Wilsons Sandbox

i bought my bike in january, and i have 8500 mile on it. of that, probably close to 1000 are dirt miles, but probably less than 500 are real dirt miles (ie, stuff i couldn't drive my 2wd pickup on). about half of those real dirt miles came last week in and coming home from moab. -mark weaver -----Original Message----- From: Thomas Keener [mailto:keensurf@...] Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 10:27 AM To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com Subject: [DSN_klr650] NKLR Dirt miles? I'm curious. How many dirt miles do you folks put on in a year on your KLR? Compared to street miles? I ride ~12k a year, but only a few hundred are in the dirt. TomK ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get a NextCard Visa, in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.9% Intro or 9.9% Fixed APR http://click.egroups.com/1/5197/5/_/911801/_/960918568/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Visit the KLR650 archives at http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=klr650 Support Dual Sport News... dsneditor@... Let's keep this list SPAM free! Visit our site at http://www.egroups.com/group/DSN_klr650 To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@egroups.com

I remember an article in a bike magazine probably early eighties... it said that dirt riding on a dual sport bike is like sex. You only do it 5 or, if you're lucky, 10 percent of the time but you are thinking about it the other 90 or 95 percent. Jim Jackson II A13 - South Carolina 4K miles - 200-400 dirt and gravel so far

>I'm curious. How many dirt miles do you folks put on in a year on your KLR? >Compared to street miles? I ride ~12k a year, but only a few hundred are in >the dirt. > >TomK >

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> I'm curious. How many dirt miles do you folks put on in a year on your

KLR?

> Compared to street miles? I ride ~12k a year, but only a few hundred are

in

> the dirt.

I think I know what you mean, but if taken literally, I don't see how this question is relevant. If I ride 500 miles of pavement to get to 100 miles of excellent off-pavement riding, this does not mean much if the off-pavement riding was the significant part of the ride for me and the pavement riding just means that I don't own a trailer or I'm into the spirit of dual-purpose (now called dual sport) motorcycling. Even less meaningful would be the conclusion that, because of my pavement/dirt percentages, I needed an 80/20 tire. If I take my off-pavement riding seriously I may want a full knobby and to hell with the pavement (I don't believe I need a knobby, but that's another story). Of course, the percentage numbers listed by some tire manufacturers and repeated by KLR650 listers may reflect this personal bias rather than actual usage, but it doesn't seem clear that all people understand this. A more meaningful question, and perhaps the question you intended, would be: "How many miles of pavement do you ride that are not for the primary purpose of getting to and from an off-pavement ride versus how many off-pavement miles do you ride (excluding graded dirt and gravel). I think hours would be more meaningful, though. Anyway: 8,000 miles in 9 months on my KLR (1/2 of which was winter) and all but a thousand or less were directly related to off-pavement or getting to or from off-pavement rides in the San Juan mountains or southeastern Utah. Also last winter (after December) I did another 4,000 miles on my R1100R, all but 100 miles of which were on pavement (the dirt miles were mostly graded). Verle Nelson Cedaredge, CO

How True!! "Jim Jackson" wrote:

> > I remember an article in a bike magazine probably early eighties... it said > that dirt riding on a dual sport bike is like sex. You only do it 5 or, if > you're lucky, 10 percent of the time but you are thinking about it the other > 90 or 95 percent. > > Jim Jackson II > A13 - South Carolina > 4K miles - 200-400 dirt and gravel so far > > >I'm curious. How many dirt miles do you folks put on in a year on your KLR? > >Compared to street miles? I ride ~12k a year, but only a few hundred are in > >the dirt. > > > >TomK > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Looking for Airfare deals? > Visit Expedia.com for limited time offers > http://click.egroups.com/1/5205/5/_/911801/_/960927544/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Visit the KLR650 archives at > http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=klr650 > Support Dual Sport News... dsneditor@... > Let's keep this list SPAM free! > > Visit our site at http://www.egroups.com/group/DSN_klr650 > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@egroups.com > > >

> > I remember an article in a bike magazine probably > early eighties... it said > > that dirt riding on a dual sport bike is like sex. > You only do it 5 or, if > > you're lucky, 10 percent of the time but you are > thinking about it the other > > 90 or 95 percent.

Then it seems to me that the real question here is..."how much of the sex is in the dirt, and compared to how much on the road?" Which of course leads to...how much mileage are you getting, and what oil are you using? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com

-----Original Message----- From: Thomas Keener To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com DSN_klr650@egroups.com> Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 1:49 PM Subject: [DSN_klr650] NKLR Dirt miles?

>I'm curious. How many dirt miles do you folks put on in a year on your KLR? >Compared to street miles? I ride ~12k a year, but only a few hundred are in >the dirt.

'Bout 9,000 per year on pavement, 200 on dirt. And people wonder why I run touring rubber on the rear. -Tom '96 KLR 650

>From: Thomas Keener >To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com >Subject: [DSN_klr650] NKLR Dirt miles? >Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 10:26:38 -0700 > >I'm curious. How many dirt miles do you folks put on in a year on your KLR? >Compared to street miles? I ride ~12k a year, but only a few hundred are in >the dirt. > >TomK >

I ride about 20k a year and only about 0.5% (100 miles dirt). Time for a 650GS maybe? Conall ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

> I remember an article in a bike magazine probably early eighties... it

said

> that dirt riding on a dual sport bike is like sex. You only do it 5 or, if > you're lucky, 10 percent of the time but you are thinking about it the

other

> 90 or 95 percent. >

Right on! There was a time in my life when I rode my motorcycle every single day to and from school(9th - 12th grade), and out with my riding buddies every single day after school into the desert somewhere, and on the weekends, out at the ORV track. Sadly, those days are long gone, and I only get to go out in the desert about every other weekend now, and also, the desert around here is shrinking as more and more houses are built. Jeff

>I could have > asked how many miles does it take to call yourself an experienced dirt > rider? Or how many years/miles do you have strictly on the dirt?

Motocross bikes don't have speedometers. I've been riding since age 12. (I'm 30 now.) I used to go out every single day after school for hours riding in the desert with my friends. (I used to collect newspapers and pop cans to recycle just so I could buy gasoline.) Once I turned 16, I picked up my first dual purpose, a Honda XL 500 so I could ride legal on the street. Later sold it and my RM125 for a YZ 250 and an XL600R, (had to mow a lot of lawns to get the money). I'm experienced I'd say, but that doesn't mean good, since I rarely won any races on the track. There were kids at the races who could roost me all day, and had half the riding experience I had. There are just those who are naturally talanted and have great balance. I'll tell you what though, if you get good at riding off road, your on road survival skills are very sharp. To specifically answer your question, your first year of dirt riding is a huge learning curve, which tapers off by the third year, but it is always going up, there is always more to learn, especially with each new bike. I'd say it would take around three years for most people to achieve the coveted "experienced" status. Jeff

I will be purchasing an IMS fuel tank for my bike near the end of next month. If anyone on the list has a decent used one they would like to part with, notify me off list with your price and tank condition and maybe we can work a deal. Barry '91 KLR650 (continuing my pursuit of the lightest KLR on the list) k650dsn@... wrote:

> > In a message dated Wed, 14 Jun 2000 4:32:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > JSherlockHolmes@... writes: > > interested in a plastic IMS fuel tank with a slightly larger capacity > than > the stock metal one, that comes in the camo colors you are using. > > Just something to share. > > >> > > I have nothing against IMS, own several of their products myself. But > they seem to be consistently optimistic about their tank capacities. > They claimed that their plastic KLR tank would hold "close to 7 > gallons". I bought one and could barely squeeze 5.5 gallons into it. > I know a couple others that had the same problem. > > Gino > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit the KLR650 archives at > http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=klr650 > Support Dual Sport News... dsneditor@... > Let's keep this list SPAM free! > > Visit our site at http://www.egroups.com/group/DSN_klr650 > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@egroups.com