terrain, you might consider a skid plate if you don't normally run one to protect your cases.
Not sure if a spark arrestor is required in the UK, but something to consider if you don't currently have one.
Appreciate the replies and advice, thanks, not sure how it'll be but riding something different can only be a good thing, cheers 👍
I see a lot of Euro off road guys run flag hand guards!?!?
Here where we ride (Oregon) I would have had multiple broken bones/fractures in both hands without decent wrap around hand guards. I also run the Cycra Pros on my woods bike
Of course we do have limited woods loops as part of enduros / veey few practice "tracks", but public woodland to ride is non-existent here as far as I know as are OHV parks or just open public land which is legal to ride on as I see in the US on YouTube etc.
We get a few seriously short trails or dirt roads ("green lanes", "byways", etc) which are legal to ride on *BUT* only if the bike is road registered and you have insurance and all the other BS, so you can't even just pull your kids PW 50 out of the truck and let them ride without concerns of some prick calling the Police... Who won't turn up to a burglary but will damn sure turn up to take another person's bike for riding it somewhere public and out of the way.
One of the things I envy most about the US when I see someone ride 20 miles of uninterrupted trails or desert that they're allowed to be on (as they should be!), enjoy it guys and never allow the po-po, the home developers and the assholes push you out 👍
Even Salisbury, acres of public land, besides from the farming and military land, but unless you're road legal you won't last there and they'll probably recycle your bike.
If you want something that is still sturdy enough to knock down brush etc. and take a decent hit from a tree without smashing your hands then check out the SXS Burly Guards.
Pit Row
Having said that, after 35 years of riding and racing it’s never happened to me or any riding buddies. At any race (ISDE, hare scramble, CC, GP etc) that I had been in the Northwest - at least 75% of the guys are running full wrap around hand guards.
I do like the Burley SXS guards though- good comprise of both flag and wrap around.
And yes....I ride PLENTY of single track.
What is the benefit of a full wrap that a sturdy flag style doesn't provide?
I can tell you the negatives of a full wrap....dangerous, heavy and they make your bars wider.
Discounting the safety factor of they can break wrists etc. I'm going back because I notice with full wraps I have more solid contact with the trees that wants to yank the bars out of my hand where the wraps have a bit of give and they will help you glance off the trees. Trust me when I give this advise, I'm a AA tree hitter guy. haha
I had an endo with KTM flag guards and my hand hurt bad enough where it contacted the flag I am pretty sure I would have broken it with full wraps. My pinky fingers do occasionally get smashed a little, but the better I get at riding the less of an issue that seems to be.
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