575Lbs / 100HP / SAND off road and your looking for too much fun...... LOL

[~TABASCO~]

Little off road sand story..........

Had to get home stuff today and didnt get out as soon as I really wanted. But I did make it out for a nice ride. Anyhow, I road out to a lake about and hour away. The lake has a loop around the lake that is about sixty miles or so long. Today I was just poking around places that I had never been too or looking for roads that I have not been down before. (dirt, gravel, Etc) I was riding this loop and saw a brown sign with writing on it, here in Texas that normally means "lake info" or things to do at this location at the lake. I turned around and road back to the sign, it says camping, Etc, Etc, Etc..... ATV ride area... What ? Ok, lets go check this out.......LOL
I find the area and there are motor homes, campers, tents, with all types of ATV / dirt bikes. I checked it all out and road up to the check in station. The guy opened the little door. I asked him about trails, width, ( I had my bags on) safety, Etc... I asked if I could check it out? He said sure... Ok, cool.... When you first start rolling off road its all hard pack in this first area that looked like a base ball diamond. I was like this is cool.. The trails on the main paths are about twenty feet wide. I start going about 10-15-20Mph. Then all of a sudden its all sand.. HOLY CRAP. I start blipping the throttle and I now have a 600 pound 100Hp beast shooting rooster tails in all this sand. I was like 'this is not cool.... this is not cool..... As you dirt riders know, sand normally is not that great, but on a dirt bike you can get the swing of it and it is fun (for me).. Also I had the Metzler's on... ::007:: ::010:: Not smart... Well I started to pick up speed and the rear of the bikes is just going side to side, the RPM's are probably getting a bit high aswell and im on and off the throttle. The front end is digging in and pushing everywhere just sinking in the sand and then getting on top and rolling over and then back sinking again... I started cooking pretty good down this sand "fest" road until I almost busted my ass.. It dug in so deep it almost threw me over the bars.. I was thinking this thing is a freaking beast in the sand. I had (S) on with TCS off and the RPM's would go from 2K - ? in one second. I must have been in third gear. I screwed around there for a bit more then took the road back. My arms where getting tired from fighting this deep sand. Made it back to the little station, and I waved at the dude that let me "try it out".. I was just laughing because this bike in that deep sand was ridiculous... LOL Im sure it would have been better with some K60's or TKC80's... But not good with street tires..... Im mad at myself for not taking a picture of how deep this stuff was.. There is no way I could have parked the bike on the side or center stand it would have fallen over. But after I was back up on the road I was ticked off I didnt take few just to show a picture to go with this little "off road sand expedition"..
Now that I know where it is I might go back and explore more, with some better tires.... So, 600 pounds, 100HP, and a whole lot of deep sand is a good work out and it will scare the crap out of you if your cooking on it and the front end digs in...... I gotta go clean my undies.... It was a great time !

 

[Maybert]

Jaxon next time you need to try WET sand! The beach near the surf is the best.

 

[Tremor38]

Jaxon next time you need to try WET sand! The beach near the surf is the best.

Shhh!! The story isn't as good that way. I'm sitting here trapped behind my confuser doing homework, so I need this kinda thing ::013::

 

[Twitch]

Haha, good report. The trick to sand…air down, go faster.

Places that atvs and dirt bikes ride usually have churned up surfaces and are loose and deep, plus the trails seem to get whoopy. Definitely takes some getting used to, even on a the smaller dirt bikes made for it.

 

[sportrider]

Haha, I learned to never stop a roadbike in the sand for a picture. It was an adventure trying to get this thing moving, turned around and back up onto the road.

 

[Yamaguy55]

I rode on some sand with mine, it is a handful. I found grapefruit sized loose rock a lot of fun as well. Which is why I've decided it is a great explorer (adventure) bike, but no dirt bike.

FYI: lots of trips on seaside water edge sand will net you lots of corrosion.

 

[SpeedStar]

Glad to hear it didn't turn out with the beast taking a sand nap.

 

[20valves]

Unless tires make a huge difference, I won't be looking for a sand ride anytime soon. This is exactly my experience. YOu can hustle through a sand section here and there if it's not too deep but riding in deep sand on ~90/10 tires is not a happy ride.

 

[Tremor38]

Unless tires make a huge difference, I won't be looking for a sand ride anytime soon. This is exactly my experience. YOu can hustle through a sand section here and there if it's not too deep but riding in deep sand on ~90/10 tires is not a happy ride.

I wonder how the Heidenau K60s work in the sand.

 

[~TABASCO~]

I wonder how the Heidenau K60s work in the sand.

Ill let ya know in a few weeks.. Im going to the Texas Tenere ride in Big Bend... I plan on doing all the dirt loops I can find, that should be a few hundred off road....

 

[fjr1300]

I met a few "Wide Eyed" atv riders on Saturday. This is my third time down the trail, but the first meeting other riders. This trail is a lot of rock, not much loose sand. I think if I had let 5-10 lbs of air out of the tires, I would have had less bouncing off the rocks.