Quote from: tucola on September 15, 2015, 10:16:01 PM

QuoteI've just perusing the bay for a DRZ400, all the decent ones seem miles away though!

Eh? Thought you already had an trail bike?

I do - long story though. Mostly involving the demise of GasGas and being stuck with a bike that is virtually impossible to get parts for.

Hence the trade in for a GS :D

Quote from: Dom1 on September 16, 2015, 12:42:56 AM
As you so competently demonstrated last time we went out.

Gentle application of thro..... *sideways* *hedgerow* *arse*

hey, no fair!!

there was lots of sideways and hedgerow but NO ARSE!!

aaaaaand you grew up riding dirtbikes, i've jumped on the bandwagon late, getting something daft!

Hmm, I'm thinking that we may have to do another day out with Excess Energy.

Any form?

to paraphrase wayne's world 2: "book it and they will come!!"

I'm up for it.

Quote from: tucola on September 15, 2015, 05:57:57 PM
Lack of ground clearance made the XR a non-starter. Pegs touched down on practically the first roundabout on the test ride.

Quite liked the Versys 650, actually. It would have fitted the purpose of commuting to work pretty well, although I think I would have been pretty bored with the power of the 650 twin before too long.

And in the end, if I was going to be spending a bit of money anyway, I quite liked the idea of something that was at least a bit of a toy as well as being purely practical and in that regard I liked the idea of something that I could do a few gentle lanes on as well as using for the commute.

So the XC it was.

My wife was also very impressed that it has heated seats for both rider and passenger and encouraged me to go for that one on that basis alone!

Thank you for your reply.... My own wife would have brought the  XC on the basis it had heated seats. 

OK, turns out following a bit of rain these last few days that the OEM tyres on the Tiger are a liability in mud!

Thought I was going to be in difficulty there.

Nearly fell off several times with front and back wheels sliding everywhere and only saved by the fact that the lane was broadly downhill rather than broadly uphill...

And very glad the steep uphill exit from the lane was rocky and narrow, rather than muddy and narrow!!

So, laning on hiatus until Spring?

Or Karoo 3s onto the bike?

Kind of think that if I'm going to do dirt biking, I need a cheap dirt bike...

If you're going to go mud plugging, you're going to need nobblies. TKC80's seem to be a good compromise - but with all tyres, it really is a compromise!

Had Metzler Karoo 3s on the GSs on the BMW Offroadskills and they seemed pretty damn good on most surfaces.

Question is, will they, or the Continentals or whatever, ruin the on-road handling, where'll I'll be spending my time in the week and the bike therefore doing most of its miles?

It's the same with 4x4 vehicles...they may have the systems in place for Off Road...but without the proper tyres they go nowhere.

Pick your compromise.
It's rather a lot of motorbike to be regularly off-roading though!

Yeh, in reality, that's absolutely right.

Road bike with occasional scope for a mile or two on the local lanes pissing about is where I'm at with it.

If I decide to get into anything more serious, it'd have to be a dirt bike, preferably about a third of the weight and a third of the value.

OEM tyres were bloody useless in the mud today though!

Sunny day so just been out and done a little local loop taking in one of lanes I hadn't done yet.

Not muddy so all worked well on the Battlewings.

Nice lane, a fun outing...

Not sure i'm going to be quite as brave as you are with your Tiger

Excellent work though, sir!

Have you seen this?

https://youtu.be/CqgEl53x7CM

(edit: fuck it, I can't be arsed to figure out how to embed)