darthling
New Member
Just did the Utah BDR from one end of the state of Utah to the other end. 6-10 hours a day mostly on dirt for a week. I went with 5 others, two African Twins, KTM 790, BMW F800, Triumph Tiger.
10. Hard case luggage is convenient, but sucks for adventure duty. If you go over, and you will fall, there is little give and that stuff bends. Use soft stuff when riding off road. Helps cushion the fall of the bike.
9. Bring extra straps (not rock straps, use ratchet straps) duct tape, and zip ties. See above.
8. Riding with 2 is a must on that trail, but 3 or more is better, odds are if you overlooked something, someone else has it.
7. You don’t need as much as you think you need. Only bring a few changes of clothes made of material that drys fast. On the motel days, just wash them and they will most likely be dry by morning. Eating out and sleeping in motels will lighten the load, and that freeze dryed stuff doesn’t save you a ton of money over eating out. But to each their own. camping has it’s advantages, it’s nice to just stop when you’re tired instead of having to push though until you hit a town.
6. Most of the accidents happen when you’re tired. Stop BEFORE you hit that point.
5. Motel days are glorious days.
4. The NC700 is an adventure bike as much as any of the others, just one with a crappy stock suspension and lower clearance, but it’s not a skid plate banging drum fest. I scraped the skid plate probably 8 times, 6 being on the same trail. However, if I were to be doing that kind of stuff more often, I’d get a different bike. Probably the African Twin, or more likely CB500x with some upgrades. I’d probably prefer the X-Adv, but since we can’t get it here.....At the very least, I’d upgrade the suspension. It’s a real shame they didn’t put better suspension and rims on the NC750 when it came out. My 700 was stock and after all day on it, it was obvious how bad it is out of the box. However, climbing a very steep sandy hill. The NC did better than all the others with the exception of the KTM. They were probably even. It was a surprise how much the other bikes struggled. The low down weight of the NC is fantastic. Makes the bike look very graceful going through corners etc.
3. All adventure bikes suck in the really hard stuff. We mostly bypassed the expert sections like Lockheart basin. If you’re going to do that, do it with real dual sport bikes, like enduros, XR’s, DR’s, etc... All adventure bikes have drawbacks and advantages. You just have to determine what ones you can live with, and what ones you can’t.
2. Tech like off road modes and traction control get’s more in the way off roading than it helps. mostly because they were in the wrong setting, or they couldn’t figure out how to get it in the right setting, or there wasn’t a right setting. There are times you just want to drag your back brake and skid, and times you just need to spin the tire with wild abandon. My NC is non ABS. Light front ABS wouldn’t been nice though.
1. The best upgrade you can possibly do to your bike is to learn how to ride off road. I.e. How to shift weight to outside peg when going around corners, ride standing, shift weight to the back and go fast in sand, etc.. Maybe look up motocross riding tips. We had three good riders and 3 average riders. I was able to keep up with the African Twin, and the KTM790 and at times we were not going slow. Double the power does not mean double the acceleration, although I did have to work at it harder than they did, and probably had a few more pucker moments than they did. That KTM is an incredible machine. We were the best riders and could far out pace the others. Yes, I beat the pants off one African Twin, the BMW F800, and Tiger, not because the NC was more capable, just because I’ve been riding off road motorcycle for 30+ years. I think motorcycle riders worry more about gear and setup than skill.
10. Hard case luggage is convenient, but sucks for adventure duty. If you go over, and you will fall, there is little give and that stuff bends. Use soft stuff when riding off road. Helps cushion the fall of the bike.
9. Bring extra straps (not rock straps, use ratchet straps) duct tape, and zip ties. See above.
8. Riding with 2 is a must on that trail, but 3 or more is better, odds are if you overlooked something, someone else has it.
7. You don’t need as much as you think you need. Only bring a few changes of clothes made of material that drys fast. On the motel days, just wash them and they will most likely be dry by morning. Eating out and sleeping in motels will lighten the load, and that freeze dryed stuff doesn’t save you a ton of money over eating out. But to each their own. camping has it’s advantages, it’s nice to just stop when you’re tired instead of having to push though until you hit a town.
6. Most of the accidents happen when you’re tired. Stop BEFORE you hit that point.
5. Motel days are glorious days.
4. The NC700 is an adventure bike as much as any of the others, just one with a crappy stock suspension and lower clearance, but it’s not a skid plate banging drum fest. I scraped the skid plate probably 8 times, 6 being on the same trail. However, if I were to be doing that kind of stuff more often, I’d get a different bike. Probably the African Twin, or more likely CB500x with some upgrades. I’d probably prefer the X-Adv, but since we can’t get it here.....At the very least, I’d upgrade the suspension. It’s a real shame they didn’t put better suspension and rims on the NC750 when it came out. My 700 was stock and after all day on it, it was obvious how bad it is out of the box. However, climbing a very steep sandy hill. The NC did better than all the others with the exception of the KTM. They were probably even. It was a surprise how much the other bikes struggled. The low down weight of the NC is fantastic. Makes the bike look very graceful going through corners etc.
3. All adventure bikes suck in the really hard stuff. We mostly bypassed the expert sections like Lockheart basin. If you’re going to do that, do it with real dual sport bikes, like enduros, XR’s, DR’s, etc... All adventure bikes have drawbacks and advantages. You just have to determine what ones you can live with, and what ones you can’t.
2. Tech like off road modes and traction control get’s more in the way off roading than it helps. mostly because they were in the wrong setting, or they couldn’t figure out how to get it in the right setting, or there wasn’t a right setting. There are times you just want to drag your back brake and skid, and times you just need to spin the tire with wild abandon. My NC is non ABS. Light front ABS wouldn’t been nice though.
1. The best upgrade you can possibly do to your bike is to learn how to ride off road. I.e. How to shift weight to outside peg when going around corners, ride standing, shift weight to the back and go fast in sand, etc.. Maybe look up motocross riding tips. We had three good riders and 3 average riders. I was able to keep up with the African Twin, and the KTM790 and at times we were not going slow. Double the power does not mean double the acceleration, although I did have to work at it harder than they did, and probably had a few more pucker moments than they did. That KTM is an incredible machine. We were the best riders and could far out pace the others. Yes, I beat the pants off one African Twin, the BMW F800, and Tiger, not because the NC was more capable, just because I’ve been riding off road motorcycle for 30+ years. I think motorcycle riders worry more about gear and setup than skill.
