| Author | Message | ||
     Kimberley |
Yesterday I put 200 + miles on my '09 Uly. 10 of them were on a gravel forest service road. Since this was my first time on a motorcycle on this type of road, I was quite proud of myself for not dumping her or peeing my pants. Here's the question.....I was averaging 25-30MPH. Is it easier the faster you go (within reason)? I had some nerves in the corners.......but am looking forward to the next time! | ||
| Glen |
speed offroad comes with time. the more you do it, the better the feel you'll have for just how much to push it. keep in mind that if you're lookin to push your limits, you will end up on the ground at some point. take it slow and stay healthy. | ||
| Signal4 |
+1, Glen is right. You'll get more comfortable as you ride this stuff and learn what the bike is telling you as it responds under you. Then you'll naturally get the speed correct. Sounds like you had fun though.  | ||
| Babired |
OMG another female ULY rider cool! I think you are the third one I know of here in the USA, K | ||
| 05mxdiesel |
Speed also depends on how loose the gravel is. Real loose gravel causes me to drop down to about 30-35 but nicely packed I am usually running 55, only slowing down due to blind corners. | ||
| Ourdee |
K, Do yo ride up on the tank too? | ||
| Tginnh |
Lowering your tire pressure will help tremendously off road. | ||
| Rotorhead |
Time on the gravel and off road is the key. more time offroad the more you will feel the need for lower tire pressures, speed in the corners, distance to stop, weight to the outside peg instead of the inside peg and overall confidance to steer with the throttle and not the handlebars. If unpaved roads are something you enjoy to ride search on youtube for BMW riding lessons or something like that. Good to know the basics like how to pick the bike back up after a spill,recover from a uphill stall, steep decents and tight off road turning. | ||
| Babired |
Haha I'm close to the tank and I like riding dirt bike style on the Uly but I have scooted back and leaned in to hang off as well. K I'm going to Dirt bike school month after next in Colorado to feel better about doing exactly what Kimberley is asking about riding fast around curves on loose surfaces | ||
| Mark_weiss |
For better performance on non-paved surfaces: -Soften the suspension a bit -Shift your weight toward the rear when the ground gets rougher -Let the handlebars wiggle if they need to, your bike knows what its doing -Slow down BEFORE the turn, weight shifted onto the front wheel when you don't have knobby tires is NOT good. It is MUCH easier to live with a little rear wheel slippage than with a sliding front. -Stand on the begs when the surface is washboarded. Peg behind the ball of your foot, heels low. Bend forward at the waist a bit and keep your elbows bent & loose. -The looser it gets, the more important weighting the footpegs becomes. Mark in AZ | ||
| 05mxdiesel |
Good advice from mark weiss. Watch how hard you use the brakes too and you can ride your rear brake when powering out of turns to keep traction. | ||
| Hooper |
Next lesson: crossing streams! (sounds like a quote from Ghostbusters)   | ||
| Brown_e |
When I had the Dunlops I could only go about 25 mph before I felt like I was riding on marbles. With the scorpion syncs I can go 40 mph in the well traveled portion of the gravel and feel comfortable. Point is the tires make a big difference. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Part of what is going to have to develop are your gravel "sea legs" if you are not familiar with off road riding. Being comfortable with wheel slippage accelerating, decelerating and turning is something that some people never get used to. Allowing your front wheel to "float" will help it to keep from plowing into loose gravel. Keep your weight off the front wheel as much as you can. Speed is your friend when the surface is loose. The spin of the wheels provides gyroscopic stability. Even if the traction is gone, the wheels spinning will hold you up. Take your time. Build the skills slowly. | ||
| Methed |
From the MSF off-road course I used to teach: "Knees tight against the tank, weight forward, hump the tank (or airbox), butt off the seat." Not really how the official terminology goes, but close enough. | ||
| Notrailerdave |
Yeah, she's cool 'cuz she posted on my B-day! You'll get the feel of it but don't overestimate what these bikes are capable of. They're not dirt bikes by any means. If you have a way to air your tires back up you can air them down to say 25-28 psi and you could get much better feel and the front won't "knife" on you as much. Don't be afraid to let the bike move underneath you. Cheers. | ||
| Kimberley |
Wow!! Thanks for all the great advice....I just cracked 500 miles today! I will work on getting my "sea legs" and not push too hard. Turns out I was doing some of it naturally so I think I'm off to a good start. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
fingers off front brake, let the engine braking do its work, second and third gears are your friends. 40 is fun 60 is just about nutz but I love it and 45 in the dark is fast too | ||
| Notrailerdave |
Definitely easy on the front brake off road. Keep a light touch on it for sure. Many folks complain about the rear brake being weak but it is plenty effective for the kind of off road work a Uly can handle. I really think Buell designed the rear brake to "feel" as it does to sort of force riders to use the front brake more. On the road-----THE FRONT BRAKE IS YOUR FRIEND and provides the main part of your braking force.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Methed- "Weight forward" as you describe from the MSF course seems to go against conventional wisdom (see Ft_bstrd's post above). Gravel doesn't bother me, but I have suffered severe sphincter contractions on sand on more than one occasion. The last time, I was on a dirt road and hit a ~50 yard long patch of loose sand in a curve. I tried to keep speed up (~20 MPH) and not tighten up on the bars too much. About half-way through, the thing almost went into a tank-slapper. I managed to ride it out but I thought for sure I was going down at one point. I suspect this is mostly a result of that fat 17" front tire, which seems to "float" right on top of sand while providing little lateral traction. Anybody got any good tips for riding in sand? | ||
| Mark_weiss |
-Weight as far back as possible, -Use the tallest gear possible, a little bogging is OK (reduce wheelspin) -Maintain speed to keep the front wheel on top of the sand. When the wheel starts to sink in, the effective contact patch moves forward and you loose your steering trail (and stability). It's normal for the front end to flap side to side, when the bike starts to follow, the front tire is sinking in. Sometimes you have to walk the bike through. Best to figure this out before crashing. The Uly is NOT a dirtbike, its weight is a big disadvantage in sand. Mark in AZ (Message edited by mark_weiss on June 12, 2009) | ||
| Methed |
I ride my Uly like a dirtbike--weight forward, knees against the frame--and haven't had any diggers yet. Not off-road anyway... It's a matter of becoming one solid unit, not a bag of water on the back of the bike. YRMV. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I find that riding the Uly like a dirt bike has some disadvantages. Because the front wheel is smaller with a wider tire, it doesn't bite as well once the surface loosens. You can ride a dirt bike with more weight forward because the wheel tends to track better due to the larger diameter. Doesn't mean the Uly isn't a capable off road craft. It just means that some may need to slightly alter riding styles to allow the front wheel to float rather than plow. At least for me this was true. | ||
| Xb12xmike |
Just watch out for mud under ice thats hidden by leaves:  And skinny tree branches creeping over the trail that that make you duck and weave while riding over slippery mud hidden under the leaves.  | ||
| Xb12xmike |
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| Hooper |
I love Mike's story...especially because it didn't happen to me. | ||
| Ourdee |
From dessert riding when a lot younger. When it got nasty the throttle would save you more times than the brakes in the sand. | ||
| Adamd |
Gravel can vary, I was doing 60mph on the trans lab on my uly and 20mph on other sections. Sandy gravel is no fun with scorp syncs... | ||
| Nwforester |
This is a great thread - keep it coming, gravel and I are becoming better acquainted and the more you ride the better it gets. The bike does just great if you stay off the front brake and power through the loose stuff. Third gear and momentum will get you through anything (used to work in high school with an old jeep pickup) | ||
| Mnrider |
 Go into the corner too fast then apply the rear brake to get the rear loose then gas it and keep the power slide going through the corner then do it again. |
