I'd like to get a little more off the beaten path next spring on my R60/7. What can I expect from the bike on gravel, dirt, sand or maybe a little mud? They seem to do fine in the old war movies.
For light offroad use as described, they do great. Tires are the main factor. If you really are talking war era BMW they go well on gravel but my experience is limited to 2 rides. Very careful rides, fully restored bikes. Tires again would help enormously. For more heavy use the big problems are ground clearance and weight. My budget plan for my 81 r100rt. Top brace, 1" over shocks, shallow pan and pickup froma /5, frame mounted bash plate, flip the exhaust, spark arrestor type mufflers, knobbily DOTS. Strip weight.
Slow, cautious riding on gravel roads and relatively smooth dirt is fine and fun. As mentioned, anything else and you are limited by tires, ground clearance, weight and suspension. Even dual purpose airheads like the g/s aren't great in these situations unless much modified and prepped. But you should give it a try. Heck somewhere I saw a suzuki gsxr with knobbies that some character rode around the world.
Ride to your ability. If you have some motocross experience you'll find the rubber cow to be heavy but quite capable in most situations. Paved roads are the exception here in my neck of the woods and with my /5 I've done a number of ill advised water crossings, traveled many a forest service road and dug out of some pretty deep gravel. Only thing worse for the wear was the front fender and oil sump. The most important thing is having dry ground to ride on. Mud is not your friend when off roading on an airhead. My #1 rule is this... when in doubt, throttle hard.
UNlike the street, forget you have a front brake. Even the POS front brake on a BMW airhead will lock the front tire. Not good. I have ridden lots of dirt/gravel roads on my airhead and it isn't too bad. Not like a dedicated dual sport, but remain calm, let he bike find its way, and you will be okay. Just how seriuos are you going to ride? Casual use, yes, serious ADV take no prisoners mud plagging, there are much better choices.
I actually find my /6 and /5 easier to ride on gravel than my R100GS was. The CofG is low, they handle just fine on smooth gravel, and they were more predictable. I never knew what was happening beneath me on the GS. I wouldn't try anything rough or loose, but I'd explore secondary unpaved roads to my hearts content on an old road-going airhead. dc
They go great on gravel,I think my R65 goes better on gravel than all the adventure bikes I had before.Set up is important though....tyres and bars.
Just ask the dude that owns this bike! <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22817219@N04/4299231142/" title="DSC03992 by hardwaregrrl, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4299231142_a1164a50ea.jpg" width="281" height="500" alt="DSC03992" /></a> Check out the Alabama chrome on the headlight and fender strut. Hey Redbud, where you at? His /5 bombed down some dirt tracks pretty snappy!!!
+1 tires (I am going to try something else on the next change). Suddenly I realize what that black knob at the center of the handlebar is for! I need a better way of sealing water out of the ignition sensor area when that goes under water. damhik. Other than that, I just love blasting gravel roads. It gets you to places that others don't normally find.
I ride my R100/7 off road all the time, it rides better than my R1150GS on gravel road's. Last year I was riding with a friend of mine in the Black Hills of South Dakota he was on his 77' R100S and I was on my GS, we where riding some dirt roads and a couple of guys were in front of us on KTM dirt bikes my buddy passed them, and then they passed him, then he gassed it and totally schooled them, I was laughing my ass off, he was ripping down that dirt road at probably around 80mph. He was pitching it sideways around the corners, those guys had to be like WTF. My friend is totaly old school Bell half face helmet, googles, Luftmiester fairing, it still cracks me up thinking about it.
oh yea airheads do fine on gravel rds, the ones with alabama chrome do the best. that one pictured has been places 20-25 yrs ago that i hesitate to take my 4x4 these days. jenna, when we going again?
Alabama chrome. I love it. About riding an airhead off the pavement, there is is some great advice in this thread, as usual. I am encouraged to hear from those who have done it. There are a lot of gravel roads around here, many of them that are otherwise inviting. Some riders have mentioned the importance of tires. What tires would be better off the pavement? I have to get new tires anyway this spring. Mostly I use the bike to commute. Since I rarely wring it out, I might sacrifice a little on the pavement for better all-around performance. Any recommendations?
i'm runnig avon distana's (probabley misspelled but u get the idea) they seem to do good in gravel etc. and i can rub the cylinder on the left and the brake pedal on the right side on a paved mt rd. everybody i talk to seem to think they last better than most
There's quite a bit of discussion around here on dual-purpose tires for street going airheads, but choices are pretty limited. I think I saw somewhere that Motu recommended Dunlop K70s for gravel. I plan on trying them this summer as replacements for my Macadams.