Darkside and gravel riding?

New to this site but have been keeping up on the VTXOA site for some time.

Needing a new rear from my Bridgestone 200 and am looking to go to the darkside. However, where I live I have to ride at least 5 miles just to get to pavement. Mostly gravel and hardpack dirt.

Anyone have experience with this and how does the C/T stand up to ruts, valleys, etc.?


Thanks in advance,

Slade

Slade welcome to the site..... Smokey will probably be along shortly to tell you about his dirt road experiences..... Its worked good for me on the few I've been on, but I slow down when the front tire hits loose gravel... The back tire handles it a lot better than the front.....
Thanks for asking a new question.....

Jerry

More "bump steer" input...the bike naturally want's to turn to the downhill side, but it's just a feel...an input...you don't have to "let" it.

I found it much more stable at speed.

Check out my pic here:
http://lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/10/25/dragonOnGravel.html

on my bike I feel like the rear tire try's to ride up on top of the deep sand and ruts but the front tire sinks down in the lose sand and drops into the bottom of the ruts. This is just me and there are better dirt roads then the one i go down and this one is not gravel but dirt and sand (south Georgia) , mileage may very , no warranty impled , no refund without receipt, no refund after 30 min after purchase , good luck.
Horse

since i got mine on i haven't been to my house much but when i do go my drive is a loose gravel and it seems more stable

Gravel is no problem.......I love the pic posted by Daniel Meyer..hehehehe 75 mph on gravel!... I love it!

...................bobby

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Thanks for the replies, folks. I'll pull the pin on a GTT here in the next week or so. Gotta have it on in time for the Moto GP down in Indy in September and it'd be good to have some time on the tire before taking off on the road trip.

Thanks again.

Slade

Slade,

Dude, I envy you on the moto GP thing! I love it, tivo anything that comes on about AMA, SBK, GP road racing. My twin brother just loaned me Valentino Rossi's autobiography!


.....................bobby

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twin1300 wrote:Slade,

Dude, I envy you on the moto GP thing! I love it, tivo anything that comes on about AMA, SBK, GP road racing. My twin brother just loaned me Valentino Rossi's autobiography!


.....................bobby

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Yeah, I'm really looking forward to going. Already have the tickets for all 3 days. My Dad and brother are coming up from Florida and I'm riding in from Minnesota.

If you've never been to the Speedway before this would be a great excuse. Magical place.

I saw Jamie James (La. grown!) win the Supersport 600 on a Yamaha and Russel beat him on the the Superbike class with a Kawi because Jamie got a flat in the 750 class at the now defunct Texas World Speedway! It was awesome to see in person! Oh, yea! The Ducati sound you will never forget the rest of your life!......


....................twin


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I got one for you Twin. In 1985 I was newly stationed in Germany and my shop Chief was a big bike fan. We headed up to Hockenheim Race track and watched Freddy Spencer race in the German GP. It was raining it's tail off but that didn't stop them or slow them much. Freddie was, and is, still one of my bike heroes. I still have the ticket stub somewhere at the house.

DB

Poppawolf wrote:I got one for you Twin. In 1985 I was newly stationed in Germany and my shop Chief was a big bike fan. We headed up to Hockenheim Race track and watched Freddy Spencer race in the German GP. It was raining it's tail off but that didn't stop them or slow them much. Freddie was, and is, still one of my bike heroes. I still have the ticket stub somewhere at the house.

DB

Got one for you also! I seen him race flattrack on a 1/4 mile dirt bank track name Carrol's Raceway and he would slide his bike using his knee like he was road racing! (Don't forget, he's La. grown too!) That was awesome to see also! Freddie was one of a kind! Had a very unique style of road racing and it was all throttle and how he used it!

As a matter of fact here's a picture of me in the pits at the same track he raced at....... (me and my dad!)



..............bobby

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twin1300 wrote:

Poppawolf wrote:I got one for you Twin. In 1985 I was newly stationed in Germany and my shop Chief was a big bike fan. We headed up to Hockenheim Race track and watched Freddy Spencer race in the German GP. It was raining it's tail off but that didn't stop them or slow them much. Freddie was, and is, still one of my bike heroes. I still have the ticket stub somewhere at the house.

DB

Got one for you also! I seen him race flattrack on a 1/4 mile dirt bank track name Carrol's Raceway and he would slide his bike using his knee like he was road racing! (Don't forget, he's La. grown too!) That was awesome to see also! Freddie was one of a kind! Had a very unique style of road racing and it was all throttle and how he used it!

As a matter of fact here's a picture of me in the pits at the same track he raced at....... (me and my dad!)



..............bobby

.

Bobby ... that cant be you in the pic .. that dude has ribs that you an see ......... oh wait it is you, I can tell my the bad hair

See you out there
Smokey

Slade
They were right .. I have to give my input on this talk also. I ride a fair amount of gravel,dirt and grass roads. I will say that a mile and a half, rutted, dew covered grass roads at 4 am, leaving an after bars party out in the sticks, really sucks. It's a bad feeling being on your knees watching the bike slide across the grass ... Man what a night. You will find that the rear tire will tend to want to ride on the ridges where as the front will drop into the ruts, your mc tire on the rear also drops into the ruts. This will give you a wierd feeling the first few times it happens. The thing to do if you are on rutted loose stuff is to just keep the throttle steady, if you chop the throttle it will have the same type effect as a slow parking lot maneuver. On hard packed stuff like Daniel said, just dont let it do what it wants. You are in control of the machine. On loose gravel roads I keep my speed up around 50-80 depending who I am riding with and who is with me. The bike tracks better at speed. Seems like slower speeds make you want to overreact to every input from the bike. Biggest thing is just relax and let the bike do what they do and enjoy the ride.

See you out there
Smokey

no problems... even on washboarded switchbacks up Pikes Peak....

smokey2255 wrote:

twin1300 wrote:

Poppawolf wrote:I got one for you Twin. In 1985 I was newly stationed in Germany and my shop Chief was a big bike fan. We headed up to Hockenheim Race track and watched Freddy Spencer race in the German GP. It was raining it's tail off but that didn't stop them or slow them much. Freddie was, and is, still one of my bike heroes. I still have the ticket stub somewhere at the house.

DB

Got one for you also! I seen him race flattrack on a 1/4 mile dirt bank track name Carrol's Raceway and he would slide his bike using his knee like he was road racing! (Don't forget, he's La. grown too!) That was awesome to see also! Freddie was one of a kind! Had a very unique style of road racing and it was all throttle and how he used it!

As a matter of fact here's a picture of me in the pits at the same track he raced at....... (me and my dad!)



..............bobby

.

Bobby ... that cant be you in the pic .. that dude has ribs that you an see ......... oh wait it is you, I can tell my the bad hair

See you out there
Smokey

That is awsome. I sure do wish I had more pics of me and dad. The memories are still there but really hard to share.
Thanks for shareing.
Moon