My 790 ADV R first dirt experience yesterday

[Pokey151 244]

I planed to do more off road riding yesterday but my friend had to cancel at the last minute, so it was a solo ride for me and I just was unsure how I would handle this. Also before I get into the ride I want to share the issue I had with the bike.

The bike had a pretty good headshake at 75+  Enough where you felt if you maintained that it would throw you off (This happened to me in the past at 65 mph on another bike) So, it was pretty bad.   To try and help this, I increased the fork preload and increased the compression quite a bit. I even bought a new front tire because the front was about 50%  thinking the wear was messing with it.  It's setup for a Scotts but it was not on the bike when I bought it.  So I went and ordered a street version just due to how it felt on the street.  So I lifted the bike off the ground so I can change the tire and the front was loose enough to fall to one side and bounce off the steering lock.  a "OHHHHHH" moment, So I proceeded to tighten the steering head.  It took 1 1/8 turn to get it to feel like its supposed to.  I opted to not change the tire and see how it felt.  

Now onto the ride

I went up Black Canyon at a pretty timid pace and I did not air down just to see how it was.  This bike was stiff!! felt every pebble rut and bump.. I made it to the top and took out the extra preload I added and started to head back down.  It felt better, the I softened the compression which is amazing you can do this while riding btw,  Then I found a comfortable setting and I picked up the pace a bit.  What a fun bike!  

I hit the road and decide to head out towards buckman springs.  on the freeway I got the bike up to speed and no more headshake.  In fact I was going with the flow of traffic on the 8, I looked down and was doing 90+, I did not want a ticket so I backed off to the speed limit.  I forgot how fast traffic goes between alpine and pine valley.  Anyways I made it out there and did some exploring on clearly well travel dirt roads, then saw the street for Corral Canyon and went down that road.  Almost got taken out by jeeps twice they way there were hauling ass through all the blind turns.

I made it out to see the map at the staging area but I seeing how I never been there I did not want to go down any trails just because of the unknown and being solo.  I do have to say the soil was perfect from the rains  I wish I had my 450 and a friend I would have loved to ride in those conditions.

On the way back I came across a two track path and went down that and I really started to have fun on this bike, started sliding the rear around in some turns jumping a bit etc.  The dirt was giving me a ton of confidence.  After a bit of riding I turned around and headed home.   I have fun and feel I chose the right bike for sure.  

I also called and changed my order for the offroad Scotts seeing how I fixed the headshake issue

 

 

[shutterrev 469]

What's the front tire type? And I am assuming you have a 21" front.

I ask because on the adv bikes lots of the chonkier rubbers may need some miles under their belt before they stop tracking on grooved pavement with the 21" front rudder. Before believing  reviews on tires and how they behave, first check what bike they have, if they have street sized front tires like superfatty 19" etc... different handling entirely even with same tire type. Some tires just need a few hundo miles to chill out even on regular pavement, and some will cha-cha for life in 21" form factor. All depends on what you are comfortable with. 

Also, SWEET BIKE CONGRATS! 

 

[Wierdrider 187]

Very nice, glad you got that head shake sorted 👍👍

[Pokey151 244]

7 hours ago, shutterrev said:

What's the front tire type? And I am assuming you have a 21" front.

I ask because on the adv bikes lots of the chonkier rubbers may need some miles under their belt before they stop tracking on grooved pavement with the 21" front rudder. Before believing  reviews on tires and how they behave, first check what bike they have, if they have street sized front tires like superfatty 19" etc... different handling entirely even with same tire type. Some tires just need a few hundo miles to chill out even on regular pavement, and some will cha-cha for life in 21" form factor. All depends on what you are comfortable with. 

Also, SWEET BIKE CONGRATS! 

 

Yes its a 21", It has the MOTOZ Tractionator RallyZ on it.  It's about 50% used.  Once I got the steering head tightened it was completely fine.   It felt like any other 21" tire.  Thank you for the input on the new tire feel and Thank you about the bike.  I sure like it

[Zubb 1061]

1 hour ago, Pokey151 said:

Yes its a 21", It has the MOTOZ Tractionator RallyZ on it.  It's about 50% used.  Once I got the steering head tightened it was completely fine.   It felt like any other 21" tire.  Thank you for the input on the new tire feel and Thank you about the bike.  I sure like it

RallZ has been the best tires I've ever run for my style of riding now.  Note that @shutterrev is dead spot on with his comments above.

On my 1200, once I've scrubbed 100 miles or so, I run them +100 with no issues.  They carve pavement (Banner Grade) all the way over with nary a hint of movement or quitting.  On the trail, they climb out of ruts without a doubt and hook up in sand exceptionally well.

Hopefully they will work as well for you.

GREAT to see you out on the new pony!

[Zubb 1061]

BTW . . .  your headshake experience is a reminder from God to all of us that when you get a new bike, touch every bolt and nut you can see with a wrench, and repeat the exercise at least a couple times a year.  Having parts fall off at speed can be unnerving HA!  I even paint mark the bolts that are critical once I've torqued them.  This I learned by staring down the angel of death once and living to tell about it, and then studied how to never let that happen again.

[Pokey151 244]

1 hour ago, Zubb said:

BTW . . .  your headshake experience is a reminder from God to all of us that when you get a new bike, touch every bolt and nut you can see with a wrench, and repeat the exercise at least a couple times a year.  Having parts fall off at speed can be unnerving HA!  I even paint mark the bolts that are critical once I've torqued them.  This I learned by staring down the angel of death once and living to tell about it, and then studied how to never let that happen again.

So true I mistakenly trusted the mechanics too much to go over the bike thoroughly. Usually when I buy a brand new dirtbike the first thing I do is pull the linkage the swing arm get into the head bearings in grease and torque everything,  I also pull the axel adjustment screws and put anti-seize on them due to one time I had a bolt freeze while trying to adjust my chain and had to remove the swing arm to repair it so never again with that happen to me.

I neglected to do any of this on this used bike, my mistake