I went with oldct to a state park that allows dirt bikes. I know I shouldn’t have taken my bike with a road setup but really wanted to see what the trails were like. It was actually pretty cool.
Some off road riding this weekend
- Thread starter Deoodles
- Start date
For what it's worth, when I went to tubeless road tires, I kept the old rims with the Trailwings left in place. The idea was to swap them for offoading. A spare set of rims with tires mounted could be handy. With just the 4 hub bolts to deal with, it's a quick swap.
I would recommend hosing-off the bike as soon as it's practical. The corrosive content of mud can be high. Also, split rims let water in, so it's worth splitting them afterward. At worst, there won't be any water inside.
I would recommend hosing-off the bike as soon as it's practical. The corrosive content of mud can be high. Also, split rims let water in, so it's worth splitting them afterward. At worst, there won't be any water inside.
Damm. I never thought about that. The bike is cleaned up and good to go. I had to repaint my chain guard. Someone’s hose is more powerful than a pressure washer. Didn’t take much more than 2 hours to recover the bike from that. I won’t do that again without a beater .
I learned about the water issue the hard way...when I replaced the rear tire. It was disappointing to find rust in the bead seats, even if it was light and only took ~5 minutes to blast the entire rim back to bare metal.
Never hurts to have a beater bike, especially if you want to thrash the machine. Doesn't take much power, for offroading, either. Still, the "ridden hard and put away wet" thing is just a waste. A little basic storage prep...mainly a quick wash & dry, drain the fuel system, rotate the crank to the compression stroke...is all it takes to keep a seldom-used bike in pretty decent condition, indefinitely. It's less work, in the long haul, than repairing the damage resulting from neglect. Not too terribly difficult to prep a nice bike for offroading, either. I improvised an engine mudguard, from an old inner tube...keeps the engine from getting muddy. You could use a small scrap of 3M stone guard, or just cover the lower ~3" of the rear wheel arch with duct tape and remove it at day's end. Beyond that, it's just a matter of not pushing the bike beyond its mechanical limits.
Things I've experienced from offroad riding:
- Sand & dry silt (really fine sand) eat chains. Any kind of liquid chain lube will pull & hold sand like a rare earth magnet. Dry film lube is a lot better. Still need to clean & re-lube the chain after a ride. Having a "beater" chain isn't a bad idea.
- Aluminum can be etched rapidly. You never really know which unpaved surfaces will contain oxidizers, usually various salts...until it's too late. Hosing-off the warpaint is a lot easier than removing oxidation scars.
- Fender undersides are nearly impossible to keep free of rust, unless coated with something.
- Split rims are water traps. It is possible to seal the rim halves using silicone, that's more hassle than I've been willing to deal with. Only way to get the inside surfaces dry, quickly, is to remove the tire.
- Clutch debris tends to accumulate a lot quicker than it does with road use and it manifests as oil discoloration. Dumping the oil (along with washing the air filter) is a good idea.
- Oil temps tend to remain low. Below 35mph, the engine doesn't have to make much power, thus it's not generating much heat. Thus, it is possible to improvise an engine guard mounted mudflap to keep the engine clean and it won't overheat from lack of airflow.
- The same gearing & shock preload settings that work well on the road...surprisingly...still work very well. The biggest difference is that you'll likely use 2nd the most, with 1st to get going from a dead dig, or the really steep stuff and 3rd as your "trail highway gear". Over most unpaved surfaces, 35mph is really moving, on a bike this size.