Dirt ride first impressions??

[kyle01]

I thought maybe someone else would chime in. As mentioned in another post of mine- I put just over 100 miles on today in the dirt (and gravel, rocks and sand) and had a few realizations/questions/requests/etc.

First- I'd complained earlier about a miss off idle. I filled the tank at the start of my ride and that seems to be gone- and the bike seems much more powerful. That's good!

Second- Its way easy to ride this bike fast on gravel/fire roads. Keep the tach at around 5k and it really responds well to throttle inputs. I found myself steering with the rear nearly as much as the front!

Third- Dont go near mud with these tires. Just don't. No surprise there. They were pretty good on everything else I rode on.

Fourth- When you drop it, it's heavy to pick up.

Fifth- The kickstand interferes with my left boot. Is it just me? My feet aren't big. Sz 10 (Gaerne adventure-g) I can deal with it. It also clunks around when hitting washboard or fast whoops.

Sixth- I stand a lot (on the bike) When standing the rear brake is super hard to use.

Those are the finer points I guess. I had a blast, the bike was really manageable and I'm not feeling too beat up after a full day of riding. Granted, nothing too technical but on the more technical sections I felt like it carried its weight well and the fueling is really smooth- making picking lines on rutted/rocky trails really easy.

Adventure, Wisconsin style...

 

[Thumpa]

Great stuff! Thanks for getting this thread going, and yes indeedee i can also contest the same dilema concerning the rear brake. particularly when standing. Something i just wasn't comfortable doing. Partly due to the fact i just couldn't 'feel' what was going on back there. But more so the fact the standing over ride height of the stock risers don't come anything close for anything but level ground and even then i feel all bunched up. On descents i had to do this weird knee bent suatting thingy that was quite out of order. Suffice to say most of my 200 or so miles i spent off road was in the saddle.
Overall the bikes really got a whole lot going for it within reasonable limitations of terrain. But it feels very dirt worthy despite size and weight, neither factors that bothered me for the better part. Until i stacked it a couple of times in snow and indeed it's when the centre of gravity takes over this reality comes full circle. But i'd go so far as to say with some real dirt worthy tires it would be quite different. Between the gear ratio and power delivery it really doesn't waste a whole bunch of time spinning the rear end. Providing there's sufficient bite to hook up, it just wants to dig in!
Admittedly on my 3 day jaunt i was battling an awkward top heavy sensation. Which post ride inspection during clean off revealed the radiator has displaced from the lower left side frame lug and the mount bracket now resting against the outside of the lug seems to of pushed the rad into the fender. So the friction would obviously leave me with a very strange sensation at the cockpit simulating a top heavy awkwardness. That coupled with the Sahara up front was really bad news in many conditions other than really dry pack. Front wanted to wash under the slightest irregularity and throw water on that berm and it was plain scary! Admittedly i was a long way from home with no means of re inflating the boots. So a compromise in many ways. But all this considered it was easy to see beyond these limitations to the greater potential of this bike. With 2K on the clock mine still has the odd flutter/hiccup stall thingy.
Hard to find the right balance in suspension for both street and dirt. Though the stock certainly leaves room for improvement, it's actually pretty fair all things considered. Just a fantastic all rounder really!

 

[kyle01]

I read your review as soon as you posted it and was curious about the top-heavy issue. I gotta tell ya, I didn't notice...we can completely agree on the saharas, they are a good on/off road compromise and did a good job for me in dry conditions. Once I grew accustomed to its tendency to plow the front, I adjusted (oddly enough, I felt most comfortable standing where I could shift my weight around) I probably stood for 90% of the time... And even felt that the seat would be much better a few inches taller (basically a more moto seat). Sitting down put my knees too high (good on road position though) but offered little leverage to my legs. Going from seated to standing over and over started to put the hurt on my knees because it was such a long way down to the seat. A lot of the time I had myself pitched pretty far forward while standing. This was my optimum spot for 60mph gravel road ripping. Weighting the front seemed to aid with the limited traction and unloading the rear let me spin it at will which kept me pointed in the right direction nicely.

I gotta remind myself that this thing isn't a dirt bike- that it would have happily motored the 135mi home after spending the whole day getting the snot beat out of it in the dirt. Makes things like my few complaints seem pretty insignificant.

 

[FabOneUp]

Terra is a blast in the dirt! But for me, some things are going to be changed. Of course the first thing is the need for the bash guard as we all know.

The Sahara's are going to have to go in the attic and come out some other day when a 5000 mile ride comes up and I need a good set of tires to burn up. Ordered Dunlop D908's today. The Sahara's are great tires, just not for my neighborhood.

The kick stand tried to pop back up several times when I put it down. I had to be extremely careful before I leaned the bike on it. This almost caused my first lay down. Haven't studied it yet, but it should be a simple to fix.

I do not have any stumbling or stalling issues and the bike felt stronger every time I leaned on the throttle. I know you all said the bike is strong and pulls well, but I really had no idea it could be this good from a 650 thumper! Can't wait to ride with my DR and KLR buddies. I use to pull ahead of them slowly on my '07 GS 650 on the open roads, but this thing is gonna kill em!

I am only 5'7" and the bars are still to low while standing. Going to have to put on some risers. Most likely another 1.5 inches. I took the foot peg isolators off when I got home, so this issue may be fixed and I just don't know it yet.

Suspension still has to break in before I can say too much about it. I am thinking it will be fine. I did some rock riding and the front soaked them up good enough, but the back could be adjusted a couple notches. Taking my wife out for a ride tomorrow so we will wait on that. I am 160 lbs. and there will be 285 lbs. on the bike total with her on too. I'll let you know how that goes.

Brakes are fantastic! Maybe the low pedal thing will be addressed, but not sure.

Steering has a small turning radius and feels light in motion. I was able to turn the bike around with very limited space. The bike handles extremely well on and off road. I know this is a dirt post, but what an awesome street bike too!

I can't even express how happy I am with this bike! It will mostly be ridden on the dirt for long distances and overnighters, so I would say this is the perfect bike for me.

 

[kyle01]

Forgot to complain about the kickstand... Fixed it already. Angle grinder to take a little shave off of the kickstand stop. This allows it to pivot forward a little bit more. That's all it took. Man, I'd be curious to see how it does with some more serious tires...

 

[FabOneUp]

Forgot to complain about the kickstand... Fixed it already. Angle grinder to take a little shave off of the kickstand stop. This allows it to pivot forward a little bit more. That's all it took. Man, I'd be curious to see how it does with some more serious tires...

Nice! Now that is an easy fix.

 

[Robert Day]

Took mine off road for the first time and here is what I found.

1. Bars to low. New bars or risers are in order.
2. My foot hits the kickstand mount when standing. No real fix for that. I guess I will just have to get used to it.
3. Suspension is way to soft. I have not touched the Preload or Rebound settings, however I promtly bottomed it out on a small wash out. I will play with suspension settings and maybe re-spring it when Race Tech or someone else has springs available. Not going offroad again until I get a skidplate.

I think once I complete some setup it should be ok offroad. On the road it is a blast. Kind of a hooligan bike.

 

[Kenneth Webb]

Suspension is way to soft.

I'm surprised! Suspension feels very stiff to me but I have yet to hammer it on a really rough road. I weigh 190 or so and have the rear pre-load on full soft; 2" of sag, so it's almost right there. Static sag is almost zero. Front suspension is very stiff and almost no sag, either static or rider. There does not appear to be a quick fix for that, and LTR advises that he won't know for sure until he pulls one apart, but doesn't think there is much to do with the non-adjustable forks. The fork uppers are the same as on my 630, but the fork tubes are larger, so no chance to change out the axle carrier, reduce the stroke, lower and use the Marzocchi's. I suppose the bottoms could be turned and re-threaded, but the difference in diameter might not provide enough meat for that. Sure would like to get the front travel up to something like a DR, which is around 10". Hopefully someone in the biz will take a look at this bike and find some room for improvement. I guess most of us are always looking for just a few more inches, of travel.

 

[kyle01]

That's what she said!