Kaze
Registered user
Well 600 miles ridden, first service complete, time for off-road me-thinks.
So persuaded a mate who bought my previous 1100GS that green laning would be a good idea. So the sun's shining, bike's are sparkling, set off via some good twisties for the trough of bowland.
Preplanning with Googlemaps paid of, found our lane with no problems (thanks Fatal for the tip off
) , suns still shining, looking good - off we go. First bit was hardcore and badly eroded old road surface a bit of a bone shaker, but so far so good. Then reality hits with a fairly steep uphill section over loose rocks
... errr time for plan B.
Plan B, up the grassy bit.
Thanks to the KTM rider who came down from the moors to offer assistance, encouraged by him telling us that that was the worst bit we decided to try going up the grassy section alongside the rocky track.Err... well shall we blame the battlewings, the wet slippy grass, timid riding for fear of dropping new bike or just plain old lack of off-road skill? If truth be told probably a good combination of all of them.
Well I nearly got the 800 to the top, trying to walk alongside and manhandling it to the top. The battlewings may as well have been on ice for all the grip they mustered so...
Plan C, back to the tarmac!
Well, nearly's a big word eh? I suppose with a bit of teamwork we could've got the 800 over the last bit but the thought of doing the same with the 1100 was not a good one! So around we turned and instead spent the rest of the day riding some fine tarmac through N Yorks & Cumbria before heading for home.
All in all a great day out, although the green laning was a dismal failure, it was fun trying and at least we got back without any damage. Will definitely have another go sometime but will heed the lessons learnt today. As for the 800, I'm even more convinced after today, it's a great bike certainly on the road, and maybe with a bit more skill, drier conditions and/or better tyres I can test it's off-road abilities, more to follow on that one...
So persuaded a mate who bought my previous 1100GS that green laning would be a good idea. So the sun's shining, bike's are sparkling, set off via some good twisties for the trough of bowland.
Preplanning with Googlemaps paid of, found our lane with no problems (thanks Fatal for the tip off
) , suns still shining, looking good - off we go. First bit was hardcore and badly eroded old road surface a bit of a bone shaker, but so far so good. Then reality hits with a fairly steep uphill section over loose rocks... errr time for plan B.Plan B, up the grassy bit.
Thanks to the KTM rider who came down from the moors to offer assistance, encouraged by him telling us that that was the worst bit we decided to try going up the grassy section alongside the rocky track.
Err... well shall we blame the battlewings, the wet slippy grass, timid riding for fear of dropping new bike or just plain old lack of off-road skill? If truth be told probably a good combination of all of them.Well I nearly got the 800 to the top, trying to walk alongside and manhandling it to the top. The battlewings may as well have been on ice for all the grip they mustered so...
Plan C, back to the tarmac!
Well, nearly's a big word eh? I suppose with a bit of teamwork we could've got the 800 over the last bit but the thought of doing the same with the 1100 was not a good one! So around we turned and instead spent the rest of the day riding some fine tarmac through N Yorks & Cumbria before heading for home.
All in all a great day out, although the green laning was a dismal failure, it was fun trying and at least we got back without any damage. Will definitely have another go sometime but will heed the lessons learnt today. As for the 800, I'm even more convinced after today, it's a great bike certainly on the road, and maybe with a bit more skill, drier conditions and/or better tyres I can test it's off-road abilities, more to follow on that one...
but I thought the bikes together looked cool. 
