[Z_HARSH]

So I had an inmate, and with absolutely no disrespect to him, tell me that it was illegal to ride the beaches in Baja, honestly I don’t know if that is true or not. I find it hard to believe considering we watched a Federales humvee sink in surf, buuuuuut you never know. Maybe they just have bigger issues to deal with and maybe I just have never been slapped and especially not with a provocation. Well, now that I think about it, my little sis and I did get speeding tickets on our bikes down there one time but that’s different.



His other point was that it is abrasive on the bike, and sure I’ll give you that. Personally, the joy of wide-open on virgin sand, the deeper and the more it wallows the better, has always outweighed any hesitation over topical corrosion. But for me, I LOVE BEACH RIDING, riding in sand feels like carving Colorado powder and is about as good as it gets in my opinion, call me crazy. All I know is that it darn sure is not illegal in Alaska, at least on the Kenai. I had just never done it on my slug of a KLR and didn’t know what to expect, so after dinner I decided to go test it out.



Now, when looking at dual sports it is hard to make a decision, it’s completely riddled with compromises. Not like dirt bikes where you have either a trail bike or a MX bike, then you just need to decide size and let your taste in brand take over from there. When evaluating dual sports you have to decided how technical and rough you like it v.s. how much slab and how many miles you are going to do.



For me any BMW is just out of the question now, I need to be able to pick mine up upside down on the side of a hill in the mud by myself if I have to, plus, how much does a luxury car brand know about off-road? Sure, they have the Paris to Dakar factory race heritage but I need a production bike meant for more than graded gravel roads. Plus, I'm not sure how much I trust their suspension and anti-lock brakes are a little overkill if you ask me but don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind having one in the stable one day either, just not if I can only choose one, or two I suppose.



Then you have KTM, sleek, sexy, expensive, and high maintenance; I don’t prefer my women that way and I don’t need my bikes that way either (not that I don’t think my love is good looking of course). Maybe one day when I have a ton of money to burn and carry the towing coverage needed and can trade bikes every year or two I might consider it. Don’t get me wrong, I would love a 950SE but having to hack the pipes to fit extra gas so you can do more than a hundred miles is a bit too much expense for me at this stage.



So for now my KLR will do just fine, although if I did it over again I might go with the DR650. I describe my KLR as absolutely not good at anything, but, and a very big but indeed, it is extremely decent at everything, and especially for the price. The less I spend on bikes the more I can designate to the travel fund I figure.



However up until this time I had never ridden beaches on it, or really sand for that matter so I didn’t know what to expect.












































But that cheap slug impresses me more and more every day.