Riding a Dualsport off the pavement

note: After rereading this article I wrote a better title would be. "How to avoid problems in dirt and gravel if you are mainly a street rider on pavement"

 I started riding a Vespa and a Honda Trail 90 and a 2 1/2 horsepower mini-bike. So I grew up riding off road motorcycles and it was much easier to license your motorcycle then (1960 to 1975) then no matter what it was than now. I had only one fully off road motorcycle and it was a fully modified English Bike when I was 17, a Matchless 600 single (thumper) with a Hill Climbing rear sprocket with no muffler and a straight exhaust pipe that would blow blue flame at night. It had a standard headlamp and tail lights so it could be ridden at night on dirt roads in the desert which I did a lot in the summer on Yucca Mesa where my father and I built a summer house which eventually my father and mother retired to in 1980.

However, nowadays the world has changed a lot and most places there are a lot less dirt and gravel roads. So this means that less motorcycle riders have the chance to do much (Country riding). This puts them in danger because without experience riding on gravel or dirt it is very dangerous or it could even be outright fatal for street riders untrained to deal with off pavement situations.

The two biggest factors for street riders not used to off pavement activities is that a rider simply cannot ever use one's front brake off road at ALL except to keep the bike from going forward or backward when stationery. This is the single hardest thing to get used to off pavement. So if you remember to yourself, "If I'm braking while on dirt or gravel only the back brake (usually a right foot pedal) should be used. The second thing is that it is not usually advisable to have two riders on a bike if off pavement. Of course there are exceptions to every rule depending upon the bike and the skill of the rider(s). However, after not riding off road for a while I get used to my front brake being 90% of my braking power myself and have to retrain myself when I get on dirt or gravel. Because the first thing that happens when you apply a front brake in gravel or dirt is that you start to go down front first and sideways right or left. If you catch it in time simply release the front brake before you go all the way down on the ground. This is especially bad if riding a really heavy bike  that you might not be able to pick back up by yourself.

So, that is the first rule: never use your front brake when riding or gravel or dirt. The second thing is cornering. When you are cornering off pavement the road won't hold you on a corner. All you have going for you is the gyroscopic action of your spinning wheels and nothing else except your skill as an off road rider. For example, I can ride (with a light enough dualsport  or off road bike with knobby tires up a deep sandy desert dry wash. However, unless you are a very skilled off road rider attempting this can be very difficult. When power is applied you immediately get a sand rooster tail coming up behind you and then as you gather speed the rear wheel keeps wanting to go out from under you either right or left and usually one and then the other as you compensate(it is an ongoing battle). So as you plow through the deep sand you constantly weave in order to not go down. So it is a form of being in control but on the edge of being out of control all the time riding in deep sand. So you want to make sure you can take a fall if you are in deep sand so you need to be dressed for it so you don't get peeled(as in skin) when you do fall in deep sand because falling into sand is like falling into sandpaper(especially if your speed is above 25 mph.) The following picture is the closest I could come online to my Matchless 600 Hillclimber. Imagine knobby tires with a straight pipe with no muffler at all with a really large rear sprocket that was so large that I usually never used first gear because the bike had so much torque that I would land on my butt if I used first gear from a standing start on the level. (In fact I could do wheelies in every gear but the highest because of this incredible torque).

However, one day I got angry at my then girlfriend and wound it up too tight and blew the bottom out of the engine. I was very lucky not to lose a foot or leg. All that happened to me is that I was burnt on my feet by the very hot engine oil. I was also lucky because when the engine seized the chain broke and wrapped itself luckily up around the front right sprocket rather than taking my leg or foot off. I was very lucky. But then again I was 17 at the time and didn't think things through like I do now. I was able to trade it for a BSA 500 used in World War II in North Africa.