Was up on Santa Clara Divide Rd today with flaterik. I think some guys from the Castaic Dual Sport forum where also up there earlier but I don't think we saw them. Did see one guy on a KLR and another on a 650GS. The ride was pretty uneventful for the most part. I just got some knobbies so I was getting used to them. Feels much better riding with knobbies . There were a few times where I almost lost it, but was able to save it with some throttle and the TKC 80s bitin' in. We had just passed a Subaru scouting the road for the upcoming Rim of The World Rally when we came to a fork in the road. We stopped and figured out which road to take and started to climb a short rutted section. Erik slowed a little and I was too close so I just dumped it. Was a good spot anyways because the rut held the bike up. Erik ended up burying his rear to hold his bike up so we thought we should take some pics. Traffic jam on Santa Clara Divide Rd. Thanks for lettin' me join you today Erik and don't forget to post pics of your Errin
hey, i finally noticed this thread! i'd been meaning to post something but being lazy about it. as erin said, we went up to santa clarita divide last sunday. i'd been on some pretty minor fire road type roads before, but this was my first time on anything even approaching real dirt. . . it was a blast! in the beginning i felt like i was doing great, and was even formulating my apology for not having pictures of a fallen bike... that didn't last too much longer not entirely sure what happened, but i'm guessing some combination of better tires and more throttle would've kept me upright. luckily all that crap i've bolted onto the bike did its job. the brush guard & mirror rotated a bit, and that was all. i'm pretty sure the HT PD nerf bars saved my radiator fan: since judging by the dirt on the bars it would've been squished otherwise. a bit later, after going past the rim of the world scout, i bounced sideways out of another rut and ended up as erin described not that i was that deep at first... but i got sick of holding the bike up so i roosted for a bit until it stayed put nothing much of note happened, except for me having a damn good time. oh, there was my moment of KLR pride when, after i led for a bit, erin said "that thing must be pretty easy to handle, i was having trouble keeping up sometimes" i also learned that next time i should pull my tank bag off and wear it as a backpack... i kept wanting to lean further forward than i could with it there. not sure why i didn't remember the backpack straps i keep in there until after i was home... thanks much for the company and guidance, erin. you're the first person i've met from advrider and you definitely made a good impression! can't wait till next time, erik
Nice pictures, guys! I've got a Suzuki DR 650 that likes to do the same squirrelly thing on dirt, I really think it's the crappy stock tires (Bridgestone somethings). They are stone useless in every situation I've ridden them through so far, about 1,600 miles. They're lousy on anything but totally dry and clean asphalt, useless in the loose dirt, completely foul and dangerous in mud or wet grass (too much rubber, not enough space between knobs). Suzuki must get a real good deal on them or something, looks like Kawasaki puts the same thing on the KLRs, keeps the initial purchase price down I guess. As soon as it quits snowing I'm gonna find a good spot on some lousy rocky dirt road to just burn those bastards off. Once they're sufficiently trashed I can justify replacing them with some decent off-road tires. I dropped the countersprocket on the DR 650 down one tooth for better off-road gearing (stock is WAY too tall) and am thinking about going down another one. I've found that the tall gearing with that much horsepower was just an invitation to spin out whenever the going got rough and loose. I think with a combination of better tires and lower gearing the DR will be very good (if still kinda heavy) off-road. I don't know if you've given that any thought for your KLR 650. I've got a little KLR 250 that puts the DR 650 to shame on the rough stuff, it's 100+ pounds lighter, but it's no good at all for the asphalt, just plain dangerous in the traffic because it's small and underpowered. Even geared down one tooth the DR 650 will push well over 100 mph easily, and that's pretty fast on a dirt bike, so I suspect going down another tooth won't hurt top useful speed much at all.
As a former SCCA Club Rally Steward, I'm interested to know if you got a name from anyone in that Subaru. SCCA rules stipulate that as a competitor or member of a crew you can't be on any rally stage 120 days prior to the event to prevent just this sort of scouting and the unfair advantage gained. The event is the first week of May. Mark McNamara 100aw.org
I didn't get his name but I'm pretty sure that he was up there with the organizers and not a competitor or team member. They where making sure all the roads where still useable. Errin