... my arse!
Free beer for everyone who can ride activly more than 30 minutes in the soft stuff with the big pig on this track!
I was wasted around 30 minutes of riding the track, did around 5 laps and I consider my physical good. My mate on Susuki DR800Big was wasted around 15-20 minutes and he was mostly stuck while I keeped the momentum and keeped going - GS had much better traction (twin vs single), lower centre of gravity, same weight but much more power. Altough me GS has almost bald front Heidenau K60 tire it did better than single cyl bike with 21" front 18" rear and more offroad oriented tires. We swopped bikes and both confirmed it. So a thought for those who think GS isn't offroad capable at all.
Some mixed pics done by my g/f and mate of mine on another R1100GS. Only two of us decided (DR Big and R1100GS) to take the challange, the rest felt the terrain is just unridable - too soft
Anyways, ride to the spot:
Offroad run few days before not to get rusty.
And there. It's a big military training ground, for tanks, trucks, misslelaunchers etc. Really deep stuff and very varying terrain. Some places have similar to camel-grass properties, other tracks have trees aside the tracks, bumps and jumps and some are flat open spaces you can go full throttle.
Power is everything on the slopes. You just have to keep the momentum and low RPM torque decides the best traction for you.
Usually going sideways to go full throttle because the front decides to go anywhere it likes, independently from you. So you got to keep the speeds higher and the front end lighter to keep it under control. Otherwise you'll get bed in or fall.
The only con we found on GS is the suspension travel - it bottomed out going fast over big wavy bumps.
This gives you the imagination how soft it was - check those fresh tracks.
Climbing has a whole different meaning in the soft stuff.
Swopped bikes.
DR Bigs suspension didn't bottom out that easily, but for the rest it was worse - CoG very high, standing position too cramped, overall didn't feel very confident for sand riding.
Mate down, again.
If you lose the momentum even on the smaller sloped stuff, then mo power needed.
The uber-boxer resting after the first session.
On the flatouts you can get more speed and go full into 2-nd or 3-rd gear, but then the deeper grooves with parallel or almost parallel angles with the front wheel turn out to be very dangerous just throwing you off the bike.
But if you go really fast, the massive bike will compensate the most of it. You just have to have the guts to go over the critical speed and keep the throttle full for a lighter front end.
The usual, sideways action...
And sheet happends mosty on the slow speeds only...
Dakar wannabee?
And back into civilized world. Anyways, it was a nice ridout with me mates. Going back for more. Metzeler Karoos with reduced pressures sounds better idea tho.
Whish I had a HP2 tho
Just fell in love with the power and traction in the sand. A big titted lady turned out to be a hell lot of fun in the very soft bed!
Cheers, Margus
Free beer for everyone who can ride activly more than 30 minutes in the soft stuff with the big pig on this track!
I was wasted around 30 minutes of riding the track, did around 5 laps and I consider my physical good. My mate on Susuki DR800Big was wasted around 15-20 minutes and he was mostly stuck while I keeped the momentum and keeped going - GS had much better traction (twin vs single), lower centre of gravity, same weight but much more power. Altough me GS has almost bald front Heidenau K60 tire it did better than single cyl bike with 21" front 18" rear and more offroad oriented tires. We swopped bikes and both confirmed it. So a thought for those who think GS isn't offroad capable at all.
Some mixed pics done by my g/f and mate of mine on another R1100GS. Only two of us decided (DR Big and R1100GS) to take the challange, the rest felt the terrain is just unridable - too soft
Anyways, ride to the spot:
Offroad run few days before not to get rusty.
And there. It's a big military training ground, for tanks, trucks, misslelaunchers etc. Really deep stuff and very varying terrain. Some places have similar to camel-grass properties, other tracks have trees aside the tracks, bumps and jumps and some are flat open spaces you can go full throttle.
Power is everything on the slopes. You just have to keep the momentum and low RPM torque decides the best traction for you.
Usually going sideways to go full throttle because the front decides to go anywhere it likes, independently from you. So you got to keep the speeds higher and the front end lighter to keep it under control. Otherwise you'll get bed in or fall.
The only con we found on GS is the suspension travel - it bottomed out going fast over big wavy bumps.
This gives you the imagination how soft it was - check those fresh tracks.
Climbing has a whole different meaning in the soft stuff.
Swopped bikes.
DR Bigs suspension didn't bottom out that easily, but for the rest it was worse - CoG very high, standing position too cramped, overall didn't feel very confident for sand riding.
Mate down, again.
If you lose the momentum even on the smaller sloped stuff, then mo power needed.
The uber-boxer resting after the first session.
On the flatouts you can get more speed and go full into 2-nd or 3-rd gear, but then the deeper grooves with parallel or almost parallel angles with the front wheel turn out to be very dangerous just throwing you off the bike.
But if you go really fast, the massive bike will compensate the most of it. You just have to have the guts to go over the critical speed and keep the throttle full for a lighter front end.
The usual, sideways action...
And sheet happends mosty on the slow speeds only...
Dakar wannabee?
And back into civilized world. Anyways, it was a nice ridout with me mates. Going back for more. Metzeler Karoos with reduced pressures sounds better idea tho.
Whish I had a HP2 tho
Just fell in love with the power and traction in the sand. A big titted lady turned out to be a hell lot of fun in the very soft bed!
Cheers, Margus
.
