Sport-Touring.Net - PSA: Which Dual Sport motorcycle is right for you?

Being on the cusp of old fartdom (52) I decided I needed to get back to my roots of burying trail bikes in isolated places after 20 years of being smarter.

So I bought a CRF250L last August. Ya. You here about guys picking up the skates again and having a heart attack in the old timers hockey league. This is a lot like that.

My first trial ride was down an ATV path that even the ATV's have foresaken because somebody ran down it in the spring carving furrows in the trail that a farmer would be proud of. What's even better, the grass had grown over said furrows to a nice even height luring middle aged white guys on trail bikes down them. I think I went a quarter mile down the trail, sideways, with my front wheel in one rut, and my back wheel in the other, before self-preservation kicked in.

My next trail ride was an 80km Multi-use trail with a couple of much younger friends. One, on a KTM400EXC, the other, on a CR250. It started out great! and got progressively worse and worse. At one point CRF buddy hit a 'lake' in the middle of the trail at speed which, given the laws of physics, did a great impression of a tsunami. KTM and myself were behind him and decided busting through the bush would be FAR easier. KTM went first. 5 minutes later, we was on the other side of the lake helping CRF kickstart the water out of his bike. Me, I took the exact same path through the underbrush that KTM took. At some point, a piece of deadfall had managed to weave it's way under the crossbar on my bars, under my jacket, deflect off my chest plate and into my armpit.

Ever been in the middle of nowhere an realize that your heart is beating so fast that you are at real risk of having a heart attack?

Are we having fun yet?

That's when my bike fell over on top of me.

A little while later some industrious beavers had built a dam rivaling the hydro electric projects of Northern Quebec. Hey, theirs a tire trail going in, and tire trail coming out. How bad can it be? I'm sure the beavers had some video rolling and to this day play it when friends come over. Those assholes.

We had reached the turn around point. I was spent. My buddies were spent. Old age and wisdom came together when I realized I had a perfectly functioning dual purpose bike with a license plate on it. Right. I rode the hwy back to the hotel. I got back to the hotel and fell asleep in my buddies truck waiting for them to show up.

The LRP (Little Red Piggy) Honda is a great little trail bike. It is not a KTM EXC. I am no longer 16 and fearless. With that in mind, all my trail rides since then have been great!

Topic: PSA: Which Dual Sport motorcycle is right for you? (Read 1406 times)