shutterrev

Congrats, that’s a cool bike

The 2 times I have found myself executing involuntary combat-rolls down a lane in the highway a few feet behind my spinning bike, I was on a 950sm, not wearing all my gear because 'it's just a comfortable easy ride to work etc". My shoulders are already very well used from years of competitive swimming and water polo, so going for tumbling class on the 76, or the 805 without sufficient padding and abrasion resistance is not recommended and had me off the bike for longer than I wanted. My worst off was 2 weeks before my wedding, car decided to pump brakes and turn left at a red turn-light on the 76 while we were at speed and if i went right Ida been runover so i had to just let it go, fractured ankle, road rash, air cast. Of course we had already booked the honeymoon hike in hawaii the following weekend, etc. I went down that day wearing jeans, thin non moto jacket, dod issue boots, but super nice gloves so my hands were pristine. Learning occurred. I've also been down on pavement in a big BMW Rallye jacket, and the armor was absolutely there for me. Unfortunately didn't help with the $1300 in parts ot fix that gsa. So I try to gear up somewhere between the hot weather oriented stuff, and the lunar exploration suits depending on the 5w's of a ride. This is why I upgraded the D3 to the higher rating in the marrakesh, to give especially the shoulders and elbows more cushion and coverage for the impact - and try to wear gear all the time. ......"Unless it's just a quick trip to 7-11" <- *slaps self* Let's do another group swap meet / bbq sometime - I have gear I would gladly share with other members, and who knows maybe some good trading to be had out there between us.

Their stuff is so good. I have been eyeing a lot of their gear more now that I have the separate armor option as well. You will love the Marrakesh, just last week had a dude come up and be like "That is my favorite jacket" haha

I'll just comment on Jacket setup that works for me, My gear has morphed over the years, especially since finding dirt a few years ago. And even since I started riding off road on ADV bikes, to now. I feel like there is a natural progression from what we initially think we will need, to what we realize we would actually like to have after ripping around a while. For me, here in SoCal - My most used jacket is hands down, the Klim Marrakesh. Don't necessarily need to be Klim, but the type of breathy yet very abrasion resistant jacket w/D3 is really good here for the long summers. I did also step up the D3 Armor in my Marrakesh to the next rating level. Also in the context of Klim being wicked expensive, the Marrakesh is on the affordable side it's the only Klim jacket I have owned, and now has easily over 50,000 miles of duty. What if it gets Cold!? - I have a very stuffable puffy hooded jacket, whatever brand tickles your pickle - but I find that my hooded puff, that goes under the marrakesh is sufficient even on those cold mornings getting out to the trailhead. When you warm up after 20 min of trail riding, just stuff it under a strap. That ^ is the Jacket setup 100% of the time on my touring bike, 7 day moto trip around arizona, 8 day trip to central oregon and back, near daily use, and a lot of the time on my KTM - But... ...For the somewhat-skinny bike rides, I have recently joined the separate armor + Jersey club, and bought Leatt 3D AirFit Hybrid armor, and layer long sleeve, and/or jersey over the top. It's rather warm in the summer, and I still like to get off road rides in by heading out early, this setup is nice when it's hot out. During that season I pull the armor out of the Marrakesh, and wear it as an abrasion layer for the road ride to the trail, and thanks to the Marrakesh being fairly easy to stuff under straps etc this works pretty well. Bottom Line the Marrakesh (or something like that) does a lot, and used in conjunction with other layers, especially around here, it's year round jacket, for a decent price. Marrakesh with the next level of D3 armor in it (I think L2?), bought off the rack at local shops... Also thanks to the SDAR Forum I have the Alpinestars boots and nice BMW Rallye pants, used, from @Mr.JAJA! This makes me think we need another group bbq and gear swap event - Nick

I specifically remember you saying something like "Alright, I need to stretch her legs" or something like that, I think you were visited by uncle Murphy - happens to us all sooner or later!

@cmbthumper I’ve done John Bull a couple times in my Jeep, as well as the other big bear trails - I remember before I ever rode a bike in dirt, picking my way down dishpan springs in the jeep but also stopping to marvel at the guys yeeting down or up those trails on dirt bikes. At the time, never riding dirt, that seemed insane!

Love this ride, especially since you can stitch together other dirt on the way there and back and make a day of it.

Hahaha that’s the best description 😂

I have love for that bike, I wasn’t in to dirt riding at all when I had my 950SM, but the shared carbed LC8 is a serious kick in the pants, and at the time 2007ish, the shop I went to was Malcom Smith Motorsports, any time I’d see a 950ADV there we would end up talking, and both agreeing it’s a crackin motor - with the 950ADV always saying it’s the best bike ever. The SM was basically a premier hooligan bike, with about a 2 hour seat timer in the stock wooden plank but I loved it.

@350thumper I would like to ride with you soon, I have at least a couple busy weekends of probably no bikes, next, but then it would be great to go hit the desert 🤙🏻 I am cleared for lab2v this year, my first time, so I’m hoping to get in a lot of desert rides leading up to that - always in learn mode.

Real talk - I had a real come to Jesus moment at the top of that thing, tucked my tail between my legs, and walked my bike down - Which at points still seems sketchier than just pitching it and swan diving lol. That was when I first got my 690, I’ve been trying to learn the things maybe one day I will have the balls to ride down it. LoL tip of the hat to @moto_rph he Yolo’d it straight down no filter on a XR650L + kitchen sink and it was glorious.

Great meeting you Sunday, those T7’s are so great looking 🤙🏻🫡 - S/F Nick

@350thumper it's funny, and a little sad because @moto_rph and I have seen all your posts and recently commented to each other that we want to go head out with you sometime, and sadly Perry is healing for a while. I think you have some good knowledge of all the trails out there in the desert that we have barely even found yet. I think I have a split of rides coming up, I'd like to do some long days in the desert and just work on technique and have fun - and learn some new places to go - and the split - adv rides that are mostly road on my pasta rocket, because I still got love for he paved bits (and my wife is mainly a road rider right now). Also I agree about the big bikes and the skill, and fitness off road for sure.

@350thumper if you want I have a GPX from the last desert ride i did with a friend near the badlands below fonts point, I adjusted some of the track since we took a wrong turn and have not proofed my map based correction yet, but i can send that over if you like, it was a nice ride.

The dual sport detail is probably sufficient to help folks understand about that route, since folks may have anything from 125's to 1290's - thanks Accidents do happen, even to experienced riders, on easier trails, on epic light weight bikes, like what happened on culp I just can't imagine it would be fun for anyone in the party if they did get through the squeeze, steps, and drop - and then realized they are not experienced at all with sand lol.

@350thumper I won't be riding this weekend, chores - but it is excellent if you are at a level where the finer points of Pinion Mtn Trails are 'noob' to you - but I would caution taking newer off road riders through the Squeeze, Steps, Drop, an Fish creek wash, without them understanding what they are, depending on the bikes and years on them. Diablo might even be a large pill for newer riders to swallow, especially on an ADV Bike. I would put any of those obstacles firmly in the Intermediate+ bracket for folks on anything bigger than a 500exc - but that could just be me and my personal scale, clearly not being as experienced as you are. - Nick

Great ride today! Quite a few shots, maybe too many to dump on here, so here is a link to the Happy Snaps 🤙

Looks like I’ll be in for Sunday 🤙🏻

The 1090 is a pretty impressive bike, I got to ride @Porkchop's 1090 (when he had one) and thought it felt pretty great. I assume you'd like to treat that bike the way I treat my Multistrada, it's the main daily driver, so I like having 80/20 ish or 70/30 ish tires on it at most, I pick my 690 for dirt most of the time, but like the option to be able to handle the occasional dirt road on the Multi. @Zubb has a lot of experience, and literally teaches folks how to ride off road on all sorts of big bikes, so I bet he sees a lot of what works and what doesn't first hand for bigger bikes. I'm just a former knee dragging 4cyl pavement/track princess that found dirt in 2017, I would guess, intermediate-ish off road, so I value tires that can get me from East county, out to the desert the twistiest way possible on the thumper, with some dirt tracks sewn in along the way, and provide good grip, are easy to mount by hand, and have ok-to-good mileage. If money was no object I personally would run the trailmax Missions on the Multistrada exclusively because it sees >90% Pavement, so I run the Shinko 705's on the pasta rocket to free up money for gucci MotoZ's on the 690 - - compromise - of sorts. For the 705's on the Multistrada, would I run them for a track day, not if I had the option to run Mitch Pilot Power Ones, but they are great for a middleweight+ ADV bike that sees mostly street.

Indeed, as the tire and oil thread sayings go

On my 690 right now I have Desert H/T Front (My favorite front tire), and am about to put the RallZ rear on, I think the Adventure Mullet is a good pick for a weekend trail warrior. Both the H/T's and the RallZ can be ridden very aggressively on road, with a near epic level of grip for how aggressive they are. But you do pay for them, thankfully the 690 has skinnier tires than my GS did. On larger ADV bikes I have for a while run either the Shinko 705's, or the big block 804/805's. You can't beat Shino's prices for the quality of tire it is. Shinko prints Continental's TKC's right next to their own tires, with the same rubber, and designs purchased from Yokohama. They are inexpensive because they don't have to pay for massive race teams and sponsorships. This means you get a above average tire, for a really good price. Also the low cost ADV Mullet is the 705 rear, with the 804 front. Both of those tires from Shinko are great for a daily driver bigger adv bike, I have 705's on my Multistrada now, no RaGeRtS. I did run a set of the TrailMax Missions on my F800GSA, and those are one of the best all around ADV tires I have ever tried. They have excellent grip for aggressive riding on road, and off road lets just say you can get away with a lot more than you think you can. They are just so daggum expensive. My wife has them on her Multistrada right now, she will probably want them again because she's gotten to trust them. TKC80 I think is a super fun tire in the twisties, they have near supermoto level grip in the twisties, and the rear goes quickly. Off road I think they are just kid of 'fine', pretty good tires, but the rear isn't long for the world.