Advice on the next step- to gravel and forest paths

[Tonibe63]

http://rideanyroad.co.uk/index.htm

[johnnyboxer]

I ride my 1200GS 2 up on gravel tracks like The Stella Rally but I have 8 years experience of trail riding, UK rallies and trials riding on much smaller bikes. Without this experience and training I think it would be dangerous to attempt to ride a big bike on gravel and suicidal on mud.
When a big bike starts to go down you naturally put your leg out to save it but yours or your pillions leg trapped under the bike will snap like a twig, my Wife keeps her feet on the footrests which are protected by the panniers.
My daughters boyfriend is looking to get an XT660Z Tenere to replace his XT660X and we bought him an offroad day for his birthday which he did last Friday at http://www.yamaha-tenere-experience.co.uk/. He loved it and learn't lots of basic techniques.
During the day he rode both the 660 Tenere and the 1200 Superten on some Welsh gravel tracks and having done rallies in the area myself I would recommend a day on their bikes as a good starting point. His only previous offroad experience is his pit bike and half an hour on my enduro bike around a field.

Excellent advice

I wouldn't ride a big bike on something like the Stella unless I was experienced either

Another view - learn small first

For the price of the BMW course £500-600, plus accommodation £100, fuel & beer £100+ etc - gets you up to about £800 or more

For £800 you can easily pick up a trials bike to ride on private land or even a road legal trail bike < 250cc

Join Devon TRF they have the best & most varied lanes to ride & will be happy to show the basics & they have 2-3 rides per week

Start small & learn

[-Ralph-]

Join Devon TRF they have the best & most varied lanes to ride & will be happy to show the basics & they have 2-3 rides per week

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

LOL, I was waiting for that reading down the page! Thanks Johnny. Always nice to have a smile raised first thing on a Monday morning.

(see my signature and Special Ones that we wrote for a bit of banter & piss take after the last 'how do I start off-roading' thread).

[Mike101]

Come up to Salisbury and i'll shown you around the plain. If you stick to the army roads they are just what you will be looking for and there are miles and miles of them. Fine for two up and not tricky even in the wet.

Most of them are open all year around and it's the perfect place to practice in a safe environment.

Yes go get some training but i'm guessing you won't be mud plugging 2 up.

Come on up to my part of the world and you will really enjoy it.

Let me know and i'll set something up.

Mike

[PaulinBont]

+1 for ORS, you will drop the bike off-roading so at least their bike is the one that gets the hammering as you learn the ropes.

+1 for joining the TRF, not only will they show you the local legal by-ways but you'll have some great banter, meet some great new friends and most of all, after they stop laughing and taking the piss when you fall off/fall over, will help you pick the bike up .............

......says he who was stuck in the river crossing on Sarn Helen, front wheel wedged between two rocks, water rapidly filling my boots up (in January) and the bike stalled and about to fall over-they immediately rushed over and got the cameras out

and after much merriment gamely waded in to rescue me-how we laughed over our steaming mugs of tea in the café later. Join the TRF you won't regret it!

[special one]

Join Devon TRF they have the best & most varied lanes to ride & will be happy to show the basics & they have 2-3 rides per week

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

LOL, I was waiting for that reading down the page! Thanks Johnny. Always nice to have a smile raised first thing on a Monday morning.

(see my signature and Special Ones that we wrote for a bit of banter & piss take after the last 'how do I start off-roading' thread).

I'm amazed it got past more than about 3-4 posts lol

[beddowsm]

Wow, reading this thread you would have to think training is compulsary for heading off the tarmac.

My 2p's worth. Just go and do it. Find a lane (Byway or OPRA). Walk it. Then if it appears OK take your bike down it.

By all means, go do a course, but dont let all the posts on here put you off just going and trying a lane or 2 on your own bike. Take it slow and steady, then progress to a different lane and have a go at something different. IMO you are better learning on a big bike if thats the bike you will be using. If you learn the basics on a small bike, you will find progressing to a big bike a lot more difficult. Its far easier to go big to small than small to big IMO.

The best thing to come out of this post in Mike101 offer. Go riding with someone off here, on your own bike, and have them show you the ropes and get you experience off the tarmac.

Good luck.

[-Ralph-]

Too true. When Special One and I first started green laning, we had two off road bikes, his first ever and my first since I was a teenager, an OS map, the internet to learn what a BOAT a UCR and a TRO was and how to find them, and otherwise no feckin' idea. Yeah, we fell over a few times, and got very wet, but had a right laugh doing it.

[Fried Egg Sandwich]

...Hmmmm -we do all tend to get caught up in this training m'larkey.

I've just been re-reading my first post and looking back at my own experience and am starting to think "What a croc!" :laugh:

My first green laning (and learning) experiences were on my CX500 on road tyres on the RUPPS, BOATS and UCR's in Lancashire and Yorkshire, alongside my dad on his DR650. Ok so it wasn't the real snotty stuff (most of the time) and it was a bloody heavy bike to pick up, but I was younger, braver and more foolish then :woohoo:

The only bit of advice relevant from my first post on this thread really is "look at definitive ROW maps of your area, find the green lanes and UCRs, and ride to them, and walk them first before riding them and progress from there."

:whistle:

[Mul001]

Off road school this, pay for that. Just jump on the machine take it up the nearest forest lane, take it steady ... and don't fall off. You don't need to power slide round that next bend standing on the pegs. I've no training (it shows :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: ) but I've never fallen off and all that crap about needing an Adventure Bike gets my goat, IMHO I've got an Adventure Bike !

Enjoy however you do it, but don't think you absolutely need schools and stuff.

A TDM in the wild ...

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