Boston/Cambridge Dual Sporters Check-In

[chippertheripper]

i know its early, but i'm giving myself the green light for saturday. thinking of the man loop in freetown. (now that its officially open) chime in bitchezz.

[Kamala]

Originally Posted by chippertheripper

i know its early, but i'm giving myself the green light for saturday. thinking of the man loop in freetown. (now that its officially open) chime in bitchezz.

Are you sure its officially open? Usually an Indian celebration (there is a resevation in the center of the Freetown Forest) delays the opening of Freetown a week or two later that the other state forests.

[Kamala]

I may be wrong on that. I just checked the DCR website and they didn't have any info on an alternate date for Freetown. I just know from past experience that the last couple of years the Indians had a Bark at the Moon festival or something that delayed the standard opening day.

[chippertheripper]

nosir, i don't know. i've always gone on the assumption it was may 1. i'll be doing a little more homework, thanks for the heads up.

[URNUTS]

should have some definitive dates.

[jcalis]

The annual Tribe meeting is usually on the first weekend in May. The forest should be open now. I will try to take a ride by there tomorrow after work to see if it's open.

[doberwiler]

Riders,

I am lurker here and have a '94 XR650L with all mods that has been all around New England, Canada, and CA when I lived there. You know -- I just love this bike. It just goes, and goes and goes wherever I want it to.

I also have a 2005 Victory Hammer which is a good cruiser that I have taken some trips with but don't ride it that often. It's a good social bike with the Harley crowd.

I'm itchin for a new ride and put a deposit last year on the electric zero motorcycles Dual Sport: http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-ds/. The MSRP is 10K but there are some federal and local credits available (though the MA govt doesn't make this easy).

It can go 50 miles and could be great for me since I am < 10 miles in Holliston from Vietnam, Bellingham, and great powerlines between Norwood and home that are great on the XRL.

But then I started to be seduced by the KTM 690 and Huski TE630 as more modern alternatives to the XR650L.

I figure I can spend 10K that the wife is OK with on a new bike.

What should I do?????

BTW, I would also like to meet any Metrowest DS riders since I too often ride alone.

Has anyone looked into these electric bikes? Maybe we should start a new thread?

Cheers,

Dobe

[chippertheripper]

... Waiting for bob to tell you to get the husky...

Personally, I haven't really considered an e-bike yet. The range limits are just too... Limited. And I could probably buy 7-8 xr's with that money, or 4 drz's, or any other wild combinations of motorcycles. Sarcasm aside, the technology isn't good enough yet to be practical. When you can hammer them things for 250 miles before a charge, my dirty hippy of a wife will certainly allow me to drop that kind of coin.

[RTLLTR]

... Waiting for bob to tell you to get the husky...


ahem.......Bob.....can you expalin why the Husky is the superior choice over the fantastic line of KTM products available?

All jokes aside, I'm with Chip. The technology has not grown enough, and well, I do much more than 50 mile rides now. Whatayado when your out riding and the charge runs out? Not to mention the power factor. I need something that has a bit of punch.

Either the Husky, or KTM are very good choices. Of course I would tell you to go buy a nice shiny new KTM from Cliff's in Norfolk. Just because they happen to make very lightweight and high performance machines that will make you giggle in your helmet for hours. You can also get parts very easily (unlike the Husky.....) Or you could go buy a DRZ for each day of the week with all that jingle!

Most important, if the wife says 10K is ok to spend on a bike......run don't walk before the furnace breaks or something else changes her mind!

Ride safe

[BikePilot]

The 690 should have a bit more power and be a bit more revvy while the husqvarna should have a bit more low rpm grunt. The 630 is easier to work on and will likely be less trouble to keep running.

I'd also wait on the e-bikes, especially the zero. They have two big problems, first they can't pack enough energy into the batteries to go for very long and second they've tried to safe weight so much the chassis aren't terriably durable. A Zero broke in half just last week IIRC at some euro event. Others use DH MTB parts which I managed to break with alarming frequency with my own 150lbs of furry when I used to race DH. http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news...frame-failure/ I'm not the smoothest rider and I tend to push bikes hard so the flimsy chassis of the e-bikes really puts me off. For more sedate riding they might hold up for a while. The KTM version is probably more durable as well. I'm all for quiet and low impact riding, but a bone stock KDX, KLX etc make very little noise.

[Beez]

Originally Posted by doberwiler

BTW, I would also like to meet any Metrowest DS riders since I too often ride alone.


Cheers,

Dobe

Yo, Dobe. I'm in the 'Ham, ride a KTM 620 RXC and used to live in California too. Let's meet for a beer of a mtn. bike ride.

[bobnoxious67]

Ah...the great myth/line of bullshit regarding Husky parts availability

Armand's has wear items on the shelf, and ordered parts are available in a week or less...no better or worse than any other Mfg. (I get parts for my Husky easier than Liza gets DR350 parts ).

KTM 690, Husky TE 630, leftover Husky TE 610...all will treat you great as a true high performance 50/50 bike that will do whatever you need it to do. Buy the one that makes you tingly.



No riding for me this weekend (well, maybe Sunday afternoon...but I'm not up for the "man loop").

[Saltbox]

Ok this is the part where I chime in and say the KLR is the best fuckin, top notch mediocre bike out there.

It all depends on what you want to ride. I'm with Scott on this one, the only real solution is 2 bikes minimum. A big powerfull kick yer ass girl, and a lightweight dirty girl.

I'm still working on obtaining bike #2.
I do like my KLR though, it does everything, but nothing well. And its cheap cheap and easy to work on.

[newride]

Originally Posted by jcalis

The annual Tribe meeting is usually on the first weekend in May. The forest should be open now. I will try to take a ride by there tomorrow after work to see if it's open.

My brother told me free town open may 5th.
Does it cost anything to get in?
I am going to try and go his weekend!

[chippertheripper]

It does not cost anything. So long as you have a license plate, you're in.